Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27416
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment **
I can’t believe that this puzzle by Mr Ron will cause very much difficulty amongst the solving fraternity and, for me, it didn’t have a lot of sparkle. Do let us know how you got on.
To reveal an answer you’ll need to highlight what’s concealed between the brackets under the clue.
Across Clues
1a High point in cold capital city close to crucifix (6)
{CLIMAX} – a charade of C(old), a South American capital city and the closing letter of crucifix.
4a Engraver settled in Dorset (Chertsey-born) (6)
{ETCHER} – hidden (settled) in the clue.
8a Go-go-goes wild for fruit, locally (8)
{GOOSEGOG} – an anagram (wild) of GO-GO-GOES gives a dialect word for a hairy fruit. I’m not keen on this since the anagram fodder seems to be a made-up word.
10a Take no notice of one rig at sea (6)
{IGNORE} – an anagram (at sea) of ONE RIG.
11a Top expert receiving millions (4)
{ACME} – an expert contains the abbreviation for millions.
12a Gloomy former PM in suburban area of London (10)
{BLACKHEATH} – stick together an adjective meaning gloomy or sombre and the surname of a Tory Prime Minister of the 1970s to make an area in south-east London (the home of the oldest rugby club in the world it is claimed).
13a Opera songs by padre, rearranged (5,3,4)
{PORGY AND BESS} – this Gershwin opera is an anagram (rearranged) of SONGS BY PADRE.
16a Blunder badly, leave out a family (German) (4,1,7)
{DROP A CLANGER} – start with a verb to leave out (e.g. Kevin Petersen from the England cricket team) then add A (from the clue), a family or tribe and one of the abbreviations for German.
20a Agreeable remark made by labourers’ leader surrounded by body of rustics (10)
{PLEASANTRY} – the leading letter of L(abourers) is surrounded by poor country folk.
21a One seeking damages losing simple argument (4)
{TIFF} – drop the adjective meaning simple or unadorned from someone bringing a civil case in court.
22a Key on completion (6)
{LEGEND} – key here is the explanatory list of symbols or abbreviations in a map or other diagram. It’s a charade of another word for the on side in cricket and a synonym for completion.
23a Trust one to feed new cleaner (8)
{RELIANCE} – the Roman numeral for one gets inserted (to feed) in an anagram (new) of CLEANER.
24a Carry on with former nurse (6)
{EXTEND} – a prefix meaning former followed by a verb to nurse.
25a Energetic type held back by so many distractions (6)
{DYNAMO} – hidden (held) in reverse (back) in the clue.
Down Clues
1d Quickly slice thick piece of meat (4-4)
{CHOP-CHOP} – a verb to slice (wood, for example) is followed by a thick piece of meat.
2d Publication for children (5)
{ISSUE} – double definition and old chestnut.
3d Lab gear is reassembled for this school subject (7)
{ALGEBRA} – an anagram (is reassembled) of LAB GEAR.
5d Tons delivered with shellfish may make one blink (7)
{TWINKLE} – the abbreviation for tons followed by a small mollusc.
6d Dependants causing irritation between husband and his boy? (7-2)
{HANGERS-ON} – insert a word meaning irritation or testiness between H(usband) and his male child.
7d Find fish round it under end of pier (6)
{RARITY} – find is a verb in the surface but as the definition it’s a noun meaning a collector’s item difficult to track down. A flat-bodied fish contains IT (from the clue) which follows (under, in a down clue) the end letter of pier.
9d Top chess player, magnificent teacher (11)
{GRANDMASTER} – a simple charade of an adjective meaning magnificent and a male teacher.
14d Top garden in resort — sponsor required (9)
{GODPARENT} – this sponsor is required at a baptism. It’s an anagram (in re-sort) of TOP GARDEN.
15d Complete ring coming from cigar (8)
{PERFECTO} – an adjective meaning complete or utter is followed by the letter that looks like a ring.
17d Working with a northern fellow never-endingly (2,3,2)
{ON AND ON} – string together an adverb meaning working or operating, A (from the clue), N(orthern) and a university fellow.
18d Allegiance shown the Tudors, say, when changing sides? (7)
{LOYALTY} – what the Tudors were examples of with the first letter changed from R to L (from one side to the other).
19d Charge way over the odds for wool (6)
{FLEECE} – double definition, the first an informal verb to overcharge.
21d Piece of jewellery I found among Scarlett’s property (5)
{TIARA} – insert I (from the clue) into the name of the plantation owned by the O’Hara family in Gone With The Wind.
The clues I liked best were 21a and 22a. How about you?
Today’s Quickie Pun: {MILL} + {WAR} + {QUAY} = {MILWAUKEE}
You missed a photo opportunity at 8ac as in Go Go Dancer. I think the clue would work better without the second hyphen. Otherwise a bit of a read and write.
