Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2518
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A very straightforward puzzle for me, but I won’t grumble this week – there’s plenty of room for puzzles with well-written clues that aren’t fiendishly difficult.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hit second vehicle (6) |
| STRUCK – S=second,TRUCK=vehicle – note that “hit” can be both past and present tense – setters love words like this. | |
| 4 | Part of crab, a little one (6) |
| NIPPER – 2 defs | |
| 8 | Superhuman male slightly disrupting female setter’s work (8 ) |
| HERCULES = “Superhuman male” – you only need to swap two adjacent letters in “her clues”. Sadly, female setters are as thin on the ground as female solvers – why do xwds have to be for blokes? Answers on an electronic postard please. | |
| 10 | Crew’s quarters reduced by 40% altogether (6) |
| FOCSLE – you need to delete 40% (4 of 10 letters) of “forecastle”, from which focsle is derived | |
| 11 | Fish or grouse (4) |
| CARP = 2 defs – same trick as something like “cattle or grouse” for BEEF | |
| 12 | Supporting metric units for series of measures (10) |
| PROGRAMMES – PRO=supporting, GRAMMES = metric units | |
| 13 | Volume of commentary at home (8,4) |
| VISITORS BOOK – cryptic def trying to convince you that volume=loudness and that the commentary is on the radio | |
| 16 | If it’s not achieved, a lot has to be reconsidered (7,5) |
| RESERVE PRICE – the “lot” being one in an auction | |
| 20 | To compete athletically, throw one’s weight around? (3,3,4) |
| PUT THE SHOT – def and whimsical def | |
| 21 | Increase gradient, with no even bits (4) |
| GAIN from GrAdIeNt | |
| 22 | Chat with religious leader ahead of time (6) |
| RABBIT – RABBI = relig. leader, T=time | |
| 23 | As inimitable as the House of Commons? (8 ) |
| PEERLESS – CD contrasting the Houses of Commons and Lords | |
| 24 | Bones located in front or back area (6) |
| STERNA – STERN = back, A=area – original Lat. plural of STERNUM – “sternums” is also recognised by the dictionaries | |
| 25 | Means of operating remote home on Caribbean island (6) |
| KEY=Caribbean island,PAD=home – and remote = “remote control” | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Possible sequence of events in which no race is out of order (8 ) |
| SCENARIO = (no race is)* | |
| 2 | Put up brief form of 6, in summary (5) |
| RECAP = summary – reversal of pacer = paceMAKER = 6d | |
| 3 | Clubs play badly, therefore getting a number of West Indians (7) |
| CALYPSO – c = clubs, ALYP = play*, SO = therefore – if a “number” in a crossword isn’t an anaesthetic, it’s probably a song | |
| 5 | Gather with small number for large fire (7) |
| INFERNO -INFER = gather, No. = “small number” | |
| 6 | One helping others in race mark peace in special way (9) |
| PACEMAKER = “mark peace”* | |
| 7 | Comfort produced by outstanding artistic work (6) |
| RELIEF – 2 defs, one as in ‘bas relief’ | |
| 9 | Godfather and Titanic, say, getting financial backing (11) |
| SPONSORSHIP – SPONSOR = Godfather, SHIP = Titanic, say | |
| 14 | Cross plateau –- I run both ways over it (9) |
| IRRITABLE = cross – TABLE = plateau, with (I,R = I run) both ways on top | |
| 15 | European film parts editor cut out (8 ) |
| ECLIPSED = cut out – E = European, CLIPS = film parts, ED = editor | |
| 17 | Directions one repeated about temperature to add sugar (7) |
| SWEETEN – T = temperature, in the four compass points with E thrice | |
| 18 | Immoderate? It’s taken out of context, remember (7) |
| EXTREME – hidden word | |
| 19 | Little beasts surrounding an island people (6) |
| CUBANS – AN in CUBS = “little beasts” | |
| 21 | Young woman with old piano for dance (5) |
| GALOP – GAL = “young woman”, O = old, P = piano | |
A very pleasant relaxing puzzle I thought. The only minor gripe was with 1d where “is” does double duty within anagram fodder and anagram indicator – should really be “…in which no race is IS out of order”.
I must admit I failed to notice. Sorry BG – if one of us doesn’t notice something, someone else will! I’m not too troubled by “XXXX out of order” as a way of indicating an anagram of XXXX, though in this case the implied “{def} in which XXXX out of order” feels a bit strange.
I enjoyed this one—as a newbie, it was probably just right for me, and gave me the confidence to tackle No 2519 (I am always 2 weeks behind, so that I can peek at the anwers if necessary!