ST 2676 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 2676 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2676 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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The Independent on Sunday puzzle by Kairos, published in the newspaper last Sunday, is available online today.  Kairos is the IoS alias of our very own Prolixic.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the more difficult clues and provide hints for them.

Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.

Could new readers please read the Welcome post before asking questions about the site.

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”.  Definitions are underlined in the clues.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submission

Across

1a           Inappropriate solution when one is dog-tired? (6)
A cryptic definition of a brief daytime sleep that is unlikely to be taken by a dog!

10a         Produce picture with a backing that produces Oscar, say (5)
A verb meaning to produce a picture followed by the A from the clue all reversed (backing)

12a         Cook’s vessel? Yes and no (7)
A vessel used for cooking (cook’s vessel, yes) and a seagoing vessel (cook’s vessel, no)

17a         Not bound to put in force a principle of capitalism (4,10)
A charade of an adjective meaning not bound and verbs meaning to put in force and to force open

21a         On first course study only a little (7)
A charade of a first course in a meal and a verb meaning to study

23a         Family doctor at home is essential person (7)
A family followed by a local doctor and a two-letter word meaning at home

26a         Flourishing group within party holding unemployed back (8)
A verb meaning flourishing or brandishing is derived by putting a group within a political party around (holding) the reversal (back) of an adjective meaning unemployed

27a         Article penned by small youth providing glossy material (6)
The indefinite article inside (penned by) S(mall) and a youth

Down

1d           Restrict access to young woman if within country’s borders (8)
A young woman and IF inside the outer letters (borders) of CountrY

2d           Presumably broad-minded salesperson (9)
This salesperson could cover a wide area

3d           Belly dancer initially covered by sailor on sign (7)
The initial letter of Dancer inside (covered by) a sailor and a sign or portent

6d           First of mud appearing before long in rainy season (7)
The initial letter of Mud followed by a phrase (2,4) meaning appearing before long

8d           Primarily sandy, a hot and not half arid area (6)
The entire clue describes this sandy, hot, dry area – the initial letter (primarily) of Sandy followed by the A from the clue, H(ot), ARid without its final two letters (not half) and A(rea)

18d         Conservative interrupting left is turned on (7)
C(onservative) inside (interrupting) a verb meaning left or departed gives an adjective meaning turned on or aroused

20d         Refrain from laying directions on champ (6)
Two compass directions followed by a verb meaning to champ or masticate

22d         Linguistic practices that could take setter and solver a lot of time (5)
The pronoun that could replace setter and solver followed by a lot of time

If you need further help then please ask and I will see what I can do.

As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put whole or partial answers or alternative clues in your comment, else they may be censored!

Today it’s Happy Birthday to Nick Mason (69)
ARVE Error: need id and provider

85 comments on “ST 2676 (Hints)”

  1. Really enjoyed this, despite putting the wrong answer in to 18d initially. So extra thanks to setter & to BD for getting me to the Finishing Post faster than usual,

  2. Not looked at this one yet but I did do the Kairos puzzle in the Indy while watching the first set of the tennis.
    Some pretty tricky stuff but enough easier clues to give you a way in. Well worth a look IMHO. Well done Prolixic – I don’t normally do the Indy but I’ll keep an eye open for Kairos in future.

    Tennis seems to be going downhill now :sad:

        1. Hooray it’s working again, the strange part was it would open yesterdays but not todays other than the introduction part!

          1. Before BD starts… :) … WordPress told me my version of Internet Explorer was ‘dangerous’ the other night, so perhaps that’s why the blog is refusing to work on it. Firefox works fine.

  3. Didn’t take me long but as usual on a Sunday morning, I did enjoy myself. Thanks to Virgilius and BD.

    Feel I should be going for a walk in the sunshine but also can’t stop watching the tennis either.

  4. I enjoyed this and found it fairly gentle, last in was 27a which was a new word to me. The penny dropped when I realised the special meaning of ‘penned’. I liked 13a which has misdirection and even tells us so! Thanks to setter and BD.

    1. 27a was a new word for me until it appeared in one of last week’s cryptic crosswords in the DT with, if I remember correctly, a very similar clue!

