Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2928
A full review by crypticsue
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This puzzle was published on 3rd December 2017
BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment *****
I really enjoyed solving this Sunday prize puzzle – there were lots of candidates for the gold medal, but once I’d noticed the possible extra ‘bit’ of 6d, that one was the winner
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 Piece of text, perhaps ruined when one page is removed (6)
PHRASE – Remove one of the Ps (page) from PERHAPS and an anagram (ruined) of the remaining letters will give you a piece of text
4a Sound level heard (6)
STRAIT – A homophone (heard) of STRAIGHT (level)
8a Upper garments over underwear for those in authority (3,5)
TOP BRASS – TOPS (upper garments) ‘over’ BRAS (underwear)
10a Irregular or inconsistent — and odd? (6)
UNEVEN – Double or triple definition – either way it is a good one!
11a Legal right to retain property held by client (4)
LIEN – Lurking in (held by) cLIENt
12a Laid down law, it’s alleged, improperly (10)
LEGISLATED – An anagram (improperly) of ITS ALLEGED
13a Intolerant, but not big-headed? (6-6)
NARROW-MINDED – Another nice double definition
16a Like fierce arguments with youth in a trial — I go crazy (12)
GLADIATORIAL – LAD (youth) in an anagram (crazy) of IN A TRIAL I GO
20a Caught fish, retaining pile for skinflint (10)
CHEAPSKATE – C (caught) SKATE (fish) retaining HEAP (pile)
21a Person‘s son protecting daughter (4)
BODY – BOY (son) protecting D (daughter)
22a Protective cover in operation after merger of companies (6)
COCOON – ON (in operation) goes after COCO (a merger of two abbreviated companies
23a To maximise performance, racehorses need these shoes (8)
TRAINERS – The human kind of trainer being needed by a racehorse if it is to achieve great success
24a In old-fashioned speech, discerns English rage (6)
SEETHE – SEETH (an old-fashioned way of saying SEES or discerns, followed by E (English)
25a Moderate‘s so on both sides of this (6)
HYPHEN – SO (from the clue) on both sides of the solution
Down
1d Motivate one young woman that’s extravagant? (8)
PRODIGAL – PROD (motivate) I (one) GAL (young woman)
2d Puttin’ on academic wear? Hood, for instance (5)
ROBIN – ROBING (putting on academic wear) without the G at the end in the same way as putting in the clue is without the G
3d Everything in exhibition is superficial (7)
SHALLOW – ALL (everything) in SHOW (exhibition)
5d Confidence, as reported, is bound to be restrained (7)
TRUSSED – A homophone (as reported) of TRUST (confidence)
6d Pope, for example, or great king of old (9)
ALEXANDER – The Christian name of the poet, the name of seven Popes or the name of the ancient Macedonian leader. I don’t suppose the pontiffs were in our setter’s mind when he wrote the clue but I thought it was interesting so I’ve added them to my explanation
7d Articles I’m indicating, small pieces of academic writing (6)
THESES – THESE (articles I’m indicating) plus the abbreviation for Small
9d Subscribe on my behalf should it be necessary? That’s worth noting (11)
SIGNIFICANT – SIGN IF I CANT (which is what the first part of the clue says!)
14d Fix a part for spy chief in complex procedure (9)
RIGMAROLE – RIG (fix) M (spy chief) A ROLE (a part)
15d Duck and orange (8)
MANDARIN – The name of both a type of duck and a type of citrus
17d Form of alcohol split up in labs, in theory (7)
ABSINTH – The usual spelling of this alcohol has an E at the end, so I was surprised, particularly as there is an E at the end of the lurker, to find I needed the alternative spelling. It can be found (split up across three words) in lABS IN THeory
18d Treatment is what’s taken by fall guy on fourth of July (7)
THERAPY – THE RAP (what’s taken by fall guy) on the fourth (letter) of JulY
19d Puzzles, from what we hear, producing agony (6)
THROES – Another homophone (from what we hear), this time of THROWS (puzzles)
21d Seat for MP that’s been half-heartedly supported by church (5)
BENCH – BEN (been without one of the e’s in the middle) supported by or on top of CH (abbreviation for church)
S2
Some very clever clues I thought-see 25A and 9D.
**/***** for me.