DT 27089 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 27089

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27089

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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

An enjoyable puzzle from today’s mystery setter.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

1a    Story about returning nobleman (7)
{ACCOUNT} – reverse the two-letter Latin abbreviation for about and add a foreign nobleman

5a    Buy and sell  vehicles (7)
{TRAFFIC} – two definitions

9a    A thespian’s initially found in that place (7)
{THEATRE} – put the A from the clue and the initial letter of Thespian inside the pronoun meaning “that place” – where’s the definition? Read the whole clue again

10a    Discreet priest with dirty religious books (7)
{PRUDENT} – P(riest) followed by an adjective meaning dirty or risqué and the second set of books in the bible

11a    Split peas sorted and graded (9)
{SEPARATED} – an anagram (sorted) of PEAS followed by a verb meaning graded

12a    Busybody‘s a bloody snitch (5)
{NOSER} – two definitions

13a    First hit of the ball from Spanish golfer carrying river (5)
{SERVE} – the first name of a famous Spanish golfer around (carrying) R(iver)

15a    Goad ounce that’s wild with anger (9)
{ENCOURAGE} – an anagram (that’s wild) of OUNCE followed by anger

17a    One plays music to scare her, strangely lacking energy in one instance (9)
{ORCHESTRA} – an anagram (strangely) of TO SCARE H(E)R without one of the E(nergy)s (lacking energy in one instance)

19a    Awful loss? Hard blow (5)
{SLOSH} – an anagram (awful) of LOSS followed by H(ard)

22a    Quantity of egg-flip in Christmas hamper (5)
{PINCH} – a very small quantity is hidden (hamper) inside the clue

23a    Experience is hard — copying without something to write with (9)
{HAPPENING} – H(ard) followed by a verb meaning copying around (without) something to write with

25a    Heads back before new editor is knocked out (7)
{STUNNED} – reverse a slang word for heads then add N(ew) and ED(itor)

26a    Terribly enraged, Tommy might throw one (7)
{GRENADE} – an anagram (terribly) of ENRAGED – Tommy is a slang word for a private in the British Army

27a    Doctor muddles, cutting top off bandages (7)
{DRESSES} – the abbreviation of doctor followed by a word meaning muddles without its initial M – in this context bandages is a verb

28a    Link hospital department with gripe on the radio (7)
{ENTWINE} – the usual three-letter hospital department followed by what sounds like (on the radio) a gripe

Down

1d    Rock stars holding note — they need skill (7)
{ARTISTS} – an anagram (rock) of STARS around (holding) one spelling of the seventh note of the scale in sol-fa notation

2d    The man’s caught in a questionable act, getting sleazier (7)
{CHEAPER} – the male pronoun (this man) inside (caught in) a questionable act or escapade

3d    Golf club with no parking, say (5)
{UTTER} – drop the initial P(arkiing) from a golf club

4d    Management chaps with time to go after bonus (9)
{TREATMENT} – some chaps and T(ime) follow (go after) a bonus or gift

5d    Following class daughter wrote on a keyboard (5)
{TYPED} – a class or category followed by D(aughter)

6d    A wharf with no end unsettled tunas — they’ll swim deep (9)
{AQUANAUTS} – the A from the clue and a wharf without the final Y (with no end) followed by an anagram (unsettled) of TUNAS

7d    On the house is a wild flower (7)
{FREESIA} – an adjective meaning on the house followed by an anagram (wild) of IS A

8d    Camp bed that is supporting Queen (7)
{COTERIE} – a camp or small group of people with shared interests is created from a child’s bet and the Latin abbreviation for that is, the latter following our Queen’s cypher

14d    Creatures great, creatures small, brought to earth with mysterious help (9)
{ELEPHANTS} – some small creatures follow E(arth) and an anagram (mysterious) of HELP

16d    Drink from plastic glass, we hear? (9)
{CHAMPAGNE} – sounds like (we hear) plastic of imitation followed by a piece of glass

17d    Resisted work and assumed an attitude (7)
{OPPOSED} – a charade of the two-letter abbreviation for a musical work and a verb meaning assumed an attitude in order to be drawn or painted

18d    Bond with prisoner on floor (7)
{CONFUSE} – a verb meaning to bond preceded by (with … on) a prisoner

20d    Amigo and I at sea maintaining King’s Japanese craft (7)
{ORIGAMI} – an anagram (at sea) of AMIGO and I around the Latin abbreviation for King

21d    We hear how one might address Kelly’s cleanliness (7)
{HYGIENE} – sounds like (we hear) how one might address the Kelly who sang in the rain

23d    From cloth I designed cloaks (5)
{HIDES} – hidden (from) inside the clue

24d    European cold in aeroplane — leave it abruptly? (5)
{EJECT} – E(uropean) followed by C(old) inside a type of aeroplane gives how one might abruptly leave said aeroplane

Sorry the review is a bit late, but I went to a local charity open day that went on for two hours instead of one.

