Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30521
A full review by crypticsue
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This puzzle was published on 27th January 2024
BD Rating – Difficulty *– Enjoyment ***
Donnybrook set us a nice friendly Prize Puzzle, perfect for a busy Saturday
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought
Across
1a Ocean-going craft? (10)
SEAMANSHIP – The art (craft) of handling ships at sea
6a Too much duck for German fellow (4)
OTTO – OTT (over the top, too much) O (Duck in cricket scoring)
10a Baa-Baas‘ mindless followers? (5)
SHEEP – What children would call baa-baas or some mindless followers. A number of commenters on Saturday had to have their comments redacted as there was quite a bit of chat about whether Baa-Baas referred to the Barbarians rugby team. I’m not entirely convinced they are correct but ….??
11a Depraved sort Royal Engineers will copy? (9)
REPROBATE – RE (Royal Engineers) PROBATE (an official copy of a will)
12a Traveller in storm on Russian plane (7)
MIGRANT – RANT (storm) on MIG (Russian plane)
13a Sherwood friar with fault eats heartily (5,2)
TUCKS IN – TUCK (the friar who was part of Robin Hood’s band of merry men in Sherwood Forest followed by SIN (fault)
14a State where man’s hip replaced (3,9)
NEW HAMPSHIRE – An anagram (replaced) of WHERE MANS HIP
18a Equipment used in the services? (6,6)
TENNIS RACKET – the services being part of a game of tennis
21a I rang AA — convertible in river! (7)
NIAGARA – An anagram (convertible) of I RANG AA
23a Keep watch (7)
OBSERVE – Double definition
24a Opera role — got it wrong! (9)
RIGOLETTO – An anagram (wrong) of ROLE GOT IT
25a Penny in loveless marriage finds release (5)
UNPIN – P (penny) in UNIoN (marriage) without the O (‘love’ less)
26a Story having thread? (4)
YARN – Double definition
27a One delivering curtains for us? (4,6)
GRIM REAPER – A cryptic definition of the personification of death (curtains)
Down
1d Shell of some identical seed (6)
SESAME – The ‘shell’ of SomE followed by SAME (identical)
2d Retaliate for destruction of Geneva (6)
AVENGE – An anagram (destruction) of GENEVA
3d How vowels are used by Artemidorus? (14)
ALPHABETICALLY – ArtEmIdOrUs
4d Reach emergency room — on this! (9)
STRETCHER – STRETCH (reach) ER (Emergency Room)
5d One fanatic seizing power makes contribution (5)
INPUT – I (Roman numeral for one) NUT (fanatic) ‘seizing’ P (power)
7d Carry Mike in Ford van? (8)
TRANSMIT – The letter represented by Mike in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet inserted into a Ford TRANSIT van
8d Hero’s lover beneath old tree (8)
OLEANDER – O (old) LEANDER (the lover of the Greek priestess Hero)
9d Mix correct as we use condiment (9,5)
WORCESTER SAUCE – An anagram (mix) of CORRECT AS WE USE People got very aeriated about the condiment not having its full name – Worcestershire Sauce. All I can say is that when I worked in our local pub what seems a very long time ago now, we would always ask if people wanted Worcester Sauce with their tomato juice. Although back in the 1800s Lea & Perrins tried to register the name Worcestershire Sauce for their sole use, a judge disagreed. It is interesting to note, however, that most other versions of the Sauce use the solution as the product name
15d Charlie in riotous romcom is miniature model (9)
MICROCOSM – The letter represented by Charlie in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet inserted into an anagram (riotous) of ROMCOM IS
16d Mean to consume mostly raw fish (8)
STINGRAY – STINGY (mean) to ‘consume’ most of RAw
17d Put at risk peacemaking counsel? (8)
ENDANGER – Peacemaking counsel would be to END ANGER
19d Support for new setter? (4,2)
PROP UP – PRO (for) PUP (new setter)
20d On the radio, male voice for £10 (6)
TENNER – A homophone (on the radio) of TENOR (male voice)
22d Change found in contractual terms (5)
ALTER – Hidden in the last two words of the clue