Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26882
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **/***
This is the review of the crossword which appeared on Saturday 2 June, the closing date for which was extended because of the two Jubilee Bank Holidays. I had to award this 3* difficulty because of a very dozy moment I had in the SW corner. I don’t know whether that made me a bit grumpy, but I didn’t seem have quite as much fun as I usually do with a Cephas puzzle.
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Across
1a Hurry to serve up set point (4,2,2)
STEP ON IT – An anagram (serve up) of SET POINT produces a phrase meaning to speed up or hurry.
6a Equality is hard in church district (6)
PARISH – A charade of PAR (equality) IS (from the clue) and H (hard) produces a district having its own church and minister or priest.
9a Perfect score: one dividing bridge partners in game (6)
TENNIS – Ten out of TEN would be considered a perfect score; follow TEN with two of the partners in a game of bridge: N(orth) and S(outh) into which is inserted (dividing) I (one) to get a game played with a racquet and ball.
10a Hysteria developing by December 31 (4,4)
THIS YEAR – An anagram again, developing HYSTERIA and splitting the result 4, 4, gives us the period of time up to midnight on 31 December 2012.
11a Money box that takes the biscuit? (5,3)
BREAD BIN – A charade of a slang word for money and a type of box produces somewhere to keep loaves or, if you are in America, biscuits, which are apparently a type of small bread made with baking powder instead of yeast.
12a Complaint made by youngster getting through month (6)
MALADY – Inserting a LAD (youngster) into the month of MAY gives us a complaint, illness or disease.
13a Varnish from two countries (6,6)
FRENCH POLISH – a splendid old chestnut that probably needs no explanation from me. A varnish for furniture consisting of shellac dissolved in spirit is derived from an adjective meaning belonging to France, followed by another adjective, this time meaning belonging to Poland.
16a In time, Diana’s message… it’s impossible to destroy (12)
INERADICABLE – An adjective meaning not able to be destroyed or removed completely. IN (from the clue) plus ERA (time) DI (Diana) and CABLE (message).
19a And other things belonging to the lady engraver (6)
ETCHER – Someone who engraves designs on glass or metal by eating out the lines using acid. ETC (et cetera which means ‘and other things’) and HER (belonging to the lady).
21a Garbled denial about work being exposed (4,4)
LAID OPEN – An anagram (garbled) of DENIAL into which is inserted OP (abbreviation for work, operation) and split 4, 4 gives an expression meaning being exposed to view.
23a He could be one in church (8)
MINISTER – Inserting an I (one) into a MINSTER (an abbey or priory church) makes a person who might indeed work in such a church building.
24a Dandy is grasping at French craft (6)
BATEAU – The French word for a ship – insert AT (grasping at) into a BEAU or dandy.
25a Bumped into brick carrier, making way (6)
METHOD – The one that held me up! I was trying to insert something into a HOD or brick carrier. A better way or method of dealing with the clue would have been to put MET (bumped into) before the HOD.
26a Rejected everywhere broadcasted (5,3)
THREW OUT – A homophone (broadcasted) of THROUGHOUT or everywhere gives us a verb meaning rejected or jettisoned.
Down
2d Plan article on Circle Line (6)
THEORY – a plan or hypothesis that has not yet been proved – a charade of THE (article) O (circle) and RY (the abbreviation for railway).
3d Help and agility needed to capture beast (5)
PANDA – There is a beast ‘captured’ in the middle of helP AND Agility.
4d See blonde concealing nasal spray? (9)
NOSEBLEED – How Cephas does love an anagram! Concealing indicates that we should rearrange SEE BLONDE to a bleeding from the nose that one would hope wouldn’t actually spray!
5d Colossal loss in the main? (7)
TITANIC – As well as meaning of enormous size and strength, TITANIC can also refer to the ocean liner which sank with a great loss of life.
6d Gentleman getting up in the afternoon — the object’s transparent! (5)
PRISM – Reverse SIR (gentleman getting up [in a down clue]) and insert it into PM (afternoon). The transparent object thus obtained is used to resolve light into separate colours.
7d Your label changed colour (5,4)
ROYAL BLUE – changed indicates another anagram – this time YOUR LABEL changes to a very appropriate colour for ‘Jubilee Weekend’.
8d Careless hit-and-run (8)
SLAPDASH – SLAP (hit) plus DASH (run) – an adverb meaning in a hasty, careless way.
13d Quickly getting beside river first (9)
FORTHWITH – An adverb meaning immediately – Follow the Scottish river FORTH with a preposition meaning, in this clue, beside.
14d All raise a glass here (not you, Private!) (6,3)
PUBLIC BAR – A bar in a pub where all members of the public are welcome to have a drink.
15d Not working out (2,6)
ON STRIKE – Both ‘not working’ and ‘out’ are both ways of describing workers who are on strike.
17d One responsible copper finding pair in bed in Calais (7)
CULPRIT – A person at fault – CU (the chemical symbol for copper) followed by the French word for bed LIT, into which has been inserted PR (the abbreviation for pair).
18d You’ve seen it before: Jade upset for all to see after five (4,2)
DÉJÀ VU – Old stuff which you have seen before – a bit like chestnuts in crosswords! – An anagram (upset) of JADE followed by V (the Roman numeral for five) and U (universal, for all).
20d Considered to be in moderate danger (5)
RATED – Another hidden word – this time a synonym for considered is hidden in modeRATE Danger.
22d Sign one’s car has broken down (2,3)
ON TOW – A cryptic definition of the sign that should be fixed to a broken down car when it is being towed to a garage.
With all this closing date change malarkey, I have a feeling I am back tomorrow with the review of the crossword for Saturday 9 June. I hope you are all following which puzzle is which, when, and why, as Gnomey and I are getting more confused by the day!