Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3002

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 5^th May 2019

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

Crosswords don’t come easier than this one – probably because there are so many repeated clue types. My favourite Across clue was 20a and my Down favourite, for the reasons I give below, has to be 4d

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Across

8a    Sweet mug (4)
FOOL – Double definition – A food can be a pudding (sweet) I always associate with gooseberries or an easy dupe

9a    Head wants barrel rolled over (3)
NUT – A reversal (rolled over) of TUN (barrel)

10a    Sore carer? (6)
TENDER – Feeling sore or someone who cares or looks after you

11a    Oxford accent (6)
BROGUE – An Oxford is another name for a BROGUE shoe; it can also mean a lilting Irish accent

12a    A can coated with dark red metal (8)
PLATINUM – A (from the clue) TIN (can) ‘coated with’ or inserted into PLUM (dark red)

13a    High street with random pet shop (10,5)
DEPARTMENT STORE – An anagram (high) of STREET with RANDOM PET

15a    English politician drawn and drained (7)
EMPTIED – E (English) MP (politician) TIED (drawn)

17a    Careless on foot? Just the opposite? (7)
OFFHAND – OFF HAND being the opposite of ON FOOT

20a    Happy as a polar bear, but not as a penguin? (2,3,2,3,5)
ON TOP OF THE WORLD – Polar bears living in the Arctic (at the top of the world) and penguins living at the bottom of the world

23a    Beauty drunk and I found in people (8)
RADIANCE – An anagram (drunk) of AND I ‘found in’ RACE (people)

25a    Change last of letters: bad speller? (6)
SWITCH – S (the last letter of letters) WITCH (bad speller)

26a    Each dish eaten by one (6)
APIECE – PIE (dish) ‘eaten’ by ACE (one)

27a    Child star on the radio? (3)
SON – A homophone (on the radio) of SUN (star)

28a    Basic unit in half the dictionary? (4)
ATOM – A TO M being the first half of the dictionary

Down

1d    Croaky animal, we hear? (6)
HOARSE – A homophone (we hear) of HORSE (animal)

2d    Shocking colours joining rave (8)
FLAGRANT – FLAG (colours) RANT (rave)

3d    Possible location of panic button, illegal (5-3-7)
UNDER-THE-COUNTER – without the hyphens a description of where you might find a panic button

4d    Old king has put foot down over broody female (7)
STEPHEN – This reminds me of teaching no 1 son how to spell his name – with a STEP (put foot down) over HEN (broody female)

5d    SOS! A first mate in stormy waters off Italy (6,2,7)
STRAIT OF MESSINA – An anagram (stormy) of SOS A FIRST MATE

6d    Join up squiggly lines, ending in portrait (6)
ENLIST – An anagram (squiggly) of LINES followed by the T at the end of portrait

7d    Beloved possession of Robin Hood, did you say? (4)
BEAU – Another homophone (did you say?) of BOW (possession of Robin Hood)

14d    Manage string of performances (3)
RUN – Double definition

16d    Rising shortly, dub knight, perhaps? (3)
MAN – Truncate (shortly) a reversed NAMe (dub)

18d    Tough rotting in gaol under house (8)
HOOLIGAN- An anagram (rotting) of IN GAOL goes under HO (house)

19d    Finally grasping conclusion of debate, if nothing else (2,5)
AT LEAST – AT LAST (finally) ‘grasping’ the E at the conclusion of debatE

21d    Extract of ‘Chicago’, live rehearsal for musical (6)
OLIVER – Lurking in an extract of ChicagO LIVE Rehearsal

22d    Reader sees voter blowing top (6)
LECTOR – Blow the top off or remove the first letter from eLECTOR (voter)

24d    Mountain range spread endlessly upwards (4)
ALPS – Take the end off SPLAY (spread) and then reverse (upwards) what’s left