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Hi,

I was given a few books of cryptic crosswords for Christmas and I'm trying to get the hang of solving them. There are a couple of clues in the puzzle I'm doing at the moment where I've found the answer based on one half of the clue but I don't understand the other half. Can anyone help?

"Jack, a painter, reversed the mount" -> 'Ararat', but what is the significance of the "Jack, a painter" part?

"Fool round-call about a colleague" (9) -> 'Associate'. My logic was fool = ass, round = o and colleague is the definition. But what is the "call about a" part?

"Dejected daughter has answer that's not right" (7) -> "Despond". Answer = respond, daughter = d, that's not right = change respond(?) and dejected = definition? Does that sound right?

Obviously I wouldn't have got any of these if I hadn't had a lot of the letters already from other clues! If anyone can help me understand how I could have got them from a fresh grid that would be great.

JACK = TAR (sailor)
A
RA = PAINTER (artist)
put backwards

Hi! You're right, partially. answer = respond & answer not right (R) = espond. then D + ESPOND

Fool = ass
Round = o
Call = ci(a)te

Finally
fool = ASS. round call = O + CITE. about a = OCI(A)TE an d when put together it gives your answer. Happy cryptic solving.

That was quick, thanks! The joy of these I think is that when I see the explanations I sort of chuckle to myself and think "wow, that's clever"!

I suspect I'm being a bit dim, but what's the link from painter -> ra? Is it just an artist that I've never heard of?

Royal Academy of arts

RA is the Royal Acadamy and is very often used to denote an artist/painter in crosswords

Here you will find explanations of the Telegraph cryptics.
http://bigdave44.com/