ST 2841

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2841

A full review by crypticsue

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

This puzzle was published on Sunday, 27th March 2016

The highlight of the solving week  – lots of clues with * by them but top of the  leader board for me just has to be 17a.

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Across

7a           Weapon to do what warning shot should (8)
CROSSBOW –   Because as we all know, you fire a shot aCROSS the BOW of a ship to warn it off rather than damage it.

9a           Company that is including reasonable person who’s smart, for example (6)
COOKIE –  CO (company) and IE (id est, that is) ‘including’ OK (reasonable).

10a         Rebuttal rejected in breaking agreement (6)
DENIAL –   IN (from the clue) reversed (rejected) breaking  DEAL (agreement)

11a         Delicate court action involving some medicine stolen recently (4-4)
DROP-SHOT –   DROPS (some medicine)  HOT (an informal term meaning recently stolen).

12a         As yet no Christian recollected what happened long ago (7,7)
ANCIENT HISTORY –   An anagram (recollected) of AS YET NO CHRISTIAN

15a         What’s in heart of stage villain? (4)
EVIL –   Lurking in the middle of this and every other stagE VILlain too.

17a         It’s not included in seven-piece suite for den (5)
EARTH – The Planets Suite by Holst  doesn’t include planet EARTH.   Splendid clue.

19a         Piece of music — turn it on, oddly (4)
TRIO –   The odd letters of TuRn It On.

20a         Rendered ecstatic way of thinking about one display of emotion (14)
SENTIMENTALITY –   SENT (rendered ecstatic) MENTALITY (way of thinking) put about I (one).

23a         Zero applications during strike to look after property (5-3)
HOUSE-SIT –  O (zero) USE (applications) inserted into HIT (strike).

25a         A vehicle seen in the middle of that capital (6)
HAVANA –   Another clue that I marked with a * –   A VAN (a vehicle) inserted into the middle of tHAt.

27a         Point that is most comprehensive (6)
WIDEST –  W (compass point West) ID EST (Latin for that is) –  that’s the second lot of ‘that is’ to be found in the Across clues.!

28a         Subversive activity as result of small issue (8)
SEDITION –  S (small) EDITION (issue)

Down

1d           Part of our generation also featuring in bourgeois press (4)
URGE –   A verb meaning to press is hidden in part of oUR GEneration and can also be found featuring in boURGEois.

2d           Like positive responses from some Europeans in this town (6)
ASSISI –  AS (like) SI SI (positive reactions from some Europeans as ‘si’ is yes in Italian) in this city.

3d           Nothing I had heard from monarch is outstanding (4)
OWED –  O (nothing) WE[‘]D (how the Queen might say I had, if she was using the Royal We.

4d           A burden that gets one down? On the contrary (6)
ACROSS  – A  CROSS (a burden).

5d           Youth who’s prepared to buy ‘cos confused (3,5)
BOY SCOUT –   An anagram (confused) of TO BUY COS.

6d           Higgins, perhaps, outrageously toying with miss (10)
MISOGYNIST –    Higgins being Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady – an anagram (outrageously) of TOYING and MISS.

8d           Note a cut in theatre producing surplus (7)
BALANCE –  B (musical note) A (from the clue) LANCE (cut in theatre).

13d         Vacation so arranged in part of North America (4,6)
NOVA SCOTIA –   An anagram (arranged)of VACATION SO

14d         Contribution from author Sewell, such as ‘Black Beauty’ (5)
HORSE –   Lurking in (contribution from) autHOR SEwell – I hope you all remembered that Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty.

16d         Victorian painter in no position to paint seascape? (8)
LANDSEER –   Presumably because he only looked at land!

18d         Put in shade, came out of one’s shell (7)
HATCHED –  To shade using fine lines  or a way of saying that a baby bird came out of its shell.

21d         Unit is misplaced, as originally located (2,4)
IN SITU –   An anagram (misplaced) of UNIT IS

22d         Frivolous conduct — it’s covered by tax (6)
LEVITY –  IT (from the clue) covered by, or inserted into, LEVY (tax)

24d         Ultimately, couldn’t care less about trial (4)
TEST –   The ultimate letters of couldn’T carE lesS abouT

26d         Gas one mixed with nitrogen, in either order (4)
NEON –  An anagram (mixed) of ONE (from the clue) plus the N for Nitrogen – ‘in either order’ means you can use the Nitrogen either before or after the result of your anagram rearranging.

S2