DT 28035 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28035

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28035

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty */**Enjoyment ***

Good morning from South Staffs on a chilly, grey day.

All the usual Giovanni trademarks today, but nothing too difficult, so I finished only just into my ** time.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the ‘Click here!’ buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.

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

5a           Verbal communication — losing time, I had to be sluggish (7)
LANGUID – Start with a general word for a system of verbal communication, remove a word for a period of time from the end of it, and replace with the shortened form of ‘I had’.

7a           Number hiding initially in part of the forest? (5)
THREE – The first letter of Hiding is inserted into one of the components of a forest.

9a           Powerful tenor pouring out heart completely in hymn? (6)
STRONG – Remove the inside letters from T(eno)R, and insert the result into something of which a hymn is an example.

10a         Worker taken in by bizarre creed forswore beliefs (8)
RECANTED – Anagram (bizarre) of CREED wrapped around one of the usual workers.

11a         Instrument finds a sort of fault with fish (6,4)
DOUBLE BASS – The sort of fault that loses you a point at tennis, followed by a variety of fish.

Image result for hoffnung double bass cartoon

13a         Piece of neckwear finally obscured blemish (4)
SCAR – Remove the final letter from something worn round the neck to keep you warm in winter.

14a         Golf — brutal boy ruined game (5,8)
RUGBY FOOTBALL – Anagram (ruined) of GOLF BRUTAL BOY.
ARVE Error: need id and provider

16a         Rod said to be a wicked brother (4)
CAIN – The brother who murdered Abel is a homophone (said to be) of a rod or stick.

17a         Concert being performed attended by politician making a point (10)
PROMONTORY – Put together the sort of concert performed at the Royal Albert Hall in the summer, a two-letter word for being performed, and a politician from the party currently in government.

19a         Exist with ridicule and anger about disease (4-4)
BERI-BERI – Split (2,3,3) we have a word for ‘exist’, a word for ridicule or tease, and the reverse (about) of a word for anger, producing a tropical disease.

20a         Began with a situation that could make roof leaky, we hear (3,3)
LED OFF – This sounds like (we hear) the state of the church roof after thieves have visited it.

22a         Son became older, returning as artist (5)
DEGAS – Put together Son and ‘became older’, then reverse the lot to get this French artist.

Image result for degas

23a         The sign of a ‘distressed’ monk (7)
TONSURE – A cryptic definition of the distinctive haircut of a monk.

Image result for tonsure

Down

1d           Wreck party after upsetting Greek character (4)
UNDO – Reverse (upsetting) a Greek letter, then add the usual crossword party.

2d           Drop everything if this act goes wrong? (8)
JUGGLERY – Cryptic definition of an entertainment which should keep everything up in the air.
ARVE Error: need id and provider

3d           Lots of food generally eaten by saints (6)
STACKS – A generic word for food, especially at sea, with a Saint placed at either end.

4d           Eccentric folk handle component of engine (10)
CRANKSHAFT – Split (6,4) we have a disparaging term for eccentric people, and the handle of, for example, a pickaxe.

Image result for crankshaft

5d           Latin name of German game (5)
LOTTO Latin followed by a German man’s name, giving us a game of chance.

6d           Suffering sort, I’d got lame — medical specialist required (13)
DERMATOLOGIST – Anagram (suffering) of SORT I’D GOT LAME.

8d           Global vision facilitator (7)
EYEBALL – Cryptic definition of the things you see with.

12d         Starts to ask for opportunity to score (10)
BEGINNINGS – Put together a word for ‘ask’ and a cricket team’s opportunity to score some runs.

14d         Part of body that’s split on the outside, being hit from behind (4-3)
REAR-END – A word for split or tear, wrapped around one of the organs of the body. I’m sure some of you were expecting a picture of a bare bottom, so…

Image result for rear end

15d         Blast of the horn given to Heather, driving casually? (8)
TOOTLING – An onomatopoeic word for the blast of a horn, followed by another word for heather.

17d         Such delight repeatedly comes to me in a Beatles song (6)
PLEASE – Two examples of the answer followed by ‘me’ gives us the title of a Beatles song.
ARVE Error: need id and provider

18d         Cap removed from toy gun (5)
RIFLE – Remove the first letter from a toy or triviality.

