Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2514
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Apologies for posting late – got too involved in the live webchat and blog discussions of today’s Times puzzle.
This was a slow puzzle for me, as all the answers I found difficult were in the same corner – 4A, 13A, 6D, 8D. Solving these took about 4/3 of the time needed for the rest of the puzzle.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Person who formulated law for King Edward, say (6) |
| MURPHY – 2 defs, one referring to Murphy’s Law, and the other to the humble spud. | |
| 4 | Leave the field, having secured a point (8 ) |
| WITHDRAW – def. and cryptic/allusive def. referring to football league points awarded for draws | |
| 10 | Musically perform comic opera in Eastern state (9) |
| SINGAPORE – SING = musically perform, anag. of opera | |
| 11 | Finishes off mine, ore being insignificant (5) |
| MINOR – MIN(e),O(r) | |
| 12 | Kept an eye on some bowling leading to a wicket (7) |
| OVERSAW – OVERS = some bowling, A, W=wicket | |
| 13 | Expel from courses in error (4,3) |
| TURFOUT – turf = “horse racing, or racecourses generally” (Concise Oxford), OUT = “in error”. The required meaning of “turf” was new to me |
|
| 14 | One emperor turned back follower of another (5) |
| RASTA = (a tsar) reversed, the point being that Haile Selassie was an Emperor | |
| 15 | Strange act one follows with another, having little to say (8 ) |
| TACITURN – anag. of “act”, indicated by “strange”, I = one, TURN = another (act) | |
| 18 | History exam relating to country (8 ) |
| PASTORAL – PAST = history, ORAL = exam | |
| 20 | Liking sculptor’s first piece in gallery (5) |
| TASTE – S = “sculptor’s first piece”, in TATE = gallery | |
| 23 | Scientist showing a lot of effrontery to one pope (7) |
| GALILEO – GAL(l) = effrontery, I, LEO = pope – and an all-in-one if my vague memories of Galileo’s struggles with religious authorities are right | |
| 25 | Revision of the law ultimately costly for rich (7) |
| WEALTHY – anag. of “the law”, (costl)Y | |
| 26 | Emphatic refusal from Guinevere (5) |
| NEVER – hidden in “Guinevere” | |
| 27 | State most points at least twice after short time (9) |
| TENNESSEE – T=”short time”,ENNESSEE = a collection of 3 of the four points N, E, S, W; with at least two each of the ones included | |
| 28 | Person responsible for plots exploded grenade in front of king (8 ) |
| GARDENER – anag. of grenade, R=king | |
| 29 | Doctor in strange case set about 27’s neighbour (6) |
| JEKYLL – Ky. = Kentucky = “27’s neighbour”, in JELL – variant of gel. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Some cream is sour in this state (8 ) |
| MISSOURI – a long hidden word – one of this sette’s trademarks | |
| 2 | Shoots messengers (7) |
| RUNNERS – 2 defs and a surface reading to make you think of “don’t shoot the messenger” | |
| 3 | Notice good person in centre providing first aid for competitor (4,5) |
| HEADSTART – (AD = notice, ST = saint = good person), in HEART | |
| 5 | Undistinguished duo that made first appearance together (9,5) |
| IDENTICAL TWINS – cryptic def | |
| 6 | Poet animated head of American family (5) |
| HOMER – 2 defs – “poet”, and description of Homer Simpson – my breakthrough clue of the last 4, and very annoying because Homer=Simpson is now approaching xwd cliché status | |
| 7 | Voiced private bitterness (7) |
| RANCOUR which sounds like ranker = private (military rank) | |
| 8 | Friendliness increasing worldwide, supposedly (6) |
| WARMTH – CD referring to global warming | |
| 9 | In troubled state, courage that’ll stop one getting cold feet (3,5,6) |
| HOT WATER BOTTLE – “troubled state” = HOT WATER, BOTTLE = courage. This clue re-orders the usual {(wordplay) in (def)} or vice versa, as {in (wordplay), (def)} | |
| 16 | Meeting in open competition in Paris? (4-1-4) |
| TETE-A-TETE – def. and French translation of “head-to-head” = “in open competition”, subject to the very minor quibble that I can’t quite justify the word “open” from the Concise Oxford def. | |
| 17 | Okay, or better than okay (4,4) |
| VERY WELL – a posh version of “OK”, and also “more than OK” | |
| 19 | Liberal hugged by a devotee everywhere (3,4) |
| ALL OVER – L = Liberal, in (A, LOVER = devotee) | |
| 21 | Stays if reforms meet required standard (7) |
| SATISFY – anag. of “stays if” | |
| 22 | Mixed drink, for example, before decoration’s put up (6) |
| EGGNOG – e.g., then reverse of gong = medal = decoration | |
| 24 | Stout or light beer’s moved right into the middle (5) |
| LARGE – move the R in lager = light beer (in colour, at least) | |