Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28001
Hints and tips by Miffypops
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Today’s hints and tips have been created with love and care by Miffypops, a man who has no beginning to his talents and is somewhat lacking in tact. Together with the underlined definitions they should lead you to the answers you may be struggling with. If you are completely bamboozled befuddled and bewildered click on the greyed out box to reveal the answer.
Although I did not find this particularly difficult it did take more passes than usual to complete but with more checking letters it all fell into place nicely.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Across
1a Demonstrating opposition to hunter’s movement? (13)
ANTICLOCKWISE: This hunter is a pocket watch with a lid that closes to protect its glass. The movement drives the hands of the watch in a certain direction. The clue asks us for the opposite direction.
10a Rawness can produce wrong ones (7)
ANSWERS: Anagram (can produce) of RAWNESS
11a Window the Spanish put back outside garret (7)
LATTICE: Place the reverse of the Spanish word meaning THE around a garret or roof space.
12a Doubtless, it follows plea for enjoyment (4)
SURE: This word meaning certain can be placed after the word plea to give another word meaning enjoyment or a feeling of happy satisfaction. Like the seven deadly sins there should be seven of these.
13a Subject to reduced choice (5)
TOPIC: TO from the clue and a verb meaning to choose minus (reduced) its final letter
14a Pole beats retreats (4)
SPAR: Reverse (retreats) a word meaning beats or knocks sharply to find a pole or beam. I used to struggle to see which way round these reversal words went and sometimes still do. Having a checking letter usually sorts the job
17a He may resort to clubs and bars, but should be fit (7)
GYMNAST: These clubs are Indian and the bars are parallel or asymmetric. You need the fit person who may be using them
18a Find something irritating and withdraw from event (7)
SCRATCH: A double definition.
19a Not on duty, worker is casual (7)
OFFHAND: The opposite of on followed by a manual worker will give this word meaning casual or blasé
22a Type of fiction unfamiliar with the French (7)
NOVELLA: Take an adjective meaning new (unfamiliar) and add the French word for the feminine the
24a Hail on the waters (4)
AHOY: What a sailor might shout out to attract attention.
25a Study on leave somewhere in Africa (5)
CONGO: This central African republic can be found by placing one of two of Crosswordland’s usual words meaning study before a word meaning to leave.
26a Wake up in the nick of time? (4)
STIR: To awaken or (I think) a slang term for prison.
29a Damp mines to put right (7)
MOISTEN: Anagram (put right) of MINES TO
30a Strangely, one isn’t showing stress (7)
TENSION: Anagram (strangely) of ONE ISN’T. Only one letter different from the anagram in the previous clue
31a The sauce of girl making a speech (5,8)
SALAD DRESSING: Split 3, 10 we have a girl making a speech to an assembly of people. There is nothing in the clue to help find the girls name and it isn’t actually a girl’s name but a shortened form of either of two girls names. The sauce is what we may pour over a meal mostly eaten during the summer.
Down
2d Holy man in no spirit for a quack remedy (7)
NOSTRUM: Place our usual shortened abbreviation for a holy man in between the word NO directly from the clue and a spirit drink favoured by sailors.
