DT 28335 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28335

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28335

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Good morning from South Staffs on a cold and frosty morning.

I finished in ** time again this week, but I suspect that some may find today’s Giovanni harder than that. A bit more religious knowledge required than for the last few, as well as the odd obscurity – but all can be found from the wordplay.

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. 

Across

1a           Management of troublesome situation, adversity with leader absent (11)
STEWARDSHIP – Start with a troublesome situation you might find yourself in (like soup, but lumpier), then add some difficulty or adversity with its first letter removed.

10a         Brown river hard to miss (5)
UMBER – Remove the Hard from a Northern river.

11a         Old Bob, 100, odd man of wisdom causing ruckus (9)
SCRUMMAGE – Put together the abbreviation for the pre-decimal coin known as a bob, the Roman numeral for 100, a word for odd or peculiar, and a wise man from the East.

Image result for scrummage

12a         Old lady to win one more time (4,5)
OVER AGAIN – Put together Old, a lady’s name, and a win.

13a         Grand drink knocked back (5)
REGAL – Reverse (knocked back) a type of alcoholic drink not generally popular with those who attend Big Dave’s Birthday Bash.

14a         Maybe watch one filling box on form? (6)
TICKER – another word for a (mechanical) watch, referring to the sound it makes, which could also be someone indicating preferences on a form.

16a         The German outside Cambridge college is one with something to say (8)
DECLARER – The German definite article wrapped around the Cambridge college which is situated next door to King’s.

18a         Vehemence over sports official repelled by Manchester team? (8)
FEROCITY – Put together Over and the short form of the official in charge of a football match, reverse the lot (repelled) and add one of the Manchester football teams.

20a         Extra charges with dad and son both playing (3-3)
ADD-ONS – Anagrams (both playing) of DAD and SON.

23a         Eccentric, not entirely without reason (5)
OUTRE – Hidden in the clue.

24a         Man once in denial about mud around boundary (9)
PERIMETER – Reverse (around) a word for a muddy mess, and insert the result into the name of the apostle who thrice denied he knew Jesus.

26a         Unwell, restricted by severe shaking? They’d get you out of bed (9)
REVEILLES – Anagram (shaking) of SEVERE, wrapped around a word for unwell.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

27a         Quiet individual was bright (5)
SHONE – An exclamation instructing someone to keep quiet, followed by an individual.

28a         See me hotter, me out of sorts? Right — get this! (11)
THERMOMETER – Anagram (out of sorts) of ME HOTTER ME, followed by Right.

Down

2d           Story about bank’s original board (5)
TABLE – A story wrapped around the first letter of Bank.

3d           Distortion given by part of paper devoted to conflict? (7)
WARPAGE – Split (3,4) this could be where a newspaper puts its reports of conflicts.

4d           Put in new couch, maybe each will sink into repose (6)
RESEAT – An abbreviation for EAch inserted into a word for repose.

5d           Maybe one illegally helping prisoner and dog (8)
SPRINGER – This variety of spaniel could also be someone helping a prisoner to escape.

Image result for springer spaniel

6d           I am to get minimal marks, test being wicked (7)
IMMORAL – Put together the short form of ‘I am’, an abbreviation (minimal) of Marks, and a variety of exam.

7d           Dismissed, like a badly behaved tennis player? (3,3,2,5)
PUT OUT OF COURT – This could describe a tennis player who has been defaulted for bad behaviour.

8d           Animal gives a terrible groan, taking big hit externally (8)
KANGAROO – A (form the clue) and an anagram (terrible) of GROAN, with the sort of hit which finishes a boxing match wrapped around the result.

Image result for kangaroo

9d           Source of water kept in good order (4-9)
WELL-PRESERVED – A four-letter water source followed by ‘kept’.

15d         One having dodgy egg around four? Remedy needed (8)
CURATIVE – The young clergyman who famously had an egg parts of which were excellent, wrapped around the Roman numeral for four.

Image result for curate's egg

17d         Painter, one to have a few drinks after finishing with canvas (8)
STIPPLER – The last letter of canvaS followed by someone who likes a glass or six, producing a painter who creates a picture as a series of dots.

