DT 28540 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28540 (Hints)

by Big Dave  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28540 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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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.

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

1a    Athlete’s tip for training — he knows what you are thinking (11)
An anagram (for training) of ATHLETE’S TIP

12a    Adaptable creature, desert animal accepting hard time (9)
An animal found in the desert around H(ard) and followed by a long period of time

14a    Turned on by some form of worship (6)
A three-letter verb meaning turned on, as in turned a light on, followed by a word meaning some

16a    Using a particular method, prepares tomatoes and various items (8)
Split as (3,5) this means prepares tomatoes in a particular way

18a    Theatre’s promotion: act Shakespeare in an unusually familiar way? (8)
An act or drama followed by a familiar form of Shakespeare’s first name

23a    Girl from island accompanied by Frenchman (5)
I(sland) followed by a typical French male forename

26a    Costumier dated mechanic (9)
A three-letter adjective meaning dated or old-fashioned followed by a mechanic

28a    Emotional pull found in running (4-7)
A four-letter pull or tug inside a verb meaning running quickly

Down

2d    Show some rare vitality (5)
This former west-end show id hidden (some) inside the clue

4d    Cut top off piece of embroidery, it’s more than enough! (6)
Drop (cut … off) the initial letter (top) from a test-piece of embroidery, commonly including an alphabet, with figures, names, etc.

5d    Managed in a huge complex producing slate (8)
A three-letter verb meaning managed inside an anagram (complex) of A HUGE gives a verb meaning to slate

6d    Race official‘s second raised blast arresting you and I (7)
S(econd) followed by the reversal (raised in a down clue) of an exclamation meaning “blast” around the pronoun for you and I

7d    Hire pro to broadcast about unravelling clue — him? (7,6)
An anagram (broadcast) of HIRE PRO TO around a further anagram (unravelling) of CLUE

8d    Fawlty towers above art gallery and church (8)
The first name of hotelier Fawlty followed by a three-letter art gallery

15d    Take to court about a T-shirt? Injustice! (8)
A three-letter verb meaning to take to a court of law around the A from the clue and what a T-shirt might be

19d    … what followed Dior’s famous style, they say — most direct approach (7)
Start with Dior’s famous style, think what might have, but didn’t, follow it and it sounds like (say) this most direct approach

25d    See rising study of ancient times (5)
The reversal (rising in a down clue) of a two-letter word meaning see is followed by a study or small room

The Crossword Club is now open.

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The Quick Crossword pun: pinnacle+ardour=piña colada

30 comments on “DT 28540 (Hints)”

  1. A lovely puzzle for a dreary Saturday morning. I thought it was quite challenging in places, but once I hit the wavelength, it all went in nicely. I cannot separate 16a and 19d for my favourite, and overall this was 2.5*/4* for me.

    Thanks to our Saturday setter and BD.

  2. More fun and rather more taxing than some Saturday offerings. Thank you Mysteron (Cephas?) and BD. My joint Favs 16a and 18a.

  3. Not sure about this one, there seemed to be a sprinkling of oldies but goodies and recent repeats, but some of the clues left me ‘flat’ and some electronic assistance was required – 2.5*/2*.

    Favourite – a toss-up between 28a and 17d (I really liked the anagram indicator).

    Thanks to the setter and BD.

  4. 1.5*/4*. This was mostly straightforward except for the SW corner but very enjoyable. The surfaces were excellent apart from 6d & 7d, and I was surprised that towers was not given a false capitalisation in 8d. I was suspecting another pangram but in the end a couple of letters failed to put in an appearance. I’ll join Angellov in selecting 16a & 18a as the best of a very good bunch.

    Many thanks to Mr Ron and to BD, and a very Happy Birthday to Orphan Annie.

    2. Proper Noun
      noun
      noun: proper noun; plural noun: proper nouns; noun: proper name; plural noun: proper names

      a name used for an individual person, place, or organization, spelled with an initial capital letter, e.g. Jane, London, and Oxfam. (Online dictionary)

      Noun
      Nouns are one of the open word classes, and may be either countable or uncountable. A noun may be used after a determiner in contexts like There are two mistakes in this or give me some feedback

      No. I haven’t got a clue either. I just felt like breaking my self imposed ban on weekend prize puzzle comments due to absolute fear of CrypticSue bwearing down upon me. She is an adorable pussycat really.

  5. A welcome relief from my usual bruising encounter with the Friday toughie which always leaves me flummoxed and suitably humbled. I agree this was a tad more challenging than the standard Saturday fare and even the long anagrams especially 7d resisted for a bit. 8d reminded me of a time when TV comedy could be funny without resorting to expletives. My favourite clue was 28a. And yes it is dull and depressing here in the East Midlands too.

