Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27230
Hints and tips by Libellule
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Another warm day south of the Loire, and a return to normal for the Maestro. Enjoyable but not taxing.
Across
1. Saw how red wine should be served (7)
{NOTICED} – A word that means perceived or observed, if split (3,4) the second word is how you might serve white wine, but never red. (Hmm, although I like Beaujolais chilled).
5. Revenues from company involved in various mines (7)
{INCOMES} – Put CO (company) inside an anagram (various) of MINES.
9. I held out for foreign capital (5)
{DELHI} – An anagram (out) of I HELD is also the capital of India.
10. Tom’s vital statistics? (4,5)
{NINE LIVES} – The number of times a cat can cheat death…
11. Athlete’s big pullover (4,6)
{LONG JUMPER} – Greg Rutherford perhaps?
12. Side’s superiority (4)
{EDGE} – Double definition, a border or margin, or an advantage.
14. First-day cover? (8,4)
{BIRTHDAY SUIT} – What you might (or might not be wearing) when you are born.
18. What had P Rubens at his disposal? (12)
{PAINTBRUSHES} – An anagram of P RUBENS AT HIS are something an artist might use.
21. Staff Officer has small house in London area (4)
{SOHO} – SO (Staff Officer) followed by HO (small house).
22. Is she higher than a footman? (10)
{HANDMAIDEN} – A female attendant or servant.
25. Member is not in time to see the bill through (9)
{LEGISLATE} – The sort of member that’s not an arm, is then followed by a term that means to be delayed for a word that means to create or pass laws.
26. Bury in Milan? (5)
{INTER} – Football Club Internazionale Milano, is also known as?
27. Fresh suet not exported (4,3)
{SENT OUT} – An anagram (fresh) of SUET NOT.
28. Ploughs back the profits? (7)
{RETURNS} – Double definition, to give or send back, or profits made.
Down
1. Somehow undo the French knot (6)
{NODULE} – An anagram (somehow) of UNDO followed by LE (masculine French the)
2. Thanks advanced for gift (6)
{TALENT} – TA (thanks) followed by a word that means to allow someone the use of something given temporarily.
3. Exorbitant hairdressers? (4,6)
{CLIP JOINTS} – Businesses where customers are regularly overcharged, could also be places where hair is cut.
4. Dug up some strong fabric (5)
{DENIM} – Reverse (up) a word that means having dug up some earth to extract ore or minerals for example, to get another word that is typically what your jeans are made of.
5. Hints disruption of unions is about to cease (9)
{INNUENDOS} – An anagram (disruption) of UNIONS around END (to cease).
6. A little lower — than the knee (4)
{CALF} – A word for a young cow, is also part of the leg below the knee and above the ankle.
7. Gave up one’s occupation (5,3)
{MOVED OUT} – Because you left home.
8. States parking that’s acceptable to schools will raise doubts (8)
{SUSPECTS} – US (states), and then P (parking) is placed inside a word for a religious bodies, or distinct groups to create a word that means to have suspicions.
13. Silly mistake — why, old boy? (10)
{WYKEHAMIST} – An anagram (silly) of MISTAKE and WHY is also a former pupil of Winchester College.
15. She might well make man target (9)
{TERMAGANT} – Another anagram (make) of MAN TARGET is also a quarrelsome, scolding woman.
16. An appointment with the French missionaries (8)
{APOSTLES} – A position of employment (usually associated with public office) followed by LES (A French plural of the) are also disciples.
17. Superior neighbour in the US (8)
{MICHIGAN} – Superior in this clue is referring to one of the Great Lakes.
19. Newspaperman to put in dire reworking (6)
{EDITOR} – Put TO in an anagram (reworking) of DIRE.
20. Noisy drinks? (6)
{SNORTS} – Rough noisy sounds made through the nostrils is also a slang term for drinks.
23. Dismal king in love (5)
{DREAR} – Put R (king) inside another word for beloved or precious.
24. Look after sizeable capital (4)
{OSLO} – The Norwegian capital is LO (look) after OS (outsize).
The Quick crossword pun: (core} + {pew} + {lent} = {corpulent}
This fell into place this morning in less than 1* time except for 13d, which took me longer than all the rest put together causing me eventually to resort to electronic help :sad:. 15d was a new word for me, but the anagram was obvious given the checking letters. 14a was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter for a very pleasant start to the week and to Libellule for the review.