Image result for stippling

19d         The woman is hugged by companion, nurse (7)
CHERISH – One of the pronouns for ‘the woman’ and IS (from the clue) are placed inside the letters which appear after the name of someone who is a Companion of Honour.

21d         Estate needs to be reorganised around this person (7)
DEMESNE – Anagram (to be reorganised) of NEEDS, wrapped around ‘this person’. The answer is an old word for a manor with the lands around it where the lord dwelt, not let out to tenants.

22d         Northern city losing its name very quickly (6)
PRESTO – Remove the last letter from a Lancastrian city, and you get a musical instruction to play very fast.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

25d         Wander beyond end of forest to find treasure (5)
TROVE – The last letter of foresT followed by another word for ‘wander’.

Mrs DT and I are off to London this afternoon. We hope to drop in at the Novotel to meet some of you this evening. I have another meeting tomorrow afternoon, so won’t get to the Birthday Bash until later.


The Quick Crossword pun DOUGH + MINION = DOMINION

56 comments on “DT 28335

  1. 2*/3*. Not too difficult and generally enjoyable today, although I thought the surface of 26a was a bit strange and I didn’t like 7d at all.

    I wasted a lot of time trying to justify “parameter” for 24a which fitted with the checkers and can mean boundary before I dug myself out of muddy stuff and realised what the answer really was.

    9d was my favourite.

    Many thanks to Giovanni and to DT.

  2. I found this to be quite a test with not many answers going in initially. I got it all sorted out in reasonable time though and thoroughly enjoyed solving it.

    Thanks to DT and Giovanni ***/****

  3. Not a lot to LOL about but nicely challenging after a very slow start. 5d had to be due to dog but other meaning unfamiliar to me. Agree with RD re poor 7d where I had settled for run rather than put. Fav 15d. Thanks Giovanni and DT. 🙂

  4. I found this very tricky, it took a couple of passes before I got a foothold, it gradually came together with a bit of help from my Wordsearch program. A real feeling of achievement when it was finished.

    Very interesting to read the various wordplays that I had missed – getting better gradually.

    Good fun!

  5. Although I got 23a I missed the fact that it was a lurker, so thanks to DT for the enlightenment. It’s a balmy 10 degrees in East Devon. Thank you to the Don for some gentle cerebral exercise.

  6. Managed to complete this early today due to not having much work to do. As usual, very good from G; it was quite challenging and second best of the week, just behind Ray T. 2.5*/3.5*.

  7. Have you all got the ads for watches, above? £736,730.00 for a platinum pocket watch – that’s a snip! Think I’ll order one…

      1. I’ve got a pic of Richard Branson and the caption: “Richard’s Secret! All Richard’s employees left their jobs shortly after seeing this.” Yep, course they did. The other one is a “Shoot a German” game. Bizarre.
        Google parses the site (and if you use Chrome, your browsing history..!) to try to deliver targeted ads. They obviously can’t make head nor tail of this one!

  8. A very slow start for me. Once I got started it all went at a steady pace. I too missed the lurker in 23a but overall I enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks to Deep Threat and to the Don.

  9. This took me quite a bit longer than the other back pagers this week (so I’d have to give it a higher than average difficulty rating) but in hindsight I can’t really see why. Nice puzzle.

    Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat. Looking forward to seeing you later. :)

  10. 2*/3* from me for this Giovanni offering with 15d my favourite. I did not like the first part of 7d although nothing else would fit. Our last dog was a beautiful 5d. It was often said that labradors are born half trained, while 5 downs died half trained.

    Many thanks to The Don for cheering up yet another cold, colourless day and to DT for his review.

  11. I found this quite difficult. Managed the bottom half without too much head scratching, but the top half was really hard for me. I needed the hints to get 1a, once I had that I managed the rest. Not a lot of fun, not sure Ive heard of ea as an abbreviation for each before and the first word of 7d, I thought could just as easily have been run. 4.5*/2* Many thanks to Giovanni and to DT for his help.

    1. As I said in Comment 3 above I felt ‘run’ was also acceptable for 7d but I have now learnt that the whole solution is legalese for to refuse further judicial hearing so my apologies go to Giovanni. 🤦🏼‍♀️

  12. I thought this puzzle merited a *** for difficulty with*** for enjoyment as the parsing was certainly not straight forward- 1a comes to mind.
    Solves invariably appear easier on review and concede that this one had no unfamiliar words, so see where DT was coming from with his rating.
    Liked 11a and the surface of 26a.

