DT 27157 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 27157 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27157 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Crossword Club

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Today is the last day you can enter the April Prize puzzle.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided 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 and the FAQ 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”.

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

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Across

1a           Voguish point of view taken for example (8)
A two-letter word for voguish or popular followed by a point of view

5a           Thrash to attend in university (4,2)
A phrasal verb meaning to attend (2,2) followed by a word meaning ay university

12a         Beer overturned by one with a princely habit (7)
Reverse an insipid foreign beer and follow it with I (one) and the A from the clue

13a         Set out, cycle round base (8)
An anagram (out) of SET inside a verb meaning to propel a bicycle

20a         Attachment or obsession, getting caught out (8)
Drop (getting … out) the C(aught) from an obsession or habit

25a         Clergyman drops a vintage comic? (7)
Drop the A from a clergyman

26a         Beginning of a big build-up? (10-5)
A cryptic definition of something laid at a ceremony to celebrate the beginning of construction of a building

28a         Scan note before exercising the canines (3,5)
a verb meaning to scan or look at followed by the seventh note of the scale in sol-fa notation and an anagram (exercising) of THE

Down

1d           On plane, transporting grand sort of printer (3-3)
A phrase meaning on a modern aeroplane (2,3) around (transporting) the metric abbreviation representing a grand or thousand

3d           A permit held in the jumper perhaps (7)
The A from the clue followed by a verb meaning to permit inside (held in) THE

7d           Horrible being right in the grip of tax (5)
R(ight) inside (in the grip of) a tax for the use of a road or bridge

9d           Shocked the beginning came first! (8)
The beginning followed by a three-letter verb meaning came first

16d         Fancy-free member and miss, embracing love (9)
A member or appendage followed by a verb meaning to miss around (embracing) O (love)

ARVE Error: need id and provider

17d         Loyal woman developed flu (8)
A woman’s name followed by an anagram (developed) of FLU

24d         One’s passed by majority (5)
Someone who has reached maturity

25d         Companion harvested corn and last of hay (5)
An anagram (harvested) of CORN followed by the final letter (last) of haY

The Crossword Club is now open. Feel free to leave comments.

PLEASE DON’T PUT WHOLE OR PARTIAL ANSWERS OR ALTERNATIVE CLUES IN YOUR COMMENT, ELSE THEY MAY BE CENSORED!

The Quick crossword pun: (inn} + {dee} + (pend} + (dense) = {independence}

72 comments on “DT 27157 (Hints)”

  1. Loved today’s puzzle, perhaps because we finished before 10.30..our fastest time ever.
    Just hope everone else doesn’t think it was too easy!

    1. Hi Phil,
      Your comment needed moderation because you’ve changed your alias (from the Welsh-sounding one). Both should work from now on.

  2. Thank you setter, good fun and BD for hints and hard work. Lovely day in the grim North. Off to the Reebok to continue the struggle then to Suffolk for a couple of weeks birdwatching in the wall to wall sunshine ?? Will try and keep up with puzzles and this site – but getting a signal down there is difficult !

  3. Many thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle, with many nice clues. The only clue which delayed me for too long was 7d where I was looking for an adjective meaning horrible as my answer until the penny dropped.

    Many thanks too to BD for the hints.

  4. Many thanks to the setter for an enjoyable puzzle, and of course to BD for confirming some of my answers.

    An lovely start to a sunny day, have a good weekend everyone :)

  5. A nice gentle puzzle with some clever clues.

    Thanks to BD and the setter.

    Now for one last stab at the prize puzzle, which has not gone well!

  6. Enjoyable start to a Saturday, not over-taxing but enough to bring about a sense of achievement.

  7. Done and very enjoyable but could somebody explain how I have got 19d? Thanks to BD for the hints which were valuable as a reference point

    1. 19d – an anagram (playing) of ‘lad’ is inside an example of what a ‘bay’ is, to give a type of pedal.

  8. Very enjoyable and completed without too much trouble and without the hints. A first, I think!
    10a and 28a were favourites.

  9. I admit it. I thought for a while that this was a pandrome which led to a totally bizarre answer for 24D. Then when I realized my error, everything fell into place nicely. Very enjoyable, and a good start to the weekend. Many thanks to the setter and to BD for the always fun review.

