DT Vintage 14

Daily Telegraph Vintage No 14
Hints and Tips by Rossophile

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BD Rating – Difficulty ****  Enjoyment **

This was written the year after I was born. It might have put me off crosswords (and poetry) for life, had I been able to read and write. However, despite the unconventional clueing, here is my interpretation

Across

1a, 18 Across and 33 Across Some celebration seems to-day in order: / So take your pen and let us now begin. / The paper‘s first, the problem on the border, / And, in between, its number: fill them in (5,10,3,10,9,6)

DAILY TELEGRAPHS HUNDREDTH CROSSWORD PUZZLE: A description of this day’s offering, which was the swansong of the great Leonard Dawe. Top row, middle row, and bottom row.

8a Has such journeying oft seemed short to you / Engaged in chasing the elusive clue (5,6)

TRAIN TRAVEL: In the days before WFH, working from home, many commuters would have their journeys (t**** t*****) flash by working on the crossword

10a We only use him when we’re in a jam. / He wouldn’t mind, he’d take it like a lamb! (4)

ELIA: A pen name used by Charles Lamb 1775-1834, who wrote Essays of Elia, with possible biblical roots (Elias, Elijah)

11a Fellows who polish up phrases, and toss them. / Crosswords can certainly 16 across them (4)

WITS: The person, and the faculty honed by using them

13a As our good friend in need let his praises be sung, / But his letters reveal he was born to be hung! (1,1,1)

A.R.A: Initials an artist’s qualification, whose works were displayed (hung) in galleries. Associate Royal Academician

16a To this the lead, or boldly grasp the end? / Upon your solving skill that may depend (7)

SHARPEN: Do this to the lead in your pencil, or do this to your solving skill

17a Trail a red herring? We quite often do. / No need to follow – but that’s up to you! (7)

MISLEAD: As defined. May mean to miss a lead

18a See 1 Across

22a A mild deception or two’s not amiss. / But you’ve never, we hope, thought us guilty of this (7)

ROGUERY: A behaviour denied by crossword setters. A deceiver can guilty of this

24a Our aim’s to intrigue, but fairly to treat you, / And never to try so completely to beat you (7)

NONPLUS: To surprise and confuse someone (intrigue), so they are unsure how to react. Hmmm.

25a Although he always fails, and gives it up, / He’s proxime accessit for the cup (3)

MUG: “Proxime Accessit” means runner-up for an award (cup).  A person who fails could be called this.

27a Wherein the make-up of a fly-by-night has started, / Although it’s plain to see that father’s not downhearted (4)

PUPA: Larval stage of growth of an insect. Also, father PA is not down, but UP

31a A seaside snap of it is prize indeed, / But it’s a close-up that you really need (4)

SEAL: Not a common seaside photographic activity

32a Time to relax: the paper to be read, / The puzzle to complete, and so to bed (7,4)

EVENING HOUR: A time of day when some readers my do this; mostly done in the morning

33a See 1 Across

Down

1d We like to think our efforts sometimes may / Help speed its patient victim’s tedious day (7)

DISEASE: Doing the crossword may help a hospital or bedridden person pass the time

2d Talking of 8 ac., the wanderlust’s trail / May lead you abroad, so here’s cash for the rail (4)

LIRA: To those travelling (wanderlust) abroad to Italy, this currency would help (before the Euro). Also Turkish currency

3d Try to this you, sir or madam? No. / Our aim’s to elevate, not bring you low (4)

TRIP: Setter doesn’t want to **** you up, (bring you low) but elevate you (cerebrally)

4d One may defer to it oft when in doubt, / And start to retaliate if put about (5)

LATER: Reverse lurker of first five letters of retaliate

5d At its pointed appeal / Things first half with zeal (4)

GOAD: Cowboys used a pointed stick to do this. May refer to GustO

6d When your brain’s a bit woolly, best give it a miss, / Come back to it 4 down and tackle it this (4)

ANEW: A distant synonym of 4a. Look at a problem **** , giving your brain a rest

7d From 1 down comes this, for a holiday mood: / When it rains it is better to puzzle than brood (7)

SEASIDE: Anagram of 1d, where you go for a break. Strong chance of a downpour anytime in UK, so good to have a crossword at hand

8d Reproof your letters sometimes bring, and little doubt we need it, / But when as vehement as this it’s quite a change to “read it”! (6)

TIRADE: Anagram of read it

9d Do you think we are clever? The point is a moot one: / We dare not suggest so, not wanting to shoot one (4)

LINE: This fits with the error checker on the e-version of the crossword. I cannot explain this. A much better answer would be WISE, but that doesn’t fit.