  13. I thought that this puzzle merited a *** difficulty rating with a *** for enjoyment.
    The parsing was certainly not straight forward-1a comes to mind.
    Solves invariably appear easier on review and I concur that this had no unfamiliar words, so can see where DT is coming from.
    Liked 11a and the surface of 26a.

  14. After a slow start, I managed to finish relatively easily. I wanted to put ‘sage’ in at the end of 11a which didn’t help. I thought the singular of magi was magus. Is mage correct? A few favourites today – 3d, 5d, 9d, 24a and 15d. Very enjoyable. 2.5*/4* for me.

  15. Solved about half in the car wash with the paper and a headache but no pen. That’s fun you should try it some time. Flew through the rest once I picked up the iPad and Saint Sharon provided a Lemsip with extra honey. Looking forward to seeing some of you tomorrow. The last two have been good fun with very friendly nice people. If you can make it but are unsure about meeting so many new people please come along. We won’t bite. CS’s cake and Jean Luc’s macaroons are worth the effort regardless of what else goes on.

    1. We often get no Telegraph round here, so I frequently try solving each clue individually from the clues on the blog, ie without a grid. It’s not easy, even with the hints.
      A good workout though.

  16. I’m glad you didn’t use the 1992 Punch final edition version of the famous cartoon for 15d. oj.

  17. Fairly breezed through this one, perhaps spurred on by having limited time to complete it – got a London train to catch!
    Top places going to 8&9d.

    Thanks to DG and to DT – hope to see you and Mrs. DT this evening.

  18. Sitting in the airport lounge waiting to board my flight which I can see on the tarmac.
    Again today it took me ages to spot the lurker in 23a. Must be suffering from Kath’ syndrome. Hope she has a cure when I see her.
    Didn’t know the expression in 7d and didn’t know if it started with cut or put.
    Nice to see that famous curate’s egg that everybody talks about on the blog.
    Favourite clue 14a, favourite hint 1a.
    Thanks to the Don and to DT.
    Finished the toughie too but shall post from the UK as soon as I have Wi-Fi.
    I’m off. See you all later.

    1. No – sorry – no cure for this syndrome. All that happens is that I infect everyone else with it.

    2. Bonsoir Jean- Luc! Regrettably we will not be at the Bash tomorrow as we are baby sitting our puppy cockapoo Fifi who has not had her second round of vaccinations. We shall be thinking of everyone tomorrow, have a great time there! Back in Hyères mi April, just after Easter.

  19. Not bad at all, though I, too, didn’t much like the first word of 7D and am not a fan of 28A. On the bright side, nothing very obscure, and I loved 15D when the penny dropped about the egg. Thanks DG and DT. Enjoy your weekend!

  20. All went in smoothly and steadily before the first cuppa today but nothing really 27a for me. Fairly benign for the Don, I thought. **/***. My iPad was unimpressed with my work though until I changed ‘Run’ for ‘Put’ for the first word of 7d. Have a nice get-together all – still a bit chilly in Vegas.

  21. Because of overnight travel, have not had time to look at today’s Giovanni but I am sure that it is as excellent as ever. Arrived at Heathrow at 1:00 pm. Cruised through Passport Control but had the customary wait for bags. Now on Heathrow Express. See you tomorrow.

  22. Very enjoyable and not too difficult, although I did have to rack my brains over some clues, eg 1a and 9d. Didn’t think much of 7d. Favourites were 1a (when the penny finally dropped) and 28a.

  23. Trickiest of the week ***/*** but enjoyable sense of satisfaction on completion. 😊 Thanks to DT for the blog and explaining 1a 😏 Favourites 10a, 24a& 16a 😍 Thanks to Giovanni for another ” interesting” crossword 👌

  24. I struggled to get started, but I got there in the end.
    Fave was 15d, runner up was 5d, a dog natch!
    Thanks to Giovanni and to DT for the hints.

