ST 2730

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2730

A full review by gnomethang

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

Morning All!. This was barely a two star difficulty solve based on the time but still the usual excellence.

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           Male is part of formal arrangement? That’s not true (14)
MISINFORMATION – A charade of M for Male then IS IN FORAMATION (is part of a formal arrangement in dance for example)

9a           Petition, accordingly, legally permitted (7)
SOLICIT – Another charade, this time of SO (accordingly  – Make it so) and then LICIT – legally permitted.

10a         Hesitate on moral grounds? It’s of little weight (7)
SCRUPLE – Two definitions. The first a verb derived from the noun (To Scruple/A scruple) and the second is a unit of weight equal to 20 grains, used by apothecaries.

11a         Party politician elected by Conservative area (4)
CAMP – Like a political camp. Place MP (Member of Parliament) after C (for Conservative) and A for Area.

12a         Power within Britain as reorganised between political groups (10)
BIPARTISAN – Make an anagram of BRITAIN AS (reorganised) and place P for Power inside.

14a         In Berlin, Germans hang around (6)
LINGER – The answer is hidden within the second and third words.

15a         After short time, deposit finally put in bank, under the counter (8)
SECRETLY – The short time is the SEC (short for second). The place the last letter of (deposi)T inside RELY or bank. Great surface reading!.

17a         Parts of helmets protecting it for away team (8)
VISITORS – Simply IT (from the clue) inside VISORS (parts of a crash helmet that one looks out of).

18a         Drive home is easy task, with learner tucked in behind leader (6)
CLINCH – TO drive home a deal. Place the L (abb. of learner) just after the first letter of CINCH or easy task.

21a         People perusing paper showing academic position (10)
READERSHIP – The first is the straight definition (the people who are targeted by the newspaper). The second alludes to the academic who reads his discipline.

22a         A list of courses university ultimately dropped, as agreed! (4)
AMEN – A (from the clue) then U for University dropped from the end of MEN(u) or ‘list of courses’.

24a         State of movie hero, one to keep up with? (7)
INDIANA – Three (or two and a half definitions, the third being cryptic). The American state, INDIANA Jones and his doomed temple then a reference to his surname –‘ keeping up with the Jones’s’s’

25a         Left champion in lead, old pill having no effect (7)
PLACEBO – Put L for Left and then ACE (champion) inside PB (The chemical symbol for the metallic element Lead). Follow that with the abb. O for Old.

26a         Well-oiled combination of scorers from Europe (6,3,5)
BRAHMS AND LISZT – Cockney rhyming slang for , er, drunk. Two composers (scorers of music) from Europe.

Down

1d           Show, with numbers, claim’s wrong about setter and solver (7)
MUSICAL – The setter and the solver are collectively US (you and me from Mr Greer’s point of view). Place that inside an anagram (wrong) of CLAIM.

2d           Wise man I malign, person living in the Pacific (7,8)
SOLOMON ISLANDER – The biblical wise man was SOLOMON (proverbially). Add I SLANDER (I malign).

3d           A short lead that’s inserted in collar (4)
NECK – Two definitions. The first is a winning margin in a horse race, the second is the obvious part of the body. The whole thing reads as simply as walking the dog!

4d           Come by in boat at sea (6)
OBTAIN – An anagram (at sea) of IN BOAT.

5d           Service to elderly that’s relieved tension, in a way (8)
MASSAGED – A lovely charade of MASS (a Church service) and then AGED (elderly). I’ve had a couple recently for a neck problem – ace!

6d           Capsize in vessel time after time — third time breaking rule, stupidly (4,6)
TURN TURTLE – Easy to spot but difficult to explain. Place an URN (vessel) and T(ime) in between T(ime) and then the last T(ime) inside an anagram (stupidly) of RULE.
T (URN) T UR(T)LE

7d           Counterparts work on book about river location (8,7)
OPPOSITE NUMBERS – OP (Opus or musical work) and then the Biblical book of NUMBERS containing (about = around) the Chinese Italian river PO and SITE (location).

8d           Brave consuming drug in way that’s unpleasant (6)
MEANLY – This is MANLY (brave) having taken in (consumed) E for the drug of Ecstasy.

13d         Later sent out first of honey in hives (6,4)
NETTLE RASH – Very unpleasant as an affliction as I have heard.  An anagram ( out) of LATER SENT placed in front of the first letter of H(oney).

16d         Illegally entering health facility, breaking lock (8)
TRESPASS – A SPA (health facility) going into (breaking) a TRESS or lock of hair.

17d         Poet Rembrandt initially included in ‘Night Watch’ (6)
VIRGIL – I studied him for Latin O Level. Place the initial letter of R(embrandt) inside a night VIGIL or watch for the Dead.

19d         Worker, dismissed, gets some charity (7)
HANDOUT – A charade of HAND (worker on a farm for example) and OUT (dismissed in cricket or sacked from a job).

20d         Write about one doctor that accommodates swine (6)
PIGPEN – PEN (write) around the outside of I for one and GP (a General Practitioner or Doctor as seen in Bid Dave’s Usual Suspects section).

23d         Bowled over completely — or partly (4)
BALL – A charade of the cricket abbreviation B for Bowled above (over in a down clue) ALL (completely). One ball is only one of six in an over of cricket (6 balls).

I’ll see you all next Thursday Morning for another Virgilius treat.