12d Detected it, have you? Or are you still cool? / It was placed before Dick as a pudding at school (7)

SPOTTED: A synonym of detected, and part of a favourite English pudding, spotted with currants

13d We use it in clues, fairly often indeed, / But not many will help you to get what you need (7)

ANTONYM: Opposite of synonym.

14d We hope you may find a clue, once in a while, / That’s sufficiently this to cause you to smile … (7)

AMUSING: If a clue raises the corner of your mouth, to reveal some teeth, and a cheerful demeanour

15d … but we should indeed be most sadly remiss / If we offered you efforts as foolish as this (7)

ASININE: A description of the poor opinion of a person’s action or behaviour

19d His chattering sometimes makes one yearn / To give him cross words in return (6)

TALKER: Especially in examinations. Dawe was a headmaster.

20d Why begin to show your grief of mind? / It’s secret, yes, but not too hard to find (7)

CRYPTIC: Show your grief CRY, followed by PTIC

21d This is nought, deceased the rest, / But treat it as you would a pest (7)

ISOLATE: IS-O (nought)-LATE (deceased). How to tackle a pest…

23d To open one’s mouth, as the foolish may do, / Might provide a whole page, but that’s all for this clue (4)

GAPE: Anagram of PAGE.

26d Just chance your arm, an adjective essay, / Don’t pick a bone with us if you’re astray (5)

ULNAR: The adjective referring to the lower bone beyond the elbow

28d This may be rare, a last-ditch sort of word, / For which the compiler risks getting the bird! (4)

AVIS: Ditch the last letter “S”, than keep the “I” (the setter). Add an “an” and you get AVIAN, to do with birds.

29d Most clues intrigue the mind, quotations don’t, / For guesses apart, you will this or you won’t (4)

KNOW: You either guess the answer or you k*** it

30d In their business some men walk it, / Out of business others talk it (4)

SHOP: A double definition (homograph), a sales place , or sales talk

31d What blew up here may bring us echoes yet, / And one of the Olympics was upset! (4)

SUEZ: A military crisis in 1956 involving a tripartite invasion of Egypt. The 1956 Melbourne Olympics were disrupted with many boycotts. Perhaps US reversed (echoes) and EZ?

 

EXTRACT FROM DAILY TELEGRAPH by the puzzles team.

Leonard Dawe bows out with verse in Telegraph’s 10,000th cryptic crossword

A rare rhyming puzzle from the final outing of the original Telegraph compiler – and a milestone in British crossword history

Leonard Dawe

Article by

James Fieldhouse.

James Brydon.

10 August 2025 12:01am BST

The Telegraph Crossword has a reputation for classical restraint, generally avoiding the more experimental elements that you might find in some other series. For Puzzle number 10,000, however, such restraint was abandoned — and the clues written in rhyming verse.

This historical oddity, penned by Leonard Dawe, says a lot about how he viewed compiling. He hopes to make the solver smile and forget their woes, be that illness or simply bad weather. He also reflects on receiving his fair share of flak from exasperated readers!

 

This is the final puzzle in this series by Leonard Dawe, the man who started it all back in 1925.

Here’s how Val Gilbert, Telegraph Crossword Editor from 1977 until 2006, describes him: “In modern terms, his Cryptic Crosswords were not of the highest quality […] However, he is a colossus in the world of British crosswords, the trailblazer who went on to shape the crossword in all its facets – the clues, the patterns and the solutions – into the puzzle that we know today.”

Ultimately, the goal of the compiler remains “to intrigue, but fairly.” So what’s your take on Dawe’s legacy? Are you a fan of these rhyming couplets?