DT 29193 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 29193

by Miffypops  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29193

Hints and tips by Emil and the Detectives

 

 

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

Well done England. Although the win was never in doubt I didn’t expect you to comprehensively outclass the New Zealand team by so much in every department. Roll on Saturday.

We are off to see Sir Van Morrison in Nottingham tonight. Another great treat which we are both looking forward to.

Today’s puzzle is a nice one to start the week with. Nothing obscure. Whilst I consider six to be too many, the anagrams do provide a start for many people.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Change on-off device (6)
SWITCH: A double definition

4a    How eleven may appear individually? (3,2,3)
ONE BY ONE: How the two numerals that make up the number eleven are placed when written on paper. Similar to the animals entering the ark

9a    In front, I’m extremely sharp (2,4)
ON TIME: The answer lies hidden within the words of the clue. As indicated by the word in

10a    Unwise dropping rugby’s foremost forward (8)
IMPUDENT:  A synonym of the word unwise needs the initial letter of Rugby removing.

11a    Caught unawares, Spurs dire, out of form (9)
SURPRISED: Anagram (out of form) of SPURS DIRE

13a    Cautious, cleaner close to canary (5)
CHARY: Another name for a daily cleaner has the final letter of canary added

14a    Question university girl about one revolutionary dish (6,8)
QUICHE LORRAINE: A five-part charade will provide a meal. It’s ingredients are as follows. The abbreviation for Question. The abbreviation for University. A girl. The letter that looks like the number one. Our regular Crosswordland revolutionary. Stir together as suggested by the clue.

As a Coventry kid in the 1970s I had half a bacon and egg pie for supper and went to sleep under a continental quilt in Warwickshire. I woke up under a duvet in The West Midlands and finished off the newly renamed bacon and egg pie

17a    Row after character appears in line-up (8,6)
IDENTITY PARADE: A row of people marching together follows your character or the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.

21a    Win over church member (5)
CHARM: The abbreviation for church is followed by one of your limbs (members)

23a    Dreadful, the French record (9)
CHRONICLE: An adjective meaning of very poor quality is followed by the French for the

24a    Notably, a black smock Renoir finally discarded (5,3)
ABOVE ALL: Begin with the letter A from the clue. Add the abbreviation for black. Now add an item of protective clothing but without the final letter of Renoir

25a    Reportedly dressing well (6)
SOURCE: We have a homophone of a food dressing which makes a spring from which water issues

26a    Plays, and blue film (3,5)
TOY STORY: Split 4,4 we have a word meaning plays with and the colour associated with the Conservative party

27a    Quick pint on seafront (6)
PROMPT: An abbreviation of pint follows a word which is itself an abbreviation of a paved public path which follows the seafront

Down

1d    Perhaps wife needs support after blowing top (6)
SPOUSE: A verb meaning adopt or support (a cause, belief, or way of life) needs its first letter removing as indicated by the words blowing top

2d    Break tile under ground (9)
INTERLUDE: Anagram (ground) of TILE UNDER

3d    Material in river, short rectangular building block (7)
CAMBRIC: The river that flows behind Kings College Chapel is followed by a building block minus its last letter

5d    Remarkably modern paper, one trying to impress others (4-7)
NAME DROPPER: Amagram (remarkably) of MODERN PAPER

6d    Doorman runs after Bob? (7)
BOUNCER: The doorman employed to prevent trouble can be made up from a synonym of the word bob and the cricketing abbreviation for runs. The synonym might not come to mind as quickly as the doormen of my youth would get to any trouble within seconds

7d    Love very good Greek character (5)
OMEGA: The letter that looks like the zero score in a tennis match is followed by a word meaning very good in the modern vernacular

8d    Admission made by unknown female tucking into dish (5,3)
ENTRY FEE: a mathematical unknown and the abbreviation for female sit inside a dish served at the beginning of a meal

