DT 26762

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26762

A full review by Crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

A slightly trickier offering from Cephas this week but as enjoyable as usual, with a nice mix of clues including his trademark anagrams and a couple of new words to learn.

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 pos

Across

1 On-line delivery service (7-5)
FREIGHT-TRAIN  – a cryptic definition of a train that carries goods rather than people.

9 Peerless example of wrought iron panel (9)
NONPAREIL –  a person or thing without equal – an anagram (wrought) of IRON PANEL.

10 Piece of ground where tap is situated in front of church (5)
PATCH – A piece or plot of land – although this looks like an anagram of tap,  you actually need a verb meaning to tap or PAT, followed by CH (the first two letters or front of Church).

11 Declare sun’s over infernal regions (7)
AVERNUS – Cephas teaches us a new word here but kindly makes the wordplay very user-friendly to enable us to get it.   AVER (declare) followed by  NUS (a reversal over of SUN).   In Roman mythology, the AVERNUS was the entrance to the infernal regions.

12 Man providing backing caught doing mischief (7)
MALEFIC –  And another word I didn’t know!    Chambers definition of MALEFIC is indeed doing mischief.   MALE (man) FI (IF, meaning provided, reversed (backing) and C (caught  [cricket]).

13 Dependable Dirk cools off (4-5)
ROCK-SOLID  – An adjective meaning dependable or steady is an anagram (off) of DIRK COOLS.

16 Advisable to include endorsement (4)
VISA – An endorsement on a passport is included or hidden in adVISAble.

18 Penny cut off sound (4)
PLOP – A lovely bit of onomatopoeia –  P (penny) plus LOP (cut off) makes the sound of a small object falling into water.

19 Dog trapping naughty lad’s bird (4,5)
BALD EAGLE – the national bird of the USA is obtained by inserting (trapping) an anagram (naughty) of LAD inside a BEAGLE and splitting the result 4,5.

22 Dishonest stocktaker (7)
RUSTLER  – A cryptic definition of someone who steals cattle.

23 Returned rifle with Christopher’s instrument set (7)
TOOLKIT –  A set of tools is derived from a reversal of LOOT (rifle here is the verb meaning to loot or ransack) followed by KIT (a lesser known diminutive of Christopher.

25 Flatterer finds plaything enthralling these days (5)
TOADY  – to get a flatterer or sycophant insert AD (Anno Domini or these days) into TOY (plaything).

26 Way of sending messages when Peter Pan flies round globe (9)
NOTEPAPER –  Another anagram (flies) –  rearrange PETER PAN and then insert O (globe, round) to get something on which you can write to send messages and letters.

27 Arranged for gold casket getting evaluated (12)
ORCHESTRATED –  Arranged music for an orchestra or to arrange for the best overall effect.   A very nice charade:  OR (gold in heraldry)  CHEST (casket) and RATED (evaluated).

Down

1 Loud, not just where the roundabouts are (7)
FUNFAIR –  Roundabouts and other attractions can be found at a FUNFAIR –  F (musical abbreviation meaning loud) and UNFAIR (not just).

2 Wise to be navigating initially in lake? (5)
ERNIE –  Half of the nation’s favourite comedy duo –  Mr Wise’s Christian name is obtained by inserting N (navigating initially) into Lake ERIE, one of the Great Lakes.

3 Joy sends lag crazy (8)
GLADNESS –  Another nice anagram indicator crazy – rearranging SENDS LAG produces a synonym for joy and cheerfulness.  Was it pure coincidence that Cephas was able to  follow Ernie with ‘gladness’?

4 Writes about losing one item of clothing (5)
TREWS  –  Trousers made of tartan cloth – another anagram (about) this time of WR[I]TES with the I removed (losing one).

5 Part perfect trendsetter (4,5)
ROLE MODEL – I am not sure that a trendsetter “someone who gives a new direction to fashion” is  quite the same as a ROLE MODEL “a person whose character or behavior is imitated by others”.   However, the word play was clear: ROLE (part played) and MODEL (here as an adjective meaning perfect or exemplary).

6 Spike, masculine friend that is going round (6)
IMPALE –  To fix on a spike or sharp stake:   M (masculine or male) and PAL (friend) inserted into IE (the Latin abbreviation of  id est meaning that is).

7 Posh fellows in crime, packing (8)
STUFFING – A verb meaning packing or filling –   Insert U (posh, upper class) and FF (fellows) into STING (a slang term for the crime of obtaining money by deception)l.

8 Double order for tea dance (3-3)
CHA-CHA –  A fairly impolite way of ordering two cups of tea or CHA:  CHA [and] CHA would, with a hyphen inserted,  then become a Latin American dance.

14 Angry lawyers may get support (8)
CROSSBAR  –  A horizontal bar on a man’s bicycle or between two goalposts.   CROSS (angry) plus BAR (the legal professions or barristers/lawyers collectively).

15 Warren’s bra thinly disguised! (9)
LABYRINTH –  In addition to a home for rabbits, a warren is also a maze of narrow passages, or LABYRINTH which is, of course, an anagram (disguised) of BRA THINLY.   I did like the way ‘thinly disguised’ made me stop and think about exactly which words I needed for the anagram.

17 In poor shape but not when on course (5,3)
BELOW PAR – A double definition – in poor shape physically or having a low score in a game of golf.

18 One in political group achieving equal status (6)
PARITY –  Insert I (one) into a PARTY or political group to achieve PARITY or equality in status.

20 Was no longer an outsider (7)
ENTERED –   I did like Gazza’s hint for this one “If you were outside and are no longer outside, what have you done? ”   The clue and his hint are both cryptic ways of defining the word “entered”.

21 Sportsman, amateur, coming into the fold with hesitant expression (6)
PLAYER –  A person participating in sport – Insert A (amateur) into PLY (a fold) and follow this with ER (an interjection expressing hesitation).

23 Paul’s companion seen in America following bird (5)
TITUS – One of St Paul’s disciples and companions is easily obtained by following a TIT (bird) with US,  the usual abbreviation for America.

24 King has a set not working (5)
KAPUT – K (king) A (from the clue) and PUT (here a verb meaning to set) – KAPUT is an informal adjective meaning broken, ruined or not working.

Thanks to Cephas once again for an excellent start to Saturday.    I’ll be back next week with my review of the Mysteron puzzle.