ST 2746

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2746

A full review by gnomethang

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

This puzzle was published on Sunday, 1st June 2014

Morning All!. I thought that this was a quite difficult solve although everything is perfectly solvable (and enjoyable when completed). I think my main problem was that the head scratchers coincided and did not yield so many checking letters.

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           East of mountain range, spotted woodcutter? (8)
CHAINSAW – Place SAW (spotted) to the right (East) of a CHAIN of mountains.

9a           While in hospital, thought (8)
ALTHOUGH – A synonym for while is hidden IN the last two words.

10a         For example, air pressure makes one catch one’s breath (4)
GASP – Air is an example of a GAS. Add P for an abb. of Pressure

11a         On purpose, irritate people ahead of time, being put at risk (12)
ENDANGERMENT – A charade od END (purpose/aim), ANGER MEN (irritate people), before (ahead of) T for Time.

13a         Horse‘s upper body and head (8)
CHESTNUT – The CHEST (upper body) and NUT.

15a         Navy breaking up part of ship, in essence (6)
KERNEL – Place RN, the abb. of the Royal Navy, inside the KEEL of a ship.

16a         Bridge team (4)
SPAN – Two definitions. I had forgotten about the SPAN (yoked pair) of oxen.

17a         Man captured by queen might (5)
POWER – A POW (Prisoner of War or captured man) followed by ER, Elizabeth Regina, our Queen). Might is the tricky to spot definition.

18a         One of the things racehorse needs, such as trainer (4)
SHOE – A definition and cryptic with the cryptic definition coming first (a horse needing four horseshoes).

20a         Small vessel in front of convoy, say (6)
CUTTER – The front letter of C(onvoy) followed by UTTER for say/speak.

21a         Democrat and European male engaged in opposition (8)
DEFIANCE – The abb. of D(emocrat) and E(ueopean) in front of a FIANCE or male who is engaged. Great surface reading.

23a         Newspaper pictures showing results of reflection (6,6)
MIRROR IMAGES – The Daily MIRROR newspaper and IMAGES for pictures.

26a         Be inclined to give instruction to setter, say (4)
HEEL – A definition (be inclined) and an instruction to a setter (dog here not crossword setter) to stay close.

27a         Grandchild, perhaps, bringing monarch great joy (8)
RELATION – R for Rex or Regina (monarch) followed by ELATION/great joy.

28a         The small instrument that’s been shortened for player (8)
THESPEIAN – Start with THE from the clue then S for small and finally add a shortened PIAN(o).

Down

2d           Was able to sail over line, finally, in leading position (8)
HEADSHIP – Quite tricky for me. Start with HAD SHIP (i.e. was in a position to sail) and then include the final letter in linE.

3d           Impressionist painter’s room in a mess (12)
IMPERSONATOR – An anagram (in a mess) of PAINTERS ROOM.

4d           Editor splitting paper’s contents up in this state (6)
SWEDEN – Place ED(itor) inside the reversal of NEWS (the paper’s content when up).

5d           Following conflict, new alert (4)
WARN – Simply N for New coming after (following) a WAR or conflict.

6d           Person who runs out of clothing (8)
STREAKER – A nice cryptic definition.

7d           For instance, eight dice (4)
CUBE – The number eight is a cube (being two raised to the power of three or 2³). The dice is the straight definition.

8d           Justifiable deception as we don’t stand up about strike (5,3)
WHITE LIE – Place WE LIE (we don’t stand up) around or about HIT for strike.

12d         Skill in shooting revolutionary, we hear — snap him in unusual way (12)
MARKSMANSHIP – A homophone (we hear) of Karl MARX – MARKS, followed by an anagram (in unusual way) of SNAP HIM.

14d         Helped when powerless — reason for being in church? (5)
TOWED – When split as (2,3) you get TO WED for a reason to be in church.

16d         Source of timber and, in my case, possibly gold (8)
SYCAMORE – Another tricky clue. Place OR, the heraldic term for gold) inside an anagram (possibly) of MY CASE.

17d         Play one’s role, initially, with characteristic depiction (8)
PORTRAIT – The initial letters of Play One’s Role followed by TRAIT/characteristic.

19d         A romance, adapted, in the process of being filmed (2,6)
ON CAMERA – A straightforward anagram (adapted) of A ROMANCE.

22d         Effigy of Fawkes, endlessly burning? (6)
FIGURE – Take GU(y), Mr Fawkes first name endlessly and then place him in FIRE. Burning is a tricky way of saying that he is ‘in the fire’.

24d         Location of cathedral, south of river bank (4)
RELY – ELY (one location of a cathedral) under (south of in a down clue) R for River.

25d         Aromatic plant in perfect condition (4)
MINT – A nice easy double definition to finish.

Thanks to Virgilius for what I thought was quite a stiff workout. I’ll see you all next week.