3d Part of White Mountains seen in detail (4)
ITEM. This answer is hidden in the clue. Also known as a lurker
4d How to fight miserliness? (4,3)
LASH OUT: To spend extravagantly is also what one might do when fighting
5d Scale of clues compiled one’s put in upside down (7)
CELSIUS: This temperature scale can be found by solving an anagram (compiled) of CLUES with SI (ones upside down) inserted (put in)
6d Point put by a teetotal engineer (4)
WATT: A compass point is followed by the letter A lifted straight from the clue and the abbreviation for TeeTotal
7d Tacks up favourite piece of information (7)
SNIPPET: Reverse (up in a down clue) a word meaning tacks and add a word meaning favourite
8d Gunrunning, say, in conflict (7,2,4)
PASSAGE OF ARMS: A cryptic description of the journey weapons might undertake is actually an archaic term for a fight or dispute
9d Document the police may need to look over (6,7)
SEARCH WARRANT: The document authorised by a magistrate is what the police need in order to enter premises to nose around for drugs, stolen goods or illegal weapons
15d Boat‘s the same even when capsized (5)
KAYAK: This boat is a type of canoe. The term in the clue “the same even when capsized” indicates a palindrome
16d Boasting without publicity is well done (5)
BRAVO: Start with a word meaning boasting and remove (without) the AD (advert / publicity)
20d For about a pound, girl sees part of America (7)
FLORIDA: Lift the word FOR directly from the clue and place it around the abbreviation for our monetary pound and add a girl’s name to find a part of America known as The Sunshine State
21d Elevated road had flooded (7)
DROWNED: Reverse (elevated) the abbreviation for road and add a word meaning to have had possession of something
22d Unusual thing that is what ladies wear in retirement (7)
NIGHTIE: Anagram (unusual) of THING followed by the shortened form of the Latin term Id Est
23d Rearrange vital meeting with a North European (7)
LATVIAN: Anagram (rearrange) of VITAL with A from the clue and N(orth)
27d A feature of Sicily and French central Monaco (4)
ETNA: The French word meaning and is followed by the central two letters of the word MoNAco
28d Taverns in the capitals of Norway and Sweden (4)
INNS: IN from the clue and the first letters (capitals) of the words N(orway) and (Sweden)
Sad to hear that the man who invented predictive text has died. His funfair is a week on Monkey
The Quick Crossword pun: summer+rise=summarise
The lower half wrote itself almost but the top half was another matter. 1a is a word with which I am very familiar and it jumped out at me after a few checkers.I thought the clue itself was, well,… intriguing.
Thanks Miffypops and Rufus.
A nice gentle stroll for the new year although I was trying to justify Avon for 24 A. Many thanks to Miffypops for his review & hope that he wasn’t in the naughty corner for too long on Saturday ?
3*/4*. Unusually it took me quite a time to switch onto Rufus’ wavelength today. Once I had, everything fell into place nicely and it proved to be as much fun as we have come to expect on a Monday.
Many thanks to Rufus and to MP.
Worked my way round clockwise starting in NE and ending with 1a – I keep getting caught out by this hunter, but with all the checkers in place the answer was clear.
My favourite was the cryptic definition in 9d (document the police may need to look over).
Many thanks Miffypops for the usual excellent and entertaining review, and thank you Rufus for the enjoyment
Must have been the Christmas break , but I struggled today and was pleased that Miffypops rating was a ***/***,as that was about right for me, saved by the checking letters! Thanks to all.
Just rechecked the blog-don’t know where the S came from!
*/***
A very pleasant solve. Last in was 1a as I couldn’t figure out the hunter bit.
Like Dutch my favourite is the lovely 9d but I do like 15d as it’s a palindrome.
Laughed when I read the predictive text bit at the end. In fact it’s still making me Google.
Better do some work now. Have 7 spreadsheets open and not one is making any sense.
Many thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops for an excellent blog, as always.
I often have trouble on Mondays – Fridays too – today I didn’t. 2* difficulty and 4* for enjoyment.
1a and the first word of 8d took ages.
I missed the 10a anagram indicator.
No other problems – nice to see 27a with a slightly different clue to usual.
I liked 1 and 24a and 9d. My favourite was 26a.
With thanks to Rufus and Miffypops.
Off to have a go at Mr Rookie.
No pain today but lots of fun. Thank you Rufus and MP whose tactful (sometimes!) hints I didn’t need to consult today except stupidly to parse 13a. Off to good start as 1a and 2d went in straightaway and were probably joint Favs. **/****.
Good to see that Miffypops hasn’t been relegated to the substitute’s bench after a questionable performance on Saturday where the Manager felt that he wasn’t playing for the team. However, the Big Man kept faith in him and he has returned today with a blinding display.
We found this a bit more tricky than the usual Rufus ***/***. With thanks to MP and Rufus.
Very enjoyable. But as often happens my difficulty rating is opposite to most people here. I gave it one star for difficulty. Yet I can struggle on other days!
This was another of those ‘start in the middle, work down and then back up to the top’ sort of puzzles for me. 2*/3.5*.
Not overly keen on 17a but that was the only slight niggle.
Podium places go to 1,13,19,26&31a.
