Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26702

A full review by gnomethang

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

Morning All! This week we have a classic example of a Cephas puzzle with plenty of charades and a couple of gentle cryptic definitions. I found  the whole puzzle to be lots of fun and a good test for a Saturday

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           Float starts to wobble about — festival thrills! (4)
WAFT – A verb for to float or drift is found from the starting letters (starts) of Wobble About Festival and Thrills.

3a           Newspaper’s big bedroom feature coverage? (10)
BROADSHEET – A definition and cryptic definition here. The newspaper should be obvious to us DT solvers. The cryptic part is the fact that a big bedroom might need a broad sheet to cover its main feature (a big bed!)

9a           Uproar when Old Testament goes beyond religious instruction (4)
RIOT – Two abbreviations here. Placing OT (Old Testament) behind or beyond RI (Religious Instruction) yields an uproar last seen in this country during the Summer.

10a         Appearance of mental condition I will take on (10)
COMPLEXION – The appearance of your skin is your complexion. Start with COMPLEX (mental condition) and then add I and follow with (will take) ON.

11a         Hit the drink in sympathy (7)
RAPPORT – A charade of RAP (hit) and PORT (drink) is a noun meaning sympathy – lovely surface reading for a fellow toper drowning his sorrows!.

13a         I may get new, healthier device to clear passage (7)
INHALER – I device to clear a breathing passage for example. A charade of I, getting N for New, then HALER which means healthier.

14a         Insects seen when food goes off (11)
BUTTERFLIES – These insects are a charade of BUTTER (a foodstuff) and FLIES (goes off)

18a         Choir ceased frolicking in prelate’s ‘manor’ (11)
ARCHDIOCESE – The area of responsibility (manor in a Jack Regan style!) of a prelate in the church is an anagram, indicated by frolicking, of CHOIR CEASED.

21a         Feature said Parisian commando (7)
CHINDIT – A charade of CHIN (a facial feature) and DIT (the French, Parisian, way of saying said) leads to the name for a British commando operating behind enemy lines in Burma during the Second World War.

22a         Reduce by ha’pence somehow (7)
CHEAPEN – A verb meaning reduce is an anagram (somehow) of HA’PENCE.

23a         Ray goes to sharp end where violence may break out (10)
FLASHPOINT – A Ray is a FLASH of light and a POINT is a sharp end. The result is a tipping point for a violent outburst.

24a         Tailless animal arrived (4)
CAME – Remove the final letter (tailless) from a CAMEL to get a word meaning arrived or turned up.

25a         Scots reel in street then creep, with hangover initially, beside river (10)
STRATHSPEY – This is a Scottish dance (previously unknown to me!). Make a charade of ST(reet), then RAT (creep or tell on), then the initial letter of Hangover, and end with the river SPEY.

26a         Advanced fast (4)
LENT – loaned or advanced and also a Christian period of fasting.

Down

1d           Dicky wore drab clothes (8)
WARDROBE – Your garb or collection of clothing is an anagram (dicky!) of WORE DRAB.

2d           Course for a tramp? (8)
FOOTPATH – A gentle cryptic definition of a route that one might take on a walk (tramp).

4d           Discordant hooters he removed from resting place (5)
ROOST – Remove HE from a discordant anagram of HOOTERS to get a resting place for an owl, perhaps, which is also a hooter!.

5d           More voluminous? (9)
AMPLIFIED – Another cryptic definition meaning not more billowing as in a dress but actually having more volume in sound due to electromechanical help.

6d           It may reveal a change of heart (11)
STETHOSCOPE – The medical instrument that can detect a difference in a normal heart sound.

7d           Spread belied being ‘Good enough to eat’ (6)
EDIBLE – Something that is good enough to eat is edible and is an anagram (spread) of BELIED.

8d           Protestant rarely takes in religious teachings (6)
TANTRA – An eastern religious teaching is hidden in (is taken in by) the first two words.

12d         Type of case that’s easily closed (4-3-4)
OPEN-AND-SHUT – A semi &Lit whereby the legal case is the whole definition and also a suitcase that is easily closed may be said to be the same.

15d         Flippant and likely to disagree about a point (9)
FACETIOUS – Facetious means flippant or jocular. Place E (East, a point of the compass) inside FACTIOUS, likely to disagree or argumentative.

16d         Short-time worker not on time to produce mould (8)
TEMPLATE – Another charade of TEMP (a short term worker) and LATE (not on time) is a mould for a final production.

17d         Go back into stock market despite its nerve being shaken (8)
REINVEST – An anagram (being shaken) of ITS NERVE means to put money back into the stock market.

19d         Finishes off mocks (6)
SCOFFS – Two definitions – Finishes off food and also mocks, laughs at.

20d         Up here is arid — I’m flying (6)
MIDAIR – A flying anagram of ARID IM is a place where ‘up here’ actually IS.

22d         Stick top of oar inside boat (5)
CANOE – the first letter (top) of Oar inside CANE (a stick) is also a boat that you paddle

Thanks to Cephas for an enjoyable and archetypal puzzle. Lets see who turns up tomorrow after last week’s mystery setter!