Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2930

A full review by gnomethang

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

This puzzle was published on 17th December 2017

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****

Morning All! – Another very fast solve (an opinion shared by many on the day) but once again there were some superbly crafted clues.

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           Contacting a head in syndicate (8)
REACHING – Place EACH (a/per head) inside a RING or syndicate.

9a           Begin minimal account of my visit to restaurant? (8)
INITIATE – When split as (2,2,1,3) you would read a brief account of a restaurant vis it as IN IT I ATE.

10a         Turn that certain doctors can deal with? (4)
SPIN – A cryptic definition of the disingenuous slant placed on a political outcome.

11a         Spectators may pick it up, but not other players, it seems (5,7)
STAGE WHISPER – A cryptic definition of an aside on stage that is intended only for the audience and not for the other cast/players.

13a         Measure badly needed about new form of identification (8)
USERNAME – Make an anagram (badly) of MEASURE and place around N(ew).

15a         Dog hiding its lead in South Coast resort (6)
POODLE – The leading letter of D(og) inside POOLE, Dorset (a South Coast resort).

16a         Spanish artist unknown in part of India (4)
GOYA – Place Y for an unknown variable in mathematics (others are X and Z) inside GOA – a holiday resort and province in India.

17a         Be rude, in a way? That’s characteristic (5)
POINT – Two definitions – we all know it is rude to POINT and also a point is a characteristic (e.g. the points of a Siamese cat).

18a         Superior blouses, evenly cut (4)
BOSS – Remove/cut the even letters in B l O u S e S.

20a         On coast, it grows economy (6)
THRIFT – Two definitions here – A coastal wild flower and economy/parsimony.

21a         Broken seat belt OK for checking (8)
TESTABLE – A broken anagram of SEAT BELT.

23a         Editor initially prevented me changing what’s composed (4-8)
EVEN-TEMPERED – The initial letter of E(ditor) followed by an anagram (changing) of PREVENTED ME.

26a         One so-called master backed something that’s pupil-centred (4)
IRIS – I for one and then a reversal (backed) of SIR for a title applied to a schoolmaster.

27a         Start off one process of choosing or another (8)
ELECTION – Remove the starting letter from a (s)ELECTION or process of choosing.

28a         Charming language we speak, shortly before becoming mature (8)
ENGAGING – One abb. for English (the language we use/speak in these crosswords) is Eng. Add AGING for becoming mature.

Down

2d           Drunk reposes after consuming second strong drink (8)
ESPRESSO – A drunk anagram of REPOSES containing/consuming S for Second.

3d           Environmental issue has two characters in conversation switching positions (12)
CONSERVATION – Start with a CONVERSATION from the clue and simply switch two of the letters, the V and the S.

4d           Almost transfix a graceful antelope (6)
IMPALA – All but the last letter (almost) of IMPAL(e) or transfix followed by A from the clue.

5d           Yield to pressure and donate (4)
GIVE – A straightforward double definition.

6d           Outstanding moment, greeting said spy (4,4)
HIGH SPOT – HIGH, a homophone (said) of HI/greeting followed by SPOT for (e)spy as a verb.

7d           Fish or beef (4)
CARP – The first def, is the fish and the second is a synonym for complain as is to carp (and also to grouse!!)

8d           Unequalled, like the House of Commons (8)
PEERLESS – The second cryptic def. relies on the fact that all the peers are in the House of Lords not the Commons.

12d         Son currently joining coach, say, for winter sport (12)
SNOWBOARDING – A charade of S(on), NOW/currently and BOARDING – joining e.g. a coach or ‘plane.

14d         It’s defined as ‘official order’ in one dictionary (5)
EDICT  – A lovely clue and both a hidden word and an all-in-one clue. The answer, as well as being the entire definition, is found IN ‘on E DICT ionary’.

16d         Threatened to go out as leader of government spoke (8)
GUTTERED – G for the leading letter in G(overnment) followed by UTTERED for spoke.

17d         Pitiful way quote’s brought up (8)
PATHETIC – PATH for a way or thoroughfare followed by a reversal (up) of CITE/quote.

19d         You’re currently producing this liquid mixture (8)
SOLUTION – Both the SOLUTION in a crossword sense and also in a chemical sense.

22d         Part of fiddle or racket (6)
STRING – A nice observation that both a fiddle and a racket are both synonyms for scam and the setter is drawing us away from the fact that both a violin/fiddle and a (tennis) racket both have strings.

24d         Scene of first expulsion for Etonian who became PM (4)
EDEN – According to the Old Testament Adam and Eve were sent out of EDEN and Anthony EDEN was an ex Etonian Prime Minister.

25d         Long for source of needles (4)
PINE – A simple Definition plus cryptic to finish.

I missed Mr Greer’s (first) comment on the day and would like to echo everyone else’s comments and thanks for a great puzzle in a long list of great puzzles.