ST 3144

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3144

A full review by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

This puzzle was published on 23^rd January 2022

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Another Dada Sunday Prize Puzzle which I didn’t find half as difficult as others seemed to on the day of publication

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

7a    Day proceeds for warship (7)
FRIGATE – FRI (Friday, day) GATE (proceeds)

8a    Snack, small potatoes (7)
PEANUTS – A snack or an American expression meaning anything of no great worth

10a    Every second, a bird comes in dead (9)
ALTERNATE – A (from the clue) and a TERN (bird) inserted in LATE (dead)

11a    Room in the cooler orchestra originally for stringed instrument (5)
CELLO – CELL (room in the cooler – American slang for a military jail) O (orchestra originally)

12a    Basic food, lolly (5)
BREAD – Basic food or a slang term for money (as is lolly)

13a    Mosquito, say, in open area dancing around lady’s head (9)
AEROPLANE – An anagram (dancing) of OPEN AREA ‘around’ L (the head of Lady)

15a    Put out about untamed pet crocodile, say (7)
REPTILE – RILE (put out) goes ‘about’ an anagram (untamed) of PET

17a    Intensify a brief moment for lover (7)
FANATIC – FAN (intensify) A (from the clue) TICk (brief telling you to truncate the moment)

18a    Pour in an Italian drink for starters (9)
ANTIPASTI – TIP (pour) goes between AN (from the clue) and ASTI (Italian drink)

20a    Stage imperfection in audition? (5)
FLOOR – A homophone (in audition) of FLAW (imperfection)

21a    Narrow part of delta, perhaps (5)
TAPER – Hidden in delTA PERhaps

23a    Eccentric mentions a US state (9)
MINNESOTA – An anagram (eccentric) of MENTIONS A

24a    Note in dispute lacking content, let down (7)
DEFLATE – E FLAT (note) in the outside (lacking content) letters of DisputE

25a    Stand in centre, roughly on left (7)
LECTERN – An anagram (roughly) of CENTRE goes on or after L (left)

Down

1d    Delight greeting actor in short (3,3,4)
HIT THE SPOT – HI (greeting) THESPian (actor in short), the latter inserted into TOT (short)

2d    Bag cardinal blessed (6)
SACRED – SAC (bag) RED (cardinal)

3d    State governed the wrong way, alert (8)
DELAWARE – A reversal (the wrong way) of LED (governed) followed by AWARE (alert)

4d    Look to be a noble, did you say? (6)
APPEAR – A homophone (did you say?) of A PEER (a noble)

5d    Impertinence over God — one might need to put a lid on that! (8)
SAUCEPAN – SAUCE (impertinence) goes over (in a Down solution) PAN (god)

6d    Male target in board game? (4)
BULL – A male of several species of animal or a target in a board game [darts]

7d    Shocked as fat on bread gets spread (13)
FLABBERGAST – FLAB (fat) on an anagram (spread) of BREAD GETS

9d    Thin sheet one reveals, the end cut (6,7)
SHOWER CURTAIN – SHOWER (one who reveals) and a truncated CURTAINs (the end)

14d    Person observing Venus perhaps, or Mars, not bothered about Earth initially (10)
ASTRONOMER – An anagram (bothered) of OR MARS NOT goes ‘about’ E (Earth initially)

16d    August, and current’s rising in force (8)
IMPERIAL – A reversal (rising) of AIR (current) inserted into IMPEL (force)

17d    Warm in Rhode Island, back bitten by insect (8)
FRIENDLY – RI (Rhode Island) END (back) inserted into (bitten by) FLY (insect)

19d    Person totting up halcyon days? (6)
SUMMER – Double definition

20d    Slave put up first of Caravaggios, old painting on wall (6)
FRESCO – A reversal (put up) of SERF (slave) followed by the first letter of Caravaggios and the abbreviation for Old

22d    Up towards the sky, very strong smoke (4)
PUFF – A reversal (towards the sky) of UP (from the clue) followed by FF (very strong)