Hi gazza, agree mostly about todays crossword but a couple of clues made it a two to three star for me, I had not heard of that cigar nor the name of the plantation those were my last two in also not knowing London very well I didn’t know that area!!! once again no favourite clue, at this rate I am never going to be in Kath’s bad books
oops wrong place
It’s a bit of a puzzle, Mary, why your comment is hanging on determinedly to be in last place
Quite a few later comments, including mine, appear to have leap-frogged yours!
P.S. I posted this one as a “reply” but it has ended up as a new comment but after yours. One of the mysteries of IT.
I don’t know why my comment appeared before yours, since I posted it after ?!
That was intended as a reply to Mary.. confused?
I’ve restored Mary’s original comment which (she?) had deleted. That seems to have sorted the indentation problem.
I deleted it! I tried to insert her comment lower down, but obviously without success.
Sorry everyone, I didn’t mean to cause this confusion
Now to find out where this is going to end up – it’s meant to be a reply to Mary.
Haven’t you read “Gone with the Wind”, or seen the film? I have it in my head that it’s one of the three books that every woman is supposed to have read – I think the other two are “Forever Amber” and “Jane Eyre” but could be completely wrong about that and I’m ready to be corrected.
Not ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’?
No – don’t think so!! Well, I haven’t but I know Mary has.
Oh yes…the trilogy
Yes Kath had read the book and seen the film but the name of the plantation eluded me
You’re the first person I’ve known who has read it … or at least, admitted to it!
I read the three books Merusa good summertime reading last year, actually once you skip the sex bits the story is quite good :-) at least I thought so!!
Always make sure you read both books in a trilogy Mary
I wasn’t aware there was a trilogy of “Gone With The Wind’ Miffypops
Gone With The Wind. That will be Spindrift and I after the rugby on Saturday afternoon. TI AR A BOOM TI A.
….and that’s after the wales v france game on friday night. i’m going to give the italy v scotland game a miss as i have to schlep up the m1 to pick mrs s up from the mil’s. shame as i fancy italy to win at home against a team of sixth formers, who, in some circles of pinion,should give up their place to a nation that plays & enjoys its rugby – argentina anyone?.
Talking of sport does anyone know what curling is all about? I keep seeing people pushing little brooms around and I don’t have a clue what they’re doing, or trying to do.
It’s a sport of strategy and skill and I find it much more interesting than those involving hurtling down a mountain as fast as possible. In fact it’s the only part of the Winter Olympics that I enjoy watching.
Kath. Just sit down with a long drink (alcoholic, of course) and enjoy a slower pace of life for a while. What is going on does not matter a jot. The slowing down of your life does. When the summer comes you can do the same with outdoor bowls. With all that relaxation under your belt you will be ready to enjoy watching whole cricket matches without understanding a single moment or worrying about jobs left undone or what anybody thinks of you.
Have I ever given the impression that I worry about understanding anything, let alone jobs left undone or what anybody thinks of me?
Maybe I need to watch a bit more of it and try to begin to understand it – at the moment it’s a complete mystery to me. I certainly can’t watch the hurtling around at high speed – very scary.
Tomorrow’s the day then Kath both Womens and Mens teams are in the quarter finals one starts at 10am and the other at 3pm I think
It’s the semi-finals actually, so both teams need to win to get into the final.
Thanks gazza I did mean the semis!!
Agreed Gazza. It gets very addictive to watch.
What I can tell you about curling, is that ALL curling stones come from the volcanic plug called Ailsa Craig out in the Firth of Clyde. Err… And that’s about it.
Tara is mentioned in the last few words of the film. Not in the last sentence though, that surely Mary Knows…..
Very easy today no hints required. Agree with the ratings, and no real favourites. Many thanks Gazza for the review, ,ooh the rains just stopped time for the muts to go out & continue dismantling the porch.
20a, in various guises, must be one of the commonest clues in crosswordland.
Straightforward solve today!
Faves : 21a & 21d.
Not quite a walkover but fun nevertheless. Thank you Mysteron. In spite of having played cricket for my school many moons ago first half of 22a didn’t occur to me (thanks Gazza for guidance) – I’m better on tennis terms which of course appear regularly. 18d probably fav. ***/***.
I thought this was going to be a write in today, but I got held up in the SE corner. I put 15D in but had to check as I’m not a great connoisseur of cigars, this managed to lead me to the rest of the answers. Favourite today has to be 9A – haven’t had them for many a year except in jam which isn’t quite the same.
Bright sunshiny today – wish I’d taken a gamble and done the laundry earlier, ho hum, still have a couple of weeks worth of clothes let.
