DT 28588

 

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28588

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 18^th November 2017

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

I really enjoyed this Mysteron Prize Puzzle – it had a certain something that was different to his usual Saturday offerings. I also spent a while thinking it was going to be a pangram, but we appear to be missing both a K and a Y.

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    Bolshie footballer (4-6)
LEFT-WINGER As this solution is hyphenated, it definitely refers to someone with extreme socialist views rather than a footballer playing in a certain position

6a    Outrageous Australian with English genetic make-up (4)
EDNA – Like many people on Saturday, this was my last one in – E (English) and DNA (genetic make-up)

9a    Cure a troublemaker from the Fifties with an obsession (7)
FIXATED – FIX (cure) A TED (troublemaker from the 1950s)

10a    Very good fashion designer, sharp (7)
PIQUANT – PI (very good) QUANT (Mary, the fashion designer)

12a    Act to restore control say people wanting Brexit ultimately (13)
REINSTATEMENT – REIN (control) STATE (say) MEN (people) T (Brexit ‘ultimately’)

14a    Power cut is heartless shocking thing (6)
OUTAGE – A ‘heartless’ OUTrAGE (shocking thing)

15a    Somehow get vet in profile (8)
VIGNETTE – An anagram (somehow) of GET VET IN

17a    Contains nuts, OK (8)
SANCTION – An anagram (nuts) of CONTAINS

19a    Is suffering setback having consumed affected seafood (6)
SCAMPI – A reversal (suffering setback) of IS (from the clue) having consumed CAMP (affected)

22a    Honed Toughies in cryptic style, not popular (2,3,8)
IN THE DOGHOUSE An anagram (in cryptic style) of HONED TOUGHIES

24a    Biblical villain’s exercises (7)
PILATES Add an apostrophe to these exercises and you’d get something belonging to Pontius Pilate, the Biblical villain

25a    Desire to restrict snake’s stinging (7)
WASPISH – WISH (desire) ‘restricts’ ASP (snake)

26a    Legal documents cited posh hotel (4)
RITZ – A homophone (cited) of WRITS (legal documents)

27a    One predicts future star remixing old record by Queen (10)
ASTROLOGER – An anagram (remixing) of STAR, O (old) LOG (record) ER (the regnal cipher of our current Queen)

 

Down

1d    Fine to be carried in illuminated hoist (4)
LIFT – F (fine) carried in LIT (illuminated)

2d    Trade Secretary leads 1 Across a merry dance (7)
FOXTROT – One of those clues that won’t stand the test of time as Liam Fox will eventually be replaced as Trade Secretary. Anyway, his surname is followed by an informal name for a 1a. Our resident pedant didn’t think this was a merry dance as such, but Anton Du Beke always looks like he’s having fun to me!

3d    A gentler twist disrupted mainly straight road (7,6)
WATLING STREET – This mainly straight Roman road is an anagram (disrupted) of A GENTLER TWIST

4d    New German car’s failing to start on motorway being out of gear (6)
NUDISM – N (new) aUDIS (a German car’s ‘failing to start’) and M (motorway) – I did wonder how many people missed the significance of Motorway and thought the ‘being’ was a person

5d    Decisive impact he could produce (8)
EMPHATIC – An anagram (could produce) of IMPACT HE

7d    Face shock treatment in a manner of speaking (7)
DIALECT – DIAL (face) ECT (shock treatment)

8d    Contrary contribution to Christian tithes I subscribe (10)
ANTITHESIS – Lurking as a contribution to ChristiAN TITHES I Subscribe

11d    Top lawyer shows us eloquence artfully trapping two Poles (6,7)
QUEENS COUNSEL – An anagram (artfully) of US ELOQUENCE ‘trapping’ N and S (two poles)

13d    Churchgoer raised argument with transport manager (10)
WORSHIPPER – A reversal (raised in a Down clue) of ROW (argument) with SHIPPER (transport manager)

16d    It’s no small wonder! (8)
COLOSSUS – the 98-foot-high statue that was one of the Seven Wonders of the World

18d    Informal letter from fundraising broadcast upset hospital left out (7)
NOTELET – A reversal (upset) of a TELEThON (fundraising broadcast) without the H for Hospital

20d    Margaret welcomes alien in tryst (7)
MEETING – MEG (Margaret) ‘welcomes’ ET (alien) and IN (from the clue)

21d    Exhibitor‘s useless lot (6)
SHOWER Someone who exhibits something or an informal term for some useless people

23d    One does for fish (4)
CHAR – A lady who ‘does’ or cleans for you or a type of fish. There was a radio programme running from 1939 to 1949 – Its That Man Again, and one of the characters was the cleaning lady, Mrs Mopp who regularly uttered the line ‘Can I do you now, Sir”, which is one to remember, even if, like me, you weren’t even a twinkle in your dad’s eye when the series finished.

S2