    Now off to have a stab at the prize puzzle…

  10. I didn’t have too many problems with this one.
    I started off with ‘block’ for the second word of 26a but 21d sorted that out – just as well as it would have made 22d a very odd word, if there is one that would have fitted.
    I need the hint to explain the first word of 5a – never thought of splitting it 2,2.
    I liked 10, 26 and 28a and 2 and 8d (once I realised that it was nothing to do with tennis).
    With thanks to Mr Ron and BD.
    Off to the sunshine – might cut grass.

  11. Nice puzzle, not too many unknowns for me – 19 and 28 not familiar to me. But can someone explain 24d – I just don’t get it! I’d settled on *****, even though the spelling seemed off.

    1. Welcome to the blog Dandy

      Please don’t enter answers, even if you think they are wrong (this one is!).

      I’ve given a hint for 24d.

      1. Sorry, thought it was ok if it was wrong! I saw the explanation and it still doesn’t make sense to me! Sorry to be so thick.

        1. ‘Passed by’ is being used in the sense of gone past or exceeded and majority here means the age at which one is no longer a child.

        2. Dandy

          Your incorrect answer contained three correct checking letters! It is best to avoid giving any answers at the weekend.

      2. Until today I didn’t know that we were not supposed to put our wrong answers here on prize puzzle days.

        1. I don’t understand all the rules either. Nobody tells you when you join. You are just kind of expected to learn by osmosis. Sorry, but sending someone to the naughty step for an unspoken infraction that person was not aware of is just plain silly. We are all adults here. And sometimes it seems that the reviewer group don’t have to play by the same rules as the rest of us. Just an observation.

          1. The rules are clearly stated at the bottom of each weekend post.

            PLEASE DON’T PUT WHOLE OR PARTIAL ANSWERS OR ALTERNATIVE CLUES IN YOUR COMMENT, ELSE THEY MAY BE CENSORED!

  13. Had fun with this although took far too long getting 1a last one in. So 2/4* for me. Thank you setter, as well as BD.

  14. Very straightforward but enjoyable nevertheless. The swallows are back. Does this mean summer is coming?

    Love the insipid beer comment….

    1. Our house martins came back last Saturday – still not committing myself as to whether that means summer is coming :)

      1. I think that it’s too early CS. Should be another week or two. Ours are not here yet

          1. Yes, that’s my point. If I havn’t seen any and you have only seen 2, it’s a bit early. However, there is a wind down here called the tramontane and it is blowing at the moment so it may be keeping them away

  15. Nice puzzle even though I struggled a bit with the bottom right corner. Can someone tell me what Ravel has to do with the answer to 22d?
    Thx to the setter and to BD for the hints.
    BTW I know it is not really done but I wasn’t able to comment on yesterday’s due to a funeral but did love it. Finished it between the crem and the church. So many Thx to Giovanni for restoring my faith after Thursday.

    1. The R in Ravel is only there because it is at the start of a sentence. Look up the verb in the dictionary.

      1. But no doubt cleverly intending to send us down the wrong track. I wanted to put Bolero in! My delays were mainly in the NW despite having 10a. Just checked 10a assuming an anagram and seem to be one letter adrift in the second word. Checked the expression in BRB. What am I missing?

            1. I have emailed you …. (and just so people know, I haven’t given Wanda the answer just helped her with the N and the F!!)

  16. A very enjoyable Saturday puzzle. Thank you to the setter and to BD for the help and explanations, only the latter required today.

    A slight over generalisation with the hint for 12a “an insipid foreign beer” perhaps? After wine, my favourite tipple for home consumption is nice glass or two of Special Brew… anything but insipid :D

    Have a good weekend

      1. Me too and if you spend too much time away from Blighty you yearn for real ale. I had a case of Adnams Broadside delivered last week and I am in heaven.

      2. Dopplebocks insipid?
        Thx to BD and the cryptognomes for the banter. Thinks are calming down here in Boston – what a crazy week.

        1. What a trial that must have been for the poor Bostonians. You must have thought it was going on forever. What on earth would have made those kooks do what they did?

        2. Dopplebocks – Traditional bock is a sweet, relatively strong (6.3%–7.2% by volume)

          Broadside – 6.3%

          I’d say pretty similar and Dopplebocks is too sweet

          1. We had some Manchester Star beer last night – delicious with hints of black treacle and chocolate. If we can hold off drinking the rest of the bottles on the rack , I am going to try it in my chocolate and stout cake recipe.