21d         Hit covered by band — rubbish! (4)
DRUB – Hidden (covered by) in the clue.


The Quick Crossword pun SURGE + HURRY = SURGERY

69 comments on “DT 28035

  1. Enjoyable solve where my only hiccup was getting 16ac the wrong way round. Apart from that it was plain sailing.

    Thanks to DT and Giovanni */***

  2. 1.5*/3*. Everything fell into place quite quickly and I enjoyed this today. 14d made me laugh.

    Many thanks to Giovanni and to DT.

  3. Nice puzzle from Giovanni this morning. I really liked 5d (Latin name of German game), and 7a appealed as well (hiding initially in part of forest). I’d put in the wrong ending for 2d to begin with. Last one in was 21d, a new word. Ok, time to pack. My son is not feeling too well, has been off school for two days, hope he perks up.

    Many thanks DT and Giovanni

    1. Oh it’s awful when they are poorly. Hope he feels better soon and you all have a lovely time. :rose:

  4. Yes, I got 16a the wrong way round and it was only when I got the other checkers that I realised my mistake!

    2d was a new word to me that I got via my Wordsearch program.

    A little tricky but great fun!

    :good:

  5. I whizzed through this one however there were some fun moments. Drawback of gradually improving cruciverbal skills (thanks entirely to BD & Co.). is that the daily cryptic challenge is often over all too soon. No really outstanding clues but liked 20a and 12d. Thanks Giovanni and DT. */**. :neutral:

    1. Nice to hear that Angel. How are tHE Toughie challenges faring? I bet you didn’t need a pencil for the anagram at 14ac either

  6. Enjoyable and not too difficult for a Friday. 2d and 21d were the last ones i solved. Many thanks to Giovanni and for the hints.

  7. A very enjoyable solve again today to round off a very good puzzling week. I have one gripe at 17d in respect of us younger solvers. What on earth would we know about a song from fifty three years ago by some obscure group?. After much research I have discovered that this band The Beatles has two members who are still alive. Ringo Starr a drummer and Paul McCartney a Bassman. Strangely enough another group from the same era namely The Who have lost their drummer Keith Moon and their Bassman John Entwhistle. I suggest the remaining members of both groups get together and call themselves The Hootles or The Boo. Nice to see that try again scored following a high tackle and a forward pass. It would not be given today. especially nice to pick out Griz Wylie with whom I shared many beers during a short coaching stint he did at Coventry Rugby Club many years ago. Ta for the Puzzle Mr Manly. Ta for the review Mr DT

    1. The Hootles and The Boo? Really?

      But yes I suppose The Beatles requires some specialist knowledge. Try Bob Dylan at some point. Or Van Morrison. I’ve even heard Bellowhead are quite good.

      1. I’ve just been listening to one of my all time favourite “Dylan songs not sung by Dylan” : This Wheel’s On Fire by Julie Driscoll and the Brian Auger Trinity. (Sorry for having more than one favourite, Kath, if you are looking in, )

  8. Straightforward and enjoyable **/*** a new word at 2d :scratch: Liked 12d & 20a :smile: Thanks to DT (for reminding me about tack) and the blog and to Giovanni for a nice crossword :good:

  9. Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat for the review and hints. A very straightforward puzzle. The NW corner was the last to fall. Favourite was 17d, but I wonder if the younger solvers managed it. Was 1*/3* for me.

  10. Apart from falling into the ‘wrong ending’ trap at 2d and being slow to find the hidden at 21d, I found this one a fairly straightforward puzzle from Mr. Manley.
    5d seems to be getting quite a few outings recently.

    Top three for the smile factor are 17,20&23a.
    Thanks to DG and also to DT – great restraint exercised over the pic for 14d!

  11. Nothing off the wall in terms of obscenities today and quite a few clues that made me smile.

    Made a mistake at 16a by putting the wrong spelling in even though I knew which one. This caused problems for 12d. The problem being I have lost my pencil so it was done in pen…no rubbing out. If anyone sees my pencil please tell it to come back. It’s little and red.

    A pen circle was used for 14a and I did have to check 23a and 24d. And 2d sounds like made up word.

