Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27132
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Giovanni certainly didn’t seem to be wearing his ‘hard hat’ today but we get the usual entertaining mixture of clues. Let us know what you thought.
If you want to see an answer just highlight the gap between the brackets under the clue.
Across Clues
1a Send off something for publication as an afterthought (10)
{POSTSCRIPT} – split as (4,5) this could mean to send off something to be published.
6a Animals can be a nuisance wasting time (4)
{APES} – A and a nuisance without its final T(ime).
9a Address from a bishop with poetic lines (5)
{ABODE} – string together A (from the clue), the abbreviation for a bishop in chess notation and a lyric poem.
10a Virago deal unlikely (rejecting a male author) (4,5)
{GORE VIDAL} – an anagram (unlikely) of VIRAGO DE(a)L, without the A, gives us a male American author, wit and political commentator. The surface here is pretty good because the publishing house Virago Press restricts its output mainly to women writers.
12a Censured for being second-class in terms of grade, we hear (7)
{BERATED} – this sounds like (we hear) how you might describe something adjudged as second-class (1-5).
13a Bit of skeleton kept in hospital usually (5)
{TALUS} – this bone in the ankle is hidden (kept) in the clue.
15a Nothing that’s offered with charity ultimately can be bad? (7)
{NAUGHTY} – an archaic word for nothing is followed by the ultimate letter of (charit)Y.
17a Academic room — I love lying around as one giving little away (7)
{SCROOGE} – the abbreviation for the room at a university where the academic staff hang out is followed by the reversal (lying around) of the latin word for I and the letter that resembles zero or love in tennis scoring.
19a Plants die, I have found, when given first bit of shade (7)
{ENDIVES} – these are salad plants (I can’t stand them personally). A verb to die or terminate is followed by the contracted form of ‘I have’) and the first bit of S(hade).
21a Past about to be shown as genuine (7)
{SINCERE} – a charade of an adverb meaning past or after that time and a preposition meaning about or concerning.
22a Animal in lake and bird by river (5)
{LEMUR} – an animal native to Madagascar comes from assembling L(ake), a large flightless bird and R(iver).
24a Party beginning to embarrass one with unruly child around (7)
{CEILIDH} – this is a social gathering in Scotland with traditional music and dancing. Insert the beginning letter of E(mbarrass) and I (one in Roman numerals) inside an anagram (unruly) of CHILD.
27a Success in game means not missing a trick (5,4)
{GRAND SLAM} – Cryptic definition of a contract in bridge in which, to be successful, all thirteen tricks have to be won.
28a Throw away some beef (5)
{CHUCK} – double definition, the beef being the cut from the neck to the shoulder blade.
29a Dog story being read out (4)
{TAIL} – this verb sounds like (being read out) a story.
30a Drug supply in strange tin (10)
{ASTRINGENT} – this is a type of drug that can contract organic tissues and it’s used as a preparation to stop bleeding. It’s an anagram (supply, i.e. in a supple manner) of STRANGE TIN.
Down Clues
1d Fruit, mostly a thing not to be cast to swine (4)
{PEAR} – most of what you are urged not to cast before swine in the New Testament.
2d What you may get with winters nowadays! (9)
{SNOWBOUND} – very topical today for some parts of the UK. A four-letter word can be found ‘wrapped’ inside the last two words of the clue.
3d Give direction to farm animal (5)
{STEER} – double definition, the farm animal being a young male which has lost the wherewithal to stand as a stud.
4d Thy girl must be treated properly (7)
{RIGHTLY} – an anagram (must be treated) of THY GIRL.
5d Soldier joining some of the French marches (7)
{PARADES} – the abbreviation for an airborne-soldier is followed by the French word for some.
7d It may be useless unless you put your foot down (5)
{PEDAL} – this was the last answer I wrote in because I thought I was missing something. If I was I still haven’t found it – I think that this is just a pretty weak cryptic definition of one of the foot-operated levers in your car.