          2. Or Adnams Broadside and Jennings Snecklifter. I have to get them sent down here or get friends to bring them. French beer is ****

        4. Everyone up there was in our thoughts down here in Maryland. I have a number of colleagues who live in and around Boston. Great job by the Bruins fans with the national anthem at the first game after the bombing. Brought tears to my eyes.

  17. This is probably the latest that I’ve ever posted a comment on a Saturday but I’ve taken the opportunity to take a closer look at some of the vehicles which will parade though the town tomorrow in the annual Transport Festival. I’m pleased to say that I had no trouble starting this puzzle and was grateful for the fact that, at no time, did the wheels fall off…

  18. 16d. Oh those were the days ! I nearly remember them well.

    Apart from that I struggle onwards helped (as so often) by BDs hints so thanks both for them and the clip – wonderful !!

  19. An easy one this week, without much trouble. And I am once again a winner from two weeks ago of the same prize crossword which is printed in our Daily Dispatch R200 which is about £13! Last clue was 16 d which really had me. I thought that I had 15 a incorrect, looked for alternatives and found two more words that could fit in there. But I was right the first time. Enjoyed the hints today, really clever.

  20. Pretty much same as last weekend for me – about a dozen or so answers before I had to resort to the hints (for which many thanks BD) which got me going again sufficiently to finish the puzzle.

    I enjoyed today’s, but for some reason not as much as usual. I was not particularly happy with 19d (my last in). It’s not a word I can imagine using very often, but if I did I would use the alternative spelling, and it took me an age to fathom the wordplay.

    On the subject of wordplay, can someone explain why 21d is what it is? I got the answer from the second half of the clue, but I can’t see what the Poles are doing there…

    With thanks to the setter, to BD and to all involved.

    1. Arthur – this one stumped me too. A 5 letter word for property (think characteristic rather than bricks and mortar) surrounds (seen in) the initial letters of the 2 geographical poles.

      1. Ahhh!

        Thanks! – It really bothers me when I can’t prove my answer and that one has been gnawing away at me since I wrote it in.

        Thanks again…

  22. Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave for the hints. A nice not overtaxing puzzle, but I took a while to solve the last three clues. 20a,16d and 24d, I thought the latter a bit weak. Favourite was 8d. Was 2*/3* for me. A lovely sunny day in Central London.

  23. A lovely Saturday puzzle ,all except for 22d, which has me stumped ! Despite having some French guests I didn’t find an oppertunity to say “tant pis”.

    1. Una, the definition is ravel, and the answer is found across the words ‘given me shivers’.
      Pleasant solve while watching rubbish on tv! Thanks to all.

      1. Thank you so much ,Ian, I was on the wrong track completely.I pay the cable fee, though I hardly watch it. It keeps the rest of them happy while I do crosswords. I enjoy “the good wife” though.

  24. A very pleasant simple puzzle which I did earlier today but didn’t blog as had other problems to resolve.

    Am now waiting for the dishwasher to finish around midnight!

    My son is coming up to visit me for a few days from the house in France so I’ll get all his news before he goes back to Boston MA.

    Must get the bed ready for him!

  25. I was out all day yesterday and only completed it this morning and found it a really enjoyable puzzle. For only the second time ever, I needed no hints. Yippee! Now off for a long walk.

  26. Late joining the party as most of yesterday spent on a fruitless handbag search.

    Polished this off this morning, thanks as ever to BD for hints a few of which helped me on my way.

    Got stuck on second word of 26a for a while as I had something else but evenutally managed to resolve it.

  27. Such lovely weather Friday and yesterday that I did the crosswords outside and then headed off to the beach, hopefully I will be back later today :-)

  28. Please can someone explain what flipping vegetables has got to do with 23a. I can’t see a vegetable in there at all!

    1. Welcome to the blog Willo

      23a Acrobat’s appliance of skill, flipping vegetables, we hear (7)
      It’s the skill that is flipped – the rest of the word sounds like (we hear) some vegetables

    1. 2d – Invertebrate chicken
      An adjective describing what something might be if was intertebrate, or without a backbone, is also another description for chicken, or cowardly.

    2. 11a – Ingredient section of clientele mentioned (7)
      The definition is ‘Ingredient’ and is hidden within (section of) the words that follow.

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