Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27874
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on an overcast morning. Thanks to Shropshirelad for stepping in while I’ve been otherwise occupied. I’m off again for the next two weeks, so he’ll be back.
Today’s Giovanni seemed to me to be at the more challenging end of his back-page range, so *** difficulty for me.
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. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Across
1a Handsome prince saw this pre-midnight opportunity for repose (6,5)
BEAUTY SLEEP – This is what the prince saw just before he kissed her and woke her up.
8a Mother country getting into terrible conspiracy (11)
MACHINATION – A short word for mother, followed by an Asian country and an anagram (terrible) of INTO.
11a Tall man’s regularly ignored regrettably (4)
ALAS – Leave out alternate letters of tAlL mAn’S.
12a A frothy talk about heroic doings in story form (4)
SAGA – Start with A from the clue and some frothy talk or gossip, then reverse the lot (about).
13a Confessed in quiet, having got torn apart (7)
SHRIVEN – ‘Confessed’ here is a past participle, meaning ‘having been to confession’. The answer is a rather archaic word meaning the same thing: put together an instruction to keep quiet and a word meaning split or torn apart.
15a Drunk will hide leg 5 Down today? (7)
TONIGHT – Put another word for the leg side at cricket into another word for drunk.
16a Boy, one who wanders around (5)
DAMON – Reversing (around) a word which describes people who wander rather than living in fixed settlements gives you a boy’s name.
17a Victor maybe gets to hold nothing (4)
HUGO – A word for hold tight followed by the letter which looks like zero, giving the surname of this Victor, a 19th-century French writer.
18a Star admits theft finally — shock! (4)
STUN – The final letter of thefT inside the name of the nearest star.
19a Maiden is clutching a very small bird (5)
MAVIS – The abbreviation for Maiden on a cricket scorecard and IS (from the clue), placed either side of A (from the clue) and an abbreviation of Very, giving the alternative name for the song thrush.
21a Girl was deceitful and ventured forth (7)
SALLIED – A girl’s name followed by ‘was deceitful’.
22a Beasts? A number will be found in Civil Service (7)
CANINES – A (from the clue) and a cardinal number placed inside an abbreviation for the Civil Service.
23a Brute heading off in one direction (4)
EAST – Remove the initial letter (heading off) from a word for a brute, to get a point of the compass.
26a Court order as before — when lad falls short (4)
ASBO – AS (from the clue) followed by a synonoym of lad with its last letter removed, giving the acronym of a type of control order.
27a Politicians admitting blunder with modern technology in spheres of operation (11)
TERRITORIES – The politicians of a particular party wrapped around a verb meaning ‘blunder’ and the generic acronym for computer technology.
28a Clerics on a sacred meandering around church (11)
ARCHDEACONS – Anagram (meandering) of ON A SACRED wrapped around an abbreviation for church.
Down
2d Schoolmaster assists only some of these characters in periods (4)
ERAS – Hidden in the clue.
3d Superior female looking bashful, being taken in hand? (7)
USHERED – Put together the letter indicating superior or upper-class, a female pronoun, and the colour you may turn if bashful or embarrassed.
4d American ‘no’ upset king (4)
YANK – Reverse an archaic way of saying ‘No’ and add the chess notation for a king.
5d Subsequently seen as not real, phoney (5,2)
LATER ON – Anagram (phoney) of NOT REAL.
6d Hesitation to come before huge god (4)
EROS – A greek god, popularly believed to have a statue in Piccadilly Circus, is made up of an interjection showing hesitation and a marking for something particularly large.
7d Rickshaw set to be mended with thin piece of wire (4-7)
CAT’S WHISKER – Anagram (to be mended) of RICKSHAW SET.
8d Singer in crazy outfit meeting top people (11)
MADRIGALIST – The singer of a type of song developed in Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries is made up of a word for crazy, an outfit or equipment, and the group of people (1,4) who are prime targets for gossip columnists and paparazzi.
9d Mischief as eight nuns may go off the rails (11)
NAUGHTINESS – Anagram (may go off the rails) of AS EIGHT NUNS.
