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DT 27504

by crypticsue  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27504

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

This puzzle was published on Saturday, 31st May 2014

I solved this enjoyable pangram while my lovely grandson was having his Saturday morning nap – his idea of ‘helping’ Granny with crosswords was to take away the pen, chew it for a bit and then throw it across the room!

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

8a           Cannot, in rush, put back container (8)
DECANTER –   CANT (cannot) inserted into a reversed (put back) REED (rush).

9a           A maiden accustomed to be tickled (6)
AMUSED – A (from the clue) M (maiden in cricket score) and USED (accustomed to).

10a         Before final letter, make a charge against shipping route (4)
SUEZ –   SUE (make a charge) before Z (the final letter of the alphabet).

11a         Lacking variety when under the weather (3,2,5)
OUT OF SORTS – An expression meaning slightly unwell sounds like one hasn’t got much variety.

12a         Accompanying a learner driver, moreover (6)
WITHAL – WITH (accompanying) A (from the clue) and L (learner driver).

14a         Gas main? (5,3)
NORTH SEA –   A cryptic definition of the sea (main) from which some of our gas is obtained.

15a         Excited when dealing with notes (7)
AGITATO – A musical term meaning restless and wild which sounds somehow more exciting than ‘excited’.

17a         Credit given with dodgy quote — it’s a competitive game (7)
CROQUET –   CR (credit) followed by an anagram (dodgy) of QUOTE.

20a         Trade in former money (8)
EXCHANGE –   EX (former) and CHANGE (money).

22a         Provide space for books    put aside (6)
SHELVE –   A double definition – somewhere to store your books or a verb meaning to put aside or postpone.

23a         Bright idea to hit kid on the head? (10)
BRAINCHILD –   Split 5,5 it might mean to hit a kid on the head.

24a         Evident one is not included in project (4)
PLAN –   Remove the I (one is not included) from PLAIN (evident).

25a         Show remorse being locked up for at least the second time (6)
REPENT –   RE (indicating again, for the second time at least) and PENT (locked up).

26a         Avalanche that’s seen at end of voyage? (8)
LANDFALL – The land at the end of a sea voyage could, if split 4,4, be an avalanche.

Down

1d           Giving no answer (8)
REFUSING –   Giving no as an answer.

2d           Music that produces initially just a snoring sound (4)
JAZZ –   The initial letters of Just and A and ZZ (a snoring sound).   It was pointed out on Saturday that an obsolete term spelling of JAZZ could be obtained from the initial letters of Just A Snoring Sound, but, of course, that wouldn’t help you get 10a or complete  the pangram, would it?

3d           Way to go round promenade? (6)
STROLL – Promenade here being a verb meaning to walk abut –   ST (street, way) and ROLL (go round).

4d           Behave unnaturally before nurse (7)
PRETEND – PRE (before) TEND (nurse).

5d           Traveller‘s manner gets lighter in conversation (8)
WAYFARER –   WAY (manner) and FARER , the latter being a homophone (in conversation) of FAIRER (lighter).

6d           Nasty chore, standing in queue after arranging method of payment (10)
EUROCHEQUE –   Two anagrams –   a nasty CHORE is inserted into (standing in) an anagram (after arranging) of QUEUE.

7d           When warmed up, one should sing (6)
KETTLE –   A cryptic definition which made me smile.

13d         One who gives the thumbs-up sign by the way (5-5)
HITCH-HIKER –   And another cryptic definition.

16d         Persistence needs certainty — possibly not right (8)
TENACITY –   An anagram (possibly) of CERTAINTY once you have removed the R (not right).

18d         Inevitable without it becoming sought-after (8)
ENVIABLE –   An anagram (becoming) of INEVITABLE once you have removed (without) IT.

19d         Medium‘s car? (7)
VEHICLE –   A medium for expressing something or a means of conveyance.

21d         Ruler in double-cross, partly taken in by crooked seer (6)
XERXES –   Take two Xs (double cross) put one at the beginning and insert the other into an anagram (crooked) of SEER.

22d         I would make notes about short track (6)
SIDING – ID (I’d, I would) inserted into SIGN (make notes).

24d         Advertisement‘s turned up very loud (4)
PUFF – A reversal (turned) of UP followed by FF (the musical symbol for very loud).

The first Saturday puzzle of the ‘two week blogging rota’ is usually set by Cephas. I wasn’t sure this had the feel of one of his crosswords, and wondered whether the occasional (as opposed to the regular)  Mysteron had sneaked in, but I’ve typed the word ‘anagram ‘ six times during the review, so I think it probably is a Cephas production. [I’m sure he’ll turn up and tell me if I’m wrong!].   Thank you to the setter whoever you are.

 

5 comments on “DT 27504”

  1. Thank you, Crypticsue, for your usual excellent review which I have much enjoyed going through.

    I agree with you that ‘excited’ doesn’t really give the meaning of ‘agitato’. Alas! I didn’t spot the pangram… Although I didn’t go wrong on this crossword, a few of the clues took me a while to work out. Not quite sure why, looking at the notes made at the time.

    Thanks to the setter for an entertaining Saturday puzzle.

  2. I thought 1d was weak, but otherwise a pretty easy solve. I too missed that it was a pangram.

  3. In the process of clearing out my china cupboard and wrapping things up in newspaper, I found an old crossword which I hadn’t done, No. 27504, of 31 May 2014. Of course, I had to sit down straight-away and do it and I was interested to see that it was a pangram – the sort of little thing that pleases me! So I had to check the Quick Crossword as well – and lo and behold, that’s a pangram too! I know that this is a very late comment but just had to make it!

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