DT 26570

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26570

A full review by Crypticsue

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

Another straightforward Saturday puzzle which proved very enjoyable to both solve and review.    No particular favourite clues for me, but I continue to enjoy the varied and numerous ways setters employ to indicate an anagram.   Thanks to Cephas once again.

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           The first gold being held by speculator (8)
THEORIST –  A person given to speculation or theory is easily found by taking THE and IST (first) and then inserting OR (gold or yellow in heraldry and/or crosswords!).

9a           Break if Hamlet falters (4-4)
HALF-TIME – the break in the middle of, eg, a football match is an anagram (falters) of IF HAMLET.

10a         Corporation’s backing obscene material! (4)
SMUT – In the days of coal fires, SMUT used to mean a spot of dirt or soot; these days it usually refers to obscene material.   Corporation in a crossword usually means you need the word TUM or in this case TUM’S.   Remove the apostrophe and reverse (backing) to get the solution required.

11a         Coloured vegetable drink (6,6)
ORANGE SQUASH –  A nice double definition, the fruity drink or the colour of a member of the Cucurbit  plant family.

13a         Depressing part of the music (8)

DOWNBEAT – another double definition – an adjective meaning depressing or a noun describing a downward movement of the conductor’s baton or an accented beat.

15a         One from a dozen in the team (6)
ELEVEN – take one away from twelve (a dozen) to get the number of people in a football team.

16a         A portion of pesto within a Cotswolds setting (4)
STOW –  A Cotswold market town is hidden in (a portion of)   peSTO Within

17a         X-rated trash I’d try! (5)
DIRTY – An adjective meaning obscene, hence X-rated, is an anagram (trash) of ID TRY.  One might wonder what Cephas was up to, with the second ‘smutty’ clue of the day!

18a         Ditch Foreign Office’s section (4)
FOSS – The clue that caused the most discussion on Saturday.  A old term for a ditch or moat is obtained by adding an S for section to FO’s (Foreign Office’s)

20a         Vehicle always needed for job (6)
CAREER –  One’s job or profession is a charade of CAR (vehicle) and EER (a contraction of ever meaning always,  quite often found in poetry).

21a         Full of beans — and gin? (8)
SPIRITED –  The question mark hints at a cheeky double definition – someone full of beans would be spirited;  gin is a spirit and so this adjective might also describe someone who had imbibed a large quantity of gin.

23a         Cover part where traffic joins and leaves (12)
INTERSECTION –  A term for a crossroads, where traffic would indeed join and leave, is a charade of INTER (cover, bury) and SECTION (part).

26a         Old copper ran off with stitch (4)
DARN – the old copper here is a pre-decimal penny, the symbol for which was D.  Follow this with an anagram (off) of RAN to get a stitch used to mend holes.

27a         Help pro tem to derive replacement (4,4)
TIDE OVER – To help someone out for a time to enable them to get over a critical period is an anagram (replacement) of  TO DERIVE.

28a         Soldier to go off, it’s absolute nonsense (8)
TOMMYROT –  A charade of the name of a private in the British Army – TOMMY and ROT (to go off or decay) – makes a noun meaning absolute nonsense.

Down

2d           House on left where craft is registered (4,4)
HOME PORT  – The port at which a boat is registered is a charade of a synonym for home HOUSE and PORT (left side of a ship).

3d           Fourteen who pranced round ring suddenly and unexpectedly (3,2,7)
OUT OF NOWHERE –  A phrase describing something that arrives suddenly and inexplicably is an anagram (pranced) of FOURTEEN WHO with O (round ring).    Had Gnomey been responsible for this review, he would have ‘treated’ us to a “musical” interlude here.   I include the link and leave you to make up your own mind as to the musicality!!    Apparently it reminds him of his youthful rock band days !!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQpgpadVq0Y&feature=fvst

4d           Extremely foolish in said French river (6)
INSANE  – An adjective meaning foolish, mad or utterly unwise is a homophone (said)  of IN [the] SEINE.

5d           Some uncouth, ugly ruffian (4)
THUG –  The hidden word indicator ‘some’ tell us that another name for a ruffian is hidden in uncouTH UGly

6d           It will be windy or be sultry, confusingly (8)
BLUSTERY –   A nice anagram indicator here – confusingly – rearrange BE SULTRY to get a term for a strong wind.

7d           Old type size used for first four capitals in random order (4)
PICA –  Those of us who learned to type on manual typewriters will remember PICA, a size of type giving ten characters to the inch.    It’s found by taking the first four letters of CAPItals and rearranging them, in random order.

8d           I’d say unpalatable alcohol contains some black liquid (8)
METHINKS –  An archaic term meaning I’d say, or it seems to me, is obtained by inserting INK (black liquid) into METHS (the shortened form of methylated spirits –  alcohol made undrinkable by the addition of methyl alcohol).

12d         Addict wants cordial — it’s easy to understand (4-8)
USER-FRIENDLY – Something designed to be easily understood and operated by non-specialists –   USER (addict) and FRIENDLY (cordial, affectionate).

14d         After time Pru’s removed paint solvent (5)
TURPS –  The abbreviation of the most commonly used paint solvent – Follow (after) T for Time with an anagram (removed) of PRUS.

16d         Part of church that’s ramshackle, it’s scary (8)
SACRISTY- A room in a church where vestments etc are kept is an anagram (ramshackle) of ITS SCARY.

17d         Scoffing about rides before quarter past four (8)
DERISIVE –  An adjective meaning scoffing is obtained from an anagram (about) of RIDES followed by IV (four) and E (one quarter of the compass).

19d         Mostly view a city in plan of action (8)
SCENARIO – An outline of a plan of action is a charade of SCEN (most of SCEN(E), view) followed by A (from the clue) and RIO (the second largest city in Brazil).

22d         I am about to offer direction in the same place (6)
IBIDEM –  a Latin term meaning in the same place, used to refer to a book, chapter or passage already cited.   Take BID (offer) and E (east, direction) and insert into the abbreviated form of I am – I M.

24d         Sly person gets round during commotion (2-2)
TO-DO – A noun meaning a stir or commotion:   TOD (Scottish word for a sly person or fox) and O (round).

25d         Romeo making an entrance, cut short (4)
CURT –  R for Romeo inserted, or making an entrance into CUT produces an adjective meaning short or concise.

This was another not-too-difficult but very enjoyable Saturday Prize Puzzle.   I’ll be back next week to see what our mystery setter has in store.