A Puzzle by Dabrite
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
As usual, the setter will be delighted to receive feedback from you, the solvers. We do ask that you remember that for most setters this is a new experience, so please only offer constructive criticism.
The good news is that Dabrite has reined back the obscure general knowledge in this crossword and has paid attention to the need to avoid repeating wordplay indicators. The commenometer score has therefore plummeted from its previous high levels to 4/30 or 13.3%. This is still relatively high. A little more attention to the final polishing of the clues would have removed a lot of the issues.
Across
1a Praise echoes around troubled soul taking in enlisted man (8)
EULOGISE: The letter represented by echo in the NATO phonetic alphabet twice (echoes) around an anagram (troubled) of SOUL including the abbreviation for an American soldier (enlisted man).
5a As chance would have it daughter takes the place of son in rescue (6)
RANDOM: A six-letter word meaning rescue with the S (son) replaced by a D (daughter).
9a Trendy flavour readily available (2,6)
IN SEASON: A two-letter word meaning trendy followed by a six-letter word meaning add flavour.
10a Model leaving Antigua let loose popular pet (6)
IGUANA: An anagram (let loose) of ANTIGUA after removing the T (model as in Model T Ford). I would not describe the solution as a popular pet – perhaps exotic pet would be better. Also, as only two letters need to be moved, it is not ideal as an anagram.
12a A single person off-key in studio (8,4)
BACHELOR FLAT: An eight-letter word for a single person followed by a four-letter word meaning off-key.
15a Sailors with Spanish and large number of French returning departed on the QT (9)
ABSCONDED: The pluralised abbreviation for able seaman followed by a three-letter Spanish word meaning with, the Roman numeral for 500 (large number) an a reversal (returning) of the French for of.
17a California rolls to illustrate somewhat suspicious greeting (5)
SUSHI: A three-letter meaning suspicious followed by a two-letter word for a greeting. I think that the wordplay can illustrate the definition but the definition does not illustrate the wordplay. The somewhat could also be omitted.
18a Big cats associated with peacocks? (5)
PRIDE: Double definition.
19a Nulch? There’s no such thing as it! (4,5)
FREE LUNCH: A reverse anagram where the solution reads as an anagram clue to Nulch. Although Nulch is a made-up word, I think it is justified here as the clue says that there is no such thing as it.
20a Barking mad dog goes after American lawyer like The Andrew Formerly Known As Prince? (7,5)
DAMAGED GOODS: An anagram (barking) of MAD DOG GOES after the abbreviation for District Attorney (American lawyer).
25a Little Nick Schnitzel? (6)
CUTLET: Fancifully, a little cut (nick) could be described as this.
26a Broadening university for adults only diminished concentration (8)
DILUTION: An eight-letter word for broadening with the A (for adults only) replaced by a U (university).
27a Rumour of help for Noah in cloister? (6)
ARCADE: A homophone (rumour) of ARK AID (help for Noah).
28a Like a Wolverine‘s unhealthy appetite for punishment? (8)
GLUTTONY: Double definition.
Down
1d Eat up, Miss Blyton! (4)
ENID: A reversal (up) of a four-letter word meaning eat.
2d Graphic illustrations revealing intense longing (4)
LUST: The answer is hidden (revealing) in the second word of the clue. Do not include padding words in the clue such as Graphic which plays no part in the wordplay or the solution.
3d Spread camouflage all over the place passing over fighter plane (9)
GUACAMOLE: An anagram (all over the place) of CAMOUFLAGE after removing the F (passing over fighter plane).
4d Hard to follow Reds manager’s AI, perhaps (5)
SLOTH: The manager of Liverpool (Reds) followed by the abbreviation for hard.
6d Head off peril in red mist (5)
ANGER: A six-letter word for peril without its first letter (head off).
7d Volcanic sands yield big no-nos (6,4)
DEADLY SINS: An anagram (volcanic) of SANDS YIELD.
8d Racism that misrepresented capital of the Dutch Alps (10)
MAASTRICHT: An anagram (misrepresented) of RACISM THAT.
11d Hostage that one might take to get on the wagon? (6)
PLEDGE: Double definition. The first meaning is shown in the dictionary as an obsolete usage so this should be indicated in the clue “Old hostage” would work.
13d Greek character picked up small document by main road back in historical region marked by fairy chimneys (10)
CAPPADOCIA: A homophone (picked up) of Kappa (Greek character) followed by an abbreviation (small) for document and a reversal (back) of A1 (main road).
14d Anonymous Greek letter admits tenant confronting jerk visually challenged (10)
ASTIGMATIC: The abbreviation for anonymous followed by a five-letter Greek letter that includes (admits) the abbreviation for tenant all followed by (confronting) a three-letter word for a jerk or involuntary spasm. I cannot find any authority in the main dictionaries for t being an abbreviation for tenant. To have successive clues relying on Greek letters is not ideal.
