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DT 27010

by Gazza  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27010

Hints and tips by Gazza

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***

As well as the four colours round its periphery this puzzle has a mini-theme about horse-racing. I thought that it was quite pleasant without putting up too much of a fight; what did you think?
If you want to reveal an answer just highlight the gap between the curly brackets under the clue.

Across Clues

1a  Fruit, queen’s choice (8,4)
{VICTORIA PLUM} – the name of a British queen then an adjective meaning choice or excellent. Based on Kath’s comment on Saturday I imagine that she wrote the answer straight in.

8a  Produce mostly stiff undergarment (7)
{HARVEST} – an adjective meaning stiff or firm loses its final D (mostly) and what’s left is followed by an undergarment.

9a  A gauzy fabric under discussion (2,5)
{AT ISSUE} – if reconfigured as (1,6) this could be a gauzy fabric interwoven with gold or silver thread.

11a  Copper is at home with English style of cooking (7)
{CUISINE} – string together a) the chemical symbol for copper, b) IS (from the clue), c) an adverb meaning at home and d) E(nglish).

12a  Revolving handle getting a note to emerge (7)
{EMANATE} – reverse (revolving) what handle is an informal word for (in radio communications, for example) and follow it with A and the seventh note in tonic sol-fa.

13a  United aware of Everton’s lead (2,3)
{IN ONE} – a phrase meaning privy to or aware of (2,2) followed by the leading letter of E(verton).

14a  Band of gold artist put round part of the trunk (9)
{ORCHESTRA} – the heraldic tincture of gold and the abbreviation for a Royal Academician (artist) are put around part of the human trunk.

16a  Start to back small new broker (2-7)
{GO-BETWEEN} – a verb to start or set off is followed by another verb meaning to stake money (back), an adjective meaning small and N(ew).

19a  Daily delivery, primarily beet (5)
{CHARD} – someone who comes in daily to clean is followed by the primary letter of D(elivery).

21a  Ailment comes from cool headland, blowing cold and hot (7)
{ILLNESS} – start by putting together a verb to cool and a headland then lose (blowing, in the sense of squandering) the C(old) and H(ot).

23a  One giving better advice? (7)
{TIPSTER} – cryptic definition of someone giving advice to a person making a bet.

24a  Cocky type rounded hill, was almost captured (4-3)
{KNOW-ALL} – a small rounded hill (there was a famous grassy one in Dallas in November 1963) has most of WA(s) contained inside it (captured).

25a  One in cartel amended clause (7)
{ARTICLE} – an anagram (amended) of CARTEL with I (one in Roman numerals) inside it.

26a  Old German, down delivering a pigment (8,4)
{PRUSSIAN BLUE} – a citizen from an old Germanic kingdom and an adjective meaning down or depressed combine to produce (deliver) this pigment.

Down Clues

1d  Dizziness? I turn green first (7)
{VERTIGO} – I and a turn (in a board game, for example) are preceded (first) by a green colour in heraldry.

2d  Before start of Easter, dispenser’s short shift (7)
{CHEMISE} – a word used for a dispenser of prescription drugs loses its final T (short) and that comes before the starting letter of E(aster).

3d  Honest one managed to win (2,3,4)
{ON THE NOSE} – this is an informal term for a type of bet on a horse-race which is the alternative to each-way, i.e. you only win if your selection finishes first. It’s an anagram (managed) of HONEST ONE.

4d  Furious, freebooter having lost power (5)
{IRATE} – a freebooter is someone who roves around the seas in search of illegal booty (Captain Pugwash, for example). Drop (having lost) his P(ower).

5d  Archbishop, strait-laced, dined (7)
{PRIMATE} – a charade of an adjective meaning strait-laced or prudish and a verb meaning dined.

6d  Social climber put out, interrupted by celebrity (7)
{UPSTART} – an anagram (out) of PUT contains (interrupted by) a celebrity.

7d  Family doctor elected to cut mass of thick hair, a vivid colour (8,4)
{SHOCKING PINK} – a word for close relatives (family), the abbreviation for a local doctor and an adverb meaning elected all go inside (to cut) a mass of thick, shaggy hair.

10d  Jewel adding fresh colour (7,5)
{EMERALD GREEN} – start with a jewel and add an adjective meaning fresh or inexperienced.

15d  Force prisoners on to coach (9)
{CONSTRAIN} – an informal word for prisoners precedes (on, in a down clue) a verb to coach.

17d  Number giving support to revolutionary Labour prime minister (7)
{BALFOUR} – a number follows (gives support to, in a down clue) a reversal (revolutionary) of the abbreviation for the Labour party to make a Conservative Prime Minister from the early years of the twentieth century.

