Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27234
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This was a pleasant diversion before getting down to another exhausting full day of sport (pressing those buttons on the remote really takes it out of you). Do let us know how you got on.
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Across Clues
1a A treble quaking in Anglican church had finally sung (10)
{CELEBRATED} – an anagram (quaking) of A TREBLE goes inside the abbreviation for the Church of England, then we finish off with the final letter of (ha)D.
6a Stagehand needs good saw (4)
{GRIP} – for once saw in a clue means a tool rather than a saying. G(ood) is followed by a type of saw used to cut wood along the grain.
9a Fatty stuff? It’s very good having cover to hide it (5)
{LIPID} – an abbreviated adjective meaning very good or ostentatiously holy goes inside (having … to hide) a cover or top.
10a Bird snare put back on top of roof? (9)
{PARTRIDGE} – reverse (put back) what a snare is an example of and follow this with the top part of a roof where the two sloping sides meet. In an across clue ‘on’ is meant to mean after rather than before but it is a rule which seems to be honoured more in the breach than the observance.
12a Paper full of stories, it seems? Don’t believe them! (1,6,2,4)
{A TISSUE OF LIES} – these aren’t news stories but fabrications (although when has that stopped newspapers publishing them?).
14a Coming from home — letter, something to be digested! (8)
{OMELETTE} – hidden (coming from) in the clue.
15a Love part of country, but not one part of USA (6)
{OREGON} – the letter that looks like zero or love is followed by a geographical area (part of country) without its I (not one).
17a Day in town or city? City (6)
{DURBAN} – D(ay) precedes an adjective meaning in a town or city.
19a Performance finished — how much money has been made? (8)
{TURNOVER} – a charade of a performance on stage and an adverb meaning finished.
21a Queen at the end of pregnancy will be worrying a great a deal (6,7)
{HAVING KITTENS} – a very topical clue since Her Majesty is apparently worried that the late arrival of her great grandchild will disrupt her holiday plans. This is a double definition, the first what a queen (an animal in this case) will be doing at the end of her pregnancy.
24a Mark in paper gets excited by winter ale (9)
{WATERLINE} – an anagram (gets excited) of WINTER ALE.
25a Statistical representation has nothing to offer (5)
{OGIVE} – this is not a term that I was familiar with – it’s a graph representing cumulative frequency. The letter that looks like zero is followed by a verb meaning to offer or hand over.
26a Fish glowing almost (4)
{RUDD} – an adjective meaning having a red complexion (glowing) without its final Y (almost).
27a What could conjure up the end, all bleak finally (5,5)
{DEATH KNELL} – a semi-all-in-one. This is an anagram (could conjure up) of THE END ALL and the final letter of (blea)K.
Down Clues
1d Learner gets cross about religious group (4)
{CULT} – the letter that identifies a driver under tuition is contained in (gets … about) a verb to cross or intersect.
2d French astronomer all excited about origin of proton star (7)
{LAPLACE} – I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never come across this French mathematician and astronomer (so famous, apparently, that he’s known as the Newton of France). An anagram (excited) of ALL contains the original letter of P(roton) then we finish with a star or virtuoso.
3d The way to help someone who needs to be patient? (7,6)
{BEDSIDE MANNER} – weakish cryptic definition of how good (or bad) a doctor is at interacting with patients.
4d A very quiet old place would be suitable (8)
{APPOSITE} – string together A (from the clue), the abbreviation for the musical instruction pianissimo (very quiet), O(ld) and a place or location.
5d Always having a poetic style? That is strange (5)
{EERIE} – a word used in poetry to mean always is followed by the abbreviation for ‘that is’.
7d Bird we’d released in arena (7)
{REDWING} – an anagram (released) of WE’D inside an arena or amphitheatre.
8d Rustic folk gathered around back of mill for a joke? (10)
{PLEASANTRY} – a collective term for rustic folk of low social status contains the rearmost letter of (mil)L.
