DT 27247

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27247

A full review by crypticsue

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

I found it really difficult to get going on this one which I thought was the trickiest Saturday puzzle for a while.  Typing the review hasn’t made me change my original assessment of  the enjoyment factor.

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           Pop out with Hogarth print (10)
PHOTOGRAPH  –   An anagram (out) of POP and HOGARTH.

6a           Bar    fight (4)
SPAR –  A bar or rail or a verb meaning to box.

9a           Line’s fake, showing lack of talent (10)
LIMITATION –   L (line) and IMITATION (fake).

10a         Work round old trick (4)
PLOY –   PLY (to work at steadily) ‘round’  O (old).

12a         Like peanuts? Full, having consumed pounds (6)
SALTED –   SATED (full) with L (£ Sterling) inserted.

13a         Enormous wastage in fuel (8)
COLOSSAL –   Insert LOSS (wastage) into COAL (fuel).

15a         Men hunting wild elks arrested (12)
DEERSTALKERS –   An anagram (wild) of ELKS ARRESTED.

18a         Betting about marines willing to be hawkish (12)
WARMONGERING –   WAGERING (betting) with RM (Royal Marines) inserted.

21a         Chewing grass is unusual in insect (8)
RUMINANT –   Like an animal that chews the cud –  RUM (unusual) IN  ANT (insect).

22a         Set of false teeth round a mouth’s top (6)
PALATE –   A plate or set of dentures with A inserted.

24a         I fool someone admired (4)
ICON –   I CON (fool, deceive).

25a         Anthology: I flog about 100 in a lot (10)
MISCELLANY –   Insert into MANY (a lot) I (from the clue) and SELL (flog) into which has been inserted C (the Roman numeral for 100)

26a         Notice East European in superior sort of TV (4)
HEED –   Insert EE (East European) into HD (High Definition television).

27a         I see my Reds playing here (10)
MERSEYSIDE –   An anagram (playing) of I SEE MY REDS gives the home of Liverpool Football Club, who wear red shirts!

Down

1d           European could be French (6)
POLISH –   Someone from Poland or a type of varnish for furniture  –  [French] POLISH.

2d           Alloy containing gold spy finally replaced by uranium (6)
ORMOLU –  An alloy of copper, zinc and sometimes tin –   OR (the heraldic term for gold) and MOLE (spy) once you have changed the last letter for a U (finally replaced by Uranium.

3d           Bother! Undone! Having broken up one may be this (2,3,7)
ON THE REBOUND –   An anagram (having broken up) of BOTHER UNDONE.

4d           Appreciate value of     carpet (4)
RATE –  A double definition, the second meaning to tell off or scold.

5d           Short video covering new Conservative bill (10)
PROMONTORY –  One definition of bill is a sharp promontory or headland.   PROMO (short video) N (new) and TORY (Conservative).

7d           Cover surface round top of Ionian column (8)
PILASTER –  A square column – insert I (the top of Ionian) into PLASTER (to cover with a coating).

8d           Orbison and top celebrities supporting Queen (8)
ROYALIST –   ROY (Orbison)  and A LIST (top celebrities).

11d         Dish in kitchen where pins are scattered (7,5)
BOWLING ALLEY –   Split 4, 2, 6 and you get a  BOWL IN GALLEY (dish in [the] kitchen).

14d         Ship makes giant wave in seawater (10)
BRIGANTINE –   Insert an anagram (wave) of GIANT into BRINE (salty sea water).

16d         Draw obtuse angle, rather small (8)
DWARFISH –   An anagram (obtuse) of DRAW followed by  FISH (angle).

17d         Flower border presented in plain language (8)
PRIMROSE –  Insert RIM (border) into PROSE (plain language).

19d         Spicy meat unfortunately served up on motorway (6)
SALAMI –   A reversal (served up) of ALAS (unfortunately) placed on top of the MI (motorway).

20d         Produce new script about model (6)
RETYPE –   RE (about) TYPE (model).

23d         Exploits when holding court (4)
ACTS  –  Insert CT (abbreviation for court) into AS (when).

By the time you read this, I will be in Northern Ireland having fun with my baby grandson.   It is a good job  that I have the Sunday blogging duty to look forward to on my return, as I don’t think thoughts of the day job will do anything to lure me back!