Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27935 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
Hosted by Tilsit
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Morning all!
While the gang are away in that London, I’m going to babysit things for the next couple of weekends.
Incidentally if you are bored today once you have finished this enjoyable puzzle, one of my puzzles is the General Knowledge Jumbo challenge in the Independent. There is a prize for completing the puzzle, and one for getting the link between three of the answers, and the prize is very upmarket chocolate!
Incidentally, special good wishes go to everyone taking part in the Times Crossword Championships today, can anyone defeat the perennial champion Mark Goodliffe? I think he might have a challenger or two this year. A few of our brothers and sisters from these parts are taking part and extra special wishes to them!
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.
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”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.
A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.
Some hints follow.
ACROSS
3a Number touring notice pub, shabby in appearance (10)
A word that means tatty or shabby is found by taken a small number and inserting a word for a notice or advertisement and one for a type of pub.
8 a Nurse, not hot in shady garden alcove (6)
A word meaning to nurse, or to hold or keep needs to lose its first letter to give you a type of bower or shady garden feature.
11a Football League initially probing Premier League club complaint? (3,3)
The name for an illness, one very much of the 21st Century, is revealed by taking the abbreviated name of a certain Premier League Club and inserting the initial letters of Football League.
14a South American, extremely sensitive, explains barking dog (6,7)
You are looking for a breed of dog, and in truth, I’d never heard of it! Take the abbreviations for South and American, add the first and last letters of sensitive, and then an anagram (barking) of EXPLAINS.
20a Awful baloney about one beheaded knight and queen (4,6)
The name of a famous royal wife is revealed by taking anagram (awful) of baloney and inserting the word one without its first letter (beheaded) and after this, placing the chess notation for a knight.
21a Expert came across, over for the time being (3,3)
A Latin expression meaning for the time being is shown by taking a short word meaning an expert or professional, and adding a word for came across, reversed.
24a Prepared drainage for shrub (8)
The name for a type of shrub is an anagram (prepared) of drainage.
26a Poor speed by back (6-4)
A way of describing something inferior is found by taking a way of describing a speed and adding something that means back. Wasn’t over happy with this clue (or the explanation!).
DOWN
1d He and I, for example, in favour of sisters keeping nothing (8)
What ‘he’ and ‘I’ are examples of, is your definition. A Latin word that means on behalf of, takes the name gives to some religious sisters. Insert into this word O for nothing and hey presto!
2d Likewise, Conservative admires Greek philosopher (8)
The name of a famous Greek who killed himself by drinking hemlock is found by taking a short word meaning likewise, adding the abbreviation for Conservative and then adding something that means admires or scores something.
5d Husband brought in a meek person to meet artist in palace (8)
The name of a famous palace is needed and you need to put H for husband inside A and the name for someone meek or timid. Add to this the standard crossword abbreviation for an artist.
6d Smart, supporter at home — and away, ultimately (6)
A synonym for smart is needed. You can find it by taking the word for a type of supporter, in the ladies’ clothing sense (!) and adding IN (at home) and the last letter of AWAY.
15d Inspected fabric cut up (8)
In down clues, up can be used as a reversal indicator. Here you need the name of a fabric (associated with jeans) and a word meaning cut or chop and reversing them both to give a word meaning inspected.
18d Sophisticated former pope, last to pontificate (6)
The name of eight different popes has the last letter of pontificate after it to give a word meaning suave or sophisticated.
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The Quick Crossword pun: stay+tusk+woe = Status Quo
Many thanks for getting it out early Tilsit. Now I can get it done before the rugby. But how do we open the pictures
Can anyone help. I’ve just got ‘imgres jpg’ and no picture and this is new to me. Perhaps it is just on my attachment
Collywobbles, I can’t see the pictures either :sad:
Come on Tilsit, tell us what to do otherwise I’ll miss the rugby
Anybody?
The images were never uploaded – probably a problem with Apple software!
