Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27367

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

To assist the easily confused, I will start by explaining that this crossword appeared on Saturday 21 December (the day of the big Centenary Celebration) but the extended Christmas closing date means that I can only post the review today.

A splendid 16a/20a from the Saturday Mysteron, with a very nice Nina round the outside which none of us could miss given that the instructions under the puzzle number were so clear ‘Look for a message if you get round to it’  (See the end of the review, if you didn’t notice it at the time).

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

7a           Boy attending to a composition (6)
SONATA –   SON (boy) AT  (attending) and A (from the clue).

8a           King Henry’s lead in unusual role of Robin Hood perhaps (4,4)
FOLK HERO –  An anagram (unusual) of ROLE OF with the initial letters (lead) of King and Henry inserted.

9a           Live accommodated by one encouraging soft drink (4,4)
ROOT BEER –   Insert BE (live) into a ROOTER (an informal term for someone providing loud encouragement)

11a         Occasion for people to enter test (6)
MOMENT –   Insert MEN (people) into an MOT test.

12a         Fashion designer — politician ’Arriet needs one (6)
ARMANI –   The apostrophe at the start of ‘Arriet tells you that you need to remove the H from the surname of the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party – HARMAN  and then add an I (needs one).

15a         Cat left tree (4)
LASH –  A cat-o’nine-tails – L (left)and ASH (tree).

16a         Make dramatic entrance year after special occasion (9)
CENTENARY –  An anagram (make dramatic) of ENTRANCE followed by (after) Y for Year.

17a         Some scoffed dodgy exotic vegetable (4)
EDDO is hidden in some of scoffED DOdgy.

18a         Handle fellow turning to drug (4)
NAME –   A reversal (turning) of MAN followed by E (the drug, Ecstasy).

20a         Puzzle requires ticking off (9)
CROSSWORD –   Split 5, 4, it might well be part of a ticking off.

23a         City in either end of yearbook (4)
YORK –   I love this type of clue –   either ends  of Yearbook are, of course, Y OR K.

25a         Cause senora to be upset (6)
REASON –   An anagram (to be upset) of SENORA.

26a         Soft cryptic clue in Daily Telegraph initially (6)
DULCET –   Insert a cryptic anagram of CLUE between the initial letters  of Daily and Telegraph.

28a         Bird dressed to suit me (8)
TITMOUSE –   And another anagram.   This time dressed tell us to rearrange TO SUIT ME.

31a         Titles constituting me as lord (8)
EARLDOM –   An anagram (constituting) of ME AS LORD.

32a         Get the better of remote American media company (6)
OUTFOX –   OUT (remote) and FOX (American media company).

Down

1d           Hospital supported by boss of our paper given recognition (8)
HONOURED –   H (hospital) ON  (supported by)  OUR ED (the boss of our paper).

2d           Card player to scoff, taking in his opponent (4)
EAST –   Insert S (South being one of East’s opponents  in a game of bridge) into EAT (scoff).

3d           Fashion from right period (4)
RAGE –  R (right) and AGE (period).

4d           Heat making airmen toil (10)
ELIMINATOR –  Heat here meaning a division of a contest –   an anagram (making) of AIRMEN TOIL.

5d           Second bad actor in charade (4)
SHAM –  S (second) and HAM (bad actor).

6d           Swimwear revealing torsos (6)
TRUNKS –  Pants worn for swimming or parts of the body apart from the head and limbs.

8d           Pelt with mineral causing uproar (6)
FURORE –   FUR (pelt, skin) and ORE (mineral).

10d         Bar’s given European harmful stuff (4)
BANE –   A cause of evil or poison –   BAN (bar) and E (European).

13d         A familiar chap’s stuck up (5)
ACOCK –  in a stuck up manner  or defiantly –   A (from the clue) and COCK (a slang familiar address to a man).

14d         Novelty pub gets applause (10)
INNOVATION –   INN (pub) and OVATION (applause).

15d         Name possessed by lady possibly (5)
LYNDA –   An anagram (possibly) of LADY with N (name) inserted or possessed.

19d         Space flight is rather aimless, creating news (8)
MOONSHOT –  MOONS (wanders aimlessly) and HOT (currently newsworthy).

21d         Rank university beset by figures (6)
STATUS –   Insert U (university) into STATS (figures).

22d         Rock band keeping a stock of paper (4)
REAM –  Insert A (from the clue) into the rock band REM.

24d         Dashing valour could become seedy (6)
OVULAR –   An anagram (dashing) of VALOUR.

27d         Fish around lake — it’s bleak (4)
COLD –   Insert L for lake into a COD (fish).

29d         Second person in the Bible gets short measure (4)
THOU –   An archaic or Biblical way of saying you is an abbreviation for a thousandth of an inch (short measure).

30d         One’s sworn in supremo at Hogwarts (4)
OATH is hidden in supremO AT Hogwarts.

And the Nina – Starting at the top and running right round the edge of the puzzle, it says “Here’s to the next hundred years”.  I’ll second that.