ST 2576

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2576

A full review by Gnomethang

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

Afternoon All!. This week we had a slightly more difficult puzzle from Virgilius but as usual it had some very witty clues and the trademark hidden words and cheeky constructions.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.  You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

1a           In which one’s routed differently (6)
DETOUR – A lovely semi &Lit or semi ‘All in one’ clue. The definition is the entire sentence and an anagram of ROUTED (differently) gives the result.

4a           Entrances with affectedly playful kinds of behaviour (8)
ARCHWAYS – Affectedly playful is a synonym for ARCH. Follow that with WAYS (kinds of behaviour) for the portico in a villa.

10a         ABC is, in a way (5)
BASIC – Now this is an &Lit. Make an anagram (in a way) of ABC + IS. Then remember ‘as easy as ABC’ and you have the definition from the whole clue.

11a         Wanted to have sink put in, as contemplated (9)
ENVISAGED –Contemplated is thought of or foreseen. We need ENVIED (wanted) with SAG for ‘sink’ placed in it.

12a         Book from long ago for three and six, for example (7)
NUMBERS – A very simple but horribly deceptive clue!. 3 and 6 are examples of numbers and the Book of Numbers is also in the Old Testament.
“And lo! unto thee I say it was my second to last clue in”.

13a         Female articles put in case (7)
SHEATHE – My last clue in – Place A and THE (indefinite and definite articles in English) after SHE (female). The definition is ‘put in case’ as in a sword in a scabbard.

14a         Inside job that is nicely planned (8,6)
INTERIOR DESIGN – A cryptic definition – and possibly a word sum. Inside  = INTERIOR and job may mean DESIGN. The internal fit outs in good looking apartments.

17a         Matthew’s threat badly concerned inquiry (5,3,6)
WHAT’S THE MATTER – An enquiry of concern for someone’s welfare is an anagram (badly) of MATTHEWS THREAT

21a         In African capital, won’t I see these Africans? (7)
ASHANTI – The African people are found by starting with A (The capital letter of Africa) then adding SHANT I (Won’t I/Will I not). Will I comment on the use of Shall/Will?. I shall not on this occasion.

23a         Warrior leader of Christians encountered in a variety of arenas (7)
SARACEN – A fighter in the Crusades (a Christian one too!). Take the leader of Christian and place it in an anagram (variety) of ARENAS.
Thanks to gazza for correcting me – I picked entirely the wrong side!:
At the time of the Crusades a saracen (man from the east) was synonymous with a ‘Muslim’. So in fact the whole sentence reads as a definition and the wordplay places the leading character of Christian in an anagram of ARENAS (various). The fact that the word ‘Warrior’ is not part of the wordplay makes this a semi-all-in-one.

24a         Unusually gifted person having half-hearted meal with her circle (9)
SUPERHERO – Pants on the outside please – this person with extraordinary powers is a sum of SUP(p)ER – a half hearted type of meal, with HER and O for a circle.

25a         Gather before PM as head of state (5)
AMASS – another charade of A.M. (before P.M.), AS then the head of State. Definition is to Gather or Hoard.

26a         Leading way of working in jungle (8)
FOREMOST – I couldn’t see the wordplay for the trees for some time here. The ‘way of working’ is MO – Modus Operandi in Latin. Put this inside of FOREST for jungle (what do you all think of that?) to get a word meaning ‘Leading’.

27a         It’s part of e-mail, not a letter (6)
HYPHEN – Another cheeky little clue from Virgilius. The only part of E-MAIL that is not a letter/character is the – hyphen!.

Down

1d           Elegant piece of furniture put up during broadcast (8)
DEBONAIR – Suave or sophisticated. Reverse BED and ‘during broadcast’ is ON AIR.

2d           Try out striker for important game (4,5)
TEST MATCH – A word sum; try out for TEST and a match is a STRIKER.

3d           Relative with a piece of youngster’s education that’s in need of explanation (7)
UNCLEAR – Your dad’s brother with A and R (indicated by a piece of youngster’s education i.e one of the Three Rs).

5d           One form of good book — possible way to get over sin (7,7)
REVISED VERSION – My favourite clue this week. The answer is one version of the Bible (the Good Book). One way to get ‘OVER SIN’ is to revise (make an anagram of) VERSION. Lovely surface reading!.

6d           Quickly goes and consumes XXXX (7)
HASTENS –Despite living in America Virgilius is clearly keen on Australian lager  (Castlemaine XXXX). In this case the XXXX simply means ‘Tens’ from the Roman Numeral. Start with HAS for consumes to get a verb meaning quickly goes or hurries.

7d           It’s a dreadful feeling, being held by gangsters (5)
ANGST – The feeling of deep worry is hidden in gANGSTers.

8d           Not so happy, seeing small snake (6)
SADDER – A gentle clue with S(mall) and ADDER for snake, the definition being ‘Not so happy’.

9d           What makes story a success or extraordinary hit in many quarters (14)
NEWSWORTHINESS – another excellent clue. The definition is ‘what makes a story a success’ in e.g. a newspaper or news bulletin. Take an anagram (extraordinary) of HIT and surround it with many instances of N,E,W and S – the Quarters of the Globe.

15d         Rash act, e.g. foolishly join party one shouldn’t (9)
GATECRASH – A foolish anagram of RASH ACT EG is the act of blagging one’s way into a party to which one is not invited (but I’m a mate of Dave’s – you know, Big Dave?)

16d         Family member performing with large keyboard instruments at first (8)
GRANDSON – Another family member is a charade of GRANDS (large pianos) and ON for performing ON stage (Hurry up, you’re on in 2 minutes!)

18d         Stormy outbreak detectable in distant rumble (7)
TANTRUM – This hissy fit (stormy outbreak) is hidden (detectable) in disTANT RUMble.

19d         Use books in a library that’s empty by now (7)
ALREADY – A verb meaning to use books (READ) is placed inside A L(ibrar)Y, having first removed al the internal letters of LIBRARY (it is empty). The definition is ‘by now’.

20d         Service provided in mountainous area (6)
MASSIF – MASS for service and IF for provided (that) gives a mountainous area such as the Massif Central in France.

22d         Extremely energetic person who’s working hard on promotion? (5)
HYPER – A double definition to finish. Extremely energetic or buzzing and also cryptically a person who is adding to the Hype or advertising promotion. Originally I thought that there was going to be a reversal of REP and H but that somehow a Y was missing!.

For the next two weeks Crypticsue will be on Sundays and I will be on the Saturday puzzles. See you all then!