I have added them today.
Telegraph numpties still making this more difficult than it should be on iPad. Fed up of providing feedback on problems and receiving anodyne replies.
Thanks for hints which give correct numeration.
DT’s IT is a long-standing joke.
They are clueless :)
Any chance someone could get on here early and post up the multi words till said numpties have fixed it?
The iPad edition doesn’t have the multi-word clues split out (ie. 12a calls for a 10 letter answer rather than 4,3,3). Made for a rather challenging solve today!
Welcome to the blog, Joe.
2*/2*. Dull and over Legoed. Roll on tomorrow! Thanks to setter and to Tilsit.
Hi thanks for stepping in but just wondered how we get to see the images? Thanks
Welcome to the blog, Maffers.
Was really struggling with iPad version till I realised that 12 across had to be three words not one of 10 letters. Fortunately I have the print edition also and spotted that all multi-word answers are set as single words in the iPad version. Terrible job by telegraph.
iPad version of crossword is just getting worse, 6 clues were multi worded today, on the iPad – none! I just do not understand how they keep getting this wrong. Spoke to DT techie (sic) the other day, he didn’t seem to think that having multi words was much of a problem! He also said they are working on a patch but have no idea when it will be ready! Complete farce, am now resorting to writing to the Editor before I’m forced to switch to the Times!
Ditto remarks about iPad version. It is getting very annoying to say the least. In fact I wish they would revert to the old version of the paper altogether. Thank you Tilsit for giving us the correct number breakdown. But why should you have to do the Telegraph’s job? The ‘what do you think of the new app’ appeared only once. Funny that!
Not the most inspiring puzzle and as always (!) the two answers that I don’t understand are not hinted – 25a and 13d. Out of interest how do the hinters decide which clues to hint on prize puzzle days?
Thought 3a and 26a are both poor clues and never come across the Pope before.
Did like 11a though, one of the most unpleasant and deadly diseases known!
Thx to all.
Hi Brian,
25a – The definition is ‘prelude’. You need a verb that means show or steer in the right direction followed by the usual little word meaning at university.
13d – I don’t get that one either.
13d Boy appearing after James (5)
An adverb meaning appearing follows the (Biblical) abbreviation for James.
Gazza, I assumed that was the case but I can’t think of a sensible sentence where you could swap “appearing” for the adverb you are referring to, and even if you can you would be sent to the naughty corner today for mentioning it.
Ah just saw this, so obviously my explanations were both wrong! ….nothing new there then!
Are you ready for the game Gazza? We will be out lunching for my grandsons 18th unfortunately so will have to tape it … what a time to have lunch!!!!
Ready but quite apprehensive, Mary. It’s going to be quite a busy afternoon because I have Exeter Chiefs’ game to watch first then the two World Cup quarter-finals. Come on, Wales!
Gaza, what channel is the Exeter game on?
Oh, Ive got it BT2. We don’t get that in the papers down here
Ok just about see 25a although show is a bit puzzling but must have the wrong answer for 13d. I have a boys name which starts with the abbreviation for James but no way can I make my second bit mean appearing! Don’t know if I will get sent o the naughty corner for mentioning the Argonauts?
Joe Bloggs is appearing at the Palladium?
I think the word ” appearing” simply means coming after…which makes your answer correct. I have to say this is the first time in a long while that I have to know the answer in order to match it to the clues. I much prefer it when the clue actually leads to the answer!!! Found this one frustrating, although I didn’t need the hints today. Thanks to Tilsit for stepping in, and to the setter, even though this really wasn’t my cup of tea
I will probably get in trouble for this, but I thought it was *’* ***, if that makes any sense.
Like Collywobbles, I’m delighted to have got this puzzle out of the way in good time as I’m watching Spurs v Liverpool as a prelude to both rugby matches and, as a consequence, nothing else is going to get done today… It’s good to see you’re holding the reins, Tilsit, and thank you for your input.
