DT 26798

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26798

A full review by gnomethang

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Morning All! I was a little befuddled on Saturday morning (due to Friday night) so made heavy weather of this. On reflection it was not too tricky and I appreciated a lot more of the clues in this typical Cephas puzzle whilst reviewing than I did on the day.

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 Going down in the main (6)
EBBING – A cryptic definition of the name for a receding tide. Not as easy as it looks now!

9a Healer administering drops? (4,6)
RAIN DOCTOR – I will give you BD’s hint on the day – this was one of my last clues entered as the phrase is not familiar to me: “A cryptic definition of person in tribal societies who professes to bring precipitation, usually after a prolonged dry spell”

10a When tennis players meet in transition (10)
CHANGEOVER – A double definition – The changeover of ends in tennis (where they meet) and also a transition or change in general.

11a Redcoat (4)
RUST – Another Cryptic Definiton and nothing to do with Butlins. The Iron Oxide coating of weathered steel.

12a Accommodation on one level? (4)
FLAT – Another double meaning; an apartment and something that is on one level.

14a Attack upland fell (6,4)
STRIKE DOWN – An attack is a STRIKE (think Air-Strike) and an upland is , conversely, a DOWN (i.e. the North or South Downs in Kent – I guess that they start at the top then it is all downhill from there!). The result is a verb meaning to fell (i.e. with an axe in battle).

17a Top gear (7)
OVERALL – Gear, clobber or clothing that goes on top of everything and an example of such a garment.

18a A sandwich from this joint is a blow (7)
KNUCKLE –A cryptic definition of a punch (blow) in the mouth, and not a dodgy café product as the clue implies.

20a Having no land without foundation? (10)
GROUNDLESS – If one has no land (ground) then one is GROUNDLESS which also means ‘without foundation’ i.e. a groundless allegation.

21a Mountie refused to enter row (4)
TIER – A row (in a theatre for example) is hidden (entered in) the first two words.

22a Short hair below one’s nose (4)
TASH – A shortened version of ‘moustache’. Not so cryptic but I initially failed to submit having spelt the word with a C not an S

23a Relating to business in government (10)
CONCERNING – A charade of CONCERN (business), IN and G for Government gives a word meaning ‘relating to’

25a Mixed fruit is cut ahead of time (10)
FUTURISTIC – An anagram (mixed) of FRUIT IS CUT for a word meaning ‘space age’ or ‘ahead of (one’s) time.

26a Late transport (6)
HEARSE – A gentle cryptic definition of the vehicle that is used at funerals to transport the coffin (the unfortunate occupant being ‘late’.

Down

 

2d The bolivar exchanged for a biscuit (4,6)
BATH OLIVER – An anagram (exchanged) of THE BOLIVAR gives a delicious biscuit.

3d Man in the clutches of diva — nervous? (4)
IVAN – The terrible Russian man can be found (is in the clutches of) in the last two words. I enjoyed the surface reading!.

4d Leaves on the table (5,5)
GREEN SALAD – Another cryptic definition of the green leaves that are found at the dinner table (alongside the meat hopefully!)

5d Having a clear ringing sound — that’s elementary (7)
SILVERY – Its like silver (elementary) and also describes a clear ringing sound, particularly a soprano voice.

6d Nothing’s to be seen on the German river (4)
ODER – O for nothing in DER, one of the German definite articles. I’ll stick my geographical neck out and say that it is also a German River but if course the definition is merely ‘river’ to not have German doing ‘Double Duty’.

7d Racy cadets upset faint-heart (7-3)
SCAREDY-CAT – An upset anagram of RACY CADETS gives a childish taunt for a coward.

8d Expert encounters weight in particle (6)
PROTON – A charade of PRO (expert) and TON (weight) gives one of the fundamental particles in a nucleus.

13d Human Resources in firm will need set amount processed (10)
THROUGHPUT – Place HR (The abbreviation of Human Resources) inside TOUGH for ‘firm’ and then add PUT (for set or place). The result is a word for the amount of work that is processed or gone through.

15d Cards placed on seat in court? (5,5)
KINGS BENCH – The Court of King’s Bench (or Court of Queen’s Bench during the reign of a female monarch), formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was an English court of common law in the English legal system. Place some cards (the Kings) on top of a BENCH for a seat.

16d Wasteland may be less civilised near cape (10)
WILDERNESS – A charade of WILDER (less civilised) next to (near) NESS for cape or headland to give a wasteland.

19d Opening device has message of fundamental importance (7)
KEYNOTE – The opening device is a KEY and the message is a NOTE. The charade creates something that is of fundamental importance such as a speech in Parliament.

20d After function dandy escaped (3,3)
GOT OFF – Escaped here means to escape a jail sentence for example. Make a charade of GO (function/work as in ‘the lawnmower isn’t going’) and add TOFF for ‘dandy’.

23 Cut speed (4)
CLIP – A double definition. The first means cut (ions toenails for example) and the second means rate/speed as in ‘He was going at a fair clip’

24 Star given ovation in crossover part (4)
NOVA – This is a hidden word in ‘giveN OVAtion’. I am not sure about the indication here as the ‘in crossover’ seems a bit superfluous.

Thanks to Cephas for the Saturday Prize Puzzle entertainment. I’m back next week to explain the Mysteron puzzle, unless I have to work overtime in order to buy crypticsue another microbrewery (thinking about this it appears to be a vicious circle!)