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ST 3100

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3100

A full review by crypticsue

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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

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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

2 comments on “ST 3100

  1. 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.

    1. 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!

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