DT 26112

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26112

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

If the recent Tuesday pattern is being maintained then this will be a Shamus puzzle, although I’ve no means of verifying that. We have a reasonable challenge today (though the number of place names may annoy some people), but I have a couple of quibbles.
Please leave a comment with your views or queries – let’s see if we can get a lively debate going!
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets. Just highlight the white space inside the brackets to reveal.

Across Clues

1a  Rebel’s first support for attack (4)
{RAID} – start with the first letter of rebel, then add a synonym for support or help to get an attack or incursion.

3a  A map girl is altering — and copy of text? (10)
{PLAGIARISM} – an anagram (altering) of A MAP GIRL IS produces a word that means copying someone else’s work and passing it off as one’s own.

8a  Hot drink taken around ship produces trouble (6)
{HASSLE} – put the letter standing for hot and a drink normally quaffed in pints around the usual abbreviation for ship and you end up with both a noun and a verb meaning trouble.

9a  Enthusiasm and knowledge about English investigator (8 )
{KEENNESS} – a synonym for enthusiasm is made from a (mainly Scottish) word for knowledge with E(nglish) inside, followed by the surname of the Federal Agent famous for enforcing the prohibition laws in the US and attempting to bring down Al Capone. He and his team were known as The Untouchables, which was also the title of the 1987 film in which he was played by Kevin Costner.

10a  A deputy following director for counsel (6)
{ADVICE} – start with A and add a prefix meaning deputy which follows the abbreviation of director.

11a  Nothing to introduce religious work — something lacking? (8 )
{OMISSION} – the letter that looks like zero (nothing) is followed by an attempt by a religious sect to indoctrinate others (often abroad), to form a noun meaning something left out.

12a  Good lie concocted ending in dodgy set of beliefs (8 )
{IDEOLOGY} – an anagram (concocted) of GOOD LIE is followed by the last letter of dodgy.

14a  Utter magazine backsliding (4)
{EMIT} – the title of a current-affairs magazine is reversed (backsliding).

16a  Some quicker bikes feature by pavement? (4)
{KERB} – hidden (some) in the clue is a word for the edge of the pavement.

18a  Doug and Ben relaxed around Liberal Club (8 )
{BLUDGEON} – an anagram (relaxed) of DOUG and BEN is put around L(iberal) to get the sort of club that can do a lot of damage.

19a  A food shop containing a couple of delicacies in foreign city (8 )
{ADELAIDE} – start with A and put another A inside a shop which sells cooked meats and cheeses, then finish with the first two letters (couple) of delicacies to end up with the capital of South Australia.

20a  Sweet drink close to kitchen? Trace is spilt (6)
{NECTAR} – a sweet drink (the beverage of the gods) is formed from the last letter (close) of kitchen followed by an anagram (spilt) of TRACE.

21a  Dry appeal exhibited in much of poet’s manner (8 )
{ATTITUDE} – put the abbreviation for teetotal (dry) and a short word standing for sex appeal inside the name (minus its last letter) of an Anglo-American poet of the last century and you end up with a synonym for manner.

22a  City left in middle of boom (6)
{OPORTO} – the name of this Portuguese city is constructed by putting the naval term for left inside the middle two letters of boom.

23a  Tough rogue behind tart (4-6)
{HARD-BITTEN} – a term meaning tough and cynical is an anagram (rogue) of BEHIND TART. Clever clue – I was initially convinced that I needed something starting with ACID.

24a  Sound of bird in wind (4)
{TURN} – a synonym for wind (the verb, not the noun) sounds like a type of bird.

Down Clues

1d  Train? Leaders of railway expand late transport (8 )
{REHEARSE} – the definition is train (as a verb) – start with the initial letters (leaders) of Railway Expand and add the name of a vehicle used to convey a coffin (late meaning dead in this case).

2d  Lower enthusiasm of inspector with energy (8 )
{DISPIRIT} – a detective inspector is a DI – add a synonym for energy or determination and you have a verb meaning to dishearten or discourage. I’m not keen on this clue – it seems to me that there’s a considerable overlap between enthusiasm and energy.

3d  Fragmentary calm heard over dinner, maybe (9)
{PIECEMEAL} – a word that sounds like (heard) peace comes before (over, in a down clue) the partaking of food, of which dinner is an example (maybe).

4d  Erudition shown by chaps in deed and expression of thanks (15)
{ACKNOWLEDGEMENT} – the definition is expression of thanks – put a synonym for erudition and another word for chaps inside ACT (deed).

5d  Home woman kept as pardon for offences (7)
{AMNESTY} – the surface reading isn’t brilliant here and changing the order to “woman keeps home” would not have made it worse and would have made the wordplay clearer. We want a woman’s name (think of the troubled Ms. Winehouse) which keeps, i.e. contains, a word for home which can be used for humans as well as birds.

6d  Blini Dee chewed — like stodge? (8 )
{INEDIBLE} – an anagram (chewed) of BLINI DEE produces an adjective meaning not fit to eat.

7d  Mother with native stoneworker (5)
{MASON} – a charade of a familiar term for mother and someone belonging to his native country.

13d  Hole is found on this instrument for novice (9)
{GREENHORN} – the definition is novice. We want the part of the golf course where the hole is situated (hole is found on this), followed by a brass instrument.

15d  Creative figure favoured IOW location without note (8 )
{INVENTOR} – the definition is creative figure. Start with IN (favoured, e.g. part of the “in crowd”) and follow this with a resort on the Isle of Wight with its second N dropped (without note). Whereas the other places in the puzzle are well-known, this one is not – I imagine that most people, like me, will get the answer first, then work out the location.

16d  Eliminate competition (8 )
{KNOCKOUT} – double definition.

17d  Approach threateningly with hair now dishevelled (4,4)
{BEAR DOWN} – start with facial hair and add an anagram (dishevelled) of NOW to get a phrasal verb meaning to approach threateningly.

18d  A fair source of gifts? (4,3)
{BRAN TUB} – cryptic definition of what you might root around in at a fair to get a gift.

19d  Cause embarrassment to a party (5)
{ABASH} – the definition is cause embarrassment to and it’s an informal term for a party or social event.

The clues I liked included 23a and 17d, but my clue of the day is 13d. How about you? – let us know your opinion via a comment.