11d Reckon before puzzling to import English encyclopedia maybe (9,4)
{REFERENCE BOOK} – an anagram (puzzling) of RECKON BEFORE with E(nglish) inserted (to import).
13d It’s not hot and dry and gets her old cows suffering (4,6)
{COLD SHOWER} – … so it must be chilly and wet. It’s an anagram (suffering) of HER OLD COWS.
16d Mathematical number not quite worked out (8)
{QUOTIENT} – the result obtained from doing a division is an anagram (worked out) of NOT QUITE.
18d Fascinated, seeing one old American soldier dressed in colour (7)
{RIVETED} – I (one in Roman numerals) and the abbreviation for an American ex-serviceman (or –woman) go inside (dressed in) a primary colour.
20d Undergarment I obtain short? Just a bit (7)
{VESTIGE} – string together an undergarment, I and a verb to obtain without its last letter (short).
22d Liquid upset over iron tool (5)
{KNIFE} – when I was at junior school I was entrusted for a whole term with the doling out of this liquid – the resulting mess was horrendous. We need to reverse (upset, in a down clue) the liquid and follow it (over, also in a down clue) with the chemical symbol for iron.
23d Spring satisfactory? Fancy that! (4)
{WELL} – triple definition.
I liked 27a and 2d but my favourite clue today was 21a. How about you?
Today’s Quickie Pun: {GNAW} + {TICKLE} = {NAUTICAL}
Good morning gazza, I do hope you have cool drinks etc. to hand, maybe a mini fridge by your side, so that you don’t have to get up and down too much in this heat ;-) , thanks for blog, I was just waiting to see what an ‘ogive’ was, fav clue today 21a, this took me a while to get into but once I got going it wasn’t too bad, I found it a puzzle of four corners, back home for a few days as other half has to go off to France to visit poorly elderly mother who is nearly 97 and suffering from dehydration, weather incredible once again :-) , actually got on my bike last week after nearly 25 years and rode along the towpath of the Brecon and Monmouth canal, idyllic
Good to have you back – how many days leave had you applied for? Not this many, surely! :smile:
Hope you had a good time. Must have been very hot in camper van.
Surprisingly not Kath, we managed to find shady pitches, thanx for the welcome back and apologies for extended leave but with this weather …
Do you remember our PMA moment way back in now almost forgotten dreary, cold June ? Am I a prophet or what ? Must start thinking of numbers, lottery numbers !
Hello Mary and it’s lovely to read your comments… Agree 21a definitely a favourite (& I blame the heat for my idiocy in putting ‘jitters’ initially thinking the ER stood for HM before the penny dropped!).
That’s so good you were on your bike so that might encourage me to have a go after too long a gap. My bicycle was the real ‘sit up and beg’ variety, with a large wicker basket up front for Poppy to sit in and direct proceedings.
Do hope your family are well too. Take care.
Hi Poppy because I could no longer get my leg over so to speak on my mountain bike, I bought a sit up and beg bike with a lovely wicker basket on the front from Halfords, it is lovely but unfortunately around here there is no flat ground! so I will use it when we go away I don’t expect to be able to work up a fitness level to riding it locally unfortunately! :-)
What I thought was going to be a real stinker finally started to click. Needed help on 12a as didn’t know the saying but otherwise done solo. Come on England 350 please
**/***for me, and the expected unknown word in 25a. I’m sure we had those rustic folk with an added L fairly recently as well?
Quite an easy one that I managed to get finished in time for the first ball at Lords. 25a is a new word to me that I found in the BRB.
I don’t really understand 21a – is a Queen some sort of cat?
A queen is an adult female cat.
Aha! Thanks gazza
All this heat has addled my brain, my first scan revealed nothing eventually I got one then another etc last one in was 9A I thought 21 & 27A complmented each other, this was an excellent puzzle the only one I didnt like was the french star gazer who was new to me.Many thanks to Gazza & wishing all an enjoyable weekend.
Thank you DG – if it was you. I am glad it wasn’t too hard ‘cos its too hot here ! I feel a lot better knowing about statistical representation and French astronomers. Previous knowledge was nil. Thanks Gazza for the review, enjoy the sport.