      I enjoyed this and finished quite quickly except for 26a where I had a complete mental block trying to find a word for unemployed backwards for the 2nd, 3rd 4th and 5th letters, until the penny finally dropped that it was the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th!

      Many thanks to the setter and to BD.

  5. Fortunately memory stretched back as far as Wednesday for 27a .Usual adroit clues but perhaps fewer chuckles and certainly one of the easier Virgilius puzzles but no less enjoyable .
    Very rapid thaw overnight and currently a balmy 6C .
    Thanks again

  6. At the risk of repetition, another elegant and fairly clued puzzle, what we’ve come to expect on a Sunday.

    Thanks to BD for the hints, not needed today, and to Virgilius for the entertainment.

    Sunny warm but windy in Dover, breakfast al fresco today.

  7. At last! It’s amazing how much I miss you all when I can’t get access to the site :-) , for some reason although I could access previous puzzles today I could only get as far as the introduction on todays puzzle, perservation has pain off and it now seems to be ok. Enjoyed this one today with lots of clues I liked inc 12a, 10a and 19d, had not heard of 21a and had to google it for confirmation, thanks for hints Dave, though didn’t need them today, minimal help from my electronic friends today!

  8. Have just spent a while trying to work out what IoS means in the first bit of BD’s introduction. :roll: Now on to today’s crossword.
    A few of these held me up – not so much in getting an answer but in understanding why.
    I tried to make 4a into an anagram for ages and took a long time to get 2d. That was my last one in, and then didn’t see what broad minded had to do with it. I kept hunting for the really well hidden middle-of-the-clue answers that I always miss – there aren’t any, just when I remember to look!
    I liked 4, 21 and 25a and 7 and 19d. My favourite was 1a, particularly now that I’ve seen BD’s picture. :smile:
    Thanks to Virgilius and BD.

  9. hello all, pretty straight forwards today. How does 21a’s 5th letter legitimately fit with 18d?..or am I being too picky?

    1. Not sure what you mean about 21a and 18d – maybe I’m missing the point – it HAS been known to happen . . .!

    2. Forget that comment – I do see what you mean and yes, I think you’re being too picky!! Enough said or we’ll be in the naughty corner for almost giving away what that letter is. :smile:

      1. He means that the fifth letter of 21a is the third letter of 18d and, because 21a is a French word, it has a particular mark attached to it which it doesn’t have in 18d. Naughty corner – here we come if we say any more. :smile:

          1. Possibly the difference between going to the naughty corner or not as it pretty much gives the letter. :smile:

  10. Ureka ! its working ! Enjoyable puzzle again, thank you Virgilius and BD for your hints – Glad I didn’t need them because I couldn’t access them anyway ! All seems well now.

    1. ************************************************************
      Congratulations on posting comment # 100,000 on the blog !!!

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  12. Splendid stuff as usual on a Sunday. A little easier than normal perhaps but they don’t have to be hard to be fun.

    Favourite was 1a :grin:

    Thanks to Virgilius and BD.

  14. Thanks to Virgilius & to Big Dave. Another super puzzle from Virgilius, was about six short, so had to resort to the hints. Favourites were 16&20d. Was 3*/3* for me. Good to see the Sun in Central London. Got to go, as I’m blogging between FA Cup games !

  15. Re 12a – Anyone else wonder if the capital C for cook is relevant i as Captain Cook used a sailing vessel rather than a 12a ??

      2. This morning was in Whitby where HMB Endeavour was built .(for the first 3years of it’s life it was a collier and was then converted )

  16. Found this very straight forward and am sure all my answers are correct but am flummoxed by 15d.

    1. It is a homophone (articulated) of two words. The first is a synonym for ‘story’, and the second is ‘without embellishment’. The definition is ‘part of craft’.

  17. With trepidation I turned to BD for a hint for the one remaining clue I have been staring at for far too long. Surely there must be a hint for 15d it’s the hardest of the lot (obviously because I can’t get it). Disaster, nothing!
    Any one help? I am starting on the Rioja so will never get it now.

  18. Very enjoyable.
    For me, one of those where I worked from the clue to the answer instead of my, perhaps, usual method of fitting a word which my subconscious sends up, to the clue.
    If you get my drift…
    Many thanks Virgilius and BD.
    PS
    15d – Very clever yet simplicity personified, in my view :)

  20. Thanks to all for a most enjoyable crossword. Furnace now fixed so Mrs T is talking to me again. A balmy 19F here in Boston.

