Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30690
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from my lakeside retreat outside Ottawa where we are experiencing a spell of rainy weather giving me an opportunity to catch up on crosswords. I would like to extend a big thank you to pommers for filling in for me two weeks ago while I was hosting visiting family.
I found today’s puzzle quite gentle, so the hints may not be needed by many.
In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, FODDER is capitalized, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Across
1a Tom maybe goes around nude nightclub (7)
CABARET — an animal whose male is known as a tom wrapped around another word for nude
5a Characters in Toulouse go miles westwards in French city (7)
LIMOGES — a lurker (characters in) reversed (westward) in three words of the clue
9a It’s uncritically believed she’s given birth to pups? (5)
DOGMA — split (3,2) the answer is a mother of puppies
10a Liberal, for example, is behind what MPs do (9)
LEGISLATE — string together the single letter for Liberal, the Latin abbreviation for ‘for example’, IS from the clue, and a word meaning behind time
11a Bully Henman, say, interrupts during one tryst (10)
INTIMIDATE — insert the first name of tennis player Henman into a charade of during, Roman numeral one, and tryst
12a Liveliness in British carnival location (4)
BRIO — the single letter for British and a South American city famous for its carnival
14a Drinking litres, drunk devoured gin and had a binge (12)
OVERINDULGED — an anagram (drunk) of DEVOURED GIN containing the symbol for litres
18a People preventing conflict in games with great goalies (12)
PEACEKEEPERS — link together the two-letter abbreviation for a school period in which athletic games may be played, another word for great or fantastic, and another name for goalies
21a Catch tails of lion, zebra, okapi and jackal (4)
NAIL — the final letters (tails) of four words in the clue
22a Alehouse enumerates about 101 advertisers (10)
PUBLICISTS — an alehouse followed by enumerates or catalogues around the Roman numeral for 101
25a Not knowing where Noah was, around end of flood (2,3,4)
IN THE DARK — a (2,3,3) phrase describing where Noah was during the flood enveloping the final letter (end) of FLOOD
26a Our monarch in new coat of attractive, shiny material (5)
NACRE — the regnal cipher of our monarch contained in the single letter for new and the outer letters of ATTRACTIVE
27a Real ingenue moving in (7)
GENUINE — move the letters IN to a new location in the word INGENUE
28a People who don’t appear in casinos – how silly! (2-5)
NO-SHOWS — a lurker hiding in the final three words of the clue
Down
1d Scoundrel that is holding diamonds? This person holds clubs (6)
CADDIE — a scoundrel and the Latin abbreviation for ‘that is’ encompassing the playing card abbreviation for diamonds
2d Capital earned, banked by leaders in Bank of America (6)
BOGOTA — earned or obtained contained in (banked by) the initial letters (leaders) of the final three words in the clue
3d Eccentric avoids more films like Thelma and Louise (4,6)
ROAD MOVIES — an anagram (eccentric) of AVOIDS MORE
4d Bound to include length, like many roofs and bathroom walls (5)
TILED — bound (e.g., with rope) containing the symbol for length
5d Get more cheerful GP, until he explodes (7,2)
LIGHTEN-UP — an anagram (explodes) of GP UNTIL HE
6d M&S clothing really upset supermodel (4)
MOSS — the letters M and S bookending (clothing) the reversal (upset) of a word meaning really
7d Jokes about boy king’s fine attire (4,4)
GLAD RAGS — jokes contain a boy and the Latin abbreviation for king
8d Perhaps some dope from Dorset is confused (8)
STEROIDS — an anagram (confused) of DORSET IS
13d Violent winds are able to break rushes (10)
HURRICANES — a verb meaning ‘are able to’ inserted into rushes or speeds
15d Actor Oliver, you heard, with Ms Blanchett in train again (2-7)
RE-EDUCATE — the surname of actor Oliver and the first name of actress Blanchett surround the letter that sounds like ‘you’
16d Beating court card at the end of bridge (8)
SPANKING — one of the court cards follows bridge or traverse
17d Laugh over epic poet’s Broadway musical (8)
HAMILTON — the sound of laughter precedes the author of Paradise Lost
19d Strange case for hearty cops in chilling film (6)
PSYCHO — an anagram (strange) of the outer letters (case) of HEARTY and COPS
20d Fools receiving tons in benefits (6)
ASSETS — insert the symbol for tons into the usual fools
23d Compare Elvis regularly with Barbie’s beau (5)
LIKEN — a regular sequence of letters from ELVIS and Barbie’s boyfriend
24d I was first, turning up in food shop (4)
DELI — a reversal (turning up in a down clue) of a (1,3) phrase meaning ‘I was first’
My favourite clue is the missing person at 25a.
Quickie Pun: GILL + OWE + TEEN = GUILLOTINE