A very pleasant Friday romp through and not too taxing.
Can’t say I’ve heard of the French Astronomer, but was solvable from the cue. Really had to dig back in the memory for 25A – back to A level days (only just short of 40 years ago! ).
Have managed to find a nice breeze blowing through the house right past this computer, so could be here for the rest of the day :)
3*/3* for me today. 16d was my last one in, and i quite liked it!
Many thanks to Giovanni, and to Gazza for the review.
I really enjoyed the toughie today, and apart from a couple that required some cogitation, i didn’t find it overly hard for a Friday.
Giovanni is a mystery to me! Am I alone in finding most of his offerings exceptionally enjoyable, but the occasional one turgid, obscure, and no fun at all? Today’s was definitely in the first category – I absolutely loved it! Although I managed a steady solve in 1* time, for me this puzzle nevertheless came close to 4* for enjoyment.
I needed to go to the BRB for enlightenment regarding two new definitions for me: the answer to 6a meaning stagehand; and queen in relation to a female cat in 21a.
Many thanks to Giovanni and to Gazza for his review.
Having really struggled all last week, I’ve found this week’s offerings more to my taste. For reasons unknown, I found this quite straightforward – 1 1/2 * Must be the wavelength thingy or moon phases.
Torn between the cricket and the cycling now, not into golf alas. Oh, decisions, decisions!
Northeast & south west corners went in OK but then I struggled finally resorted to the review for some hints especially trying to get ER into 21a. Never heard of the astronomer so you learn something new every day. Thanks to the setter & Gazza for the hints.
Another gentle but fun offering, quite enjoyable on a very sticky day, thanks to the setter and Gazza.
So much simpler than yesterday’s which I found a beast! Pleasantly possible with a bit of thought.. I liked 21a and 27a particularly.
Finally, a small advantage to those of us of a mathematical bent! I’m pretty sure that nowadays we remember that Frenchman as a mathematician – he has an operator, and an equation, and a transform…
Re 17A; that wasn’t the view of Durham that I was expecting! (Yes, I know, I’m just bemoaning the missed opportunity to use my alma mater as an answer… still, at least we’ve had a lot of Spurs in the quickie recently!).
All in all, a remarkably gentle cryptic for a Friday, many thanks to setter and Gazza.
Steve – the photo is what tipped me off too! What – a beach and palm trees??
That’s the River Wear, close to the cricket ground :-)
:)
Very enjoyable puzzle this morning. I had Durham at 17a which I justified to myself as D + Ur for city and Ham for hamlet or town! I admit it was a stretch. The actual answer is much more straightforward! Liked 27a and 1a.
Thanks to Gazza and to the setter.
I’m with you, I think Durham is a much better answer.
Would be interested in Mr Manleys view!
I did, too, with the same reasoning! Why not? Well, all right, the right answer is better
2/3* for difficulty and 4* for enjoyment from me on another very hot day.
The first read through of all the across clues produced one answer – 1a – and I thought that we were in for one of his really tricky crosswords but did much better with the downs and then everything got going.
As usual for a Friday there were a few new things to me – the 6a stagehand, the 25a statistical term and the 2d astronomer.
9a took a while – had the first and last letters and couldn’t get something to do with lard out of my head. Missed the hidden answer in 14a for a long time.
I liked 12a and 13 and 23d. My favourite was 21a – absolutely brilliant. It was one of my last answers and made me laugh. It also made me wonder if crosswords are set to be printed on or at least around a particular time or if the fact that it’s so topical is sheer coincidence.
With thanks to Giovanni and gazza.
Usual super Friday from the Don for me.
Thought I was going to struggle on first reading but as always with his, everything you need is in the clue.
Must admit that I needed Gazza to explain the cross in 1d and like him I have never come across the Frenchman in 2d. Did wonder if 21a was going to refer to the imminent birth but the answer was much more fun.
Never come across 25a before so learned a new word today.
