Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2473 – Review
A full analysis by Big Dave
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
As I wrote on Sunday, this puzzle didn’t leave me feeling disappointed as previous Sunday crosswords have. While not easy, there was satisfaction to be derived from solving some of the clues, although rather too many of them were double definitions. And as for 23 down, I look forward to reading your views.
Across
7a Well dressed as a baby girl will be (2,3,4)
IN THE PINK – a nice easy cryptic definition to get the puzzle started
8a What’s this I see? Blast! A hole! (5)
HELLO (what’s this I see – as in hello, hello, hello) – HELL (blast!) O (a hole) – from the number of times this came up on answer forums this one foxed quite a few
10a Life-line (6)
CAREER – a double definition
11a Cultured and by no means dull (8)
POLISHED – another double definition
12a Instrument a one-man band won’t have? (3-3)
TOM-TOM – a cryptic definition – there are two Toms, so there must be more than one man in the band
14a When the twit returns, go for something to eat (6)
PASTRY (something to eat) – SAP (twit) reversed (returns) TRY (go)
16a Turned mad from shock (4)
STUN (shock) – NUTS (mad) reversed (turned) – an old crossword chestnut
17a Food is something you can’t live without (5)
PULSE – a double definition – a type of food that includes peas and beans; something we all have (can’t live without)
18a Occupation and rank (4)
LINE – a double definition – a job or occupation; a rank or file
19a Someone sticking pins into, to make talk (6)
JABBER – another double definition – fairly obvious once you’ve seen it
21a Go on! It’s only a skeleton! (6)
RESUME – the third double definition in a row – continue (go on); as résumé, an outline (skeleton)
24a Put in the class “Recorded Material” (8)
CASSETTE (recorded material) – SET (put – a regular synonym pair) inside CASTE (social class)
26a “Seeking company, fifty-one, lady.” Cut the ad out (6)
LONELY (seeking company / as in lonely hearts) – L (50 in Roman numerals) ONE LY (L(ad)Y, cut the ad out) – reasonably easy to spot because of the contrived nature of the clue
27a What the devil became of my French translation? (5)
DEMON (devil) – DE MON (of my, French)
28a Eat your words when you escape via the ladder (5,4)
CLIMB DOWN – yet another double definition – and fairly easy to spot
Down
1d Don’t let people hear you spill the beans (5)
SNEAK – we start the down clues with, guess what, a double definition
2d It facilitates entry into Oxford (8)
SHOEHORN – Oxford can describe a shirt or, as here, a shoe – old-fashioned terms live on in crosswords
3d Tears up. It shows courage (6)
SPIRIT (courage) – RIPS (tears) reversed (up) IT – there seem to be ten down-clue only constructs for every across one
4d Still game (4) [newspaper] or Flash game (4) [online]
SNAP – guess what? a double definition – neither clue is particularly good but both do the job
5d Kids like going into the stands (6)
TEASES (kids) – AS (like – you need to remember this synonym, it gets used a lot) inside (going into) TEES (the stands for golf balls, another crossword favourite)
6d Plan to go to a sad picture (9)
BLUEPRINT (plan) – BLUE (sad) PRINT (picture)
9d Pass round and see getting jittery about (6)
ELAPSE (pass) – an anagram (getting jittery) of SEE around (about) LAP (round)
13d Runner making a comeback in the preliminary event (5)
MILER (runner) -reversed (making a comeback) hidden in (in) the pRELIMinary event
15d Ploy to start organising a really big rising (9)
STRATAGEM (ploy) – an anagram (organising) of START then MEGA (really big) reversed (rising – down clue again!) – while not particularly difficult, I liked this one
17d Did such ships travel at a good pace? (6)
PIRATE (such ships) – RATE (pace) after PI (good, as in pious – another one to remember)
18d From the large one made squash: a soft drink (8)
LEMONADE (soft drink) – an anagram (made squash – quite clever) of L(arge) ONE MADE
20d Award to the winner a ballpoint (6)
BESTOW (award) – BEST (the winner) O (ball) W (point) – when two words in the construct are run together it can be a little difficult to spot; with this one the crossing letters make it a bit easier
22d Dancer who had love crazed males captivated (6)
SALOME (dancer – her of the seven veils) – O (love) inside (captivated) an anagram (crazed) of MALES
23d How the current theory is exploded? (5)
BLOWN – a double definition? – exploded is blown, but I’m not sure about the rest: is it to do with blown fuses, air currents? – you tell me how you read this one
25d She got the male and the female from Spain (4)
ELLA (she) – EL (masculine as in el toro – the bull) LA (feminine as in la vaca – the cow)
Well, that’s it. A definite improvement on recent Sunday puzzles. What do you think?
For 23 down, there ia a slang saying “to blow away”, which has one meaning – “to disprove a theory”. So, I suppose that if your theory is “blown” it is “exploded”, in that it is disproved.
This crossword does seem to (regularly) have a few such tenuous clues.
Rollo
I nearly posted this:
“wave theory noun (physics) – the theory, no longer widely held, that light or other radiation is transmitted only in the form of waves” where for wave read current.
Your explanation is much better.
23d. I took to be a reference to current theory used in electricity.
When an electrical circuit is “exploded” it is in effect a blown circuit. My 2c.
Re 4d. Still game (4) I looked at this as (still) being a photo plate ie snap which is also a childs’ card game.
I still (pun intended) don’t think it’s very good!