ST 2951

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2951

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 13^th May 2018

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

The usual Virgilius Sunday treat – however, while typing the review, I found that there are eleven clues requiring insertions, eight in the Acrosses, and three with the same indicator, which made me a little grumpy so I removed half a star from my enjoyment rating

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Bad clue I had for mathematician (6)
EUCLID – An anagram (bad) of CLUE followed by ID (I had)

4a    Awful fire, say — some flood is as terrible (8)
DISASTER – Lurking on some flooD IS AS TERrible

10a    Put writer’s material back in cupboard, tightly bound together (5-4)
CLOSE KNIT – A reversal (back) of INK (writer’s material) put into CLOSET (cupboard)

11a    Demonstrated shiny fabric (5)
SATIN – SAT IN (demonstrated)

12a    Write disparagingly about artist being old party type (7)
LIBERAL – LIBEL (write disparagingly about) goes ‘about’ RA (artist)

13a    Greek character holding a dance in Brazil (7)
LAMBADA – LAMBDA (Greek letter) ‘holding’ A (from the clue)

14a    Not all writers excel in using words sparingly (5)
TERSE – Found in part (not all) of wriTERS Excel

15a    Complaint from unmarried people about husband (8)
SHINGLES – SINGLES (unmarried people) ‘about’ H (husband)

18a    Stupid constable forgetting name — that impedes progress (8)
OBSTACLE – An anagram (stupid) of COnSTABLE forgetting the N for Name

20a    Shady spot in which Dutch settler shelters wife (5)
BOWER – BOER (Dutch settler) ‘shelters’ W (wife)

23a    Problem with recalling men scattered in continent (7)
AMNESIA – An anagram (scattered) of MEN in ASIA (continent)

25a    May, for example, organise constituents in her seat (7)
THERESA – An anagram (organise) of the constituents in HER SEAT

26a    Drug consumed by fellow to be competitive (5)
CHEAP – E (Ecstasy, drug) ‘consumed’ by CHAP (fellow)

27a    Curious behaviour around one — that’s not nice to hear (9)
NOISINESS – NOSINESS (curious behaviour) ‘around’ I (one)

28a    With skill following route through mountains OK (8)
PASSABLY – ABLY (with skill) going after (following) PASS (route through mountains)

29a    The student, primarily, is presenting research work (6)
THESIS – THE (from the clue) S (student primarily) IS (from the clue)

Down

1d    Doctor let a case threaten to get out of control (8)
ESCALATE – An anagram (doctor) of LET A CASE

2d    Wear belt (7)
CLOBBER – A slang term for clothing wear; a verb meaning to strike very hard (belt)

3d    I approach home in tree seriously (2,7)
IN EARNEST – I (from the clue) NEAR (approach) NEST (home in tree)

5d    People really smart and elegant in list I revised (14)
INTELLIGENTSIA – An anagram (revised) of ELEGANT IN LIST I

6d    A state in East briefly upset part of India (5)
ASSAM – A (from the clue) and MASS (the abbreviation (briefly) for the Eastern US State of Massachusetts) all reversed (upset)

7d    Test, in chemistry lab, requiring concentration? (7)
TITRATE – A test carried out in a chemistry lab in which the addition of a solution from a graduated vessel to a known volume of a second solution until the chemical reaction is completed, the knowledge of the volume of liquid added and of the concentration of one of the solutions enabling that of the other to be calculated

8d    Take flight from here, unwary after king comes out on top (6)
RUNWAY – Move the R (Rex, king) in UNWARY to the top (in a Down solution)

9d    Arm of Atlantic that’s familiar to Brits surfing? (7,7)
ENGLISH CHANNEL – A British person surfing the net would probably prefer to look at an English channel rather than one in a foreign language

16d    Turned over great herbs I mixed? Nonsense! (9)
GIBBERISH – A reversal (turned over) of BIG (great) followed by an anagram (mixed) of HERBS I

17d    A river covering one part of US or another (8)
ARKANSAS – A (from the clue) R (river) covering or going on top of in a Down clue, the US State of KANSAS

19d    Signs with union’s announcement about end of strike? Right (7)
BANNERS – BANNS (an announcement of a forthcoming union of marriage) go ‘about’ (for the third time as an insertion indicator) the E at the end of strike and R (right)

21d    That being the case, was hiding here (7)
WHEREAS – WAS (from the clue) ‘hiding’ HERE (from the clue) – My favourite clue for its brilliant simplicity

22d    Zany character has a record moving up in chart (6)
MADCAP – A reversal (moving up in a Down clue) of A CD (record) inserted into MAP (chart)

24d    Copies turned up, including one old photograph (5)
SEPIA – A reversal (turned up in a Down clue) of APES (copies) ‘including’ I (one)

S2