10d Phrasing OTT possibly for this final comment? (7,4)
PARTING SHOT – Anagram (possibly) of PHRASING OTT.
14d Diana disguised as a nymph (5)
NAIAD – Anagram (disguised) of DIANA.
15d Most important one should get 100 for this subject (5)
TOPIC – A word for superior or most important followed by the Roman numerals for one and 100.
19d Hero, man constructing symbol for Judaism (7)
MENORAH – Anagram (constructing) of HERO MAN.
20d Racist, I fancy, could be using scorn (7)
SATIRIC – Anagram (fancy) of RACIST I.
24d Sign of sorrow or rage (4)
TEAR – Double definition: a noun which is a physical manifestation of sorrow; or a verb meaning to rage through something.
25d Filthy place reported — a problem with infection (4)
STYE – An eye infection which sounds like (reported) a proverbially dirty place.
26d First of Acrosses gets one troubled for a very long time (4)
AEON – The first letter of Acrosses followed by an anagram (troubled) of ONE.
The Quick Crossword pun LEARNER +LESSEN = LEARN A LESSON
2*/2.5*. I found this quite pleasant for a Friday puzzle although lacking zest and humour.
Unless I am missing something the wordplay for 1a seems somewhat strange, and surely 12a works just as well without I the word “frothy”? Today’s obscurities (13a & 19d) were both religious references.
Thanks to the setter, and welcome back and many thanks to DT for the review.
Hi RD,
What on earth’s wrong with 1a?
When the handsome prince entered the room where Sleeping Beauty lay under a spell he ‘saw Beauty sleep’ and the hours one sleeps before midnight are reputed to be the best for rejuvenating oneself.
Seems OK to me.
Surely he saw Beauty asleep?
OK – try it this way. ‘Watch’ is a synonym for ‘see’ so you could say ‘he watched Beauty sleep’.
Mmm… I take your point, but it still seems a bit contrived to me. I would actually say “he saw Beauty sleeping” or “he watched Beauty sleeping”.
I think that you’re on a loser with this one, RD – a bit like the Aussies.
OK, I’ll settle for winning the Ashes any time.
Waiting for the tide so thought if have a bash while sitting in cockpit, what a stinker numerous crossings out and overwrites had to resort to help for 19d and 8d.
Could have easily gone into the to hard tray. Many thanks to Deep Threat and to Giovanni definitely ****/*** for me.
I needed a couple of hints for me to complete, some new words learnt today in 8a & 8D. Favourite was 15 A . Many thanks to the setter & DT for his much needed hints.
But don’t you think it’s wrong to have to work out the answer to one clue (5d) to complete another clue (your favourite 15a)?
No different than having checkers for me.
Can’t see your problem. Linked clues are common practice amongst setters, and can greatly enhance the fun of solving.
Don’t think it’s wrong, Vince, but it can be frustrating – especially in one of those Xwords where there are a lot of them!
But surely the setter should provide us with the clue, not ask us to find the clue, before we can begin to solve it?
15ac is perfectly solvable without the answer to 5d.
5d gives you the definition.In this case, it may have been possible to guess at the answer, but it’s not always the case, is it?
No problems in this one, and quite enjoyable too.
Thanks to Giovanni, and to DT for the write-up.
Plain-sailing in the South but a bit more choppy in the North. Altogether a very pleasurable exercise. Song thrush in 19a new one on me as I’m afraid was the word for 19d. Yet more cricket viz 15a. Many thanks Giovanni for lots of fun and DT particularly for the beautiful King’s Singers’ performance in your 8d hint (my Fav clue) **/****.
**/***
No need to abandon ship on this one. 13a had to be dragged from the memory banks. Personally didn’t find 19d obscure, found 21a to be more so. Pleasant enough solve.
Many thanks to Giovanni and to DT for blogging…and 8d.
I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
This brook has suddenly sallied and is now quarrelling with everybody it meets. It is in a song as well. Am racking my brain now. Folky. Modern.