  22. Dear me, that was tough and still haven’t got an answer for the last two, 4a and 7d.
    Also got an answer for 26a which sort of means flourishing but can’t see any of the rest of the clue.
    Did like 21a, clever clue I thought but too any answers without full understanding like 27a and 15d (what has articulated got to do with the answer?).
    Needed the hints but unfortunately the ones I wanted hints for were not there! Hey ho, at least the snows gone.

    1. 4a is a double definition, the first being ‘building’ and the second being ‘bases for arguments’.
      7d is the usual one letter abbreviation for ‘husband’ in the middle of a four letter word meaning ‘kind’ – not the nice kind but the ‘type’. The definition is ‘snappish’.
      27a is a glossy material. The usual (again) abbreviation for ‘small’ and a four letter word for a young youth around the indefinite article (from the clue).
      15d is part of craft – the sort that flies – and is a homophone of ‘story’ (four letters) followed by a five letter homophone of ‘without embellishment’.

      2. Thx Kath, much appreciated, I was trying to get kind as in soft! Doh! I got both 27a and 15d but didn’t quite understand and I must admit I am still puzzled by articulated. Ah I get it as I write this, it is an indicator that the first part sounds like another word for a story. Now I get it.

    2. I have the same problem with 26a – I’ve looked at it from every angle but obviously not the right one.

      1. Start with a four-letter group within a political party, typically labelled as being right or left. Then reverse a word meaning unemployed or not working and insert it in the middle of the first word.

  23. Enjoyable puzzle, thanks to setter and BD. Lots of very clever “smile” clues. I hate to say it, but it’s 75F here in Miami. Or, perhaps, if I really hated to say it, I wouldn’t have!

  24. Just the right level – not too difficult, but hard enough to induce a feeling of satisfaction on completion of the job.

  25. Well! I came here to justify the answer to 16D and BD obviously thought it too simple to explain!

    All became clear when I finally learned that the spelling that I know for “curious” is actually only an alternative version, so there you go.

    27A is becoming rather popular, isn’t it?

    Thanks to BD (especially for the picture for 1A!) , and to Virgilius for the very enjoyable crossword.

  26. BD,

    I’ve started redoing the crosswords from 4 yrs ago around the time that this blog began. I’ve noticed that the Sunday puzzle feels slightly different from now, and I wondered if Virgillus was the setter back then. If not, do you know when he started setting for a Sunday?

  27. A less-taxing puzzle from Virgilius today.

    Aside from the four fourteen-letter jobs cutting across each other in the middle, I liked : 1a, 12a, 21a, 23a, 1d, 3d, 6d, 15d & 19d.

    Had a helluva job printing out this puzzle – it kept giving me two pages : one totally blank and t’other virtually so except for clue 22d at the top!
    Eventually went to “more options” and selected “print as image” and it worked!

    Weather here – buckets of rain getting rid of the frozen snow at last – still a fair bit left though – roll on to the vernal equinox and better weather!

    Shall cook a fillet of deer tonight and I’ve only a drop of Beaujolais left in the red department so must get on to my wine merchant to top me up with Burgundy and Loire selections.

  28. Please can someone tell me if I’m being dim YET again? Thought that I’d have a go at Prolixic’s puzzle from last week in the IoS – can’t print it out. Is there some way of doing it or shall I just give up and decide that it’s probably too difficult for me anyway?

    1. BD can tell you how to print it. He told me once but I’ve forgotten and now deleted his email – d’oh!

    3. Thanks Sue, and pommers, of course!
      Life is being made even trickier at the moment as I’m trying to get used to iPad – SO not my idea! :sad: and :roll:

  29. I’ve been solving the Sunday Telegraph for about seven years and enjoyed it all the time.
    It’s been easier for the last few weeks and I wonder if there is a change of setter

    2. Easier does not mean less enjoyable ,my favourite setter,if you wish to revert to his predecessor ,you would be in a very short queue .

  30. Good solid Sunday entertainment – not too tricky, but I was held up in the NW corner for a bit.
    Favourite clue was 4a!
    Thanks to Virgilius and BD!

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