DT 27887 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 27887

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27887

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty *Enjoyment **

This puzzle was published on 22nd August 2015

A particularly 12a crossword, even for a Saturday, which left bloggers like me who can edit comments with a bit of a dilemma – when four people commented without taking notice of the instructions in the  Big Red Box, would xxxing out the offending word give more away than leaving well alone?

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           Change name in secret (7)
CONVERT –   N (name) inserted into COVERT (secret).

9a           Circular meadow left mowed (7)
LEAFLET   –   LEA (meadow) followed by an anagram (mowed) of LEFT.

10a         Stop men finding female sorcerer’s home (5)
ENDOR –   END (stop) OR (ordinary ranks, soldiers, men).

11a         New doctrine, Eastern, not understood by many (9)
RECONDITE –   An anagram (new) of DOCTRINE and E (Eastern).

12a         Plain sailing? Right on! (15)
STRAIGHTFORWARD –   Split 8, 7, this description of this puzzle would be an instruction to go right on.

13a         One villain after power in a boat (7)
PIROGUE – P (power) followed by I (one) and ROGUE (villain).

16a         Circle with sawn-off firearm? (7)
REVOLVE –   ‘sawn-off’ indicating the need to remove the last letter from a REVOLVER (firearm).

19a         Just as important, like the anchor leg runner in a relay team? (4,3,3,5)
LAST BUT NOT LEAST –   The anchor leg runner being just as important as the other members of the relay team who went before him/her.

23a         A piece of cake children eat gluttonously (4,5)
KIDS STUFF –   KIDS (children) STUFF (eat gluttonously).

24a         Warning a member about lake (5)
ALARM   A (from the clue) and ARM (member) put ‘about’ L (lake).

25a         Open, following on (7)
SINCERE –   SINCE (following)   RE (on… the subject of).

26a         Small crown made of gold, one shown in court (7)
CORONET   –   OR (gold) and ONE (from the clue) inserted into CT (the abbreviation for court).

Down

1d           Team on board increase knots (6,2)
SCREWS UP –   CREW (team) goes on board an SS (steam ship) and is then followed by UP (increase).

2d           Head of laboratory getting paid for knowledge (8)
LEARNING –   L (‘head’ of Laboratory) EARNING (getting paid)

3d           Stiffener produced by celebrity chef? Not half! (6)
STARCH   – STAR (celebrity)and CHef (‘not half’ means you only need the first two letters).

4d           Flag of British queen and king (6)
BANNER – B (British) ANNE (Queen Anne) and R (Rex, King).

5d           Tired out? Completely, everything considered (3,2,3)
ALL IN ALL – ALL IN (tired out) ALL (completely).

6d           Visit nurse after a time (6)
ATTEND –   A(from the clue)T (time) TEND (nurse)

8d           Depths of drain in need of repair (5)
NADIR –   An anagram (in need of repair) of DRAIN.

9d           Cryptic clue fair? Without a match! (7)
LUCIFER –   An anagram (cryptic) of CLUE FAIR once you have removed (without) A .

14d         Tenant and I study in peace (8)
RESIDENT –   I (from the clue) and DEN (study) inserted into REST (peace).

15d         See hunt abandoned — wax lyrical? (7)
ENTHUSE –   An anagram (abandoned) of SEE HUNT.

17d         French satirist showing anger after dance (8)
VOLTAIRE –   IRE (anger)goes after VOLTA (dance).

18d         I’m dividing possessions for valuation (8)
ESTIMATE –   IM (from the clue) ‘dividing’ ESTATE (possessions).

19d         Enjoys duck in this manner (4,2)
LIKE SO –   LIKES (enjoys) O (duck, nought in cricket scoring).

20d         Dog used in hunting wild beasts (6)
BASSET –   An anagram (wild) of BEASTS

21d         Duty elsewhere on diamonds (6)
OFFICE –   OFF (elsewhere) ICE (slang term for diamonds)

22d         A profit once more (5)
AGAIN – A (from the clue) and GAIN (profit).

In theory I’m due back here next Friday but in practice, who knows?!

S1

5 comments on “DT 27887

  1. Had to resort to BRB because I thought I had invented 11a but apart from that it was definitely a pleasant solve, thanks to CS for review. My notes say like so was my favourite.

  2. Yes – very 12a. Even though I’d never heard of the 17d dance the answer couldn’t be anything else. Thanks to Mr Ron and CS. The best clue for me was 19d which produced a smile.

  3. I can’t remember what I thought of this one while I was actually doing it – attention span and memory of a gnat.
    I didn’t know the 17d dance.
    I don’t have to remember which clues I particularly liked as I’ve dug out the paper from last Saturday so they were 23a and 3 and 18d. My favourite was 19d.
    With thanks to Mr Ron and to CS.

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