18d  A classic article on timber trees (3,4)
{THE OAKS} – this is one of the five annual classic horse-races in the UK and is run at Epsom. A definite article precedes (on, in a down clue) trees from which the timber is used a lot in building, furniture making and (in the past) shipbuilding.

19d  Excellent  Havana, for example (7)
{CAPITAL} – double definition.

20d  Join European diplomat (7)
{ATTACHÉ} – a verb to join or connect is followed by E(uropean).

22d  Conductor turned up in Kuwait, lost (5)
{SOLTI} – the name of a Hungarian-born conductor is hidden (in) and reversed (turned up) in the clue.

The clues I liked best today were 23a, 3d and 17d. What clicked for you?

Today’s Quickie Pun: {TORQUE} + {THREW} = {TALK THROUGH}

57 comments on “DT 27010”

  1. Same setter with the same gimmick, same grid and even same answer as last month. Lame, DT. Subsequently over too quickly, thank heaven for the Toughie.

    1. One of the answers from last month’s “four colours around the outside” puzzle also appears in today’s Times.

  2. Having struggled last week, this week seems a bit easier. Thank you setter and Gazza for your review. Took me a while to work out the wordplay in 21a. 26a reminded me of my watercolour tutor who used to say that “My colour for the Grand Canal today is ******”etc.

  3. Good morning Gazza I agree with your rating for the top half but got stuck on the bottom RH corner having put ‘bread’ in at 19a! also put ‘as’ for the first part of 13a though I couldn’t see why, so for me a three star today, having one of my grandsons alongside doing kids crosswords actually helped me today because the word ‘wee’ for small came up in two of his puzzles :-) Had peace to finish this after we’d completed two of his (not so easy)

  4. No problems today. For a few minutes I thought we were going to get a Cluedo themed puzzle, but alas t’was not to be. Had to work hard for 7D as I so wanted to put ELECTRIC in for the first word.

    1. I think Argus was either NME or Melody Maker album of the year in 1972 – I preferred their first album

      1. Think it was Sounds (used to get that and switched to NME when it closed) and it should have been around 1972ish. They are still putting out LPs and they are still very good, Tracks (I and II) is an excellent compilation.

  5. The only one I had to confirm was 22d (I only know two conductors, and he is not one of them).
    Thanks to setter, and to gazza.

  6. Based on Kath’s comment on Saturday I certainly wrote the answer to 1 straight in.

    Off work for a couple of days so more time to concentrate on this and I found it quite easy, but did have to look at the hints in a couple of cases to see why the answer I had written was correct. Thanks for that Gazza

  8. Got a feeling of déjà vu with this puzzle, it was my quickest time ever, almost read and write.

    Thanks to Gazza for the review.

    Thanks to the setter, Xerox perhaps?

  9. Other mini-themes, such as undergarments and musical connections, also seem to appear today. Never heard of 22D and kicked myself when I realised the solution was spelt out in the clue. Whilst the answer to 7D was relatively easy, I think the clueing must be one of the most complicated structures I’ve ever seen. All good stuff though and thanks to the setter and Gazza for the review.

  10. A “colourful” offering today, enjoyable but no oustanding favourite clues. */*** rating for me. Re: 13a, not that convinced, although I understand the word play I always thought the expression was ‘ As/—‘
    Thanx to Compiler and Gazza for the Review.

      1. You are of course correct Gazza, my interpretation would have been ‘at one’, ‘as one’ or ‘of one’ (in agreement/united).
        Thanx.

  11. I really liked this one but found it a bit more difficult than others seem to have done – probably nearer 3* for me – don’t know why. I think putting the answer for 7d where 10d should have gone, and the other way round, and not seeing what I’d done for ages probably had quite a lot to do with it!
    I certainly did put 1a in straight away. I didn’t know that I’d heard of the 22d conductor but I must have done as I saw it immediately – what a lovely face he’s got. We’re almost living on 19a at the moment – lots in the garden. The ones that held me up the longest were 2 and 18d – don’t know anything about racing, or races, and I thought of classic books anyway.
    I liked 21 and 24a (once I’d worked out why) and 17, 19 and 22d.
    With thanks to today’s Mr Ron and gazza.

  12. Not very keen on today’s puzzle – don’t know why, but I struggled with it and couldn’t complete the NE corner without the hints. I needed my electronic friend to find the answer and then I could understand the question. Not my favourite way of doing crosswords. I was thinking this week’s puzzles would be difficult after yesterday’s: so far I’m not wrong.

    I’d like to agree with Gazza but I can’t, so it’s a 3*/1* for me I’m afraid.

  13. Completed today without help, so I’ve just logged in to be sociable. This was the easiest crosswrd I’ve seen in years, but it was well worth looking in for 2d. Thanks Gazza and setter.

  15. really enjoyed todays crossword,though I wouldn’t call it easy,needed lots of lateral thinking.Thank you gazza and and setter.

