Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2524
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Back to normality after the Valentine puzzle – no theme, and unusually for BG, no &lits/all-in-ones. But there are a couple of unusual bits of wordplay. Well I said no theme, but several clues and wordplays have sporting references. Difficulty: pretty gentle.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | Single member of team with limited facilities (3-5) |
| ONE-HORSE = with limited facilities, as in “one-horse town”. ONE=single, HORSE=member of team (team=group of horses pulling coach or similar) | |
| 9 | Sister’s in control here — keep going! (6) |
| ONWARD = “on ward” – 2 defs | |
| 10 | Charge resulting from quarrel about a ring-leader (6) |
| TARIFF – (A, R = ring-leader) in TIFF | |
| 11 | Turned smooth, in reality, as result of cosmetic surgery (8 ) |
| FACELIFT – FILE = smooth, reversed in FACT = reality | |
| 12 | Task-oriented groups improperly taking power, sir? (7,7) |
| WORKING PARTIES = anag. of “taking power, sir” | |
| 15 | Rail timetable finally introduced for Paddington, say (4) |
| BEAR = “Paddington, say” – E = “timetable finally”, in BAR=rail | |
| 17 | Race in which neighbouring teams compete (5) |
| DERBY – 2 defs, both sporting | |
| 19 | Increase never painlessly achieved, so they say (4) |
| GAIN – as in “no pain, no gain” | |
| 20 | Moving air is what this music producer needs (4,10) |
| WIND INSTRUMENT – cryptic def referring to the requirement for puff, familiar to anyone who has made the change from a narrow-bore to wide-bore trombone | |
| 23 | Go to pieces in defeat, retreating in fall deliberately (8 ) |
| DISSOLVE – LOSS reversed in DIVE = “fall deliberately” | |
| 25 | Party games like this preferred by players? (2-4) |
| AT-HOME – 2 defs, again one from sport. An “at home” is a social occasion, maybe a bit more genteel than a party | |
| 27 | Follow performance with commercial break (6) |
| SHADOW – AD=commercial, in SHOW=performance | |
| 28 | How teams changed, up to a point (8 ) |
| SOMEWHAT = anag. of “how teams” | |
| Down | |
| 1 | South American ruler popular with Guatemala, etc. (4) |
| INCA – IN=popular, C.A.=Cental America=”Guatemala, etc.” | |
| 2 | Contract for psychologist (6) |
| SHRINK – 2 defs | |
| 3 | Complain when buzzer is on loud (4) |
| BEEF – BEE=buzzer, F=forte=loud | |
| 4 | Score century, possibly? Not in this game (6) |
| SOCCER – anag. of (score, C=100=century) | |
| 5 | Only half fared well in guest house (8 ) |
| DWELLING – hidden word and 8 of 16 letters in “fared well in guest”. The need to break down “guest house” to get the def is a classic example of “lift and separate” | |
| 6 | Working group’s statement of belief (10) |
| PROFESSION – 2 defs | |
| 8 | Discriminating, again imposed legal punishment (7) |
| REFINED = re-fined | |
| 13 | Like nine-year-old with extra width near middle? (10) |
| OVERWEIGHT – W=width, in “over eight” = “like nine-year old” | |
| 14 | In European city, is doing well on course? (5) |
| PARIS – IS, below PAR – “below par” being “doing well on course”. Not the structure – “in {def}, {wordplay}” rather than “{def} in {wordplay}”, which means that the definition does not start at the beginning of the clue or end at the end | |
| 16 | Cartel on border in best position to observe fighting (8 ) |
| RINGSIDE – RING=cartel, SIDE=border | |
| 18 | Police with weapon that was used to punish mutineers (7) |
| YARDARM – YARD=police, ARM=weapon – from memory, mutineers on ships were once hung from the yardarm | |
| 21 | Relative gains by unions at work before left was corrupted (2-4) |
| IN-LAWS – IN=at work,L=left,AWS=anag. of “was”. “unions” here are marriages | |
| 22 | Indian doctor, aggressive high-flier (6) |
| MOHAWK=Indian – M.O.=doctor,HAWK=aggressive high-flier | |
| 24 | Odd bits of exam, say, not very challenging (4) |
| EASY – from ExAm, SaY | |
| 26 | Unkind people hiding answer — one’s covering end of clue (4) |
| MEAN – A = answer in MEN, or E = end of clue in MAN=one (person) | |