DT Cryptic No 25870 – Hints

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25870

Selected hints

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***

Today’s prize crossword is a little harder than recent Saturday puzzles, but mainly because of the use of place names in several of the answers, and in one case as part of the wordplay. The usual few hints to get you started.

A full review of this puzzle,  by crossword blogging veteran Peter Biddlecombe, will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 12th March.

Across

1a Crazy report on cannabis (8)
Crazy often signals an anagram, but here it defines the answer – made up by combining the sound of a rifle shot (report) and a colloquial word for cannabis

20a Fifty females in town (5)
The fifty is, as you might expect, the Roman numeral, but the females are the woolly kind, and the town is in East Sussex

27a A match for scriptures (6)
“A” then an old fashioned name for a match give the Zoroastrian holy Scriptures

28a Lady cannot accept what is socially acceptable to get her going again (8)
What gets her going again is another name for a laxative!

29a Sounds like all the sandy area in Lincolnshire (8)
It’s a shame when setters resort to lesser known towns – but once you get that the sandy area is at the seaside you are nearly there

Down

8d Weigh heavily on personal hair first (4,4)
More clever than it at first appears: the hair referred to is facial hair

17d Overdrawn arbiter tried again (8)
My favourite clue today – to be overdrawn, the arbiter is in the …?

Don’t forget the full review next Thursday.