Weren’t the multi-word enumerations right yesterday? One step forward, two back – seems about right. Meh.
I can’t work out why 13d is what it must be either. Maybe I’m being dense again :(.
Early lunchnoms (sic) soon, then I’ll be heading into town.
Thanks to the setter and to Tilsit for holding the fort expertly here.
(P.S. The last bit of the quickie pun is showing.)
Last bit of quickie pun now hidden.
Favourite clue was 11a
Pretty simplistic Saturday crossword.
And how rude to call Kath’s daughters meek persons.
13d didn’t make much sense to me either and if you follow the alphabet it doesn’t seem to work. Unless the first three letters is short for James, followed by a two letter word for appearing.
26a was quite poor indeed.
Thanks to the Saturday setter and to Tilsit for the blog.
You’ll just have to believe me when I say that there’s absolutely nothing meek about our daughters!
I too parsed 13d along your lines JL.
I quite enjoyed this one.
I’ve never heard of the first bit of the 14a dog and I’m not too good on popes so had to check 18d.
Like Brian and Kitty I don’t get 13d – maybe we’ve all got the wrong answer . . .
I liked 12 and 24a and 4 and 5d. Favourite, once my sight had recovered from my first reading of the clue, was 11a.
With thanks to Mr Ron and to Tilsit.
Hi Kath as I see 13d and I’m more than possibly wrong it is … a boys name is made up of the initial letter of James followed by two words for a boy????? Kind of all in one? Unless that particular boys name comes alphabetically after James!!!!
I did look at it but there’s a least Jamie and Jared before that.
Yes JLC I did think of Jared too!
Enjoyable…quite easy….hope to see you in a minute or two. We’re just about to jump on the tube!
Well done Mr. Ron and Tilsit….**/**
If you’re at a loose end this afternoon I thoroughly recommend Beet’s NTSPP – it’s not too difficult and it has some super clues and great laughs.
I’ll second that, although I do wish that Brian tackled the NTSPPs – name check in there for him!
Yes – I agree – brilliant – everyone should have a go at it although I thought it was a bit more difficult than Beet’s crosswords have been before.
I agree that iPad version did not help – 20a etc- sent me up the garden path somewhat! I always rely on the iPad version as my paper does not arrive until 0730 and a week of 0520 starts means I am awake well before the paperboy arrives! Rant over. All done despite the angst. Off to see Suffragette tonight with Mrs LD. Thanks for a great review and for the preceding incisive comments. Off to sweep leaves. It’s a big job!
Quite fun. The Pope clue took the longest by far. No outstanding clues, but 1D was my fav. Thanks to all. **/**
Apologies for the pictures.
I posted using my Mac and they were all in the original posting. Will try and sort later!
No hint above for 25a and I need to know if it is a multi word answer. Can someone help please?
Two words, 4, 2
Unusually for a Saturday this was just nicely challenging. Can’t pick a Fav because there are several equally engaging clues/solutions. Many thanks Tilsit for sitting in the driving seat over these weekends and being there in case we need you or choose to read your comments after the event. Now for a weekend feast of RU and quite nice to be in a neutral position as to which teams to support and just enjoying the games although probably leaning towards the UK teams. Thank you Mr. Ron for a pleasant trip. ***/****.
How long shall we leave it before we start threatening to behave badly if we don’t get some piccies of the ‘do’ in London?

Offering to give a few ‘alternative clues’ to some of today’s Prize Puzzle problem areas should bring about a fairly rapid response.
Go on – I dare you!

Well….I would, but BD might send me that scary ‘Hitler-faced’ thingy again if I do.
For any of you that don’t already know – I’m told that the Times runs a series of puzzles which give the clues in English and the answers in Latin. My cup runneth over!
I might be wrong but 14a requires 13 letters and the hint only amounts to 12 letters, so I don’t see where the other letter comes from
S outh
US American
SE extremes of sensitive
Anagram of explains
Oh thank you. I got the answer but I had no idea how it worked with the clue!! Daylight ha dawned!