Going for a * top half and a ** bottom half with a** enjoyment ,a light hearted offering overall which was pleasant enough, , liked 21 down , was thinking of Will not Miss O’ Hara , remembered getting a birthday card with Little John whispering in Will’s ear that Robin wanted a quiet word about camouflage!- Agree with Miffypops that Gazza,unlike him, missed a photo opportunity with 8a, remember when they used to be suspended from the ceiling in cages-a bit much for a young man’s blood pressure.
Pretty straightforward for the most part, although I did struggle a bit in the SE corner, never having heard of the cigar, and not understanding 21d until I saw the hint. I did rather enjoy it, though, so 1*/3* for me. 21a favorite.
1.5* for difficulty, 2.5* for enjoyment today. I found the top half “read & write” but the bottom half was a bit more of a challenge, with 22a my last one in and favourite.
I was surprised to find 8a in the BRB as I wasn’t aware this was a proper word, and I needed to use Google to understand the reference to Scarlett’s property in 21d.
Many thanks to the setter and to Gazza.
I agree with the rating and views of Gazza. Thanks to setter, and to reviewer.
The toughie today is most pleasant, and as is customary for a Tuesday, is at the lower level of difficulty.
Took your advice that the toughie was ‘most pleasant’, with a lower level of difficulty and just finished it-hoping Big Daves Blog would score it at least **,but i’ll have to be satisfied with a grade * solve!
Me too, except I was defeated by the bird at the bottom.
It felt a bit like the school playground in autumn, too many (old) chestnuts.Thanks to the setter and Gazza.
Another strange insertion !
..as the actress said to the bishop…
I was doing really well today, until 22a. I just couln’t see why any of my shortlist made a “key” – thanks Gazza for putting me out of my misery.
My favourites were 25a and 18d.
That was our last one in too Chris.
And me – blooming cricket again. Stupid because I do know ‘on’ from what I’ve learnt here but always forget it when I need it.
I first played cricket at Prep School and this summer will be my 60th year of playing – assuming my joints don’t seize up one me. 22a was still my last one in :sad:
I agree with gazza’s 1* difficulty but might be marginally more generous with the enjoyment rating – maybe 3*.
I didn’t have any trouble apart from the 15d cigar which I’ve never heard of and had to google to make sure that I wasn’t inventing it just because it suited me.
I didn’t like 8a very much – a friend of mine does the Guardian crossword and there was a clue quite a while ago that he thought was absolutely brilliant but two of the ‘words’ just didn’t exist – he didn’t seem to think that it mattered, but I did.
I liked quite a few of these clues – 12 and 25a and 3 and 19d. My favourite was 1d.
With thanks to Mr Ron and gazza.
Oh dear – I really didn’t do that as a reply – I think we have a gremlin in the machine today. I want to reply to a comment of Mary’s but goodness knows where it might end up – think I’ll just have a go.
The cigar was made famous by Churchill, which he was seldom seen without!
Thanks to Mr Ron and to Gazza for the review and hints. Was fairly straightforward, but I got held up in the SE Corner, and was beaten by 15d. Had never heard of this cigar, and didn’t equate complete with perfect. Should’ve been gettable though. Favourite was 7d. Was 1.5 */2 * for me. Dull and cloudy today in Central London. Off to try the Toughie.
Another really enjoyable crossword today. Yesterdays & todays must have been quite easy for us to have completed them with very little assistance. I expect we’ll be brought down to earth with a bang very soon though. Thank you to the setter & to Gazza.
While you are on a roll, have a go at today’s Toughie.
Thank you setter, good fun and not too hard a challenge. Thanks Gazza for your review and hints.
Not great I’m afraid but thanks anyway to the setter and to Gazza for the usual excellent review.
Re: 8a – they were always and still are goosegogs where i come from.
agreed
Re 8a gazza ‘go go’ or ‘gogo’ was a kind of dance so I think it does sort of make sense
not really made up?
I remember being on a rugby tour to Nottingham once and one evening got split up from the rest of the lads. I knew they were planning on going to a particular night club, so I went straight there. Whilst looking around the place, I came across a small room with an open bar, lots of chairs and one or to people in there, so I wandered in and got a beer and asked one of the guys near the bar what was going on, he was American and told me that that there had been a week-long sports meet involving all different sports men, women and mixed games and that as I probably shouldn’t be in there as it was private and would I like a beer, etc. So I stayed. I asked him what the occasion was and he said it was the prize giving and that the organizers had laid on some sort of entertainment ‘GoGo Dancers or something’. Suffice to say that the prize giving went well, but the GoGo Dancers turned out to be 6 strippers. Suffice to say, al the ladies stormed out in disgust, all the blokes stayed and got very drunk and all my rugby club tried to get in and failed miserably with several of them being thrown out of the club. My street cred went up somewhat that evening when I got back to the hotel and explained why they couldn’t find me.