The Quick crossword pun: {castor} + {weigh} = {castaway}

56 comments on “DT 27089”

  1. Agree with the BD ratings for this one. For some reason I don’t quite understand the NW corner took ages for the pennies to drop. Thanks to BD – hope it was an enjoyable event – and to the Thursday Mysteron.

    The Toughie won’t take you much longer to solve than this one so why not give it a go.

    1. As always your faith in our abilities is only exceeded by our ineptitude. Can’t even start it!

  2. I liked this one today. No complaints from me, although I am not sure I particularly like 2d.
    2*/4* for me. Thanks to setter, and to BD.

    The toughie took only a smidgeon longer than this one. Now to see what the Graun has to offer.

  3. Definitely one of Kath’s WED day’s. Found this very hard going, yet sailed through the Toughie.

    Many thanks to Mr Ron and BD for the review.

          1. Then may I offer an apology to Gazza, and if he has a problem with that he may come round

            discuss it with my Budgie, he is in a terrible mood and would not stop pecking at the fish tank today.

  4. I thought that this was the hardest puzzle for a few days. It would be remiss of me not to mention the important contributions of Mrs SW ! I read out the clues for 23a and 24d and she gave me the answers straight away. It needed some investigation of the wordplay but she was quite right in both cases. Also I had the answer to 28a with the hospital department and “wine” but it took Mrs SW to decode the radio bit. So thank you setter for an enjoyable puzzle and BD for your review and Mrs SW for your assistance !

  5. This was one of those that I found really difficult while I was doing it and now can’t see why. It’s taken me ages – glad that BD gave it 3* for difficulty as I had a nasty feeling that it might be just me. Agree with 4* for enjoyment too.
    After reading all the clues through once I only had about three answers and then carried on making very slow progress.
    14d took for ever to untangle. I was a bit doubtful about 1d as I’m more used to the other spelling of the note. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of 6d.
    Lots of really good clues – 19 and 27a and 4 and 16d. My favourite was 21d and made me laugh a lot. It reminded me of a clue from quite a long time ago. Can’t remember all of it but it started off with ‘An inappropriate salutation to a monarch . . . ‘ and the answer was ‘yoking’.
    With thanks to Mr Ron and BD.

    1. I found it very hard to get in, eventually using my trusty gizmo to solve an anagram to get started. Once in, things fell into place. Not sure about 19a, I would say that was more walking in the rain than a blow. I never did get 18d, didn’t think of that meaning for “on the floor.”

      1. I don’t think we’re talking about ‘blow’ as in windy weather – it means blow as in hit someone I think. Could easily be wrong here . .

    2. Like you I found it difficult to start but you must really like awful puns. I thought 16d and 21d were world class groaners!
      18d was just plain poor and still don’t get the bloody part for Noser?
      Not much fun today bit of a slog. Thx to BD for the hints but never thought I would here me saying this, much prefer a Ray T!

  6. Good morning, BD, this all seemed very straightforward (once I’d spelled the Russian’s name correctly!), until I hit the SW quarter. I can’t get 18d at all. My checking letters give me c & n & u & e which I think are right, but I’ve ground to a complete halt. But many thanks to you for the hints, as well as to the setter for an agreeable tussle. 3/4 for me.

    1. Poppy – first part is an abbreviation for convict and the second part is a word to join – the whole make up a word meaning to floor (or how about stump)

      1. Oh, Skempie – thank you – you’ve saved my sanity! And of course now I see it, I can’t understand why I couldn’t before… And renewed apologies about my Russian mistake.

  7. I really enjoyed this one. SE corner was last in for me. Not keen on 18d but that’s just a personal point. Also some of the word play was a little contrived, but never the less still very enjoyable. Thanks to setter and BD.

        1. So sorry! I think ‘what I call my brain’ has overheated in the excitement of trying to grapple with the Toughie at the same time…

          1. You don’t need to be sorry! :smile: I’m not doing too well with the Toughie – trying to do it with one hand and one bit of brain while using other hand and what remains of the brain to make bread, soup and chocolate brownies obviously doesn’t work!

  9. Thursday temporarily seems to be 14d day although a cleverer clue than last week .
    Favs 16d and 21d .
    2* / 4* for me .
    Thanks once again .

