DT 26852

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26852

A full review by gnomethang

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Morning All! We have a pretty standard Saturday puzzle here. I liked it although it lacked a bit of bite in my opinion.

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           Priestly robe to get by (4)
COPE – A double definition to start with; The name of a proest robe and also to manage or bear up

3a           Joint supporter a poisonous creature (5)
COBRA – A charade of CO (joint as in Co-owner) and BRA (a supportive piece of underwear).

6a           Shell suit (4)
CASE – The outer shell of something and also a type of case, i.e. for carrying clothes.

8a           Fixers sort Blues out, poking nose in (15)
TROUBLESHOOTERS – A lovely composition for people who fix things in organisations – Make an anagram of BLUES (sort blues out) and add (poke in) yer HOOTER for a nose.

9a           A disreputable newspaper going over Henry’s first wife’s home (6)
ARAGON – Catherine, famously of Aragon, was Henry VIII’s first wife. Take A RAG (a disreputable newspaper) and add ON for going over (as in ‘on a bridge)

10a         Briefly interest one friend, a close one (8)
INTIMATE – The abbreviation for INTerest plus I (one) and MATE for friend gives a word meaning a close friend.

11a         Helicopter going round North, moving stealthily (8)
SNEAKING – Sneaking is moving stealthily. The military helicopter, the SEA KING, goes around N for North.

13a         Dangerous situation for soldiers in large body (6)
MORASS – A dangerous (and sticky!) situation is created by placing OR (other ranks, soldiers) inside a MASS or large body.

15a         Food regularly eaten not fresh containing potatoes primarily (6)
STAPLE – Place the primary letter in Potatoes inside STALE for not fresh. This gives a word for foodstuffs such as potatoes, rice and pasta that are the basis of meals.

17a         American novelist gets gangster trapped by one spilling the beans? (8)
SALINGER – J.D. Salinger, the American  author of such works as ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ should be well known to all. Place AL (Capone, a common gangster in crosswordland) inside a SINGER – one who blabs or ‘Sings like a canary’.

19a         Appreciate where batsman is safe (8)
INCREASE – Appreciate here means go up in value. Split INCREASE as (2,6) and you get the place where a batsman is safe from a run-out.

21a         Admitting husband to be caught by hoodlum (6)
THOUGH – This took me a while to spot as the synonym (admitting for though) is not so common in speech. We need to put H for Husband inside (caught by) a TOUGH hoodlum.

22a         Incite tribesman to shake member of government (7,8)
CABINET MINISTER – A member of the front bench in government is an anagram (to shake) of INCITE TRIBESMEN.

23a         Base purpose (4)
MEAN – Base here is used as Low or nasty. MEAN also, ahem, means purpose or intention

24a         Delay — something found on road and railway (5)
TARRY – To delay or dilly-dally. You find TAR on the road and add RY for railway.

25a         Supported by the church in former time (4)
ONCE – A charade of ON (supported) and CE for Church of England also means in former times.

 

Down

1d           Cleansing, hoovering up cat’s hairs (9)
CATHARSIS – A very strange anagram indicator (hovering up!) of CATS HAIRS gives a word for cleansing or release from a mental trauma.

2d           Gas liable to overcome father (7)
PROPANE – This flammable gas is created from putting PRONE (liable) around (i.e. it is overcoming) PA, your dad.

3d           Flower in singer Dion’s make-up (9)
CELANDINE – This caused a bit of discussion on the day but I suspect that the consensus was the correct intent: the make up of Celine Dion’s first name is simply CEL AND INE which is a flowering plant.

4d           Transport supremo playing for money (7)
BUSKING – To play music in the street for money. A transport supremo might be known as a BUS KING

5d           Regarding an episode (5)
ABOUT – A simple charade of A plus BOUT (episode or time interval).

6d           Cover a SW river in container vessel (9)
CATAMARAN – The instruction is to surround (cover) A TAMAR (a river in the SW of England) with a CAN (container). This gives us a twin hulled seagoing vessel.

7d           Cloud right in position (7)
STRATUS – One of the main cloud types. Place R for right inside STATUS or position.

12d         Put out no praises — the opposite? (9)
ASPERSIONS – An anagram (put out) of NO PRAISES gives a word for calumnies/slanders which is the opposite of giving out praises.

13d         First of crashes in long list following motorway’s aggressive attitude (9)
MILITANCY – The clue that I finished on with THOUGH. The aggressive or bellicose attitude is found by placing the first letter of Crashes onside a LITANY, or long list , and preceding it with M1 for Motorway

14d         Extra payment daily in boom (9)
SURCHARGE – Put a CHAR (a daily or cleaner) inside SURGE for boom to get an additional payment.

16d         Amount carried puts poor horse in strain (7)
TONNAGE – The poor horse is a NAG and needs to go inside TONE (strain/flavour). The result is the amount carried by a ship (or its water displacement)

17d         Ship to navigate round a mine at first (7)
STEAMER – The steam ship is the definition. Place STEER (navigate) around A and M(ine – at first).

18d         Having good time in Bedfordshire town, one’s keen for more (7)
GLUTTON – Someone who can’t stop eating. Stafrt with G for good then put T(ime) inside LUTON, the Beds town.

20d         Spy a toff (5)
AGENT – A nice easy charade to finish. When split (1,5) an AGENT becomes A GENT or a Toff

Thanks to the setter for the puzzle and I will see you all in a couple of weeks for the Sunday review.