ST 2685

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2685

A full review by crypticsue

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

The usual perfect  start to Sunday morning.

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           Tune from America put on a record-player ahead of time (6)
ADJUST –   Not the musical noun but the verb meaning to adjust to provide the optimum response to a signal.

4a           It’s hard to get caught, gripped by panic (6)
SCARCE –    C (caught) is gripped by, or inserted into, SCARE (panic).

8a           Birds getting together when dawn chorus happens (4-4)
COCK-CROW  –  A pairing of two birds produces the time when the first  one of them signals the dawn.

10a         With horns, I disrupted big game (6)
RHINOS –    RHINOS, which do indeed have horns, are an anagram (disrupted) of HORNS I.

11a         Turn around no-win situation in electoral area (4)
WARD –  A reversal (turn around) of a DRAW (no-win situation).

12a         Produce novel thus, or a joint literary work (10)
AUTHORSHIP –  An anagram (produce novel) of THUS OR A followed by a HIP (joint).

13a         Carrier of documents in lawsuit following murder (8,4)
DISPATCH CASE –  DISPATCH (to kill or put to death) and CASE (lawsuit).

16a         Elementary text, something famous person doesn’t need (12)
INTRODUCTION –    The second part of this clue is a self-explanatory cryptic definition !

20a         Successfully contest one cathedral city or another (10)
WINCHESTER –  WIN (successfully contest) and  CHESTER (one cathedral city) put together create a second cathedral city.

21a         Cut down,    toppled over (4)
FELL – Double definition – to cut down (eg a tree) or fell over.

22a         Cheerful bishop, not at all stiff (6)
BLITHE –   B (bishop) plus LITHE (supple, not at all stiff).

23a         Sovereign’s state is good, in truth (8)
REGALITY –   Insert G (good) into REALITY (truth) to produce the state of being regal, sovereignty.

24a         Extremely deadly and mostly unpleasant, as Ivan the Terrible was (6)
DYNAST –  Ivan the Terrible was indeed a DYNAST or ruler.   The ‘extreme’ letters of DeadlY followed by most of NAST(y) (unpleasant).

25a         Marched or walked in two directions (6)
STRODE –  Insert TROD (walked) between the two compass directions, S(outh) and E(ast).

 

Down

1d           Like perfume from a poet like Keats or Shelley, not new (8)
AROMATIC  –   Keats and Shelley were two Romantic poets – just remove the N (not new) from A ROMA[n]TIC (a poet like…)

2d           Was amusing, as judge allowed (5)
JOKED – J (judge) OK[’]ED (allowed).

3d           Batman and Robin, initially, heading vehicle into location of shooting (7)
SERVANT –   Insert R (Robin initially) and a VAN (vehicle) into a SET (location of a film shoot).

5d           Dance music a Rio carnival includes (7)
CARIOCA –  A Brazilian dance music which would certainly be heard a lot at a carnival in Brazil’s second largest city is hidden in musiC ARIO CArnival.

6d           Like Spanish plains, right? Awfully wet, Spain (9)
RAINSWEPT –   As everyone knows, right?,  the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain (well it does in the song from My Fair Lady).   R (right) followed by an appropriate  anagram (awfully) of WET SPAIN.

7d           Finally schedule times of hearing for alien (6)
EXOTIC –  The last (finally) letter of schedulE, X (times in mathematics) and OTIC (of,  or relating to,  hearing).

9d           Magician adjusted to crowd, hiding irritation (5,6)
WITCH DOCTOR –   An anagram (adjusted) of TO CROWD ‘hiding’ an ITCH (irritation).

14d         Royal person slightly overlapping school in England, university in US (9)
PRINCETON –   The last letter of PRINCE is the same as the first letter of ETON, so they slightly overlap in the American University of PRINCETON.

15d         Course followed without permit for gambling activity (8)
ROULETTE –  Insert LET (permit) into ROUTE (course followed).

17d         Athenian hero you ultimately enshrined in academic works (7)
THESEUS – The final letter of yoU is inserted into  THESES (academic works).

18d         Honest, i.e. not lying (7)
UPRIGHT –  A double definition.

19d         Ate without complaint, being satisfied (6)
FILLED –   Insert ILL (complaint) into FED (ate).

21d         Turned over painting of leaf (5)
FOLIO –  A term for two back-to-back pages of a book is a reversal of OIL (painting) and OF (from the clue).

Thanks to Virgilius for this Easter Sunday treat – too many favourites to pick just one or two.    I’ll be back in the morning with the review of last Saturday’s prize puzzle.