Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 25978 – Review
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
The difficulty of this puzzle was about average for a Saturday Telegraph. I didn’t enjoy this one much because there seemed to be quite a few problems of various kinds with the clues. So let’s get down to business.
Across | |
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1 | Taking part in an oral examination (7) |
TASTING – a weakish CD | |
5 | Impact family made on one from the country (7) |
BUMPKIN – BUMP = impact, KIN=family. The word “on” in the clue is “surface padding” – it’s superfluous in the cryptic reading. | |
9 | Picture book theory used by the press (15) |
PHOTOJOURNALISM – the wordplay is a nice charade of PHOTO=picture, JOURNAL=book, ISM=theory, but the definition – “used by the press” – isn’t very precise or interesting. | |
10 | Sorry, nothing works! (4) |
OOPS – O=nothing,OPS=works from the abbreviation Op. for Opus=work | |
11 | Rocky inlet just starting to enter crossing-place (5) |
FJORD = J (just starting) in FORD=crossing-place. Not a very convincing surface – can an inlet enter a crossing place? | |
12 | Be successful going round Hungary for gorse (4) |
WHIN = another word for gorse – H in WIN | |
15 | Only small compartment for its driver (7) |
MINICAB – a weak definition for which TAXICAB seems a perfectly valid answer though MINICAB is also MINI=small,CAB=compartment. | |
16 | Steam is bothering painter (7) |
MATISSE = anag. of “steam is” | |
17 | Musical minimum? (1-6) |
G-STRING – a clue that doesn’t work for me. I guess the idea is that a G string is a minimal requirement for a roughly functioning violin, being its lowest string, as used in the “Air on the G string” (though this turns out only to be truly “on the G string” in a special version). This seems a lot of musical stuff for the benefit of an unexciting clue. | |
19 | Round permutation of ciphers (7) |
SPHERIC = anag. of ciphers | |
21 | Wean off afresh (4) |
ANEW = anag. of “wean”. And what on earth does “wean off afresh” mean? | |
22 | Work for one’s bread (5) |
KNEAD – gentle CD, but a clue that works. | |
23 | Wow, there’s zero first on the curve (4) |
OGEE – O=zero,GEE=wow, and an ogee is a curve. But “on” is making another appearance as surface padding. | |
26 | Get mad and take a dive (2,3,3,4,3) |
GO OFF THE DEEP END – 2 definitions | |
27 | Two beasts revealing rare metal (7) |
WOLFRAM = Tungsten = WOLF+RAM – a clue which is as old as the hills. | |
28 | Failure to exercise a right by nurse on shift (3-4) |
NON-USER = anag. of “nurse on” – and a failure to exercise a legal right. “nurse on shift” to indicate the anagram is nicely done. | |
Down | |
1 | Bar drunken tramp pinching pair of spectacles (7) |
TAPROOM – OO in anag. of tramp. “Pair of spectacles” for OO works in a couple of ways – pictorially, or as a name for a pair of ducks in cricket. | |
2 | Winning first prize for dredging pond (8,3,4) |
SCOOPING THE POOL – 2 defs | |
3 | Press club (4) |
IRON – 2 defs | |
4 | Lucky thing in well-paid employment (4,3) |
GOOD JOB – 2 defs | |
5 | Herbert Ramsay’s middle name? (7) |
BERTRAM – hidden in the (exact) middle of “Herbert Ramsay” | |
6 | Keep channel circumventing it (4) |
MOAT – the channel circumventing a keep. Clue relies on bizarre word order – you’re reading a “Puzzle article describing it”. | |
7 | How sir gains advancement on board? (7,8) |
KNIGHT’S PROGRESS – cryptic definition referring to the chess meaning – a sequence of moves in which a knight visits every square of a chess board. | |
8 | Candidate found there was no motorway in Spain repeatedly (7) |
NOMINEE – NO=no,M=motorway,IN=in,2xE=Spain (IVR). At least some of “found there was” has to count as surface padding. | |
13 | Did not finish writing certificate (5) |
SCRIP = SCRIP(t) – script being writing, and scrip a share certificate | |
14 | Not starting to be spiteful when needing to scratch (5) |
ITCHY = (b)ITCHY | |
17 | Gags owl fluttering over large built-up area (7) |
GLASGOW = anag. of “Gags owl”. Another poor surface – gagging an owl is so improbable that the anagram is obvious. | |
18 | Encouraging Hamish to take in fabric (7) |
GINGHAM – hidden. | |
19 | Substitute’s never-ending status (5-2) |
STAND-IN = STANDIN(g) | |
20 | Charlie had red sort of cheese (7) |
CHEDDAR – C=Charlie (radio alphabet),+anag. of “had red”. | |
24 | Are endlessly surrounding footballers from a distance (4) |
AFAR = A(F.A.)R(e). | |
25 | Protein coming from Zambia, East Indies and Norway (4) |
ZEIN = Z,E.I.,N – thanks to Dave on Satuday for the information that this stuff comes from maize. I just recalled -EIN as a protein ending (e.g. casein, olein) and let the obvious wordplay do the rest. |
Thank you for posting this. I’m taking the approach that as i keep on working through these solutions, I’ll get better at these crosswords. In fact, I did actually manage to get one or two on my own!
What a sheltered life you must have lived, Peter, to be unaware of the non-musical meaning of “G-string”.
Your friend Google take you straight to a helpful Wikipedia illustration of “the minimum”.
Not that sheltered – it just seemed that “minimum” wasn’t terribly convincing for a tiny bit of clothing. But this picture at amazon.com suggests that there is such a usage – and on reflection, it would have been less contrived than the violin idea.
Just found this blog. Nice work BD.
Also just picked this crossword up a week late. By far the easiest Saturday Telegraph xword in ages. Completed all but ‘Non-User’ in under 10 minutes (a good rate for me). However, fairly pedestrian clues which I found rather unsatisfying.