Thanks to Rufus for a good start to the week’s back-pagers and to MP (what – no music today?).
22d. As the answer is singular, shouldn’t the clue read: “what a lady wears”?
Ladies usually only wear one at a time.
You took the words out of my mouth but I decided to bite my tongue!
But ladies wear nighties, whereas a lady wears a nightie!
1a and 9d last ones in. Even with checking letters just couldn’t get there. Put it down to being full of cold and irritating cough, so concentrating more on feeling sorry for myself. Favourite was 31a. It made me smile and cheered me up, as did 22d. Thanks to the setter and to Miffypops for the review.
Thanks to Rufus and to Miffypops for the review and hints. A good puzzle to start the week. I found this very difficult, had heard of the hunter reference in 1a, but failed to notice it. Had never heard of of 8d. Couldn’t get 9d or 24a. Favourite was 31a. Was 4*/3* for me. Sun out now in Central London :-)
I got it into my mind that 1a was ‘unwillingness’ for no particular reason other than I had a couple of checkers and it fitted – that screwed me up for a while until I got the engineer and realised the Hunter connection – after that everything fell into place pretty smoothly!
Very enjoyable and just a little tricky – really good fun!
Bit tricky but very enjoyable. Took a while to get going but then it did flow quite well. Did better when I put in ahoy for 24a instead of wave! I thought 1 a and 21d were very clever clues. For me **/***
Good start to the week.
Thx to all
I think wave is a pretty good alternative – had I thought of it I’d probably have put it in too.
Last ones were 8d and 17a as I wasn’t sure if the first word of 8d was passing or passage. Never heard of the expression.
In France we have something similar. The passage of arm to the left means that you have died. Not very cheerful really.
Didn’t understand the clubs bit in 17a, so thanks to MP for the explanation.
Strange again that two words appear in the rookie too.
Favourite is 21d. Very smooth.
Thanks to Rufus and to MP for the music free review.
Merci J-L, grâce à vous aujourd’hui j’ai appris que ‘passer l’arme a gauche’ veut dire ‘kick the bucket’!
A fine way to spend a wet afternoon. **\*** from me. ,1a was clever but I never like clues like20d , there are so many girl’s names so you need plenty of checkers to twig it.
Anyway, thoroughly enjoyable and thanks to Rufus and MP.
Must have my thinking cap on the right way up as I started at bottom as usual and happily worked my way up. 1a brought a smile, as did 31a, no graphite was used for anagrams and no electronic help was required. Thanks to Rufus and Miffypops for a delightful way to spend Monday afternoon. After a dire day yesterday sunshine but chilly here. Shall I try Rookie or go back to book?
I’d say go for the Rookie, but I’m biased.
Me too, and I’m not biased.
***/***. More than two passes required but enjoyable. Liked 1&31a. 1d came from somewhere deep within the memory banks but the clueing confirmed the answer. Thanks to the setter and MP for the review.
Relieved to find several 3*s for difficulty, as I struggled with top half, too . Blaming exhaustion after happy but busy Christmas/New Year, the former with family in the Lake District, though well above the ghastly floods, the latter with more family in Vale Royal. ( Ah !Who knows where that lovely area is ? Could make good crossword clue ! ) It was the four-letter answers that, as often happens, stumped me eg 6d, 24 and 26a. Much prefer longer words ! 1a last in – must remember those old watches !
4* enjoyment, though, on a sunny Monday in t’North. Thanks to Rufus and a Happy New Year to all solvers .
I’d be OK with that one, Mary, my last home in Cheshire was just ‘around the corner’ from Vale Royal Abbey – in the old water mill that once ground corn for the monks!
Hi Mary,
I really struggled with the top half too.
Still have not got 1a, may have to resort to a hint…
Having reviewed the answers, I feel quite dense, must be down to the first day back at work.
Typical straightforward puzzle from Rufus.
I didn’t get 1a until the end; when will I ever remember that darned watch, especially as my Dad had one.
I enjoyed it all, can’t choose a fave.
Thanks to Rufus and to M’pops for his most entertaining review.
Fairly straightforward stuff but lacking the usual Rufus sparkle I felt.
