Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2517
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
A pretty straightforward puzzle this one – with one setter’s slip that’s already been acknowledged. Now that Sunday solvers are used to a different style of puzzle, I wonder whether the difficulty level might be increased just a bit?
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Study about carbon dioxide that’s broken down protective cover (6) |
| COCOON – COO = “Carbon dioxide that’s been broken down”, in CON = study – a classic example of your Sunday setter’s scrupulous fairness, as the gas is usually CO2 | |
| 4 | Local manager making change in a club going wrong (8) |
| PUBLICAN – P = penny = “change”, then anagram of “in a club” | |
| 10 | English course for one Gaelic speaker, perhaps (5) |
| ASCOT = English (race)course, and “a Scot” = “one Gaelic speaker, perhaps” | |
| 11 | Worked out cut in operation without hesitation (9) |
| EXERCISED – ER = “hesitation”, in EXCISED = “cut in operation” – “worked out” is as at the gym | |
| 12 | Court action that is faulted by judge if too long, say (7) |
| SERVICE – cryptic def based on tennis | |
| 13 | Divided about design for clothing (7) |
| RAIMENT – AIM = design, in RENT = divided | |
| 14 | Some boxers abused as fighters we hate (14) |
| FEATHERWEIGHTS = anag. of “fighters we hate” | |
| 17 | Driving out of tight spot, scrambled iron, then putter needed (5,5,4) |
| THREE POINT TURN = “driving out of tight spot”, and anag. of “iron then putter” – nice golfing deception after the tennis and boxing | |
| 21 | Striking with whip – it shows on the surface (7) |
| OUT = (industrial) striking, CROP = whip | |
| 23 | Aussie friend putting inexperienced driver in gear (7) |
| CLOBBER = gear – L = “inexperienced driver” in COBBER = “Aussie friend” – the clue leaves it to you to determine whether it’s Aussie friend = L in synonym of gear, or the right way round. | |
| 24 | Impressive contract secured by the Irish last year (5,4) |
| GRAND SLAM = “impressive contract” in bridge or similar, and the Irish Rugby team’s long-awaited 2009 feat – a nice piece of evidence that BG knows precisely when his puzzles will appear. | |
| 25 | Gift in container carried back by kings (5) |
| KNACK – reversal of CAN = container, between two instances of K = king | |
| 26 | Secure service for North America, say (8) |
| LANDMASS = “North America, say” – LAND = secure, MASS = service | |
| 27 | Plagiarised something from German cookbook, we hear (6) |
| STOLEN = plagiarised = “stollen” – a German cake seen in the shops for Christmas. The homophone doesn’t really work but BG apologised for this on Sunday. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Sort that’s stylish provided inside (8) |
| CLASSIFY – IF = provided, in CLASSY = stylish | |
| 2 | Bird, fish, or insect (9) |
| COCKROACH = insect – COCK = bird, ROACH = fish – doubtless an old favourite but one of those inevitable clues that are hard to resist | |
| 3 | Bird that’s extremely amusing, with no head to be seen (7) |
| OSTRICH = (m)OST RICH = “extremely amusing” | |
| 5 | Labour never secures such funds (8,6) |
| UNEARNED INCOME – cryptic def that you can read in two ways – one about which parties folk with UI might belong to | |
| 6 | Affection surrounding clubs in defeat (7) |
| LICKING – C = clubs in LIKING = affection | |
| 7 | Class actors collectively in audition (5) |
| CASTE = “cast” = “actors collectively” | |
| 8 | Awfully untidy feature of some colonies (6) |
| NUDITY = anag. of untidy – the colonies are nudist ones of course | |
| 9 | Publication on some Europeans – they support lines of communication (9,5) |
| TELEGRAPH POLES – the “publication” that produces this xwd, and the Europeans probably most dear to xwd setters’ hearts | |
| 15 | Kind of sketch that shouldn’t come under the hammer (9) |
| THUMBNAIL – def and “thumb nail” alternative def | |
| 16 | Never beaten, so still wild (8) |
| UNBROKEN – still wild, of a horse, and ‘never beaten’, as of a record like Marita Koch’s 47.6 for 400m (a hell of a runner whatever she might have been taking) | |
| 18 | Derby’s starter had one old mare put out (7) |
| EARLDOM – anag. of “old mare” and reference to the rank of the founder of the race | |
| 19 | Worker’s equipment left – removed it outside (7) |
| TOOLKIT – L = left in TOOK IT = removed it | |
| 20 | A huge number go surfing – but not in ocean, we hear (6) |
| GOOGOL – a daft name for a huge number, which sounds like the search engine Google – not surprisingly if you read the origin story on the linked page. This in turn has become a verb, hence “surf” (in the web sense) | |
| 22 | A humorous writer or two (5) |
| TWAIN = humorous writer (Mark T), and an old word for two – again, easy meat if you know the origin story for his pen name. | |