16d Germany rejected condition of Spanish in which faith is obligatory (2,4)
DE FIDE: The IVR code for Germany followed by a reversal (rejected) of a two-letter word expressing a condition and the Spanish for of.
17d Feud blots out one’s insecurity (4-5)
SELF-DOUBT: An anagram (out) of FEUD BLOTS.
21d Mammon settled after cutting out middleman (5)
GREED: A six-letter word meaning settled without the initial A (after cutting out middleman). Some editors will not allow a word such as middleman to indicate the middle letter of man as grammatically, middle man does not mean the middle of man and the need to split the word is also unindicated.
22d Gold that’s beside large bay window (5)
ORIEL: The heraldic abbreviation for gold followed by the abbreviation for that is and the abbreviation for large. Perhaps in a down clue, over or above would be better than beside.
23d Weight losing Special K? (4)
KILO: A five-letter word for a weight without the final S (losing) special
24d Resent November victor for crying out loud? (4)
ENVY: A homophone (for crying out loud) of the letters represented by November and Victor in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
That was a very clever puzzle that had us working very hard. We did get a completion though, largely because we picked up the theme quite early on, and that proved to be a real help. Favourites have to be the themed clues.
Thanks Dabrite.
I was unable to finish Dabrite’s previous submission but, although I found this one a real struggle, at least I finished with a full grid. Even so, I needed to reveal the solution to 13d and I can’t fully parse five answers: 26a, 28a,16d, 23d & 24d. The theme didn’t help me as I didn’t notice it until after I had all the relevant items had appeared.
There were two “war and peace” clues in 20a & 13d, which is generally an indication that it’s time to ditch them and find alternatives. There were also two clues which included surface padding: 17a (“to illustrate”) and 2d (“graphic”). An unindicated lift and separate device was used in 21d.
The non-word “nulch” in 19a sticks out like sore thumb. I can’t find any justification for t = tenant in 14d and, according to the BRB, f = fighter plane in 3d is a uniquely American abbreviation.
Sorry, Dabrite, but it’s hard to see that you are making progress after seven Rookie Corner submissions.
A crossword where it definitely helped to spot the theme. Unlike RD I only had one clue I couldn’t parse but having looked at it again after a bit of post Christmas tidying, I now understand it.
Thanks Dabrite – do take on board the comments and wise words off Prolific and return with another crossword in due course
I found this pretty tough but enjoyed the challenge and was helped by the theme. Thanks to Dabrite.
I don’t mind longish clues (and in fact I prefer them in many ways to very short ones) but a couple here were rather long even for me.
The clues I liked best were 19a, 25a, 26a and 24d.
Welcome back, Dabrite.
I found this a tough solve as well, and with one clue consisting of seventeen words, one of fourteen and two of thirteen, I can only hope that Santa brought you a pair of secateurs for Christmas. Never be afraid to “murder your darlings” or at least give them a good trim. The theme helped to complete the grid, for sure, but without it I think electronic assistance would have been necessary. I don’t really like “beside” (22d) in a Down clue and 19a is a very Dada-esque construction. Favourite clue is undoubtedly 12a.
Many thanks, Dabrite.
Gave this my best shot, Dabrite, but still needed a handful of ‘reveals’ to finish the job. The theme would doubtless have assisted if I’d become aware of it a lot sooner! I’m still not sure that you’re paying sufficient attention to the mantra that all clues should be fair to the solver but perhaps that’s just sour grapes? I did particularly like the help for Noah but would question just how popular 10as are as pets…..
Many thanks, Dabrite, I just hope your next one is a little easier!
How do I view today’s puzzle DT 31122 please? None of the 3 strange options will take me to it.
Do you mean Smyler’s blog or the puzzle itself?
https://bigdave44.com/2025/12/29/dt-31122/ for the blog
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/puzzle/?source=home&number=31122#crossword/cryptic-crossword-1/cryptic-crossword-78354
should take you the puzzle (if your subscription is up to date)
Smyler’s blog. Have just tried again and it’s appeared this time. Thanks.
I started this morning and found it a really tough but enjoyable puzzle. I couldn’t parse 26a, 28a and 14d. In 28a, BRB defines such a person for punishment as one who seems indefatigable in seeking and performing strenuous or unpleasant work etc and so I could not connect it to the first part. However, the definition looks linked to 2d, 7d and 21d. It seemed to me that 11d is going either way, with the change of the first letter. The first two and the last two letters in 16d are same, the former the country code, which took me a long time, and the latter the preposition in Spanish with condition reversed in between. Don’t think that ‘beside’ in 22d would have worked in across clue either. I liked 12a, 19a, 20a, 25a, 27a, 3d and 13d. Thanks to Dabrite and in advance to Prolixic for his review.
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic, which made me aware of another ‘unknown’ (to me) in the shape of California rolls – what a strange term!