Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2483 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
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Across
1a Diamond, for example, that’s useful when dating (6)
CARBON – diamond is made of this element, and carbon dating is a way of estimating the date of death of prehistoric organic material
5a Took control of a lot of characters in the first eleven (8)
HIJACKED – this word meaning to illegally take control of, say, an aircraft is made up from eight of the first eleven letters of the alphabet
9a Value of magical device yielding part of our capital (10)
WANDSWORTH – this London borough could be thought to be wand’s worth (value of a magical device wielded by a magician)
10a Cask of wine is hit with head (4)
BUTT – a double definition
11a In solitary, place limits on criminal (2,6)
AL CAPONE – this legendary American criminal comes from putting CAP (a word meaning to place limits on expenditure) inside ALONE (solitary)
12a Bishop needs to get cross in old car (6)
BANGER – a simple charade of B(ishop) and ANGER (get cross) gives this old car
13a Pack for America in part of ship (4)
DECK – what the Americans call a pack of cards is also the name of the part of a ship where passengers play games like quoits
15a In hospital, frantically solicit this kind of treatment (8)
HOLISTIC – H(ospital) and an anagram (frantically) of SOLICIT give a kind of treatment – the word “in” helps the surface reading but not the wordplay
18a Pay with tenner, say, for extra information (low-down) (8)
FOOTNOTE – to FOOT the bill is to pay and tenner is a ten pound NOTE; put them together and you have the kind of extra information that can be found low down on the page
19a Gently touch husband, in a way (4)
PATH – a straightforward charade of PAT (gently touch) and H(usband) give a type of way
21a Discover doctor breaking law (6)
RUMBLE – a synonym for discover that is built by putting MB (doctor) inside (breaking) RULE (law)
23a Flier to publicise handiwork (8)
AIRCRAFT – a flier that comes from AIR (publicise) and CRAFT (handiwork)
25a It shows up in performing, if talented (4)
GIFT – this is an all-in-one clue – read it twice, the first time shows up indicates that the answer is hidden in performinG, IF Talented, the second time the whole phrase defines a GIFT
26a Chauvinistic types wrecking phoneboxes (10)
XENOPHOBES – these chauvinistic types are a delightful anagram (wrecking) of PHONEBOXES
27a At exactly the right time, then, to do otherwise (2,3,3)
ON THE DOT – a phrase that means at exactly the right time is an anagram (otherwise) of THEN, TO DO
28a Slowly covering a structure on side of building (4-2)
LEAN-TO – this is LENTO (slowly in music) around (covering) A to give a structure on side of building
Down
2d Article difficult to believe in any way (2,3)
AT ALL – it doesn’t look like a charade at first, but it is! – take the indefinite article A together with TALL (difficult to believe, as in a TALL story) to get a short phrase meaning in any way
3d Gamble about two guys providing cover for patient, perhaps (9)
BEDJACKET – put BET (gamble) around (about) ED and JACK (two guys) to get this cover for a patient that they might wear while sitting up in bed
4d Scientist from century long past? Yes and no (6)
NEWTON – interesting surface reading gives (Sir Isaac) NEWTON, scientist from century long past, as the yes and NEW TON (century, as in cricket) as the no
5d Object that’s attractive, luckily? (9,6)
HORSESHOE MAGNET – a cryptic definition that plays on the power of attraction of a magnet and the luck that is generally associated with a horseshoe
6d One of many Popes with his edict for our representative (4,4)
JOHN BULL – twenty three popes have had the name JOHN, add it to a BULL (Papal edict) and you have a generic name for an Englishman that was invented by John Arbuthnot
7d Article by young reporter from tropical island (5)
CUBAN – AN (indefinite article) comes after CUB (young reporter) to give someone from this tropical island
8d Be without special term for fanatic (9)
EXTREMIST – put EXIST (to be) around (without) an anagram (special) of TERM to get a fanatic
14d Change in clue, too, in manner of speaking (9)
ELOCUTION – an anagram (change) of IN CLUE TOO gives a manner of speaking
16d Volatile star raves, upon being disturbed (9)
SUPERNOVA – to get this volatile star, being disturbed signals that it is an anagram of RAVES UPON
17d European getting fired is extremely shocked (8)
POLEAXED – another straightforward charade combines POLE (European) with AXED (getting fired) to get a word meaning extremely shocked
20d Energy needed in forward line to get ahead (6)
PROPEL – put E(nergy) inside PROP (forward in Rugby) and L(ine) for a word meaning to drive forward (get ahead)
22d Prolific scorer, having extra time a lot (5)
BATCH – (Johann Sebastian) BACH is the prolific scorer wrote music scores like the Brandenburg concertos; put him around the T of Time to get a lot of similar objects
24d Old prison ships (5)
FLEET – this notorious old London prison is also the name for a number of ships