  25. Despite G not being my favourite setter, I quite enjoyed some of his inventions today. (1a, 19d, 18a)
    Just to balance it out, though, 7d & 11a – & the reference to a man’s name who did something once @ 24a? Not keen.
    Still, thanks and respect to the Don and thanks to DT for a couple of pointers. ***/**

  26. An ok Giovanni. Liked 15d , didn’t like 7d. Finished without any problems but why did it take me so long to fill in the animal ending in o!! Enjoyed all of the puzzles this week. Thanks today to the Don and dt.

  27. I struggled all the way through this one as I so often do on Fridays – today was not helped by the arrival of my very talkative sister and an equally talkative friend of hers – got earache now but they’ve gone out for a while so – Shhhh
    I got myself into all kinds of trouble with 11 and 24a – too long and complicated to explain.
    I did feel terribly sorry for the poor 8d who was hit so hard that he groaned. :sad:
    Tried far too hard to make 15d an anagram of ONE EGG and IV – oh dear – dim.
    I can’t spell 26a – I never can.
    I liked 1 and 18a and 6d.
    With thanks to Giovanni and to DT.
    Have fun this evening, everyone, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do – see you all tomorrow.

  28. Took me a while to really get going and needed to walk away for a breather half way through. That taken, the rest fell into place quite smoothly. Favourite was probably the northern city and overall 3/3*.
    Thanks to the Don, and to DT for the review.

  29. 2*/3* seems about right. I liked 15d but the two noble beasts lying at my feet would never forgive me if I didn’t make 5d my favourite clue. Thanks to the Don and DT.

  30. Been putting security cameras up so only just sat down to this. Bit slow to start but got there in the end. Needed the explanations for a couple 24a and 19d. 1a favourite.
    Thanks all.

  31. Not as tricky as yesterday, although I’m another who found an initial entry point quite elusive. Once I had that first clue solved, everything seemed to flow quite steadily. I’m really enjoying the “new” Giovanni that has emerged over the last couple of months.

    My two ticks went to 26a (in contrast to RD for once!) and 15d.

    Thanks to Mr. Manley and to DT, and a good weekend to all. It looks as though many will be heading to Little Venice tomorrow which is great to hear, I look forward to catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, it’s difficult to imagine a friendlier bunch!

  32. This p e put up a bit of a struggle , but I prevailed in the end with only minimal help from my electronic aid.
    So I feel a bit more encouraged after yesterday’s failure.

    Thanks to the setter and to Deep Threat for the parsing.

  33. Have not had time to look at today’s puzzle but managed to complete yesterday’s this morning, very early – ouch! – on account of Fifi not sleeping through the night. Just wanted to wish everybody a great time tomorrow. Shall be thinking of you all! Hopefully will make next year’s with Fifi in tow…

  34. This one took us a little longer than we usually need to solve a back-pager and we did have to work hard to remember the Cambridge college in 16a. Plenty to enjoy and elegantly constructed clues once again. We enjoyed it.
    Thanks Giovanni and DT.

  35. Definitely a *** for difficulty, with the quarters falling slowly one after the other – the SE first, NW last. 7d I had difficulty with, the phrase felt awkward to me, though perhaps not for others? 21d was a real – can that really be the answer? moment – but the wordplay said so, and so did the Telegraph’s website. Phew.

    1. Hi Jon – re 7d; see posts #1, 3, 10, 11, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25 & 26.
      So no, not just you. :smile:

    2. No – definitely not just you – I made a right royal pigs ear of this one but what’s new for a Friday.

  36. Too hard for me.
    Really sorry I cant be there tomorrow, then you could all have a good laugh at me and suggest I take up sudoku!! I shall be on the way to Devon for my Mum’s 80th birthday.
    Have a great time, I want to see plenty of photos.
    Thanks for Giovanni and DT for the hints.

  37. Definitely slow to get going today, but then it all began to make sense, but not without some help from Deep Threat, thank you. 21d was a new word for me, and struggled with this even being an anagram as nothing I wrote down looked right. Wish I could be there tomorrow. Hope you all have a great time at the Birthday Bash!

  38. I’ve grappled longer and more fiercely with the Don than this. I really enjoyed it, with 18a just pipping 5d at the post in Favourite Stakes. Thanks to DT for explaining 24a, which was a bung-in, and the Don for the fun. 2*/4*

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