12d    Show as claret cup, erroneously (11)
SPECTACULAR: An anagram (erroneously) of CLARET CUP AS

15d    Word for ‘improper behaviour’ coined abroad by eccentric (9)
INDECORUM: An anagram (abroad) of COINED is followed by a word meaning eccentric or odd

16d    Diagram of interest to Desperate Dan! (3,5)
PIE CHART: For those who remember the comics of their childhood Desperate Dans favourite food can describe a type of graph

18d    Agency worker set off in violent storm (7)
TEMPEST: An agency or temporary worker is followed by an anagram (off) of SET

19d    Managed to attract endless resentment (7)
RANCOUR: Our usual word meaning ran is followed by a word meaning to attract a mate minus its last letter

20d    Failing to sidetrack learner leaving (6)
DEFECT: A verb meaning to cause something to change direction has the abbreviation for left removed

22d    Anguish in New York following a turn (5)
AGONY: The regular abbreviation for New York follows the letter A from the clue and a turn or play in a board game perhaps

Quickie Pun:

Top line: hollow+gramme=hologram

Bottom line: fought+knight=fortnight (or if you are a gamer – Fortnite)

Unintentional Right hand side. Exeter defeat. Exeter Rugby Club suffered a rare defeat losing 13 – 10 to Bath on Friday night

33 comments on “DT 29193”

  1. Bah, humbug. I hate it when a Monday crossword gets the better of me. I’ll blame it on the pain from my bad back, having had to lug a dead washing machine out of a flooded kitchen last night.

    It was 25a and 20d that had me stymied. I could see the parsing, just not the answers.

    Many thanks to the setter and MP.

    1. I was stuck on those too, Malcolm. The trick of putting it down and picking it up later worked, so all finished.

  2. An extra-friendly Monday puzzle from the Man with Two Quick Puns – thank you to him – 26a and 16d made me smile

    Thanks also to the man with many names for the illustrated hints

  4. A nice gentle start to the week (* for difficulty *** for enjoyment) but pretty enjoyable . I liked 14a and 16 d best. Thanks to Emil and his pals and to the setter

  5. A gentle start to the week, with some nice surface reading of clues (1/4). A lovely reminder of my favourite Dandy strip (16D), the worlds toughest man who shaves with a blowtorch and sleeps on bricks. Thanks to MP for some amusing hints

  7. That was really good fun but unfortunately all too short-lived. Took a while to come up with the last 2 letters of 15d. Lots of smile-inducing solves but nominate 24a as Fav. Can’t say Dandy/Desperate Dan was on my childhood reading-list so took a while to fully parse 16d. It was good to have a DT Cryptic to work on today after feeling bereft yesterday as village shop delivered Sunday Times in error and I didn’t make much headway with their unfamiliar cruciverbal challenge. Thank you Mysteron and MP.

  8. Nothing too scary today, though I was held up by the homophone in the SE corner for too long. Nice puzzle for a Monday, sterner tests await no doubt.
    Thanks to MP and the setter.
    Having watched Tottenham against Liverpool yesterday, I though 11a was quite appropriate.

  9. Favourite was 16d, takes me back to my first comics-that cow pie with the 2 horns sticking out-it would be too PC for today!
    Reminds me of Yozzer Hughes at the confessional – when asked by Father Dan, the priest ,what was the matter replied ‘I’m desperate Dan’-then headed the ‘box’ in frustration.
    I digress-a **/*** today and just right for Monday after the heavy weekend-what a performance.
    Thanks MP for the blog and our setter.

  10. A very pleasant and straightforward start to the solving week, with 16d my clear favourite for bringing back childhood memories. Deliciously un PC comics when no offence was intended or taken.

    Many thanks to our Monday setter and MP.