  6. Rather a mixed bag here including – as RD commented – a couple of rather dodgy surface reads. Maybe a case of ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’!
    From amongst the very good, my top three emerged as 12&24a plus 15d with a consolation prize going to the clue that put me in mind of our own CS.

    Thanks to Mr. Saturday Ron and to BD for the club.

    A very happy birthday to our favourite orphan – may you enjoy many more opportunities to celebrate. Hope you’ve invited Al along to the party?

  7. I’m with Angellov, because I particularly liked 16a and 18a, but, on the other hand,13a and 21d were of not of a standard that I’d expect to see in a Telegraph Prize Crossword and I’m pleased to see that Dave didn’t waste his time explaining them.

  8. I didn’t count them, but there seemed to be an awful lot of Kath’s favored clue type. Last one in was 8D. All in all very straightforward and a tad on the flat side. I did like 15d though. Thanks to the setter and BD.

  9. Quite difficult, I thought.
    The first few went in really quickly and then I got stuck – couldn’t do the 7d anagram for ages which didn’t help – dim.
    The bottom left corner caused real trouble.
    I’m pretty sure we’ve had the 8d art gallery before but I’d forgotten it so had to look it up to check its existence.
    I don’t know anything about Dior, let alone what the famous style was.
    I think, “Oh dear” pretty much covers it although I did enjoy most of it.
    I liked 16 and 28a and 17d because of the anagram indicator.
    Thanks to whoever set this one and to BD for the hints.
    Grass cutting calls me – NTSPP as a reward when I’ve done it.

  10. Just popped back in to recommend everyone to try today’s NTSPP from Starhorse.
    I’m still laughing…….

  11. Tough today with a couple of clues (18a and 19d) which would sit comfortably in the Toughie.
    However, I enjoyed solving this one so for me ***/****
    Thx to all

  12. First of all thanks to BD and all those who have wished me happy birthday, no one is more surprised than me that I have survived to this great age. OA was my childhood nickname from a dire American poem, if you are seriously tired of living try googling it. Did surprisingly well with crossword must be a wavelength thing. Great fan of 7d and once I had got that the demon SW corner dropped into place. Thanks to all for continuing enjoyment, I do not comment as much as I used to but it does not mean that I am not keeping an eye on you.

  13. I found it hard to get going today and was thrown by one or two surface reads. However once I did get started I was able to get on fairly well but did need you today, BD. Many thanks

  14. Thanks to the setter and to Big Dave for the hints. A very enjoyable puzzle, but quite tricky. Had about 6 answers to get. Finally whittled them down to 19d&28a, but needed the hint for the latter. I know nothing about Christian Doir, so the hint was of no use. Had to use electronic help. Favourite was 16a. Was 4*/3* for me.

  15. I found the top half very straightforward but took ages for the south. Eventually solving 7d helped enormously.
    Fave was 18a. I was surprised to see 11a yet again.
    Thanks to Saturday setter and to BD for his hints.

  17. I’m pleased I didn’t look at the hints until I had finished and got 7d when it leapt out on me! Seeing the portrait was hardly a ‘hint’ ..!
    There have been so many excellent anagrams in the last few Saturday prize puzzles. My last one in was 15a, I should have got it earlier. An excellent puzzle today, I particularly liked 24a. I’m glad I finisnished quickly as we
    have family staying I didn’t want to to appear rude..!

    Thanks BD and compiler.

  18. Very enjoyable and finished before lights out last night – very straightforward I felt with a couple of nice anagrams.

    I went to West Ham v Tottenham this lunchtime – not much fun. West Ham have got a lot of poblems, I think it’s going to be a long season!

  19. A case of finding this a little tricky while solving, and still finishing in about ** time, so not so scary after all. Favourite clue today was 19d, amongst lots to enjoy.

  20. I was not at all on the wavelength of this setter, and the style felt new to me. But while that meant solving took longer than usual, the challenge made it both more enjoyable and more satisfying. I ticked 12a, 16a (my LOI), 28a, 5d, 8d (where, like RD, I was surprised the setter didn’t capitalise towers as misdirection), 17d, 19d (a bung-in from the checkers and spotting the definition, with the surface appreciated only after consulting Mr Google). Thanks to the setter and to BD, and Happy Birthday to Orphan Annie.

  22. What a nice puzzle. I would have finished well within 1* time but for the 8d/16a combo, which then fell into place amid snorts of derision at my failure to spot them earlier. I think 15d was my favourite, with 19d close behind. Thanks to the setter, and to BD for the hints.

  23. Just got back from Portugal. Couldn’t find a DT anywhere this morning. Not even at the airport. I have withdrawal symptoms. Still, it was good to read the review and comments. I tried to do Wednesdays ‘Toughie 1885’ on the flight home (I’d saved it up), but it was a complete non-starter.

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