Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3100
A full review by crypticsue
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
This puzzle was published on 21st March 2021
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
One of those Dada puzzles that started off seemingly difficult but ended up not so hard at all. Once again, however hard the clues are to solve, I find Dada’s clues the easiest to explain
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a Make minimal effort while in bed (5)
COAST – AS (while) in COT (bed)
4a Taste kiss (5)
SMACK – Double definition
10a A swine hiding in a load of wood (8)
MAHOGANY – A HOG (swine) ‘hiding’ in MANY (a load)
11a Person who carries drink (6)
PORTER – Double definition, the second being a type of beer
12a Nut overcome, reportedly? (6)
CONKER – A homophone (reportedly) of CONQUER (overcome)
13a Lofty music perhaps including organ playing (8)
ARROGANT – ART (music perhaps) ‘including’ an anagram (playing) of ORGAN
14a Weakness in love borne by primate (7)
LANGUOR – O (love) ‘borne’ by LANGUR (primate)
16a Bring together African country on the radio? (6)
GARNER – A homophone (on the radio) of GHANA (African country)
17a Gain attraction following teacher (6)
PROFIT – IT ([sexual] attraction) following PROF (teacher)
19a Weapon caused girl to bleed (7)
CUTLASS – CUT LASS (caused girl to bleed)
21a Enter lad disguised as a stag? (8)
ANTLERED – An anagram (disguised) of ENTER LAD
22a Clasp deer and baby, lying back (6)
BUCKLE – A reversal (lying back) of ELK (deer) and CUB (baby)
23a River runs into all hills of Rome, say? (6)
SEVERN – R (runs) into SEVEN (the number of hills of Rome)
24a Where one might bid without restraint (2,6)
IN SPADES – The start of the clue being a reference to the game of bridge
25a Pick up some lederhosen second-hand (5)
SENSE – Hidden in some lederhoSEN SEcond
26a Condition, say (5)
STATE – Double definition
Down
2d Where blackberry jam, for example, may be spread in a purple patch? (2,1,4)
ON A ROLL – Where you might spread jam
3d Present female member, possibly? (8,6)
STOCKING FILLER – A female leg (member) might be said to fill a stocking
5d Blossom yellowish in London thoroughfare (7)
MAYFAIR – MAY (blossom) FAIR (yellowish)
6d Parrot, just intellectual property (9)
COPYRIGHT – COPY (parrot) RIGHT (just)
7d Couple trim, by the sound of it? (4)
PAIR – Sounds like PARE (trim)
8d Sacred performance changing rate, or otherwise (9,5)
GREGORIAN CHANT – An anagram (otherwise) of CHANGING RATE OR
9d Envisage hosting a number, hundred — medium gathering (6)
SÉANCE – SEE (envisage) ‘hosting’ A (from the clue) N (number) C (Roman numeral for 100)
15d Nature etc destroyed, it’s said (9)
UTTERANCE – AN anagram (destroyed) of NATURE ETC
18d Make plaster (6)
RENDER – Double definition
19d People carrying clubs, rat gets squished! (7)
CADDIES – CAD (rat) DIES (gets squished)
20d A silent, confused chief (7)
SALIENT – An anagram (confused) of A SILENT
22d Party punch (4)
BASH – Double definition
Thanks to CS for the write-up.
The discovery of a knot in my handkerchief reminds me that I promised Senf to come back and report on why the 16a ‘homophone’ doesn’t work for millions of native English speakers round the world.
It’s standard practice among compilers (who mostly come from the South-East of England I imagine) to assume that nobody uses the rhotic R so that they get away with making ‘homophones’ like saw/sore, flaw/floor etc. Because I don’t want to be a serial whinger I usually just suck my teeth (to use a Tilsit expression) at these and move on.
Read this to find out just how many people round the world do pronounce the rhotic R in English
However, garner/Ghana is a particularly poor ‘homophone’ because garner has not one but two Rs, neither of which appear in Ghana. Yvonne’s comment on the day that this is ‘tortured’ is very apt since tortured also has two Rs and would presumably be pronounced something like tawchad by those who’ve lost the ability to pronounce the letter R.
Thanks Gazza. I am concluding that my expertise at pronunciation has been totally ruined by the amount of travelling around I have done including while serving HM which in itself included 8 years in Norfolk. Now, if you want to learn a ‘different language’ that’s a good county to start in!