  16. Thanks to the setter and to Gazza (especially for hint for 2d ), I did think this crossword was lacking in any sort of challenge but was saved by 17d.

  17. Solved this very quickly – I noticed the horse-racing theme.
    1a & 1d went in immediately then steady progress made.

    Faves : 12a, 16a, 19a, 21a, 3d, 7d, 18d & 19d.

    In the woods across the street there is a copper tree (perhaps a beech) which generally
    flourishes but this autumn is looking very tatty.
    Is our planet going down the drain?

    1. No Derek, trees are like everything else, they take a rest now and again. On the other hand, Beeches like a well drained environment and it has probably had more water this year than is good for it. There is something of a low spot outside my place which gathers water; the Beech there didn’t survive.

      1. Hi Buffer!
        I appreciate your comment re the copper beech.
        Here in NL we had a long dry summer then recent heavy downpours which may have upset the tree!

        Nothing like the result of Hurricane Sandy in NYC!

        Derek.

    2. Is our planet going down the drain?

      Those in the the north-eastern US today might say YES.

      Hope that Tantalus et alia are safe!!

  18. Agree with a */** /***, quite pleasant . Bit ‘off ‘today following flue Jab so stayed away from work,Plenty of time on my hands so did the ‘toughie’ for a change, today’s had a recurrent theme ,which made it easier-waiting for the blog to see how easy it was !

  19. Enjoyed the puzzle but the same thing happened to me as happened yesterday – went merrily along and then came to a screeching halt! Don’t know if it was my brain or the puzzles. In the end I finished it but had to work at it. Did anyone else find there are 2 levels of clues in the puzzle? Or perhaps that’s deliberate by the setter to get us going. There were only 2 anagrams I think and they serve a similar purpose.
    Thanks to Gazza – especially for explaining 7d. I could not see the wordplay. I wanted to put “mop” for “mass of hair” and the word for family is also in the second part of the answer!
    Thanks to setter also

  20. I can’t say that I found this as easy as you did, Gazza – the last five took as long as the rest put together.

    Last one in was 18D, I wasn’t thinking of racing at all. 8A was also a challenge, because I was distracted thinking about basques… Still, at least your picture for 2D felt like a reward after that :-)

      1. Thanks for the welcome I have lurked a bit. Usually finish without help. Only when I am desperate do I peep.

  22. Solved top left, top right, bottom right…..then go stuck. To me the south west corner was a real tough area. Great fun though. Thanks to all concerned.

  23. Still kicking myself for not getting 13a, but I’ve never heard the expression used to mean united.

  24. Thanks to the setter & to Gazza for the review & hints. Enjoyed it up to a point but it the 4 colour related clues all appeared in a puzzle last month. It was 2*/2* for me. First in was 1a, last in was 24a. Favourites were 16a & 22d whose phone system was installed by yours truly in the 70’s. Great weather earlier in Central London had a nice 10K run. I hope all our American bloggers are safe.

  25. Wrong envelope, again.
    This should have gone into the envelope marked:
    “A-cryptic-puzzle-for-those-who-have-never-yet-done-a-cryptic-puzzle”
    Thanks setter and Gazza, great PWOARS.

  26. Still can’t get 13 across – heard of as one meaning united but how would you use “in one” in a united sense?

  27. Agree with the ratings. A very do-able Tuesday offering which made a nice entree to the Toughie. Favourites were 24a and 7d.
    Thanks Mr Ron and Gazza.
    We do often wonder why The Telegraph do not tell us the name of the setters for the Backpager. It certainly adds to our enjoyment of a puzzle when we have the feeling of relating to a real person we have met before, while we are solving. Do others also feel this way?

    1. Well! Most of the setters have been revealed via this Blog!

      Monday – Rufus
      Wednesday – Jay
      Friday – Giovanni

      Nice to have a bit of mystery on Tuesday & Thursday!

      (Have yours clocks in NZ been adjusted? Only ?? hours ahead of us!)

      1. Yes, we are now 13 hours ahead of you. This means that we get our down-load access at 1pm and the blog review default time is midnight here. This means that we usually do the puzzles one day and have the blog to look forward to when we get up in the morning. Like now. Cheers

  29. I thought this was an enjoyable one, agree with chappie who thought 2dn answer should be shirt. Re horse racing, not sure 3 clues quite constitutes a theme! Loved 22 dn, fave doddle anagram was 3 dn. **\*** for me.

    1. I was careful to write ‘mini-theme’ (and it’s four if you include the “bet” in 16a). :D

  30. Quick enough in the early morning and provided some entertainment. Thanks to the setter and to gazza. I got a bit worried when I saw the same checking letters for two intersecting clues in the SE until I remembered the diplomat.

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