    Really nice solve with 14d getting the gold medal.

    Many thanks to the Don and to DT for a lovely blog.

      1. Giovanni seems to have dialed back the obscure words of late, dropping the difficulty a notch. No problems with this one, and I checked off 4D and 8D. Thanks G. and DT

    1. How come you get away with referring to a non-existent clue when I get hauled over the coals for it? :unsure:

      1. Did you not see my imaginary Larch bird yesterday? That was pretty bad too. You know we were only teasing. :rose:

  12. Nice way to end the weeks puzzling, definalely ***/*** for me again the anagrams were a great start. Thanks to Deep Threat and the Don always entertaining.

  13. What times correspond to the BD difficulty rating ?Can’t find any reference to it on your site.The glossary seems to have disappeared as well

    1. We don’t mention times here as some people solve much quicker than others. When awarding a star rating when I am reviewing a puzzle, my average time would get a 3* rating and if I took less time I’d give it 2* or even 1*; a longer time 4* or 5*. I have a different time range for Toughie puzzles as they should, but don’t always, take longer to solve than a back pager.

      When it comes to trying to indicate how easy or hard you found a puzzle, rather than mentioning the time taken, you can refer to cups of tea/pints of bitter etc consumed while you were solving a particular puzzle.

  14. Very nice indeed. I agree with DT’s ratings for this one and also agree with Hanni that it’s nice to have no obscenities for once. :wink:

    Top favourite was 14d with 5a and 23a up there on the podium.

    Thanks to the Don and DT.

    P.S. Pommette votes for The Wheatles for the name of the band.

    1. In all the years I have repeated my joke I have never thought of The Wheatles. I think they should get together. Surely Daltry and Townsend could shut McCartney up

      1. As long as the set involved nothing written post-Beatles by McCartney, I’m happy with that

          1. The original recording with just a guitar is superb. Phil Spector ruined it with the choir and orchestra.

  15. The Cane and Burglery club has one more member here.
    Soon realised and promptly finished.
    Very pleasant solve.
    4d made me laugh. Well just the Folk Handle bit of course. Silly as usual.
    Thanks to Giovanni and to DT for the review.

  16. Surprisingly straightforward cluing for a Giovanni? I have a day off today so I was looking forward to a tricky one!

    Wasn’t familiar with the general food term in 3D but the answer was clear enough. Nice to see The Beatles make a contribution, I’ll call that my favourite.

  17. Like many before me, I found this Giovanni puzzle a very comfortable one to complete in fairly quick time. No stand out favourite, but if pushed I would go for 10 across.

    1*/3* with thanks to the Don and DT.

    Late doing this today as Mrs YS and I spent three hours trying to fit a new toilet seat in the downstairs loo. What with rusty bolts, instructions seemingly translated from Serbo-Croat via Polish then into English, and trying to borrow parts from other toilets, at one time we had no functioning loos at all. And it said on the box ‘easy fit’ which should have given us a clue. No jokes please about bog standard fitting or being flushed with success.

    1. I laughed today when, on our TV morning show, they showed engine oil being sold in bargain stores that said on the label “not suitable for engines made after 1930”.

    2. Tosca and Willoughby supply our families toilet seats. I recommend them very highly. The highest craftsmanship and a pleasure to behold.

  18. The usual Friday trademarks were in evidence as Deep Threat has already identified, with the top half of the puzzle being a little trickier than the bottom I felt.

    Favourite clue was 5d. 2d seems like an invented word even though it isn’t – no wonder “juggling” is universally preferred.

    Many thanks to Mr. Manley and to DT, and a good weekend to all.

    P.S. I do wonder whether today’s news that the Independent titles will cease printing next month marks the beginning of the end for the printed national dailies in the UK. I certainly hope not. There is already speculation about the future of the Guardian, but I hope the Telegraph survives in printed form for as long as possible – I find it nowhere near as enjoyable to solve puzzles online as it is to use traditional pen and paper.

  19. Finished quickly, but with a couple of gaps. Too thick to think of 20a, or to spot the lurker in 21d! 2*/3* seems about right, although I haven’t heard of “jugglery”! Still, there may well be such a word in more compendious dictionaries than mine. No real favourite clue, though. Thanks to Giovanni, and to DT.

