Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2968
A full review by crypticsue
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This puzzle was published on 9th September 2018
BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Lots to enjoy as per usual on a Sunday – the clues I specially liked were 15a, 23a, 22d and 24d
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
7a Small animal and minute bird holding on (8)
MONGOOSE – M (minute) GOOSE (bird) ‘holding’ ON (from the clue)
9d As substitute, make score of ten? (6)
DOUBLE – If you double ten you get twenty (score)
10a Soft term of endearment is insincere (6)
PHONEY – P (soft) HONEY (term of endearment)
11a Major post in advertising business (8)
MAILSHOT – Unsolicited advertising material
12a Maiden I, perhaps wrongly, concluded is not well understood (14)
MISAPPREHENDED – M (maiden) I (from the clue) an anagram (wrongly) of PERHAPS and then ENDED (concluded)
15a Section of final song, and original source, too (4)
ALSO – Lurking twice in sections of finAL SOng and originAL SOurce
17a Avoid what’s hot and cold initially (5)
CHEAT – HEAT (what’s hot) with C (cold) initially
19a Stepping finally on ladder, or part of one (4)
RUNG – G (the final letter of stepping) on RUN (ladder in a pair of tights perhaps)
20a Observed action of opponents in court, say, with appeal (9,5)
SPECTATOR SPORT – a cryptic definition
23a Old book favouring words like ‘doth’ and ‘hath’ (8)
PROVERBS – PRO (favouring) VERBS (words like doth and hath)
25a Support alternative to flights going in one direction (6)
UPLIFT – Alternatives to flights of stairs going in one direction – up rather than down
27a Capital‘s first letter followed by second (6)
ATHENS – A (first letter) THEN (followed by) S (second)
28a Metaphor is making, in part, for pithy pronouncement (8)
APHORISM – Lurking in part of metAPHOR IS Making
Down
1d Child raised on hotel food (4)
NOSH – A reversal (raised in a Down clue) of SON goes on top of H (hotel)
2d Get old and revised list of items (6)
AGENDA – AGE (get old) plus an anagram (revised) of AND
3d Conclusions in hard case came from judge (4)
DEEM – The ‘conclusions’ in harD casE camE froM
4d Guidance daughter needed, trapped in a bad habit (6)
ADVICE – D (daughter) ‘trapped in’ A VICE (a bad habit)
5d Awfully tedious Republican who’s unlikely to win? (8)
OUTSIDER – An anagram (awfully)of TEDIOUS followed by R (Republican)
6d Contributor of vital liquid assets deposited in bank (5,5)
BLOOD DONOR – A cryptic definition
8d I comply with rearrangement of international events (7)
OLYMPIC – An anagram (with rearrangement) of I COMPLY
13d Provide with pictures from artist in US, little altered (10)
ILLUSTRATE – RA (artist) inserted into an anagram (altered) of US LITTLE
14d Constant temperature for competition (5)
EVENT – EVEN (constant) T (temperature)
16d Summary covering struggle with weight (8)
OVERVIEW – OVER (covering) VIE (struggle) W (weight)
18d Having got to the end of most of the difficult part of course (7)
THROUGH – TH (most of THe) ROUGH (most difficult part of golf course)
21d In this way, husband is capturing rook or another bird (6)
THRUSH – THUS (in this way) H (husband) ‘capturing’ R (Rook)
22d Partly switching sides — pathetic (6)
PALTRY – Switch the R and L (sides) in paRtLy
24d Writer understood about his heroine’s character deficit? (4)
SHAW – SAW (understood) ‘about’ an H – Shaw’s heroine, Eliza Doolittle couldn’t say her Hs
26d Don’t eat convenient kind of food (4)
FAST – A final double definition
Any errors in both this and tomorrow’s Prize Puzzle review are the result of my only realising that the Gnome was off on his holidays when he posted on Facebook a picture of a cold beer at Gatwick Airport last Sunday morning. If only I’d known this before I put drops in my right eye as part of the preparations for a cataract operation! I’ve read both reviews through and can’t see any obvious errors but I’m sure someone will find at least one. Gnomethang should be back on duty next week, but if not, at least I’ll be able to see clearly exactly what I’m doing
B1
Agree with your comments and would add 27a to my list of favourites .
Hope eye improves soon .
Thanks for the review .
3*/4*
Liked the insincere endearment in 10A
Review appreciated, especially bearing in mind the circumstances.