Remember having to learn that one by heart at school – strangely enough, I still like it!
We did Locksley Hall…I still like that..
For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw a vision of the world, and all the wonder that could be…
Locksley (Now known as Loxley) Hall is in Ambridge. A vision of the world, and all the wonder that could be. Mmm. sounds about right to me How prescient
It’s a great poem.
After Loxley Hall you can go for a drink at The Bull, all manner of people are found there.
I remember a great problem over a double booking at Grey Gables which was solved when the foam rubber people changed the timing of their dinner. I like the idea of having foam rubber people to stay.
I bet Ian’s food is great. I’d have dinner with Eddie Grundy.
Foam rubber people as guests could be fun…though disturbingly I keep thinking ‘latex’.
So you’ll like the Thurber cartoon “I come from haunts of coot and here”. Surely?
Ahh MP, you never cease to amaze me in finding a poem/song to fit something. I like Tennyson.
The eight nuns going off the rails amused me today. I needed checking letters for most of the anagrams and Saint Sharon kept blathering on about trivia all of which which made this a long but very enjoyable solve. Thanks to Don for the puzzle and Peter for the review especially the soothing singing at 8d. we have had several groups of these singers in our village church always a pleasure to attend. As a bonus most you tube clips carry on with more of the same once the chosen clip has ended. No need to keep choosing more. Come on England
Thought this might cause problems on first read through but got some of the pesky 4-letter ones plus the long one across the bottom and worked my way up quite quickly from there. 2*/3.5* for me.
Nothing too obscure today (which means I’d heard of them before!) but I didn’t know that 7d actually is a thin piece of wire – I thought it was simply used descriptively!
Liked 8&27a plus the 9d anagram for its surface read – favourite is 1a (sorry, RD!).
Thanks for a good puzzle, DG, and thanks to DT for the words and music.
Oh Jane. Now you have mentioned the thin piece of wire we may be bombarded by tales of home made crystal sets.
One of the Dons more gentle efforts today but hugely enjoyable for all that. Loved 1a and 15a. Learnt a new word in 19a, didn’t know that a Mavis was a thrush but easy to get from the wordplay. I really look forward to Friday’s puzzle especially after suffering a Ray T on Thursday. Mrs B is threatening to remove Thursday’s puzzle if it is a Ray T to help reduce my blood pressure!
Thx to the Don for a great puzzle and to Deep Threat for the hints.
So earlier this morning, I’m solving the crossword at the kitchen table, with Mr CS and my brother-in-law on the other side of the table as as I wrote in mavis I said “Brian will say – I didn’t know that a Mavis was a thrush”. Mr CS then spent a while explaining who Brian was to the b-in-l.
I too though of Brian. Bless him
You read minds too
Always nice to learn something new.
At my vast age I still think a day is wasted if I have not learned something new or dragged something out of the depths of my memory.
A lovely puzzle today, requiring a bit of thought but not too much, nice to sit with a cup of coffee and relax. I liked 8d, once I’d realised Singer was the answer rather than part of the clue, and stared at 13a for ages, when it suddenly appeared before my eyes. Found the Quickie more difficult today!
I managed to get this one finished just before the Cricket restarted, so all is good.
Don’t you just love the Aussies hard done by looks, the Worlds against them it’s not fair – just like a spoilt child – England seem to be strolling – great ain’t it!
Do you not think the England team would be wearing similar expressions if the tables were turned?
As would 20,000 in the crowd. We should enjoy it while we can. It is easy to be magnanimous in victory, damned hard when you’re on the receiving end of a good hiding.
Nowt wrong with a justified full on gloat in my view
Being incredibly proud of your own team is fine, MP – but taking pleasure in the suffering of the losers is quite another thing. How does the saying go – ‘not really cricket’?
Do as you would be done by. Be done by as you did. We are just reciprocating the love Jane.
Nobody can do a better gloat than the English……football 1966 for goodness sake!
Message for Kath. Sorry I missed your contribution to yesterday blog and I don’t want to respond on this one but I have put up a response on yesterday’s page.