That was a good giggle!
it wasn’t the lincolnshire poacher on mansfield road was it? I have had the experience you describe in said establishment on more than one occasion.
New pub opening in Nottm today opposite the castle with real ales,magpie brewery,can’t remember the name, xomething crow I think.
Can’t go to the opening, have to go to Ruddington
Crafty crow?, I thought that was due to open Christmas time…..
Actually, I think it was The Locarno – it was a loooong time ago, probably around 1984 ish
Ladies do pretend disgust quite well, I suspect some of them would have quite liked to stay with the boys.
We all have our delusions, I suppose.
Pet Lamb Number One, aka our eldest daughter, is at a meeting in Scandinavia this week. She is on a committee and is the only girl (perhaps I should say woman). When I spoke to her before she went she asked me if I could guess what the after dinner ‘entertainment’ was for one of the evenings. My immediate thought was a strip club – I was wrong – it’s a naked sauna. She is not a child and I know that she’ll be fine but I’ll be very happy when she gets home . . . .
It’s the bit after the sauna that’s scary… A leap into icy water or a roll in the snow. For a man this can be quite embarrassing.
Which was why when I lived in Bournemouth I never joined the Spartans on Christmas Day……….
Got absolutely stuck on 21a for some incomprehensible reason, otherwise a fairly smooth journey through. Haven’t seen 13a, but am excited by the prospect of a first visit to Glyndebourne in a couple of months… Didn’t know 15d, albeit Mr P enjoys his at Christmas. My fave was 5a. Thanks setter and Gazza.
Pretty much a meek and mild affair today with 2.5 for difficulty and 3 for enjoyment. Thank you for the blog Gazza, I needed you for the 15D cigar thingy of which I was totally ignorant.
Add me to the list of solvers who completed the grid but had to check the cigar name and missed the cricket connection in 22a which was therefore my last one in, convinced it was right but not totally understanding why! Most of the rest were read and write but I still enjoyed the solve.
Thanks setter and Gazza.
I agree with * for difficulty but I would say *** for enjoyment. I adore (my mum always said you can’t love food) 8a and had my own gooseberry bush at Beacon View in Compton Dundon when I visited. If I visited in off season, there were always some in the freezer for me. I got 15d as I remembered the Churchill connection. I put 22a in without knowing the cricket term; so what it was correct.
Favourite is 1d, with honorable mention going to 16a. Thanks to setter and to Gazza for review, not needed today but always fun to read.
Your Mum would have her work cut out with me Merusa. I love food. I love food so much that I never eat anything else.
Chuckles.
I think I agree with your Mum – don’t think you can adore a thing, it has to be a person. A friend of ours, an American, says that she ‘despises’ anchovies – very strange, not just not liking anchovies but the choice of words.
Mum used to say you can’t love something that can’t love you back.
Some foods love you back. Kippers for instance.
Ooh, lovely kippers. We can only get the tinned sort here. As for bangers, I long for a good English banner … yum, yum.
For that read “banger” not “banner”!
Ask BD I think he’s said before Kippers and scrambled egg, plus something else I forget, is his fave for Breakfast.
Mushrooms!
Oh that was them, (resisting all fun guy jokes)
Yes – perfect. I think that I could have got on well with your Mum.
Late on the job today because the crack team of Neanderthals who are relaying the gas main, who have already severed the electricity supply to all of us have now chopped right through the main BT pipe. These days that is like chopping the Aorta.
Only the water supply to chop through now and they have the full set.
Liked this puzzle with 21a a favourite and 22&24a requiring the stalwart aid of Mr Gazza. Googled the cigar thing like everyone else it seems.
**/*** by my reckoning. Am I allowed to carp about slang answers? Don’t like em – never have, never will. I am talking of Goosegogs of course.
We had to have a quick peek at Mrs B to confirm the cigar but everything else slotted in smoothly. Pleasant puzzle.
Thanks Mr Ron and Gazza.
Complete breeze until 7d for which I needed the hint.
Well, you should know a breeze when you see one!
I didn’t get round to this one yesterday, but having done so now l quite agree with Gazza’s ratings. Not testing, but pleasant enough. Thank you Mr Ron, and Gazza.
Finally got round to this after my boating trip. Agree with Gazza’s ratings, except for 7d, which although I got, I still can’t see the wordplay. I guess I’m too late commenting for anyone to explain it to me in words of one syllable. Ho hum. Thanks to Gazza and Ron
Hi Tstrummer,
Fish is RAY, end of pier is (pie)R and it is, well IT. So RA R IT Y.