  20. */***. Straightforward today solved while watching the pro-am from Pebble Beach. Favourite was 19a which I got without any checkers. Making curry today – it’s Friday again! Thanks to the setter and DT for the review.

  21. Joined the ‘cane/cain which one goes first’ club! It often happens to me. Once I recognised the error of my ways, I was able to complete this very enjoyable puzzle. I liked 19a and laughed at 4d! My favourite clue was 23a. 2*/4*. Back in Sussex after over twelve hours spent at Nice airport waiting for the turbulence to abate up in the skies last Tuesday! Many thanks to Giovanni and to DT for the review. I do not know why but I have to fill again the name and email fields every time I want to comment…

  22. Thanks to both.
    My first in was 14a which in turn meant my last in was 2d. The good news is that my vocabulary has now expanded slightly and I now know that 2d is a word!

    Favourite clue was 15d I think which appealed to me. Least favourite clue was 5d which I thought was a bit weak.

  23. Good evening everybody.

    First joint effort for a while with my sometime crosswording oppo back from exotic parts. All very straightforwrd and solved in fairly short order, with me contributing only a handful of solutions.

    **/na

  24. On the gentle end of the scale for a Friday but still good fun. Not sure that we enjoyed the clip to illustrate the answer for 14a, we could have chosen many other options that had more satisfactory outcomes. Well that’s our opinion anyway. Nice puzzle.
    Thanks Giovanni and DT.

  25. I took ages to get going, but after some three hours, I got there. I thought 17d was very clever, I enjoyed that one.

    ***/*** from me today.

    Thanks to setter and to DT.

  26. I’m sure Monday and Friday xword were swapped this week as Monday is usually a doddle and was very difficult and Friday easy this week. ..who agrees??

    1. You’ve made a small change to your alias since your last comment. Both variants should work from now on.

  27. Good stuff today.
    Had not heard of 17a or 23a, so they slowed me down a bit.
    Is a ‘Trifle’ a ‘Toy’, was something Mum made for pud when I was a lad.
    Thanks to DT and the setter.
    Good weekend all, looks like I shall have another non-refereeing day tomorrow (4th week on the trot – 1 game since Christmas) as it is due to hose it down in London again tonight and I am due on a pitch which is usually like a paddy field even in August.
    That strange shaped ball game beckons tomorrow afternoon instead.

  28. Didn’t like or get 2D – had – – – – ling, which stopped me getting 11A & chose RAYS for the fish !!!! doh. :negative:

  29. Good first half by Newcastle, Leicester are missing a few players but look very laboured – Richard Cockerell must be doing his pieces!

    :wacko:

      1. Oh dear, oh dear – you really don’t want to get me started – how long have you got?

        *rubs hands and orders another pint*

        :whistle:

  30. I really struggled and struggled.
    Very hard but when I had three clues left realised I had downloaded the ‘Independent’ cryptic crossword by mistake.
    I have now completed Giovanni’s most enjoyable and satisfying puzzle.
    Many thanks, and to DT for the review, not used, though, today.
    Moral:
    Check what you download onto your iPad/iPhone before you start.

  31. A message for Tstrummer, well, more of a question really. Did you ever know a chap called Malcolm Jones? He was involved in radio (Secklow Sounds & Capital), formed ‘The Bullfrogs’ and ‘The Spreadeagles’ amongst many other things. Just wondered.

  32. Like Salty Dog I fell foul of 20a and 21d. Lay off? Log off? LED off? Oh for goodness sake! Otherwise a fairly innocuous Friday challenge with 17d the outstanding clue to my mind. Overall 3/3*.
    Thanks to the Don and to DT for the review.

  33. Posting very late, as we only do the crossword in the bath, and it takes a few days!

    I didn’t really like the grid on this one. I expect (know) that my other comments will have been made already. Put in the wrong alternative for 16a, which slows things up, and I seriously doubt that the answer to 2d is a proper word (I know, I know, it’s in the dictionary – but when have you ever heard anybody say ‘jugglery’ when they could say ‘juggling’? The bloke doing is is no doubt a ‘jugglerist’ as well…….)

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