Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27325
A full review by gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Morning All! I was breezing through this puzzle on the day but had to stop a couple of times in order to admire some clues and also to make sure that I had the correct answer on a couple of others. A very good puzzle 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 Final stage of house extension (4,7)
HOME STRETCH – The cryptic definition is a charade of HOME (house) and STRETCH (extension).
7a Carts I’d overturned — that’s radical (7)
DRASTIC – An anagram (indicated by overturned) of CARTS ID.
8a Don’t go on to break one’s journey (4,3)
STOP OFF – Don’t here means take the opposite. The opposite of Go is STOP and the opposite of ON (in cricketing sides) is OFF. Took me a while to spot this.
10a Peer is number five to start (8)
VISCOUNT – A nice charade – take IS from the clue and COUNT (number) and add the Roman Numeral V for five at the start of it all.
11a I had to break up row, being smarter (6)
TIDIER – The abbreviation of I had – I’D – inside TIER or row of seats.
13a Some estaminet takings may be after tax (4)
NETT – A hidden word, the opposite of gross is hidden within estamiNET Takings.
14a Primitive plants developed from a large gene (5,5)
GREEN ALGAE – A good surface reading and an anagram (developed) of A LARGE GENE.
16a Making one more time for fun (10)
RECREATION – Making something once would be a creation – making it one more time might be a RE-CREATION. Nice clue!.
18a Clear off, having mislaid right racket (4)
SCAM – Remove the R ( having mislaid Right) from SCRAM or clear orff!.
21a Mark’s kind of music? (6)
GOSPEL – There are four Gospels in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Any of these four could also describe the type of music.
22a Better fiddle gas meter! (8)
GAMESTER – A great clue for the surface reading!. Make an anagram (fiddle) of GAS METER.
24a Person seeking fur — salesman getting some returned (7)
TRAPPER – Start with a REP (a salesman or company REPresentative) and add PART (some). The reverse the lot (returned).
25a Shark needs to follow trawl (7)
DOGFISH – You need to know that the shark and dogfish are related by Genus. It is a charade of DOG (to follow/tail) and FISH (trawl).
26a Risk capital (6,5)
DANGER MONEY – A lovely cryptic definition once you realise that capital the whole clue is a noun.
Down
1d Receiver’s needed for dates he organised (7)
HEADSET – An organised anagram of DATES HE. The receiver that plays music to you quietly.
2d Mongrel will get no flipping meat (6)
MUTTON – A lowly dog is a MUTT and then add a reversal ( flipping) of NO. Another very nice surface reading.
3d Mediocre time comes with cost (6-4)
SECOND RATE – SECOND (time) is placed next to RATE (cost) in this charade.
4d Run on the bank, that’s growing (4)
RUSH – Possibly two definitions. To run and also a reed (or rush on a river bank that is a plant).
5d Current flowing across river near equator (8)
TROPICAL – TOPICAL (current in the news) going across (i.e. outside) of R for Right.
6d Another thing about this gauge of model railway is sounding the horn (7)
HOOTING – An anagram (another) of THING around or about the OO gauge of model railway beloved of the model enthusiast – TOOT TOOT!
7d Deduce side from which kings took authority (6,5)
DIVINE RIGHT – A charade of DIVINE (deduce/work out) and RIGHT ( one side but not the left!).
9d One has to take hurried steps in it (6,5)
FORCED MARCH – A nice little clue here – Has means ‘must or is FORCED to’ and hurried gives a MARCH as opposed to an amble. A good cryptic definition.
12d Brief note written out in full (10)
MEMORANDUM – The short form is a MEMO – this is what it is short for! A good topsy-turvy CD.
15d Pantomime involved notepaper — nothing was left out (5,3)
PETER PAN – It’s that time of year again, folks! Make an anagram (involved) of N(o)TEPAPER having first removed the O for ‘nothing’.
17d Way amateur infuses part of milk to produce sauce (7)
CUSTARD – Place the abbreviations ST (for Street or way) and A for Amateur inside CURD (part of milk). CU (ST) (A) RD.
19d Hun cut short invading borders of Cathay, with a show of spite (7)
CATTILY – Alarm bells should ring at the Hun – ATTIL(A) is the best known. Remove his last letter (cut short) and place inside the outer letters ( borders) of C(atha)Y.
20d Ice in French or Norwegian port (6)
BERGEN – A BERG (mass of ice) and EN, one of the French words for ‘in’.
23d Real torture at intervals (4)
TRUE – Take the odd letters (at intervals) of ToRtUrE.
I enjoyed this puzzle and I think it is a good standard of difficulty for a Saturday Prize Puzzle. I’ll see you all next week with another one.