8d One pursuing personal interests who is looking for his or her identity? (4-6)
{SELF-SEEKER} – double definition, the second cryptic. The main definition is of someone having concern for his own interests before those of others.
11d Seasoned artist taking place in moving event (7)
{VETERAN} – the usual abbreviation for an artist is inserted (taking place) in an anagram (moving) of EVENT.
14d Divine presence stirring then in girl (5,5)
{INNER LIGHT} – I’d never heard this phrase which means personal spiritual enlightenment and which is used especially by Quakers. It’s an anagram (stirring) of THEN IN GIRL.
16d Maiden maybe inside? He had kept outside and hung around (7)
{HOVERED} – the cricket word for six consecutive deliveries at cricket (which may be a maiden) goes inside the contracted form of ‘he had’. I’m reminded of the schoolboy’s sentence in his history exam ‘Throughout the first part of Elizabeth’s reign Mary Queen of Scots was hoovering in the background’.
18d No hope sadly when wanting employment? One provides hospitality (4,5)
{OPEN HOUSE} – an anagram (sadly) of NO HOPE is followed by a synonym for employment.
20d Sharp-edged cutters — bad when descending on the French (7)
{SICKLES} – a synonym for bad or ill is followed (descending on, in a down clue) by the French definite article (plural version).
21d Be close to anger about pounds — one wants to lose them? (7)
{SLIMMER} – a verb meaning to seethe but just hold oneself in check contains the single-character abbreviation for pounds sterling.
23d Female famously frozen outside a US city (5)
{MIAMI} – the name of Puccini’s heroine with the frozen tiny hand in La Bohème contains A.
ARVE Error: need id and provider
25d Old South American beer could be found here (5)
{INCAN} – where you might find beer (2,3).
26d Son Christopher briefly appearing in satirical piece (4)
{SKIT} – S(on) is followed by the traditional nickname of someone who’s called Christopher.
My top clues today were 10a and 2d. Which ones took the plaudits for you?
Today’s Quickie Pun: {WREN} + {OVATION} = {RENOVATION}
This took a bit longer than usual but a lovely puzzle nonetheless. It took me about an hour to get the American city despite having three of the five letters in already. I can only put this down to Mrs C-S putting socks with Thursday on them out for me to wear today. I am now listening to Send In The Clowns by Barbra Streisand. Thanks to Giovani for a great puzzle and thanks of course to Gazza and all involved. have a nice weekend everybody.
Don’t care if it wasn’t one of his hardest, I thoroughly enjoyed it with his usual mix of clever and well thought out clues.
Many Thx to the Don and to Gazza for explaining 17a.
Yes fairly straight forward, held my self up by putting haunted for 16d, but once that was sorted all fell into place.
Thanks for the review, thanks to setter.
We found ** about right, with steady progress, though having as usual to check the spelling of 24a. Thanks, Gazza for explaining 2d which we had thought was rather weak, but now see is far from it. Thanks also for 17a – could not see what the ‘I love’ had to do with the answer. Thanks also to the setter for an entertaining puzzle.
A few of the answers required some thought today, but I enjoyed working through them.
3*/4* for me. Thanks to Giovanni, and to Gazza.
The toughie gets a thumbs up from me. A cracker to finish the week!
Needed a bit more grey matter to solve today’s puzzle – with 17 across answered correctly, but half of that particular clue beyond our ken, until reading it explained above. (thanks) Some super clues in this one. And just to add, how much we’ve enjoyed all five crosswords this week. Erm, apologies also for posting solving time earlier in the week – didn’t know it was taboo.
You’ve changed your email address so you’ve been allocated a new avatar.
Ah, I wondered what had happened. I use a couple of email addresses and must have used one of them in error. No problem really though.
No real problems although 24A took some working out im not into bashes north of the border.250 made me laugh & I liked 22A,this was a nice offering from giovanni & thanks to gazza for the review.
Scrooge gets a very bad press – he bought the biggest turkey in the shop for the Cratchet family and he gave Bob Cratchet a pay rise – the man was a saint!
