ST 2691

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2691

A full review by gnomethang

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

Morning All! – Another fine puzzle from Virgilius. I nearly gave this four stars for difficulty but when reviewing realised it was just me having a bad 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

1d           Boat a metre in length (6)
SAMPAN – A and M(etre) placed in SPAN/length.

4a           Unconfirmed report is, accordingly, held back by doctor (6)
GOSSIP – IS form the clue and SO (accordingly) reversed inside (indicated by ‘held back by) GP, General Practitioner or doctor.

8a           Cold wine returned in cylindrical container (8)
CANISTER – C for Cold with a reversal (returned) of RETSINA for wine.

10a         Place for sea cruises linked to particular subject (6)
THEMED – Split as (3,3) to get THE MED(iterranean) Sea – a popular cruise destination.

11a         Bishops taken in by a European cleric from France (4)
ABBE – Two abreviations for Bishop (from chess notation) inside A from the clue and E for European.

12a         Still not ready to start debate? (10)
MOTIONLESS – If you do not have a motion then you cannot start a debate with “This house believes that…”

13a         Extensive traveller‘s log possibly improved, without rubbish (12)
GLOBETROTTER – This one took me a while to spot. An anagram (possibly) of LOG then BETTER (improve) around the outside of ROT (rubbish). The apostrophe-‘s stands for IS as in Definition IS (created from) Wordplay

16a         Pressure to mark up people in fitting evaluation (12)
APPRAISEMENT – RAISE (mark up) and MEN (people) inside APT (fitting)

20a         Ring-leader captured in small revolt — that’s unexpected (10)
SURPRISING – The leader of the word ring – R – inside (captured by) S for small and UPRISING (revolt)

21a         Bear ridicule, when it’s repeated (4)
POOH – A.A.Milne’s ursine creation, when repeated, gives us POOH-POOH or ridicule.

22a         Be a consumer? Not seriously, from what we hear (6)
INGEST – A Homophone of IN JEST, not seriously.

23a         Male getting into right group for speculations (8)
THEORIES – HE (Male) inside TORIES, the political party or group to the right of the political spectrum.

24a         Effort by author of short stories who also wrote this (6)
POETRY – A TRY (effort) after (by) Edgar Allen POE – An author who wrote both short stories and POETRY

25a         One of several monarchs providing university in beginning (6)
STUART – U for University inside START (beginning) for any member of one Royal House.

Down

 

1d           Safety device testable when faulty (4,4)
SEAT BELT – An anagram (when faulty) of TESTABLE.

2d           State with ocean on East (5)
MAINE – A US State. The old romantic name for an ocean (the Spanish MAIN) followed by E(ast)

3d           Effort in a racing event, almost exhausted (7)
ATTEMPT – A from the clue then TT – the Isle of Man bike race, and finally all but the last letter in EMPT(y) (almost exhausted).

5d           Where you’ll find isolated soldiers excel in sending dispatches? (7)
OUTPOST – Split as (3,4) and it looks like a phrase meaning to send more mail than someone else.

6d           Disorder resulted before start of match that’s played by West Indians (5,4)
STEEL DRUM – An anagram (disorder as a transitive verb) of RESULTED placed before the starting letter of M(atch).

7d           Satisfy professor, initially, with tenure (6)
PLEASE – The initial letter of P(rofessor) followed by LEASE (tenure)

9d           Logical thinker helping with a nautical problem (11)
RATIONALIST – Good old RATION for helping (of food) then A LIST, which might be a problem on a boat.

14d         Use bad language, with sheep, lamb going astray (9)
BLASPHEME – An anagram (going astray) of SHEEP LAMB.

15d         Fresh fish secured by pub ahead of time (8)
INSOLENT – The definition of fresh meaning cheeky is well disguised as you have to pry it away from the fish element. We actually need a SOLE (fish) inside an INN (pub) placed ahead of T for Time.

17d         Drama ultimately penned by British playwright for producer of picture (7)
PAINTER – The last letter of (dram)A placed inside Harold PINTER the playwright.

18d         Do division in maths, e.g. mentally (7)
SEGMENT – Hidden in the last three words.

19d         Unexpected result that may come at end of either leg (4-2)
TURN-UP – To paraphrase Tommy Cooper: “ I cut off the end of my trouser leg and sent them to the local library. That was a turn up for the books”. Ahem!

21d         Run into parents in European city (5)
PARMA – The cricketing abbreviation R for Runs inside your PA and MA (parents)

I’ll see you all tomorrow for a rundown of last Saturday’s prize puzzle.