ST 2724

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2724

A full review by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Thanks to Virgilius once again for another fine start to Sunday morning.   This crossword appeared on Sunday 29 December –  which means that the definition in 13a was relevant then, but isn’t now!!

 

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           Place for pictures taken from medicine man (6)
CINEMA  is hidden in (taken from) mediCINE MAn.

4a           Intermittently switch positions (3,3,2)
OFF AND ON –  an adjective meaning  occasional or intermittent can also refer to the  two positions of a switch.

10a         What singers and musicians do ain’t bad on record (9)
ENTERTAIN –   ENTER (to record) and  an anagram (bad) of AINT.

11a         Match, for example, that’s not serious (5)
LIGHT –   A match is an example of something used to light or ignite;  light can also be an adjective meaning not serious.

12a         Retain it in memory, mostly, for musical performance (7)
RECITAL –   Insert IT into almost all of RECALL (memory).

13a         Almost crossing part of Welsh border – we’ll reach it soon (3,4)
NEW YEAR –   NEAR (almost) crossing (or having inserted into it) WYE (the river which forms most of the border of England and  Wales).  The second part of the clue is a cryptic definition which will be out of date by the time this review appears.

14a         Inferior to a couple of European articles (5)
UNDER – Split 2, 3, you get UN, the French definite article and DER, the German definite article.

15a         Start off sick in this hospital that’s rather crowded? (8)
THICKISH –   Remove the first letter (start off) from SICK and insert the remaining letter into THIS (from the clue) and H (hospital).

18a         Maintaining distance apart, cut line with everyone aboard (8)
PARALLEL –   Insert ALL (everyone aboard) into PARE (cut) and finish with L (line).

20a         Succulents planted in midst of hectic activity (5)
CACTI –   Another hidden word – this time planted in [the] midst of hectiC ACTIvity.

23a         First contribution to educational foundation in university town (7)
READING –   The educational foundation being, of course, the three Rs – firstly  READING followed by writing, and arithmetic

25a         Particularly advantaged person picked for team, right? (7)
INSIDER –   IN SIDE (picked for team) plus R (right).

26a         Show aggression as boxer, good left securing fight (5)
GROWL –   This boxer is a breed of dog!!   Insert a ROW (fight) between G (good) and L (left).

27a         Claim in opposition to government leader, using statistical procedure (9)
AVERAGING –   AVER (claim) AGIN  (a dialect or facetious preposition meaning against)  and G (the ‘leader’ of Government).

28a         Fast runners in the chase, disorientated (8)
CHEETAHS –   A disorientated anagram of THE CHASE.

29a         Section of First Amendment that’s a bit of a bloomer (6)
STAMEN –   Another hidden word – this time a section of firST AMENdment.

Down

1d           Take oneself off rota – clue must be revised (5,3)
CLEAR OUT –   An anagram (must be revised) of ROTA CLUE.

2d           Remarked how plain cake is? (7)
NOTICED –   Plain cake is, of course, NOT ICED!

3d           End up including speaker in temporary stoppages (9)
MORATORIA –   Emergency suspensions – a reversal (up) of AIM (end) with an ORATOR (speaker) included or inserted.

5d           Source of economic news distorted in emails, in fact (9,5)
FINANCIAL TIMES –  An anagram (distorted) of IN EMAILS IN FACT.

6d           Admit learner inside a base (5)
ALLOW –  A (from the clue) L (learner) and LOW (base)

7d           Revolutionary measures creating distinctions that are academic (7)
DEGREES –  Parts of a revolution or circle; distinctions conferred by a university.

8d           Character that’s referred to as ‘Mother’ (6)
NATURE –   The character or quality of something can be proceeded by Mother to become the power that creates and regulates the world.

9d           Arrange aid and otherwise greatly help newspaper (5,9)
DAILY TELEGRAPH –   Two anagrams  – arrange AID and otherwise GREATLY HELP to get the newspaper in which our favourite crosswords can be found.

16d         Shifted stick in racing vehicle to get going (4-5)
KICK-START –   Insert into KART (racing vehicle) an anagram (shifted) of STICK.

17d         One element or another turned over, with supporting information (8)
NITROGEN –   Reverse (turned over) TIN (another element) and OR (from the clue) which should be followed by (supporting) GEN (information).

19d         Salt put on sole and shellfish (7)
ABALONE –   Salt refers to a sailor as does the abbreviation AB; sole here means ALONE.

21d         Blackguard saying nothing about one metal (7)
CADMIUM –   CAD (blackguard) and MUM (silent, saying nothing) with I (one) inserted.

22d         Calamitous end of aircraft, with smoke rising (6)
TRAGIC –  The ‘end’ of aircrafT followed by a reversal (rising) of a CIGAR (smoke).

24d         Small piece of land surrounded by water has a tenant (5)
ISLET –  Split 2, 3, this small island might have a tenant.

 

I’ll be back next week with another Sunday puzzle review.