DT 26193

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26193

A full analysis by Tilsit

All in the Mind

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Another enjoyable puzzle from Cephas with some clever clues and only one or two to make you suck your teeth. I especially liked 18 across, which was a nice anagram, but suffers from a lack of an anagram indicator. One of the difficulties I have with the Telegraph puzzles is the preponderance of cryptic definitions and while the good ones are very clever, there are a lot of less than satisfactory ones about. 15 across today is a good one.

Across

1a    Blue waste material about to be returned to tall building (10)
SKYSCRAPER – Oh dear, I worked this out straight away but, to my shame, assumed the waste material was a four letter word rather than the five letter word required! However, it’s a straightforward word-sum: SKY (Blue) + SCRAP (Waste Material) + ER (About [Re]- reversed) = Tall Building

6a    Out, say? Standing out (4)
BOLD – A double definition, one of which is a homophone. BOWLED = OUT (in cricket) and if something is BOLD it stands out proud.

9a    Vehicle the lady put in pound was crushed (10)
VANQUISHED – Vehicle = VAN with SHE (Lady) inside QUID (Pound). “Crushed” is the definition.

10a    Cultivate land, distant meadow first (4)
FARM – “Cultivate land” is the definition. FAR (Distant) + M (Meadow at first, i.e. first letter)

12a    Reach hospital in slum area (6)
GHETTO – Reach = GET TO with H (hospital) inside.

13a    Hotel with lowdown on gas (8)
HYDROGEN – HYDRO (Hotel) + GEN (lowdown) = the name of a gas that’s part of the air we breathe.

15a    Thinking ill of oneself? (12)
HYPOCHONDRIA – Clever cryptic definition for someone who thinks they are unwell but in fact they are not.

18a    From 10 across, foie gras or soft cheese (7,5)
FROMAGE FRAIS – I like this clue, though some may argue that there isn’t an anagram indicator as such. You have to solve 10across to give you part of the answer. So “from” FARM, and FOIE GRAS you get the name of a soft cheese.

21a    Inescapable revolutionary avoiding awkward ban for principal (8)
ESPECIAL – this is what is known as a compound anagram and is perfectly executed. It’s an anagram (indicated by revolutionary) of INESCAPABLE, less BAN. However as the letters of BAN are not in order, it has to have its own anagram indicator (AWKWARD). The anagram of the remaining letters gives a word meaning principal.

22a    Pig and strangely one that flies (6)
PIGEON – PIG + an anagram of ONE gives the name of a bird.

24a    One bird or another with bit missing (4)
TERN – Another clever clue. The “other” bird is BITTERN and if you take off BIT you get another winged wonder.

25a    Amazing send-up, to us transforming (10)
STUPENDOUS – An anagram (indicated by transforming) of SEND-UP TO US, gives a word meaning amazing.

26a    Make officer a blockhead (4)
DOLT – DO (Make)+ LT (Lieutenant – officer) = Another word for a numbskull.

27a    Spring put in a good position (4-6)
WELL-PLACED] WELL (spring) + PLACED (put)= a phrase meaning “in a good position”.

Down

1d    Wild one of magi protected Virginia (6)
SAVAGE – SAGE (a wise man, one of the Magi) with VA (abbreviation for Virginia)

2d    Drew key Dan forged (6)
YANKED – An anagram (forged) of KEY DAN gives a word meaning drew out.

3d    Out-of-town ball? (7,5)
COUNTRY DANCE – One of the weaker cryptic definitions leading to a rural social gathering.

4d    Nearly everything thus as well (4)
ALSO – Nearly everything = AL(L) + so (thus) gives a word meaning as well.

5d    All over each point at this place (10)
EVERYWHERE – EVERY (each) + W (point of the compass) + HERE (at this place) = a word meaning “all over”.

7d    Round with park officer at end of day in greenhouse (8)
ORANGERY – O(round) + RANGER (park officer) + Y (end of day) = somewhere to grow orange trees. Is this a greenhouse? I’m not horticulturally savvy enough to say.

8d    Frenzied evil spirit has the first clue (8)
DEMONIAC – DEMON (evil spirit) + I AC (one across – the first clue). I feel uncomfortable about this clue as “evil spirit” definition is too close to the definition of the whole word. 1 Across is not always the first clue in a crossword. Perhaps I am being a bit too hard.

11d    Passage to Scottish island learner took was temporary (12)
TRANSITIONAL – TRANSIT (passage) + IONA (Scottish island)+ L (learner)

14d    Claret’s served in enemy living quarters (10)
FORECASTLE – An anagram (served) of CLARET’S inside FOE gives a word meaning the living quarters on a ship.

16d    Pretended to be moved emotionally (8)
AFFECTED – Double definition. A word meaning both “pretended” and “moved emotionally”

17d    Officer’s material not English (8)
CORPORAL – Material, as in essential (CORPOREAL) minus E gives the name of an officer.

19d    Brave coming from Jericho without Juliet (6)
HEROIC – An anagram of Jericho minus J (Juliet) gives a word meaning brave.

20d    Not accustomed to being unemployed? (6)
UNUSED – Double definition. A word meaning “not accustomed to” and “being unemployed”.

23d    Old friend’s a gem (4)
OPAL – O (old) + PAL (friend) = a precious stone.

Thanks to Cephas for an enjoyable challenge.