Another enjoyable crossword today.Completed it before the hints arrived! Knew the answer to 24a having lived in Scotland but got the spelling wrong so was temporarily thrown. Also in my ignorance I would question whether 30a is really a drug.
But thanks to setter and Gazza. Agree with the ratings
I was doubtful about astringent being a drug but googling convinced me that it is.
Morning Gazza, it’s grey and wet here today but we have luckily avoided the snow that is affecting a lot of the country so far, I thought parts of this pretty hard today and needed your help to explain a few, I didn’t know the saying at 1d, or the author at 10a, however I have one really favourite clue and that is 2d, although I got the answer I didn’t understand what nowadays was doing in the clue apart from the fact I could see ‘snow’ in the middle of it!!!! other favourites today are 6a and 25d, thanks for the hints gazza, this was at least a three star for me today, I hope not too many of you are struggling with the awful conditions in parts of the country, keep warm and safe everyone
***/*** for me due to a bit of struggle with a couple of the clues. Nevertheless my thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.
Fortunately somewhere in my memory banks I eventually remembered the biblical quote needed for 1d. (This reminded me of a clue a few days ago which I couldn’t do at the time because I did RE at school and had never before heard it referred to as RI).
27a also brought back unwanted memories of England’s dreadful performance last weekend, but full credit to the Welsh. They played brilliantly and thoroughly deserved to win. No comfort today from the cricket in NZ either. Fingers crossed that our footballers can bring a smile to English faces tonight.
Even once I got the answer for 30a I couldn’t work out at all how supply could be an anagram indicator. Many thanks to Gazza for explaining that!
Hi RD re 30a I am with you as regards the anagram indicator, a lot of misdirection in this clue, still doesn’t quite sit comfortably with me, although it is given in my list of anagram indicators
Had to spend more time parsing after completion than during so 3* difficulty for me .
Faves 2d and 25d .
Thanks very much .
I started off really well, slowed down then stopped and took a while to get going again. ***/**** for me today.
I needed the hint to explain 1d – not good on New Testament (and no better on Old). I’d also missed the finer point of 2d until I read the hint – have to confess that for a short time I had ‘snowballs’ even though I couldn’t see why it should be. I’m not too sure about 7d and think there must be more to it. As others have already said I would not have called 30a a drug. 24a is one that I can’t spell, but at least I know that I can’t spell it so always look it up.
I liked 10 (very clever) and 22a and 2 (now that I understand why) 23 and 25d.
With thanks to Giovanni and gazza.
Still very cold and windy – more snow forecast – getting cabin fever.
Hi Kath
I had snowboard for 2d because that’s what I am!
Me too
A ***/*** for me,took longer than a **,thanks Gazza for the wordplay in 17a,assume SCR is science common room ;the tiny hand is frozen finally dropped-was thinking more of Eskimo Nell for my sins! Took a while to get the animal in 22a, which was a good piece of misdirection,Thanks setter for an enjoyable if hard solve,
SCR is Senior Common Room (as opposed to JCR).
Took me a while to complete and needed your review Gazza to explain 1d and 17a although I had the answers I could not get the wordplay. Enjoyed 23d – particularly after this week’s visit to ROH ! New word at 13a for me as well. Good fun, thank you Giovanni and thank you Gazza for your review. Been snowing all morning here in the grim North – but very fine and not lying on the roads.
Very enjoyable offering from Giovanni and a very enjoyable review from Gazza, many thanks to both.
PS – I normally steer well clear of Friday Toughies but just happened to peep through one half open eye (other one tightly shut in case it was too scary) and 1a made me laugh. Going to have a proper look later – far too cold to do anything outside.
Struggled with 9 Across as couldn’t get away from ROSE for ‘poetic lines’. Got there in the end.
Hi Kylie – welcome to the blog.
I hope you liked your picture at 24a.
Enjoyable puzzle as it always is on Friday. Thanks Gazza for the explanations of 2d and 17a. Missed the subtlety of 2d although I (eventually) had the correct answer.
Thanks also to Giovanni!