I liked 17a but thought it a bit too obvious, so I’ve plumped for 12a and 20d as my joint favourites.
Many thanks to Mr. Squires and to Miffypops.
P.S. Disappointed that the DT didn’t mark Crossword No 28,000 with something special, so perhaps we have to wait until 2022 and number 30,000 now?
Good fun as usual on a Monday. We must be conditioned like Pavlov’s dog as every time we see hunter in a clue our first thought is ‘watch’, so got this one quickly. All went together smoothly for us with smiles all the way.
Thanks Rufus and Miffypops.
I found this easier than par for Rufus. Easier, that is, until I got to 15d, where I got the idea of what I needed to be doing, but could I think of the boat in question? Mmmm…
Good evening everybody.
An expected joint effort today and we found this puzzle very straightforward, being completed towards the low end of two star time. 6d must be close to being the simplest Telegraph puzzle clue I’ve seen. Altogether a very gentle start to the week.
**/***
I usually find it difficult to get onto Rufus wavelength but today was an exception. The bottom half took no time but the top was more taxing. Like Jean-Luc did not know the expression for 8a but managed to guess it – hesitated between passing and passage but once 17a was solved, it was obviously the latter solution. Liked 24a, 9d and many more but 1a gets my vote for favourite – how clever! I will have to remember about ‘this’ hunter! 2.5*/4*. Many thanks to Rufus and to Miffipops as I needed the review to parse some of my answers.
I’ll agree with Silvanus that this lacked Rufus’s usual joie de vivre, but was rewarding nonetheless, if only for 12a, which brought the second smile. The first came with 31a. 4d was obvious, but I’ve never heard that expression used for “to spend freely”. Splash, yes, but lash? Thanks to the irrepressible MP for a (sadly) Dylan-free review and to Rufus for the balm after a day spent with social workers. 1*/3*
Ts. 4d: you’ve raised an interesting point. To “lash out” is a very common term for spending freely, during a shopping spree for example. Not to be confused with “out on the lash”, which of course means to go drinking heavily.
Quite easy (1*) but lots of smiles (4*). As for a favourite clue, I’ve had to refine down a short list of six contenders to get my winner (31a) and the laurels could very easily have gone elsewhere. Many thanks to Rufus, and to the splendidly curmudgeonly MP.
Like a dream. In that I did it in the small hours and now have little memory of it. I do recall that there were a few smiles and not a great deal of difficulty until I called it a night and cheated on 1a, 17a and the first word of 8d. Oh well. Sometimes it’s best to just give up and go to sleep.
Thanks to Rufus and Miffypops.
Nice Monday crossword, easy but witty
Thanks to my Grandson I can now use moving emoticons Hurrah! 
*/*** Enjoyed 1a & 9d Thanks for blog to MP and to Rufus a relaxed Monday
J. Well done to your grandson! I can’t get an emoticon into this comment box at all. When I click on one (or copy/paste one) all I get in here is a long pargraph of coded digital gobbledegook. Like this:
Or does BD sort it when he edits the comment? Or does it appear when you click on Post Comment? (I’ll try that).
If not, can your grandson or ANYONE tell me how to do it please? I realise that it is probably very easy and dead obvious to everyone else on here…
FORGET ALL THAT – IT’S APPEARED! But isn’t there an easier/more immediate way to do it?
**/*** for me today. WRT MP’s comment on 26a. I believe the phrase is ‘to do 26a’ which I assume is the reference to nick of time.
Thanks to Rufus and MP.
SL. I’ve never heard the phrase “to do a 26a answer” (maybe it means to do a term in jail?). Wake up is the clue definition of the answer and both the answer and nick are slang terms for prison. Let me know if I’ve missed something more cryptically subtle.
I solved this excellent puzzle a day late as is normal for me for the Monday offering. After so many postings I have nothing to add other than my thanks all round and a 3*/3* score.
Super sparkling. Did not quite get the parsing for 26a but now I do.
Wake up = stir
Nick = prison = stir
Time = prison sentence
Enjoyable Monday crossword. Nothing too difficult once the hunter had become obvious. That was my favourite clue and overall a 2/3* kind of day.
Thanks to Rufus and MP.