Nor me neither so thanks Tilsit for revealing all – what a conundrum!
Thanks Tilsit, I missed the S
The DT’s treatment of their iPad subscribers is certainly 26a. I naively thought the problem was solved, so it wasn’t until I read the blog in complete exasperation that I realised it is far from resolved. Once that had sunk in, it was plain sailing. Enjoyment took a nosedive, and I have probably taken out my frustration on the setter. 2/2 as a result, with thanks to all except the accursed Telegraph IT department.
Good luck to all in London.
Loved this, especially 18d where, in the surface reading, the settter and I are on the same wavelength: he clearly shares my nostalgia for the pope emeritus. But the whole puzzle was enjoyable despite the frustration of continuing DT/iPad issues. Many thanks to the setter.
Thanks to the setter and to Tilsit for the hints. A pretty straightforward puzzle that I quite enjoyed. Struggled with the Pope and 8a, but got there in the end. Favourite was 14a. Was 2*/3* for me. Watching the rugby before the Gooners come on. Hope you all enjoy the do at Borough.
Easy peasy and not much of a workout. So */** overall. Thanks to all. Everton are getting stuffed – no surprise. Back to the golf.
Thanks Tilsit and setter
I thought 11a was brilliant.
13d, brb has the first 3 letters of the answer as the abbreviation for James, exactly as JL suggests.
And Gazza. We posted at the same time on a different thread.
Not sure if this’ll get me into trouble but I understood13D as being the sort of thing *********************.
[Please read the warning in red and don’t provide alternative clues. Gazza]
What happened to27929,s. full review?!
Welcome to the blog, AlanW.
It was there but with the wrong title – that’s fixed now.
I’ve gone through my life never having heard of 14a.
As above, 11a brilliant construction.
Within my **plus time for difficulty.
Thanks to the setter, and BD.
14a is the result of crossing the one-time ‘first word of the answer’ + Springer with the Cocker plus ‘second word of the answer’.
It does go by a rather more common name which you may well have come across before.
Hopefully that doesn’t relegate me to the naughty corner!
Thanks

But you’re skating on very thin ice.
No wonder I could not make head or tails of 6 clues doing the crossword on my IPad! When I looked at the printed version – after having rushed to the village computer shop to get another printer – I understood why! Obviously the DT techies are not cruciverbalists! Needed the hints for 18d and 26a so many thanks to Tilsit and to the setter for an enjoyable mental workout. Thought 13d was clever as 11a. Did not know the first word for the dog breed in 14a. Back in Billingshurst to get ready for our trip to the US. Don’t know how I am going to survive without my daily cryptic solving…
Try the New York Times crossword. I used to enjoy it when I lived there several moons ago although perhaps one needs time to get accustomed.
Thank you. Is it a cryptic one?
‘ish’ I seem to remember but the US humour is of course different.
The IT issues do not make for easy solving that is for sure! I completed today’s puzzle….eventually, but I’m not sure that the problems add or detract from the challenge. I think the latter personally.
Anyway, 11a was my fave and overall a shaky 2/3*.
Thanks to the setter and to Tilsit for the hints.
New glasses collected today thanks to OH who drove me down and monitored every little step, now I can see properly I thoroughly enjoyed today’s offering. 11a made me smile, never heard of 14a, did need a bit of electronic help but on the whole quite pleased with myself. Thanks to Tilset and setter off to do GK.
P S the quickie pun is evil!!!!!
Thank god I get the Paper edition, it was only when I came to enter the Puzzle on my IPad that I realised that this had nine of the multi-word clues specified – what a cock-up!
As loads of people have already said the pictures in the blog seem to have been replaced with a question mark – novel!
