ST 3172 (full review)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3172

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 7^th August 2022

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

A typical Dada Sunday crossword

Across

8a    One touching prickly thorns briefly (2,5)
IN SHORT – I (one) followed by (touching0 an anagram (prickly) of THORNS

10a    Testament, word of introduction for play (7)
OTHELLO – OT (Old Testament) HELLO (word of introduction)

11a    White pile ground down first (9)
SNOWDRIFT – An anagram (ground) of DOWN FIRST

12a    Large mammal with cry that’s audible? (5)
WHALE – A homophone (that’s audible) of WAIL (cry)

13a    Green water, ebbing (5)
NAÏVE – A reversal (ebbing) of EVIAN water

14a    Certain to eat first of food with it — a bellyful (7)
SURFEIT – SURE (certain) to ‘eat’ the first letter of Food, IT (from the clue) being added at the end

17a    American writer in West Germany, he travels (6,9)
ERNEST HEMINGWAY – An anagram (travels) of IN WEST GERMANY HE

19a    Resurgent publisher welcomes novel then (2,3,2)
ON THE UP – OUP (Oxford University Press – published) ‘welcomes’ an anagram (novel) of THEN

21a    Crooked when horizontal? (5)
LYING – Double definition

24a    Mark part of the intestine (5)
COLON – A punctuation mark or part of the intestine

26a    Large vessel left empty, article scoffed by pig (3,6)
OIL TANKER – the outside (empty) letters of LefT and A (article) ‘scoffed’ by OINKER (pig)

27a    Has that woman visited unlicensed bar? (7)
SHEBEEN – Has SHE (that woman) BEEN (visited)

28a    Revolutionary queen I love for so long (7)
CHEERIO – CHE (crosswordland’s favourite revolutionary) ER (regnal cipher of our current Queen) I (from the clue) O (love)

Down

1d    One line redacted in documents, working for old PM (6)
WILSON – WILlS (documents with one L for line redacted) followed by ON (working)

2d    Strangely, one isn’t a European (8)
ESTONIAN – An anagram (strangely) of ONE ISNT A

3d    Virtue has come after loss of business, I say! (8,2)
GOODNESS ME – GOODNESS (virtue) and coME (come without the (loss of) CO (company, business)

4d    Pass wobbly desk to man (4,3,2)
DON’T ASK ME – An anagram (wobbly) of DESK TO MAN

5d    Gradually soften what has melted (4)
THAW – An anagram (has melted) of WHAT

6d    Stick together — or split (6)
CLEAVE – A word which     has two opposing meanings

7d    City where group of witches go (8)
COVENTRY – COVEN (group of witches) TRY (go)

9d    Holiday dance (4)
TRIP – Double definition

15d    Item of jewellery, article for troublemaker (10)
RINGLEADER – RING (item of jewellery) LEADER (article in a newspaper)

16d    Cane and single bullet for collection (4-5)
WHIP-ROUND – WHIP (cane) ROUND (single bullet)

17d    Person downing the spirits? (8)
EXORCIST – A cryptic definition of someone getting rid of unwanted spirits

18d    Hairy spider’s ending in drink (8)
WHISKERY – The R at the end of spider inserted in WHISKEY (drink)

20d    Narrator, one working in bank (6)
TELLER – Double definition

22d    Hideous thing where no rum and water served up (6)
GORGON – A reversal (served up) of NO (from the clue) and GROG (rum and water)

23d    Alliance broken, leaving one cold initially (4)
BLOC – The initial letters of Broken Leaving One Cold

25d    Christmas book, middle torn out (4)
NOEL – NOvEL (book) with its middle ‘torn out’