Many Thx to the Don and to Gazza.
Never heard of a stagehand being 6a,thought it was prop! thanks Gazza, apart from this everything’ tickety- boo’,agree with a ***/***.Liked 21a, confused until the name of a big female puss dawned, must be the heat, Thanks to ‘The Don’ for a good Friday. Remember seeing the 12a headline many years ago, anyone know the date?
April 24 1988
Thanks Gazza
An enjoyable exercise – found it easier than yesterday’s. 8d seems to crop up in crosswords fairly regularly. Cricket going well.
Good fun puzzle. I also got 1a right away and thought it’s going to be easy, but failed miserably until I got to the down clues. The down clues so often appear to be easier than the across, so why, then, don’t I just star off with the downs? Habit, I suppose. I googled French astronomers and found the gent that fitted, and that helped a lot. 25a new word for me but easy enough to work out. I had the wrong city, see above, in 17a; seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
Thanks to all for good start to the day. Is that baby never going to arrive?
A very enjoyable puzzle!
2d was my first in but wrong as I put in Capella but soon corrected it to Laplace! En forgeant on devient forgeron!!
Faves : 9a, 15a, 21a, 25a, 2d, 13d, 18d & 22d.
Magnificent blue sky all day with a few small summer cumuli.
Steak, frites & sla tonight with a drop of Chinon then pears & choc mousse.
Thanks to the two G’s, a very nice puzzle, I was beaten by 2d & 25a, needed the hints for those two. Lots of good clues, favourites were 9,14,17a & 22d. Was 3*/3* for me. Managed a few games of Racketball this morning, danger of becoming a couch potato with all the sport that’s on TV. Another scorcher in central London, long may it last!
Almost got there but this proved to be another puzzle that would be impossible to complete for anyone without access to the net or reference works. There are some people like me who attempt crosswords on the bus and train to work, not everyone is sitting at home with a dictionary, atlas and Lives Of French Scientists to hand. Laplace is an inexcusable answer, and can we dump the place names please? It’s been a bad week for them, though I’ll make an exception for yesterday’s Llandudno because I smirk every time I hear the word thanks to a brilliant bit of vulgarity from Humphrey Lyttelton who, presenting an episode from north Wales, remarked that scorer Samantha had found a new fancy man, “who’s going to take her to Llandudno and Bangor in his van”.
Also never heard of 25 and then at the opposite end of the spectrum we have 3d which isn’t even cryptic, it’s just a straight answer to a way of helping a patient.
Perhaps you should learn things Andrew. There have been no place names this week that are not available with even a rudimentary knowledge of geography. Whilst I hadn’t heard of the scientist, the answer was perfectly solvable from the clue given – this is a cryptic puzzle, not a general knowledge one
Ooh! It’s the naughty step for you Andrew. You’ll have to get a pocket edition of the BRB to take with you on the train.
Excellent puzzle. Many thanks to Gazza for the hints and to the setter. I thought 21a was the best clue
Great puzzle. Fav.21a .Thks. to G &g . :smile:
Nice puzzle although I needed a hint for the statistical offering.Thanks to the two G’s.
Really good stuff from our Friday setter once again. A bit of checking required for 2d and 25a but it wouldn’t be the Don without a bit of knowledge and vocab stretching along the way.
Thanks Giovanni and Gazza.
Great puzzle, enjoyed it lots. Esp 21a
Thank you to Setter & Gazza for a whole load of fun mixed in with new learning and a few idiotic mistakes on my part.
Same here – I put the divider in the wrong place on 21A, making it 7,6 instead of 6,7!
Nice to have a Giovanni special on my birthday :o)
Happy Birthday for yesterday!
So I tumbled to 12a pretty fast and assumed it was an anagram of ‘full of stories’, which is nearly is. Must be more diligent in checking these things. Waterline means watermark? I don’t think so, Mr Plimsoll!
Welcome to the blog Pete C.
One of the definitions for waterline in Chambers is ‘a chain line in laid paper …’.