Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30203
A full review by crypticsue
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This puzzle was published on 21st January 2023
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A surprise return from Chalicea with, what I thought was, a slightly trickier Prize Puzzle than usual
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Freedom in empty pretentious truisms (10)
PLATITUDES – LATITUDE (freedom) inserted into the outside (empty) letters of PretentiouS
6a Long salesperson’s talk lacking power (4)
ITCH – pITCH (salesperson’s talk) without (lacking) the abbreviation for Power
10a Fool at university could be swot (3,2)
MUG UP – MUG (fool) UP (at university)
11a Sordid stuff: tweet, we hear, going for a song (4,5)
DIRT CHEAP – DIRT (sordid stuff) and a homophone (we hear) of CHEEP (tweet)
12a Made clothes for Dior et al, unusually (8)
TAILORED – An anagram (unusually) of DIOR ET AL
13a Inspiration seen in opera, ‘Tosca’ (5)
ERATOR – The Greek Muse of Love Poetry is seen in opERA TOsca
15a Boasting of a daughter in good show (7)
BRAVADO – A (from the clue) D (Daughter) inserted in BRAVO (good show)
17a Bullfighter turned to drama (7)
MATADOR – An anagram (turned) of TO DRAMA
19a Write sad poem the Spanish say is trite, ultimately (7)
ELEGISE – EL (Spanish definite article) EG (say) IS (from the clue) E (the ultimate letter of tritE
21a I’m clear about salvage (7)
RECLAIM – An anagram (about) of IM CLEAR
22a Arrangement of ornamental edges? Not edges! (5)
ORDER – bORDERs (ornamental edges) without their ‘edges’
24a One contemplating heartless go-between (8)
MEDIATOR – Remove the letter in the middle (heartless) of MEDItATOR
27a Repeatedly elected to protect Turkey, so critical (9)
INTRINSIC – Insert TR (the IVR code for Turkey) between two lots of IN (elected repeatedly) and follow with SIC (so, thus)
28a Control movements of river in steep descent (5)
DRIVE – R (river) inserted into DIVE (steep descent)
29a Twice cook old bird (4)
DODO – DO (cook) ‘twice’
30a Authority to sell wood going to royal vessel (10)
DEALERSHIP – DEAL (wood) ER (royal cipher) SHIP (vessel)
Down
1d Quiz group of top umpires (4)
PUMP – Hidden in toP UMPires
2d Unfinished tomb coated in marble compound (9)
AGGRAVATE – Compound in the sense of make worse – GRAVe (an ‘unfinished’ tomb) inserted in (coated) AGATE (marble)
3d Get going and, using every second, firm up belly (5)
IMPEL – Every second letter of fIrM uP bElLy
4d Short of work experience (7)
UNDERGO – UNDER (short of) GO (work)
5d A noble estate (7)
EARLDOM – The lands held by an Earl (noble)
7d Letter of thanks following article (5)
THETA – TA (thanks) following THE (definite article)
8d Circus school in trendy capital (10)
HIPPODROME – POD (school, of whales for example) inserted between IN (trendy) and ROME (capital of Italy)
9d City allowed to keep Conservative in charge, being diverse (8)
ECLECTIC – EC (the postcode area of the City of London) LET (allowed) between which is inserted (to keep) C (Conservative), the result finished with IN (in charge)
14d Robust, skilful lad losing energy finally perished (4-6)
ABLE-BODIED – ABLE (skilful) BOy (lad without the Y at the end of energy) DIED (perished)
16d Environmental concern, a constant international depletion of resources (4,4)
ACID RAIN – A (from the clue) C (constant) I (international) DRAIN (depletion of resources)
18d Fierce doctor: brief pain is hard (9)
DRAGONISH – DR (doctor) AGONy (brief or truncated pain) IS (from the clue) H (hard)
20d Change man sees in a group (2,5)
EN MASSE – An anagram (change) of MAN SEES
21d Placid artist turned up, showing original (7)
RADICAL – Hidden in reverse (turned up) in pLACID ARtist
23d Old-fashioned father drinking endless cha (5)
DATED – DAD (father) ‘drinking’ TEa (cha without its end letter)
25d Calculating person‘s a treacherous type (5)
ADDER – Someone who calculates or a venomous snake (treacherous type)
26d Secret look back to find castle (4)
KEEP – A reversal (back) of a PEEK (secret look)
We found this trickier than usual, but having managed to finally complete it after multiple re-visits, can’t see why! Challenging and enjoyable, thanks Chalicea and CS. Looking forward to the next one.
3*/4*….
liked 6A ” Long salesperson’s talk lacking power (4)”