Started early before the heat affected the brain cells and a very pleasant start to the week it was. Some lovely clues especially14a, 22a and 6d. 13d did take some working out. I put letters in backwards til I had what I presumed were the last five letters of the word and the rest fell into place! Thanks to setter and to Libellule.
I didn’t spot 13d was an anagram until after I found the answer. How silly was that?!
This was a nice gentle start to the week, 13D was new to me & I must admit a tad embarrassing seeing as my nephew is one.My own personal favourite has to be 18A, many thanks to the setter & libellule for the review.
Completed on a coach on my way to Chessington World of Adventures with 49 14/15 year olds! Got it all done fairly comfortably apart from 13 down – thanks Libellulle for the hint!
Hope the rest of your day is as comfortable, Andrew!!!!
Rather you than me is all I can say…..
A very enjoyable beginning to the week. The clues I liked best were 17d, and the &lit 18a.
Thanks to Rufus, and to Libellule.
Unlike Geldof, I like Mondays!
Good fun. It all slotted into place without major hold-ups. Specially liked 13d, 17d and 14a.
Thanks Rufus and Libellule.
Super start to the week with some Grin clues in 3d, 25a, 14a and my personal favourite 1a. I know each to their own but these are the types of clues than entertain me most :-)
Thx to Rufus for the entertainment and to Libellule for the excellent if not needed today hints.
No problems today although 13D took a bit of working out anagramwise – kept getting lost on what letters I’d used etc. Enjoyed 11A, 14A, 18A and 17D. Was a bit unsure about ‘snorts’ as a meaning of drinks – snorter, yes, but snorts brings different substances to mind.
Good excuse not to do any gardening today, too hot and any cutting, digging, etc would be a waste of time and might damage the garden
Thank you Rufus, an enjoyable start to the week. Not too taxing. I have boosted the profits of Tippex by writing the answer for18a into the 14a space ! Thank you Libellule for your review.
Useless fact, but Tippex was invented by the mother of Mike Nesmith from the Monkees – hence the reason he never gets involved in reunions of the band. He doesn’t need the money!!
Which is alluded to, with a huge chunk of licence, in 19th Nervous Breakdown by the Rolling Stones:
“Your mother, who neglected you
Owes a million dollars tax
And your father’s still perfecting ways
Of making sealing wax”
By the way. I think it was Liquid Paper and not Tippex.
BTW has anyone got a method of changing their Avatar that works?
I have run out of ideas!
Just logon to the old email address on Gravatar.com and add a new email address. That way you won’t need to reload the avatar itself.
Thx BD, I’ve done that, confirmed on the site that the new avatar is shown (it’s the only avatar shown!) but it still steadfastly refuses to update the picture. Not the end of the world I know but irritating. Perhaps it would better to change my email address to one of my more current ones i.e.
theanalyst@sky.com which I know is registered at Gravatar. What do you reckon?
As far as I can see that’s the one that is not working. Perhaps it’s because it used to belong to someone called Barrie.
:smile:
About right for a Monday, especially after celebrating 1-0,four to go! lots of small chuckles to start the week; first thought for 14a was fig leaf ,anyway on the right track, still the sun shines ,booked my Greek holiday Skiathos-hotter here , but not quite the ambiance.
Didn’t we all think Fig leaf!!
Erm, no.
No – not long enough! :smile:
Fig leaf (8,4)? Hmmm? No!
You CANNOT be serious! (A week too late!)
Very zippy indeed, but had to look up the spelling of 13d. The old boy thing gave it away, as did the W and the K, but how to squeeze that thing in right……
Some very enjoyable anagrams ( 5, 18 ) and loved 6d and 10 and 25a.
I’d give it 0.75%* difficulty and 3* for enjoyment.
Off to compost…
Thanks to Rufus and Libellule, a gentle but amusing crossword and a succinct and expert review.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Just me then . . . Probably nearer 3*, because of my own silly mistakes, and 4* enjoyment.
It was all going really quite well for me on a Monday and then I got down to the bottom right corner and it all went wrong.
First major disaster was putting ‘slurps’ for 20d. This didn’t help much with 22a and anyway I’d already decided that was going to be a ‘yard’ something. I couldn’t do 13d and eventually had to look at the answer for that one – thanks to Libellule – I knew it was an anagram but just gave up.