I did not realise your affliction was so bad Brian. Mrs B must do her best to remember to confiscate the Ray T puzzles. My worry is that her memory might be like yours. Good luck anyway
OK – thanks Brian.
I thoroughly enjoyed this little Friday gem and would mark it 3/4. The only thing that slowed me up (again) was listening to England making hay and grinding Australia into the Trent Bridge dust. I hope none of our contributors have tickets for Sunday, and even tomorrow could be pushing it.
I neglected to thank DT and the setter, so thanks both.
Well I had a completely different solution to 8d which changed 17a,27a. I read the definition as “top people” and got masterclass as answer. No wonder I couldn’t get 13a when I needed to !.
It was enjoyable for all that, if a little difficult for me in parts. New words for me are 8d 19a 19d.
4*/3.5* for me
Not going mention cricket –sorry!
Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat for the review and hints. A very enjoyable puzzle, which I thought was let down by 1a, which didn’t quite work for me. Thought 19d was very obscure, but got it from the fodder. Favourite was 8d. Last in was 13a. Was 3*/3* for me. Cloudy in Central London now.
I can’t believe it! A Friday puzzle that we could actually do without numerous peeps at the hints, so it must have been one of the easier ones. **/*** for us today. Thank you to the Friday setter and to DT.
Oh dear
as so often on Fridays.
4* difficulty and only 2* enjoyment mainly because there was nothing to smile at, let alone laugh at.
I’ve never heard of 13 and 19a and 7d (as a piece of wire, I mean – I know what it is when it’s attached to a cat).
I got into an awful muddle with 8a – tried to make it something to do with ‘damnation’ – then got completely convinced that the ‘nation’ at the end was the country so failed to see China – I could go on . . .
This has taken me ages – serious wave length trouble.
I liked 9d.
With thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat.
Off to cut grass.
Unlike Deep Threat, I thought that this was quite a benign Giovanni offering, certainly much easier to tackle than yesterday’s puzzle. Perhaps this was due to a greater than average number of anagrams.
My favourite goes to 1a, which I thought was nicely crafted.
Many thanks to the setter and to DT.
Such a breeze.
Which is much-needed as there is no air here. Temperatures are still in the mid 30C’s. And no rain since May.
Was held up by writing secretaries in 27a so 8d and 13a were my last ones after correction.
Quite a few anagrams in this crossword which made it less difficult than usual.
13a is my obscurity of the day.
16a favourite fot its surface.
Thanks to the Don and to DT for the review.
Ultimately foxed by 13a, that I wouldn’t have got in any event, and 14d but an enjoyable puzzle none the less.
Favourites were 16 and 28a and especially 8d. New words to me that I managed to figure out at 19d (a racehorse to me…) and 19a. 7a took me far too long to solve and 17d was my D’oh! moment du jour.
Three/four for me.
A very nice crossword, although a little difficult ***/**** I actually managed to solve it ? smugness! I am Ashamed that I did not know the meaning of 13a & 19d, favourites 9d & 28a. I have never met a naughty Nun, occasionly I have met a 29a who has meandered. Thanks to DT & Giovanni for an enjoyable morning ? As for the cricket we must make hay while the sun shines!!! ?
Slow start on this one, but a great improvement on yesterday! Top half was the trickiest for me. I liked 13a and 10a and 1a was good too. I rate this as 2*/3* as I didnt need the hints today. Much more enjoyable the yesterdays headache! Thanks setter and DT.
Once again could not finish the puzzle today and needed hints for 14 a, 19a and 7d. My first one in was 8a although I could not parse it correctly as I was convinced that the country was nation, so what was I to do with this Greek Character not mentioned in the clue? Got cast whisker for 7d – why not after all… Once I changed secretaries for territories, i unravelled 8d. My favourite was 9d, made me laugh. 3*/3* for me today. Am y thanks to DT for the much needed review and to The Don for a challenging but doable – well almost – puzzle.
A tad trickier than last week’s outing with a few more of the Don’s trademark religious based clues. However, they were all perfectly fair and solvable from the word play. I will opt for 13a as my favourite for today.
