Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2546
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Apologies for the slow report – it’s been a busy week. This was a fairly easy puzzle, with clues of the usual high standard.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Unusual quality seen in all today’s answers (7) |
| ODDNESS – the clue refers to the fact that all answers in this puzzle have an odd number of letters. I jotted down “ODDITY?” by the clue, and then discovered the right answer from the crossing down answers. | |
| 5 | Novel double act including old piece of music (7) |
| TOCCATA – O = old, in an anagram of ACT ACT = “double act” | |
| 9 | I had turned to poetry of various kinds (7) |
| DIVERSE – “I’d” reversed, then VERSE=poetry | |
| 10 | Direct something watched on TV (7) |
| CHANNEL – two definitions | |
| 11 | Becoming active again, frantically earns a little money (9) |
| RENASCENT – anagram of ‘earns’, then ‘a cent’ = ‘a little money’ | |
| 12 | Part of flight in helicopter is erratic (5) |
| RISER – hidden word – risers are the vertical boards in a staircase | |
| 13 | Race that goes to American’s head (5) |
| DERBY – a race on both sides of the Atlantice, and a bowler hat on the far side | |
| 15 | After short time, a railway becomes less important (9) |
| SECONDARY – SECOND = short time,A,RY.=railway | |
| 17 | Spoke monotonously about the crazy removed from power (9) |
| DETHRONED – anag. of ‘the’, in DRONED=spoke monotonously | |
| 19 | Claude Monet’s inner spirit (5) |
| DEMON – hidden in ‘Claude Monet’ | |
| 22 | Ancient rulers going East or West (5) |
| SHAHS – palindromic ancient rulers | |
| 23 | Craft encountered rescue ship carrying bird back (9) |
| METALWORK – MET=encountered, then OWL=bird, reversed in ARK=rescue ship | |
| 25 | Instinctively understands Northern people over time (7) |
| INTUITS – T=time, in INUITS=Northern people | |
| 26 | Answer included in solid political record (7) |
| HANSARD – ANS.=answer, in HARD=solid | |
| 27 | Batsman who’s out trying to get extra, perhaps? (7) |
| STRIKER – 2 defs, “batsman” and “who’s out trying to get extra, perhaps”, a cryptic definition requiring the right meanings of “out” (on strike) and “extra” (more money) | |
| 28 | Issue for year, filled with information (7) |
| PROGENY – GEN = information, in PRO=for,Y=year | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Asked for whisky, for example, neat (7) |
| ORDERED – two definitions, one from the bar | |
| 2 | Person who locates liquid assets, more capital (7) |
| DIVINER – two defs again – someone who finds water, and “more capital” = better | |
| 3 | Multinational money put into neuroscience (5) |
| EUROS – hidden in ‘neuroscience’ | |
| 4 | Author, nevertheless, seen in street before noon (9) |
| STEVENSON – EVEN SO = nevertheless, in (ST=street,N=noon) | |
| 5 | Understood pet animal after raising it (5) |
| TACIT = understood (adj.) – TAC = reverse of CAT, IT | |
| 6 | Feeling humiliation, dispersed in charge by Duke (9) |
| CHAGRINED – anagram of ‘in charge’, then D=duke | |
| 7 | Difficulty of recalling men scattered within large region (7) |
| AMNESIA – anagram of men, in ASIA = large region | |
| 8 | Gallery’s head relocated — that’s a cause of ill feeling (7) |
| ALLERGY – move the initial G in ‘gallery’ | |
| 14 | Standard staff attached to police HQ (9) |
| YARDSTICK = standard – YARD=Police HQ, STICK=staff | |
| 16 | Doctor I despatch for military training (9) |
| CADETSHIP = anag. of ‘I despatch’ | |
| 17 | Order given to soldiers to fire (7) |
| DISMISS – double def | |
| 18 | Vehicle runs into West End performer (7) |
| TRACTOR – T from wesT,R=runs,ACTOR=performer | |
| 20 | African given time for charge faced in dock, perhaps (7) |
| MOORAGE – MOOR=African, AGE=time – without looking at the dictionary, moorage must be some kind of nautical rent | |
| 21 | Ken misbehaving with lady in stark fashion (7) |
| NAKEDLY – anagram of (Ken, lady) – should be easy to solve because of the arbitrary name | |
| 23 | Ghost finally leaving Mr. Scrooge (5) |
| MISTER – T from ghosT, removed from MISTER = Mr. – “Scrooge” might appear to be an unindicated definition by example, but can mean any miser as well as Ebenezer himself | |
| 24 | Line in essay in foreign language (5) |
| LINGO – L = line, IN, GO=essay=attempt (noun) | |