ST 2507

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2507

A full analysis by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****

With Peter Biddlecombe on holiday, the pleasure of writing the review passes back to me for a couple of weeks. This was another excellent puzzle, such a pity that, based on blog page views, this is the least solved Telegraph crossword of the week.

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Across

1a Scattered the rice, initially, in all directions (6)
STREWN – a word meaning scattered is made up from the initial letters of The Rice inside S, E, W and N (all four points of the compass)

4a Piece of oak, say, used in old ship (6)
BARQUE – an old ship that sounds like (say) BARK (piece of oak) – I’m still not sure about “used in” which appears to be padding

8a Finally respect monarch less, such as Victoria (8)
TERMINUS – a charade of T (finally respecT) ER (monarch) and MINUS (less) make a place such as Victoria Station

10a Bishop managed church section (6)
BRANCH – this is a charade of B(ishop) RAN (managed) and CH(urch) to give a section

11a What differentiates man and many people in general? (4)
THEY – answer the question “What differentiates man and many?” and you have THE Y; put them together and you get people in general

12a Repeatedly note fall that’s reducing human resources (5,5)
BRAIN DRAIN – B (note) + RAIN (fall) repeated as D (note) RAIN (fall) gives a reduction in human resources

13a Problem for author revising rawer script about maiden (7,5)
WRITER’S CRAMP – this problem for an author is an anagram (revising) of RAWER SCRIPT around M(aiden) – it’s just occurred to me that this means putting writer’s crap around m!!

16a A peer out late, misbehaving, such as Lord Tennyson (4,8)
POET LAUREATE – an anagram (misbehaving) of A PEER OUT LATE gives a person of whom Lord Tennyson is an example

20a Henry James, for example, getting coins as royalty (10)
SOVEREIGNS – Henry and James are examples of sovereigns and they are also coins – is “royalty” a third definition?

21a No good coming ultimately from farewell performance one gives (4)
SOLO – take N(o) and G(ood) away from SO LO(NG) (farewell) to get a performance given by one person

22a Kind of yarn that’s new in ancient marketplace (6)
ANGORA – a kind of yarn made partly or wholly of Angora rabbit hair is derived by putting N(ew) inside AGORA (a marketplace in Ancient Greece)

23a Study hard, mostly badly, part of every week (8)
THURSDAY – an anagram (badly) of most of STUDY HAR(D) gives a day that is part of every week

24a Happened to have awfully cruel character (6)
BEFELL – a word meaning happened could be construed as BE FELL (have awfully cruel character)

25a Habitual user of commercial reference book, in short (6)
ADDICT – an habitual user is derived from AD (commercial) followed by DICT(ionary) (reference book, in short)

Down

1d Sky viewer delighted by brilliant late show? (8)
SHEPHERD – an excellent cryptic definition alluding to the weather-lore rhyme:

Red sky at night; shepherds delight,
Red sky in the morning; shepherds warning

2d Strange diversion for people holding hands (5)
RUMMY – a double definition – strange and a card game (diversion for people holding hands)

3d One doesn’t normally get a brew in this drinking-place (4,3)
WINE BAR – a cryptic definition??!!

5d Country included in international ban I activated (7)
ALBANIA – this country is hidden inside (included in) internationAL BAN I Activated – it wouldn’t be a Sunday puzzle without a hidden answer!

6d Greatly increase court power, within law (9)
QUADRUPLE – a word meaning to greatly increase is constructed from QUAD (court) followed by P(ower) inside RULE (law)

7d Bad clue I had for mathematician (6)
EUCLID – an anagram (bad) of CLUE is followed by I’D (I had) to get this famous mathematician – note that I’D / I HAD is not part of the anagram fodder, a convention followed by all good setters to avoid the iniquitous indirect anagram (see also the treatment of maiden in 13 across)

9d It illuminates land under damaged arches (11)
SEARCHLIGHT – this lamp and reflector throwing a strong beam of light for illuminating a target or quarry by night is derived by putting LIGHT (alight / land) under (yes, it’s a down clue) an anagram (damaged) of ARCHES

14d Warned and struck, subsequently not working (6,3)
TIPPED OFF – a phrasal verb meaning warned comes from TIPPED (struck) followed by (subsequently) OFF (not working) – Chambers has this tip (4) as a transitive verb meaning to strike lightly but definitely or to hit glancingly

15d Loyal supporter having broken law during kick-off (8)
STALWART – this loyal supporter is constructed from an anagram (broken) of LAW inside (during) START (kick-off)

17d ‘Watch closely,’ I shout, as you can hear (7)
EYEBALL – a word meaning to watch closely sounds like (as you can hear) I BAWL (I shout)

18d Leaders of union are perceived by audience as weak (7)
UNSOUND – UN (leaders of UNion) SOUND (are perceived by audience) as UNSOUND (weak)

19d Harrow’s first old boy and head mix socially (6)
HOBNOB – a charade of H(arrow’s first) OB (old boy) and NOB (head) gives a word meaning to mix socially

21d Southern states collectively greeting food from East (5)
SUSHI – we finish on another charade S(outhern) US (United States / states collectively) and HI (greeting) giving a Japanese dish of small cakes of cold vinegared rice topped with fish, vegetables, egg, etc. (food from East)