Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28462

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on Saturday 1st July

BD Rating – Difficulty *– Enjoyment ***

This Saturday puzzle didn’t take long to solve or draft the review, but I wonder whether people who weren’t looking at the clues as carefully as I was would notice the number of times in a row that particular types of clue were used.

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 Agree to fix being very thin (10)
MATCHSTICK – MATCH (agree) STICK (fix)

6a Nail poet that’s twisted inside (4)
BRAD – Twist the inside letters of BARD (poet)

9a Rock singer learning to join blooming band (7)
LORELEI – LORE (learning) LEI (garland of flowers)

10a Seam put in Her Majesty’s furs (7)
ERMINES – MINE (seam) put in ERS (Her Majesty’s)

12a Trump’s game upset insurgent concealing mean person exposing wrongdoing (7-6)
WHISTLEBLOWER – WHIST (game with trumps), a reversal (upset – which as a reversal indicator surely belongs in a Down clue?), the latter having LOW (mean) concealed within

14a Something unusual, ‘I tarry’, needs rewriting (6)
RARITY – An anagram (needs rewriting) of I TARRY

15a Appear less civilised in puzzle (8)
BEWILDER – BE WILDER (appear less civilised)

17a Do away with corrupt cruel woman (3-5)
SHE-DEVIL – SHED (do away with) EVIL (corrupt)

19a Six-footer belonging to religious faction (6)
INSECT – IN SECT (belonging to religious faction)

22a Prepare a lithe model for Victorian artist (3-10)
PRE-RAPHAELITE – an anagram (model) of PREPARE A LITHE

24a Someone lagging in race for promotion (7)
TRAILER – A double definition with a nice surface reading

25a Empire sacked queen as head of government (7)
PREMIER – An anagram (sacked) of EMPIRE followed by R (Regina, queen)

26a Hearties regularly are unable to stand (4)
HATE – The regular letters of HeArTiEs

27a French short story with surprise ending entering competition (10)
CONTESTING – CONTE (the French word for a short story) STING (surprise ending)

Down

1d Mass with everyone in shopping complex (4)
MALL- M (mass) ALL (everyone)

2d Old gardener has hour in tall building (7)
THROWER – HR (hour) in TOWER (tall building) – I’m typing this before the hints are published so it will be interesting to see how many solvers know/remember Percy Thrower

3d Source of money and wealth hellion dissipated (4,2,3,4)
HOLE IN THE WALL – An anagram (dissipated) of WEALTH HELLION

4d Needing refreshment when sun comes out, making a couple of points over love? (6)
THIRTY – A timely clue given that Wimbledon is almost upon us – Remove the S (sun comes out) from THIRSTY (needing refreshment)

5d Party in playground having to turn up smarter (8)
CLEVERER – REVEL (party) in REC (playground) reversed (having to turn up)

7d Sheep gets to tear around refreshed (7)
RENEWED – EWE (sheep) gets REND (tear) around

8d Group of soldiers abandon traitors (6,4)
DESERT RATS – DESERT (abandon) RATS (traitors)

11d Very rich woman crashed airline’s limos (13)
MILLIONAIRESS – An anagram (crashed) of AIRLINES LIMOS

13d Bad-tempered person in vote plot (10)
CROSSPATCH – CROSS (vote) PATCH (plot)

16d Previously popular leading man’s touring time (8)
HITHERTO – HIT (popular) HERO (leading man) ‘touring’ T (time)

18d Debonair, making a gentle change (7)
ELEGANT – An anagram (change) of A GENTLE

20d Old professors deserve interrupting that is on the rise (7)
EMERETI – MERIT (deserve) interrupting a reversal (on the rise) of IE (that is)

21d Tyrant installing son in base (6)
DESPOT – S (son) installed in DEPOT (base)

23d Dress up showing swagger (4)
BRAG – A reversal (up in a Down clue) of GARB (dress)

S2