Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25948 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A pretty sound puzzle of moderate difficulty. No grid gripes, no geography, no arbitary people. Rejoice! Well, there are some gripes below but it feels like fewer than usual.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Dislike of French means of trial (6) |
| DETEST – DE=”of French”,TEST – a sound starter | |
| 4 | Reportedly breaks the spirit (8 ) |
| SCHNAPPS = “snaps”. Or not. I get cross with some folk who moan about dodgy homophones, but this one really is a dud. “sh” and “s” are different noises and you can surely bridge the gap with something about drunken pronunciation, specially when the next clue is … | |
| 9 | Bar drink (6) |
| BUMPER – 2 defs – a car bumper which is a bar, and a cup/glass filled to the brim for toasting – if the container is full of drink, I don’t mind “drink” being used to define it. | |
| 10 | Anita met hysteria holding purple gem (8 ) |
| AMETHYST – hidden | |
| 11 | One or two birds, the kakapo (3-6) |
| OWL-PARROT – an alternative name for this bird, featured recently on the BBC’s South Pacific programme | |
| 13 | Composer Ravel’s returned with change of heart (5) |
| LEHAR – reversal of Ravel with new middle letter. If you think you don’t know any Lehar, try “Vilja-lied” on Youtube. | |
| 14 | Refused to take arson seriously (4,5,2,2) |
| MADE LIGHT OF IT – gentle but entertaining CD | |
| 17 | Crossing frontiers to cover the race (13) |
| INTERNATIONAL – INTER=cover,NATIONAL=race – ‘cover’ is a tad vague but the rest is fairly easy. I assume the race is the colloquial version of the Grand National, though it also works for the climax of the English cross-country season and probably some others. | |
| 21 | River and loch bird (5) |
| OUSE=various rivers,L=Loch as well as Lake (and Lough). The ousel is a bird – that’s all you need to know about it for xwd purposes where it must be the only O?S?L option. | |
| 23 | Sees Latin translation as vital (9) |
| ESSENTIAL – anag | |
| 24 | Pessimistic part of music (8 ) |
| DOWNBEAT – 2 defs | |
| 25 | Will left it (6) |
| LEGACY – which doesn’t quite work for me as a will doesn’t leave a legacy – the will just records it. If it’s supposed to be 2 def’s, then “left it” doesn’t work for me. | |
| 26 | Went in front after outcast turned back filled with distaste (8 ) |
| REPELLED – REPEL=leper rev.,LED | |
| 27 | Petty officer sure upsetting show-off (6) |
| POSEUR – P.O.+anag. of ‘sure’. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | One who has yet to settle (6) |
| DEBTOR – CD based on settle = “pay up” | |
| 2 | Occasion to restrict period allowed (4-5) |
| TIME LIMIT – TIME=occasion,LIMIT=restrict | |
| 3 | Enquiry agent of course (7) |
| STEWARD – CD based on “Stewards’ Enquiry” at a race-course | |
| 5 | How wrestler will tackle the job (4,2,5) |
| COME TO GRIPS – 2 defs, slightly baffling if you’re like me and think it’s “get to grips”, but the dictionaries have both | |
| 6 | Not allowed to accept fifth-rate paper (7) |
| NOTELET – E=”fifth-rate” in “NOT,LET=allowed” | |
| 7 | Stimulate one with behavioural disorder no end (5) |
| PSYCH – as in “psych up”, from PSYCH(o) | |
| 8 | Soak on Saturday using salt (8 ) |
| SATURATE – Sat. + URATE = a salt of uric acid. If you see “salt”, an -ATE ending is worth a try, especially if it matches checking letters. | |
| 12 | Free time for one confined (7,4) |
| RELEASE DATE – gentle CD | |
| 15 | I am fluent about thunder (9) |
| FULMINATE – anag. Fine on the cryptic reading, but the surface is poor. | |
| 16 | Riders do recreate confusion (8) |
| DISORDER – anag. But can “X recreate” really indicate an anagram of X? | |
| 18 | Tag on for at least the second time (7) |
| RELABEL – cryptic def or def plus some allusive stuff. A bit poor as “tag on” and “put tag on” are not really the same thing. “Tag for at least …” would have been fairer. | |
| 19 | The lady’s caught in impossibility by one who is not a brave man (3-4) |
| NON-HERO – “her” = “the lady” in no-no | |
| 20 | Golfer? (6) |
| PLAYER – 2 defs, one being Gary P who was a rival of Palmer and Nicklaus 40-odd years ago. My favourite among today’s clues. | |
| 22 | How seamstress will secure satisfactory result? (3,2) |
| SEW UP = the same thing as “stitch up” – another defintion (secure satisfactory result) plus extra material – the seamstress for the more obvious meaning of “sew”. | |