  11. This was a surprise for a monday, the brain must have been well in gear. Finished in good time except fot 1d which for some reason defeated me.
    Thanks to Miffypops and setter

  12. A nice start to the week, nothing too outré. I shot myself in the foot by writing the last letter in 5d sloppily, thus 23a looked like c-p- etc., held me up for ages. I finally sorted it.
    Didn’t know Desperate Dan, Googling didn’t help much, so 16d was a bung in. I also didn’t know the film at 26a.
    Lots to like but no particular fave.
    Thanks to our Monday setter and to Emil for the fun review.

  13. Really nice puzzle APART from 20a and 25d which I thought were dreadful. Very weak even though the answers were obvious.
    Real shame as it spoilt the whole thing.
    Thx for the hints
    **/**

    1. Hi Brian, assuming you meant 20d and 25a, out of interest, what was wrong with them? They certainly held me up for a while, but that’s no reason to object to them IMHO.

  14. Maybe it’s me but this didn’t really float my boat, I found it frustratingly difficult and in the end had to resort to the hint for 25a. However very few crosswords are without their redeeming features and I found them in the excellent lurker at 9a along with 24 and 27a.
    3.5/2*
    Thanks to the setter and to MP for his “mega” review.

  15. Good Monday puzzle. Was held up by 24a and 20d. Loved the hint for 14a, most amusing. Thanks to Emil and the setter.

  16. It really comes to something when we worry if to mention a comic character such as Desperate Dan is non PC! I am thinking of comments last week along the same lines. Whatever happened to “The past is another country”?

  17. I agree – fairly straightforward but that doesn’t mean I didn’t get a bit stuck on a few.
    I had the wrong ending for 15d – dim – not only did it not fit the clue but it effectively messed up that corner until I sorted it out.
    I’ve heard of Desperate Dan but didn’t understand the clue until I googled him and the first word of 16d.
    I liked 4, 17 and 25a and 15d. My favourite was 27a.
    Thanks to todays setter and to MP.

  18. An easy start to the week **/*** the ** is because I completed all in record time but then needed help with 20d & 25a 😟 Favourites 4a and 3d 😃 Thanks to MP and to the Setter

  19. Too clever by half for me. 25a and 20d were some of those that sent me looking for the hints. I found it harder than Dada’s Sunday offering. But thanks to setter and Miffypops. 14a was one of the first dishes I taught myself how to cook as a newly wed, and it is still one of our favourites. The recipe was in a Baby Belling cook book that came with our brand new stove, and I still use that book all these years later. And my Good Housekeeping cookery book which is a complete wreck, broken spine, loose pages etc. But I will never throw it out.

    2. I remember the Baby Bellings! My first flat in London was a bedsitter that had a bathroom (literally, bath and basin; loo was two flights down) and we had a Baby Belling in the bathroom. We were horrified at first, preparing food in the bathroom, but we soon got used to it.

  20. Good start to the solving week, but a couple of clues took me longer, but it was very entertaining.
    2*/3.5* favourites 14ac & 15d
    Thanks to setter & MP for review

  21. 16d was straight in. I came across a Dandy Annual last week when I was clearing cupboards out. It’s so old perhaps I should keep it. Many thanks setter and Miffypops. Lots of anagrams to help along the way today.

  22. With MP giving this * for difficulty I have to conclude it is a Marmite puzzle. I too was blind to a few clues which are quite misleading and needed the blog to complete. All makes sense now and with hindsight doesn’t look difficult, sadly not enjoyable for me.

  23. Yummy 😋. Quiche Lorraine and a pie chart is called a camembert in France.
    For 20d I thought it was default without the L but yet again defaut is a French word.
    A bit too much for a Monday.
    Thanks to the setter and to MP for the review.

  25. Just finished down under, working through stack of Telegraphs, loved it; especially 23a, 17a, 12d and of course 14a, completing in less than 4 hours, pretty good for me. As a medical man, can I point out that the first 7 letters of 23a does not mean dreadful, but persisting or long lasting medical condition, such as diabetes or arthritis- a common misconception, thanks to setter, DT and big dave

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