  10. Very enjoyable solve today (always makes me feel good if I manage to finish the crossword before the blog appears). Quite hard, but very solvable. I thoroughly enjoyed 14D – reminded me of a comment I saw on Farcebook – ‘I will ignore all comments that do not mention elephants – I will treat them as totally irrelephant’.

  11. I thought 22a’s definition was hamper, as in constrict. Gave the same answer though so happy.

      1. I thought that too. Otherwise the surface reading is off. You can’t really have a pinch of egg- flip can you?

  12. Knowing that BD doesn’t mind a pedant (he told me that once!), thought I’d just point out that the answers to 17a and 5d are slightly incorrect….what kind of charity day was it, BD??

    Other than that, fairly enjoyable, although I hadn’t really heard of the answer to 12a, and although I guessed the answer I think my 1996 OED may need updating.

    Toughie had me grasping with one left, as well…roll on review!

      2. No worries BD, but I think you’re making this up… ‘We waded through the mud to see chickens, piglets and plants’ sounds distinctly like 17d in the 19th October 2009 edition of the Toughie (7 letters)! You charlatan.

    2. I think my 1996 OED may need updating.

      Assuming you’re in the UK and a member of a public library, it’s worth checking their website. A lot of libraries subscribe to the OED and you can log in via the library website with your library card number.

      If they do, it gives you access to the full OED and the Quotes.

  13. I also lost time by trying to find anagrams out of ‘split peas’ (sorted) and ‘goad ounce’ (that’s wild)….er…anyone else fall into the same trap?

      1. Good, I’m glad! The e_c_u_a__ didn’t really help in that respect, but the ‘r’ I had in the middle of 11a kind of made me feel I was on the wrong track.

  14. I agree with BD ***/****. I just needed help for 12a, which I couldn’t get at all even with three of the five letters! I had assumed it must have something to do with a prominent facial feature, and I thought of but rejected the answer which I’d never heard of. Even after peeping between BD’s brackets it seems like a horrible slang word. Other than that I thought it was an excellent puzzle and I particularly enjoyed 21d.

    Thanks to the setter and to BD.

  15. Although we realised what the answer to 12 across was, the word isn’t in my electronic helper, and is not one that I’ve heard of before. Thanks to all.

  17. Did not really enjoy this one. 12a is solvable but not much of a word! 18d seemed pretty weak too because “floor” is a much stronger word than the answer. To me they are not synonyms. Had never heard of that meaning for 19a either but I think that’s just because I am not fully fluent in Britspeak! You will have to tell me if that is an obscure word! I also had a problem with 13a but that was just a lack of personal knowledge. Is he a well known golfer??
    Otherwise thanks to the setter and to BD.

      1. Think the setter today must be a golfer, – 3d and 13a. I had the pleasure and honour to see him play, without any doubt the finest golfer of them all and what a decent chap.
        PS lost the golf today, 2 and 1!

    2. Probably one of the best known golfers the world has ever known Catherine – even in the US. Severiano “Seve” Ballesteros Sota was a Spanish golfer known for his blue wool sweaters and love of the game of golf and his love of life, he had a wonderful sense of humour and was pretty good with the clubs too. He sadly died fro cancer in 2011 and was the inspiration for the uniforms worn by the European Ryder Cup team last year.

      1. Thanks Skempie. I don’t follow golf and the only golfers I know are the ones you can’t help hearing about. Or the ones I inadvertently hear about while reading the hockey news! Sounds like I should have heard of him though.

  18. We are going to put our necks out and make a guess that the setter is Shamus again. It certainly had the feel of one of his to us. Enjoyed encountering the big beasts in the room again and they did get the same shout as last week. We gave this one **/****.
    Thanks Mr Ron (Shamus) and BD.

  19. I thought today’s crossword one of the best so far this year. Some delightful wordplay. Superb clues. Too many favourites to single one out.

  21. Perhaps, RayT has competition on Thursdays.
    No, that’s too far fetched!.
    But thoroughly enjoyed this one, some really crafty clues.
    Thanks setter and BD.

  22. Really enjoyed this and got it done on the commute in. Nicely pitched clues and good fun.

  23. I didn’t check the solving time but I pulled the paper out at Mile End and turned the page to the inside for the Toughie just before Tower Hill. Quick but satisfying for me. Thanks to the setter and BD.

  24. I struggled with this one and the crossword won. I thought it might have been due to a difficult day, But I was glad to see I was not quite alone.If this was a Shamus, I’m no longer a fan.

  25. Thanks to Mr. Ron & to Big Dave for the review & hints. Very enjoyable, got beaten by 18d. Favourite was 24d. Was 3*/4* for me. Nice day in Central London after the early squalls.

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