Thanks to the Don for the puzzle and DT for doing the review today.
Have a good weekend all
Decidedly tricky but doable! I did have to use electronic gizmo at the end in order to finish, but I was familiar with obscure words like 13a, 19d and 8d. I had no idea that 7d was also a thin wire, but what else could it be, given the anagram and checking letters.
The abundance of anagrams was a great help.
Fave was 17a.
Thanks to Giovanni and to Deep Threat for his review.
I thought that wasn’t too tricky today . My stumbling block was 13a. Thanks to Giovanni & DT.
An enjoyable enough Friday puzzle for me. A bit of education from the Don in the form of a couple of new words. I too went straight to 1a in the blog to fully explain the answer, but the Rabbit Dave/Jane dialogue covers it. Incidentally, does anybody think the Victor Hugo image bears a passing resemblance to a certain BD?
On my UCAS form in 1963 I wrote that I was keen on crosswords. At my UCL interview, the physics lecturer gave me his Telegraph puzzle that he had been unable to finish. I pulled my own copy from my brief case and gave him a couple of answers including MAVIS. I was not offered a place.
An amusing anecdote, and a lesson in ‘playing the game’ I suppose. If you’d asked his opinion on a couple of clues you would have probably got in!
Glad I didn’t, though that sort of cheeky reply at Cambridge would probably have worked. Anyway I was very happy at Bristol!
I wonder whether, in subsequent years, he struggled with some of your own DT offerings? I’ve no doubt you would have found that rather gratifying!
That’s an interesting thought Jane.
I’d love to know if that occurred
King’s turned me down on interview.
They wont if you die healthily at 67 years of age.
Very true MP.
Thank you very much, Giovanni. I thoroughly enjoyed today’s, in fact still have 6 to go, at the top. I liked 13a for the image it conjured up, and also thought 9d was great fun. Thanks to Deep Threat for the review which I will read in due course.
Thank you for your good wishes yesterday, I am delighted to say that after a bad start to the day I am feeling a lot better. Slight problem with 8d but having got 13a all was revealed, 8a made me giggle so that is my favourite. Thanks to Giovanni and DT welcome back and au revoir. Have a nice weekend.
You giggled? That is good news, Hilary, you must be feeling much better.
Glad you’re feeling better.
Like Framboise, put secretaries in to 27a so was completely stuck on 8d. Ridiculous as I used to be in a madrigal group. Second ridiculous thing was not getting 4d despite already having 1a and 8a … and have lost count of the number of trips to the USA. I put it down to the fact that one of my sons suggested I try one of his Mexican beers with a slice of lime pushed in to the bottle. Nice start to the evening. Change from a G&T. I like 9d, 10d and 28. Thanks to the Don and to DT.
A jolly little puzzle: 2*/3.5* or so. 8d was my favourite, but was eventually edged into second place by 13a. Thanks to the Don, and of course to Deep Threat.
We thought that 1a was a very clever clue, took us a little while to work out what was going on. The anagram in 7d, although we picked pretty quickly that it was one, still took quite some time and a few checkers before we got it. An enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Giovanni and DT.
We are sending this from our old PC that got a new lease of life when we installed Windows 10 on it last week. However our newer No 1 laptop where we installed W 10 yesterday refuses to stay turned on for more than 30 seconds before restarting itself. It is so very very frustrating and infuriating!!!!!!!!!!
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…but it’s pure stardust for our boys in white today!
I just wish they didn’t have to have a WAITROSE logo pinned to their beautifully woven cotton sweaters.
Let’s wait for the cheers early tomorrow morning……Thanks to the Threat of the Deepness and of course…THE DON!
I had my stupid hat on today and was pretty slow. Accepted a couple of hints over Skype in the end (sorry not to use your excellent ones DT!), but it was good fun. I like 9d (but not the kind that may lead to a 26a). I think my favourite by a 7d is 3d because of the conversation it generated.
Thanks to Don and DT.
I am very much in need of some 1a. Good night all.