Gazza – your justification for the illustration at 24a is very weak.
But, I like it!! And the clue.
Many thanks for the review, and to The Don for a most enjoyable challenge.
I must be a bit dim I can’t see what it has to do with the clue
It’s a ‘sound-alike’ hint.
Just as well you didn’t do one for 28a!
15a !!!
Ah yes sorry garza I said I was dim!
My complete lack of operatic knowledge meant a failure to understand 23d.
Thanks to Gazza for the review – especially the schoolboy howler!
Off to a slick start, bogged down in the SE, but eventually fell into place with much needed guidance. Liked 21d and 27a was a painful reminder of last Saturday :(. Chicken chasseur and a bottle of Barolo tonight. Warrington – Huddersfield sounds a more exciting watch on the box than England – San Marino. Thanks to G and G.
Thanks for the Pavarotti clip. Lovely to listen to the master while scrolling through the blog.
Thank for the hints – got hung up with 15a as Nullity caused havoc as I also had snowballs for 2d.
Welcome to the blog HughGfan.
I left home for work with two clues still to finish, fortunately worked them both out during my 20 minute ride, without crashing. 2.5* for me
I thought 2d was just a cryptic definition, didn’t spot the additional twist.
Thanks to the two G’s. Enjoyed this one found it very tricky, needed the hints for 20d and 22a. Favourites were 27a and 25d. Was 3 */3*for me. Blowing a gale in the Lake District, no walking today.
A very satisfying and enjoyable puzzle as usual and thanks to Gazza for much needed occasional hints and raison d’etre
I found that quite a challenge today . I had no idea why 17a was what it was & I had snowdrops in 2d as I saw the “snow” in the clue until I saw the error of my ways, so thanks to gazza for the hints & Giovanni for the brain exercise.
A bit more than 3* difficulty for us and an enjoyable solve. 17a and 24a were our last two in. Took us a little time to recall the bizarre spelling of the Scottish knees-up.
Thanks Giovanni and Gazza.
Left the starting gate at a gallop and feeling much too cocky, but was soon stopped in my tracks. I put 2d, 17a and 7d in because they “fit” and for no other reason. Only just worked out the reason for 17a, even with the hints. The blog is such a huge help, before I found it, I would sulk all day wondering what the answer was. Never did get 30a or 21d, had to get the hints. Thanks to all.
BTW, found a new word today, courtesy of Dickson Wright’s History of English Food: “nef”, which is a pretty ordinary sort of word for what was an exquisite thing, and only used by the richer amongst us!
What a bizarre word! Thanks, I’ll file that one away
Almost finished, which is enough for me. Liked 12, didn’t like 17 (is SCR really something the average solver is supposed to know?).
Not sure about 2. Got it, just can’t see how it’s cryptic.
Didn’t know the reference to the song in 23 though I’ve listened to it now online. Not exactly catchy, is it? I thought for a bit it might be a reference to Lot’s wife in the Bible, who was sort of frozen. But it can’t have been her I now know because she doesn’t have a name, so she’s doomed for an eternity of never featuring in the answer of a Telegraph crossword. Great isn’t it? You get turned into a pillar of salt by a cruel and arbitrary god for the crime of looking over your shoulder and history doesn’t even get to know your name. We know her husband name’s though. I imagine that just rubs salt in the wound, so to speak.
Re 2d – read gazza’s hint properly. It’s a brilliant clue. I have to confess that I only got the answer because it fitted with everything else – once you understand it it’s certainly cryptic.
3*. Scrooge fitted the meaning and the letters I had – but I got JCR stuck in my mind. Some really good surface meaning which always helps with the fun.
Nice crossword today. Managed it all except 17a. I’ve never heard of an SCR, having not been to university! Thanks to Gazza for the explanations.
Although I completed this crossword during my Friday lunch break (that’s when I usually do them) I haven’t had time to post here, so I’ll be the “Lanterne Rouge”!
Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?
I found this at least four-star hard, but extremely satisfying. So, hats off to Il Maestro, and thanks to Gazza too.