DT 30311 (Full Review)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30311

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 27^th May 2023

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

Another Saturday Prize Puzzle from Cephas

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Across

1a    Separate part that’s dry inside (6)
BISECT – SEC (dry, especially when applied to wine) inside BIT (part)

4a    Argue with guy eating last piece of white meat (5,3)
SPARE RIB – SPAR (argue) and RIB (guy in the sense of tease) ‘eating’ the last piece of whitE

10a    Catch handlebar perhaps, resulting in pain (9)
HEARTACHE – HEAR (catch) ‘TACHE (handlebar perhaps)

11a    Crow with feathers close to nest (5)
BOAST – BOAS (feathers) and the ‘close’ to nesT

12a    Again left repeatedly with old cherry (7)
MORELLO – MORE (again) L L (left ‘repeatedly’) O (old)

13a    See unit collapsing, forming a unit (2,5)
EN SUITE – An anagram (collapsing) of SEE UNIT

14a    Bird, an enormous creature (5)
TITAN – TIT (bird) AN (from the clue)

15a    Learned student: say it again (8)
LITERATE – L (learner, student) ITERATE (say it again)

18a    Running battle? (8)
MARATHON – A famous Greek battle giving its name to a running race

20a    Get knotted? Quite the reverse (5)
UNTIE – Undo a knot

23a    Credible changes when Republican ignored sound measure (7)
DECIBEL – An anagram (changes) of CrEDIBLE ignoring the abbreviation for Republican

25a    Swimmer hoping to develop into jumper (7)
TADPOLE – A cryptic definition clue

26a    Animal returning to the ark on a regular basis (5)
OTTER – A reversal (returning) of TO (from the clue) followed by the regular letters of ThE aRk

27a    Ordering a wild flower (3,6)
RIO GRANDE – An anagram (wild) of ORDERING A

28a    Gin Cathy spilt sailing (8)
YACHTING – An anagram (spilt) of GIN CATHY

29a    Feast before cutting down (6)
SPREAD – PRE (before) ‘cutting’ SAD (down in the sense of miserable)

Down

1d    Live male insect, monster (8)
BEHEMOTH – BE (live) HE (male) MOTH (insect)

2d    Fog coming from south-east a worry (3,4)
SEA FRET – SE (South-East) A (from the clue) FRET (worry)

3d    Queen perhaps and a lion travelling over a part of Spain (9)
CATALONIA – CAT (a female cat is known as a queen) A (from the clue) an anagram travelling of LION and another A from the clue

5d    Fate revealed before end of journey (14)
PRE$DESTINATION – The second appearance of PRE meaning before followed by DESTINATION (end of journey)

6d    Puzzle concerning statue that’s incomplete (5)
REBUS – RE (concerning) BUSt (incomplete statue)

7d    Boxer surrounded by others could be pragmatic kind of person (7)
REALIST – ALI (boxer) ‘surrounded by’ REST (others)

8d    Sailor turned up on the river, finding one taking a dip (6)
BATHER – A reversal (turned up) of AB (sailor) followed by THE (from the clue) and R (river)

9d    Hard to stop old chronicles being rewritten for pupils (14)
SCHOOLCHILDREN – H (hard) inserted into (to stop) an anagram (being rewritten) of OLD CHRONICLES

16d    Stumble after drinks for journey there and back again? (5,4)
ROUND TRIP – TRIP (stumble) goes after ROUND (drinks)

17d    Priest always in split (8)
REVEREND – EVER (always) inserted into REND (split)

19d    Self-denier like this Parisian having nervous reaction (7)
ASCETIC – AS (like) CE (French, as used in Paris, word for this) TIC (nervous reaction)

21d    Defeat their hollow measure (7)
TROUNCE – TR (the outside – hollow – letters of TheiR) OUNCE (measure)

22d    Foolishness, as I had oxygen in cold surroundings (6)
IDIOCY – ID (I had) O (chemical symbol for oxygen) inserted into ICY (cold)

24d    Frenchman’s top gear? (5)
BERET – A cryptic definition of what a typical Frenchman is supposed to wear on his ‘top’