Apart from those the only other problem I had was 3d – never heard of it – started to think I must have got something wrong somewhere then had a flash of inspiration and looked it up to see if it existed – it did.
I liked 14 and 18a and 17d, although that was another one that caused a certain amount of grief.
With thanks to Rufus and Libellule.
Thanks for super puzzle, over in a flash for me. I did have to use gizmo to get 13d, even though I had all the letters and knew it to be an anagram. Also, thanks for hints, even though not necessary.
Sorry, clicked on Kath’s post for reply by mistake. Just read it as a new post!
We thrashed the Aussies again. Nice to return after a week in The Lake District. Last week I struggled with the Monday Rufus but back to normal today with a gentle tease. My highlight of the day. Amanda Burton singing “Dear Daily Mail” on You Tube partly in her 14ac. My sentiments entirely. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c7-nHHZ86o I might get struck off for that link. Hope not.
Gosh
Liked1A ,10A and6D
Struggled with 13 d like others
Thanks for the hint
A nice easy start to the week
Lovely puzzle today. Only had to use our electronic device & no hints needed.This is good for us. Really liked some of these clues, sort of straightforward though in a cryptic way if you know what I mean. Thank you to setter & hinter.
VG. Even got 13d, though I can’t think how I know the word. Thanks to Rufus and to the blog.
Great fun start to the week if not long enough (dotty sentence but the heat has melted my english usage). Thank you to the setter, to Libellule for hints which, amazingly I didn’t need today! For a change. Enjoyed the comments. Bye for now
Thanks to Rufus and to Libellule for the review and hints. Very enjoyable puzzle, a great start to the week. Was 2*/3* for me. I was beaten by 13d, knew it was an anagram, but had never heard of it. Too many good clues to pick a favourite. Lovely day at Woolacombe, back to the Smoke tomorrow unfortunately!
A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle, though I needed a hint for 17d.Amazed I spelt 5d correctly !Lots of lovely clues, I think 1a was my favourite. I believe I got the gravitar to work.
Thanks to Rufus and Libellule.
I notice StanXYZ gravitar has gone missing.
Gravitar?
Nice puppy!
Gravatar ? I can’t spell reliably , (unfortunely), especially after a long day which was the start of an M.ed course.
Lovely puppy – spelling forgiven in view of sweet photo! :smile: Good luck with the course.
Thanks !
Thanks to John Betjeman for 13d:
“Broad of church and broad of mind,
Broad before and broad behind,
A keen ecclesiologist,
A rather dirty Wykehamist”.
‘Tis not for us to wonder why …
… but what is an “ecclesiologist”?
“…….He wears that curious knitted tie”
….. And nibbles at a petit beurre.
Thus satisfying fleshy wants
He settles down to Norman fonts”.
Something to do with the study of Norman fonts, presumably
Hast thou no BRB?
ecclesiology noun
The study of ecclesiastical traditions and of church architecture and decoration.
The study or knowledge of the church.
Enjoyable puzzle from Rufus.
I didn’t get 13d but I finished the rest.
Very hot today with a beautiful blue sky. Real summer now!
**/*** for me, late this evening.
It looks as if I was the only twit who ‘slurped’ instead of ‘snorted’ with 20d. Oh dear! :oops:
Anyway, where is Mary? Did she really fill in the required paper work for an absence as long as this one?
I do hope that she is having fun in the camper van and enjoying the lovely sun.
We had a very brief slurp but avoided writing it so it did not cause any delays.
Cheers.
Where are all the entries for the MPP?
It is a very nice puzzle and do-able but does seem to have been largely ignored this month.
My entry is in … just for the H&G, of course!
Just read the comment from Newminster (Toughie 1012).
Nothing like a misplaced apostrophe to get one’s hackle’s up!
I’m sure she said she would be away this week last week (if that makes sense – it is nearly tomorrow)
It is well into “tomorrow” for us. Just waiting for the two puzzles to come on line so we can settle down with them over morning coffee. A glorious calm frosty day here with snow well down on the distant mountains.
Cheers.
very enjoyable ,not too dificult, apart from the last one I managed ie 13down, 14 across and 1 across made me smile
Lovely xword by our maestro. Virtually all clues are gems,but my best is 15d,perfect &lit. I completed Jumbo 1,047 after 3 days,unlike the likes of Sue and others who do it in record time.