DT 26582

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26582

A full review by Gnomethang

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

Morning All!. I think that everyone agreed on the day that this was a fairly straightforward puzzle from Cephas but I still enjoyed that solve and also the review. For those wondering about the Chinese influence in this review may I draw your attention to the correspondence below regarding my review of DT 26437 with reference to 21a in that puzzle!

Frightful Embarrasment!

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Across

1a           Want to contain creeper that’s prickly (7)
WASPISH – Prickly in character, that is. WISH (want) contains ASP (a creepy snake).

5a           Mark, the Spanish officer (7)
COLONEL – A charade of COLON, a (punctuation) mark and EL (the in Spanish) for an army officer.

9a           Fresh delivery for city dweller (3,6)
NEW YORKER – Sorry ladies – another cricket reference!. Add YORKER , a fast paced cricket delivery of a full length to the Batsman’s feet, to NEW (fresh) to get someone who lives in the Big Apple.

10a         Sweltering, floating in river, leading to exposure (5)
PHOTO – HOT, a synonym of sweltering is placed (floating) in PO, the well known Chinese, sorry,  Italian river. The misleading definition of exposure fits well with the idea of lolling around on a sunbed.

11a         Shelter in sound by a European lake (5)
GARDA – A homophone (in sound) of GUARD plus A leads to a Chinese, sorry, Italian Lake.

12a         Risky rendition of a rude song (9)
DANGEROUS – A very pleasing surface reading. An anagram (rendition) of A RUDE SONG leads to the word meaning ‘Risky’.

13a         Loyal Irishman in charge imprisons threesome (9)
PATRIOTIC – One of the usual Irishmen in Crosswordland, PAT, and IC, the abbreviation for In Charge contain (imprison) TRIO, a threesome. The definition is loyal to one’s country.

16a         Plant I have located behind church (5)
CHIVE – A nice easy starter clue. CH(urch) with IVE (I Have) positioned (located) at the back.

17a         Go round one European city (5)
TURIN – A European City (not Chinese!). Put TURN (go e.g. your turn in cards) around I for One in Roman Numerals.

18a         Windy promenade’s welcoming (4-5)
OPEN-ARMED – A windy anagram of PROMENADE gives an adjective meaning welcoming. The apostrophe- ‘s here should be expanded to IS i.e. <wordplay> IS <definition>

20a         Would marksman who is rusty practise with it? (6,3)
GREASE GUN – A cryptic definition. Grease guns are used in workshops and garages for lubrication.

23a         Stout tummies before end of day (5)
GUTSY – Slightly oblique synonym I feel, although GUTSY and STOUT can both mean strong/courageous in terms of a performance. In any case it didn’t cause many problems on the day. All you need is GUTS (tummies) before the last letter in daY.

25a         During day before’s all right to call up (5)
EVOKE – OK (all right) in (during) EVE, the day before. The definition is ‘to call up’ e.g. a memory.

26a         Terence tours riot damaged area (9)
TERRITORY – A few questions on the day since there was no explicit instruction to shorten Terence to TERRY. The setter isn’t under obligation to do this and the clue is perfectly fair and solvable. An anagram (damaged) of RIOT inside TERRY gives an area of occupation.

27a         Quiet toy that turns convertible (4,3)
SOFT TOP – SOFT is quiet (P, Piano in musical notation means both) and a TOP is a ‘toy that turns’. The convertible car is also known as a soft top.

28a         Maintained supporter to have negotiated deal outside (7)
ALLEGED – Maintained here means to have averred or stated. Make an anagram (negotiated) of DEAL and place it around LEG (supporter).

Down

1d           Disgruntled pig Dawn found in dry valley (4,3)
WIND GAP – A lovely image this. A few people (myself included) were not sure of the meaning of WIND GAP. It is, in fact, “a valley cut through a ridge by erosion by a river that no longer follows a course through the valley”. It is also an anagram (disgruntled – Lovely indicator!) of PIG DAWN.

2d           One broadcasting outdoors (5)
SOWER – A cryptic definition of a person who sows seeds across a large area outside. As Dave said on the day – the original meaning of broadcast (throw far).

3d           Sit in a loo perhaps hopefully in this (9)
ISOLATION – One would hope that you were alone in a toilet, then again, I don’t get invited to those sorts of parties. An anagram (perhaps) of SIT IN A LOO gives us this semi all-in one.

4d           Walked a long way for some gnocchi, kedgeree etc. (5)
HIKED – A synonym for ‘walked a long way’ is hidden in (SOME of) gnoccHI KEDgeree etc. Whilst the etc. is, strictly speaking, superfluous to the wordplay it is required to allow the juxtaposition of the two dishes. I don’t think that it mars the clue.

5d           Lasting a long time with the continental record (9)
CHRONICLE – A record or documented story. Some may have had trouble finding CHRONIC as ‘lasting a long time’ but it is the strict definition of a long lasting illness. Add LE (THE in France/continental – not Chinese).

6d           Slip and fall, missing pass (5)
LAPSE – COLLAPSE with the COL (mountain pass) removed leads to a slip or mistake.

7d           Put almost all letters of ‘gloominess’ in different order to produce new word (9)
NEOLOGISM – Well we have been told exactly what to do!. An anagram of GLOOMINES gives a newly coined word or phrase such as MANBAG, WAG or SUPERINJUNCTION

8d           Two watches get brief inspection (4-3)
LOOK-SEE – Two words for watch or peer give a shufti or peek.

14d         Revolted and entered side road (6,3)
TURNED OFF – A double meaning here, turned off an idea in disgust and turned off the main road.

15d         Concocted even if put incorrectly (7,2)
THOUGHT UP – Concocted here is the definition not an anagram indicator!. This is a charade of THOUGH (even if) and an anagram (incorrectly) of PUT.

16d         Cook finds fish grating (9)
CHARGRILL – Another charade of CHAR (a fish similar to the trout) and GRILL (a grating – it can be spelt with or without the E at the end). This is a way of cooking on a barbecue or skillet.

17d         Sir gets wild animal (7)
TIGRESS – A straightforward anagram (wild) of SIR GETS.

19d         Sarcastic, I’d said, without crying (3-4)
DRY-EYED – Start with DRY (sarcastic in terms of humour) and EYED – a homophone (said) if I’D. This gives an adjective meaning ‘without crying’

21d         Drops from overwork (5)
SWEAT – A cryptic definition of the drops that fall from your brow due to overwork.

22d         Lady shorter than usual (5)
NORMA – This lady’s name is shorter than NORMA(L)

24d         Strip Rex leaving crowd (5)
THONG – A small strip, usually of leather, is THRONG (crowd) with R(ex) removed.

Thanks to Cephas for the entertainment and I’ll see you next week for the potentially mystery setter.