As far as the puzzle itself is concerned it was a little harder than the usual Saturday Far, but pretty straightforward, no real problems apart from the dog which I couldn’t work out and had to look up the various ‘flavours’ on the net and still couldn’t ‘parse’ it!
(I don’t know – ‘parse’ is probably the correct technical term but I feel a bit pretentious using it and have to surround it with exclamation marks – my problem’)
The Cricket really surprised me, ending in quite an exciting way after four days of tedium – Football, Rugby, Football already more Rugby to come up later – I’m exhausted!
I agree with you about ‘parse’. I know that it’s the correct word to use but also feel that if I use it it feels pretentious – that’s why I usually say that I couldn’t explain it or justify it.

As for Football, Rugby, Football and more Rugby, not to mention Cricket, I’m not exhausted – just bored with it all!
Dare I say that the dancing is good fun?
Thank god I get the Paper edition, it was only when I came to enter the Puzzle on my IPad that I realised that this had none of the multi-word clues specified – what a cock-up!
As loads of people have already said the pictures in the blog seem to have been replaced with a question mark – novel!
As far as the puzzle itself is concerned it was a little harder than the usual Saturday Far, but pretty straightforward, no real problems apart from the dog which I couldn’t work out and had to look up the various ‘flavours’ on the net and still couldn’t ‘parse’ it!
(I don’t know – ‘parse’ is probably the correct technical term but I feel a bit pretentious using it and have to surround it with exclamation marks – my problem’)
The Cricket really surprised me, ending in quite an exciting way after four days of tedium – Football, Rugby, Football already more Rugby to come up later – I’m exhausted!
I don’t know what happened there – I tried to edit my original entry, it came up as per normal but my IPad keyboard was in a strange font and wouldn’t allow me to enter anything, I pressed enter and another copy of my original post came up, which I edited and submitted – the net result is that there are now two copies of my post on the blog – sorry!
I’ve been having problems with the keyboard on my IPad since I upgraded to IOS 9.03 – one problem after another – it’s beyond me!
A rare event today; completed without peeking at any hints, but extensive use of the Thesaurus needed, and some lucky guessing. No harder on Saturdays please; this was just about doable for Mrs BJ and me. Thanks to setter and Tilset.
I completed well within 1* time, with the intensely annoying exception of 16d and 25a. I suspect that both should have been blindingly obvious to me by now, and l have been guilty of over-complication in my attempts to solve them. Can anyone give me a little hint for either of them?
Ah! The pennies have just dropped. 16d was indeed easy. 25a does work, l suppose, but l feel the first word of the solution is rather a stretch from “show”. OK – 2*/3* on balance, and 14a my favourite clue. Thanks to the setter, and to Tilsit for the hints ( albeit not the ones l needed!).
“I’ll” try for 16d – usual contraction of I will followed by a synonym of remedy as a verb. Can’t really do it for 25a – other than equivalent of show the way to someone for the first word. Does this help?
As Brian said, uninspiring, even a bit pedestrian.
First time commenting. 13 down was exactly as described. We stumbled over 16d/25a. Got the answer to 9a but not sure how it fits with the clue. All finished now. We do the paper version no tech issues!
Welcome
Split your answer to 9a 2,5,1 and then look at the clue again.
Last as usual-finished without a hint, the last was the pope one -looked at a list of popes but missed this one. Came to me suddeNly Sunday am. Like many was diverted by rugby. Enjoyed the crossy but not the results of the matches. Ho Ho 2019…..thanks to setter and BD
‘Easy peasy’? Some smug posters here! Like playing a Chopin waltz or changing brake pads, only when you know how. As an occasional solver (Saturday DT only, this one took me 2 days and lots of help from Chambers and this site) I thought it was difficult, esp 26a. Still, I doubt if anyone will read this as it’s now Thursday!
I did!
Stick with it and maybe one day it will be you posting “Easy peasy”.
I did too – and would echo BD’s comment about sticking with it.
And even on the other side of the world we read it too.