ST 2569

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2569

A full review by Tilsit

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

The usual entertaining challenge from our Sunday Supremo.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

1a    Liberal policy for each point added to message (14)
PERMISSIVENESS    A word sum to get us underway today. PER (for each) + MISSIVE (message) with NESS (a geographical point, headland). When taken together, these give you a word meaning liberal attitude.

9a    Made possible what’s accomplished, in conclusion (7)
ENABLED    If you are accomplished at something, you are ABLE and this fits inside END (conclusion) to produce a word meaning made possible.

10a    Playwright, to a greater extent, penning fiction (7)
MOLIÉRE    Another container clue; this time LIE (fiction) inside MORE (to a greater extent) produces the French playwright of such works as Tartuffe.

11a    Skill needed in aircraft-carrier left, right, and centre (3)
ART    Out Sunday Supremo is noted for his unusual treatments of words, and here the clue tells you to take the left (first letter), right (last letter) and centre letter of the phrase AIRCRAFT CARRIER. If you take the letters in clue order, you get a word meaning skill.

12a    State support, nominal as it might be (11)
{NATIONALISM) The first anagram of the day, mix up the letters of NOMINAL AS IT to get a word meaning “intervention or support by The State”.

14a    School that breaks new ground (6)
HARROW    A double definition clue. The name of a famous clue is that of a farming implement.

15a    Military HQ where sides meet obtusely (8)
PENTAGON    Similar to the last clue, but this time one of the definitions is a little cryptic.

17a    English team, say, demolished weak opposition (4,4)
EASY MEAT An anagram (indicated by demolished) of E (English) TEAM SAY reveals a word meaning a pushover.

19a    River in Scotland, from what we hear? Dee is that (6)
FOURTH    Another clever clue. A homophone of a famous Scottish river is also the position in the alphabet of the letter D.

22a    Frantically edit my e-mail, without delay (11)
IMMEDIATELY    An anagram of EDIT MY E-MAIL gives a word meaning without delay.

23a    Pressure mounted for young boxer, say (3)
PUP    A word sum. P (pressure) + UP gives a boxing term for an up-and-coming fighter.

24a    Display work the writer put back in stores (7)
EMPORIA    If you broadcast or display something, you AIR it. Work usually means OP, and the writer usually refers to ME or I. So here you have AIR OP and ME. Reverse it all and you should see an old fashioned word for department stores.

26a    Revolutionary warship’s first spotted in European port, possibly (3,4)
RED WINE    RED (revolutionary, i.e. Russian) has W (first letter of warship), plus IN and E (European) will produce a name for the drink Port.

27a    Principle partially applied to fold flag (6,8)
DOUBLE STANDARD A word sum. A word meaning to fold (in two) is added to the name of a type of flag and this produces a phrase referring to principles that are not being applied.

Down

1d    Group of artists rebuilt atelier, perhaps (3-11)
PRE-RAPHAELITES     An anagram (indicated by rebuilt) of ATELIER PERHAPS, quite appropriate as ateliers tend to be associated with struggling artists, gives the name of a group of painters.

2d    Minister securing a source of power (7)
REACTOR The word for a spiritual minister takes in A and produces the name for a type of power station.

3d    Fill in for medic, somewhat ignorant (3-8)
ILL-INFORMED     Hidden in the phrase “Fill in for medic” is a phrase meaning ignorant.

4d    Composed second edition, finally put away (6)
SEDATE        A word sum. S (second) + ED (edition) + ATE (put away) gives a word meaning calm, composed.

5d    Opposed to having a large animal inside, beats it (8)
VAMOOSES A container clue. VS (versus, against) has A + MOOSE (large animal) inside to reveal a word that means to scarper.

6d    Juvenile delinquent has it both ways, a pointless achievement (3)
NIL    Another very clever clue. Hidden in the phrase “juvenile delinquent”, both forwards and backwards (have it both ways!) is a word meaning nothing, or the score in a game that means nothing.

7d    Trying to discover what cat can do? (7)
SEEKING An old adage is “A cat may look at a king”, and here it can be made into a word which means trying.

8d    Dog in manger perturbed pastor (6,8)
GERMAN SHEPHERD    An anagram (indicated by perturbed) of MANGER is added to one meaning pastor to give a large breed of dog.

13d    Former Tory leader annoyed, then mad (7,4)
ANTHONY EDEN     An anagram (indicated by mad) of ANNOYED THEN gives the name of a former PM who resigned in January 1957.

16d    At short notice, put up sordid information on computer (8)
DATABASE     Reverse (indicated by “up”) AT + AD (short notice) and add BASE (sordid) to reveal a word meaning information stored on a computer.

18d    Somewhat amateurish player’s exceptional promise (4-3)
SEMI-PRO     An anagram (indicated by amateurish) of PROMISE will lead you to a word for a sportsman who is not paid on a full-time basis.

20d    Copy page in souvenir article (7)
REPLICA    Inside RELIC (souvenir) + A (article) goes P (page) to show a word meaning a copy or facsimile.

21d    Spiritual teaching in religious group is not revealed (6)
SECRET        Inside the name for a cult or religious group (SECT) goes a school subject associated with it (R E). This will give you a word that means not revealed.

25d    Released on bail, heads off to commit a crime (3)
ROB    The first letters (“heads off”) of “Released on bail” give you a word meaning to take part in illegal activity.

Thanks to our setter for a super challenge.

[This was intended for publication last week. Last Sunday’s review will be published some time this weekend. BD]