ST 2697

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2697

A full review by crypticsue

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

Another fine start to Sunday, with everything we have come to expect, including not one but two hidden words.    I put dots by lots of clues I liked, but I think top favourite has to be 17a.

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           Deal anew with case concerning gang (6)
REPACK –   RE (about, concerning) and PACK (gang)

4a           Drink before food wild parties mostly provided (8)
APERITIF –   Almost all (mostly) of the letters of PARTIES  rearranged (wild) and followed by IF (provided).

10a         Old master exactly right about what’s central to art (5)
DURER –   DUE (an adverb meaning directly) and R (right) with R (what’s central  to aRt) inserted.

11a         I’m surrounded by people in a certain state, showing vivacity (9)
ANIMATION –   Insert IM into A NATION (people in a state).

12a         Festival location, as we see it, is disorderly (7)
RIOTOUS –   RIO (festival location) TO US (as we see it).

13a         Lots of ships round the bend when following a river (7)
ARMADAS   –   A (from the  clue) R (river)  MAD  (round the bend) and AS (when).

14a         Split femur — care badly needed for such an injury (6,8)
SIMPLE FRACTURE –   An anagram  (badly) of SPLIT FEMUR CARE produces the injury currently causing problems to Kath’s daughter (and Kath too by the sound of it!).

17a         Hobbies are included in class that interests them (14)
ORNITHOLOGISTS –   Hobbies here being a type of small falcon.

21a         Relative amicability rules, initially? It’s not obvious (7)
UNCLEAR –   UNCLE (relatively) followed by the initial letters of Amicability and Rules.

23a         As kind of thief, monarch’s taking in good person (7)
RUSTLER –  Insert ST (a saint, good person) into a RULER (monarch).

24a         Gluttony, for example, seen as lady dines frenetically (6,3)
DEADLY SIN –   An anagram (frenetically) of LADY DINES.

25a         Foreigner has a right to a lawyer (5)
ALIEN –   A (from the clue) and LIEN (a legal term for the right to retain possession of another’s property until the owner pays a debt of fulfils a contract).

26a         Writer appearing in anthologies, say, is thrilled (8)
ESSAYIST is hidden in anthologiES SAY IS Thrilled.

27a         Enthusiastic about good backing for this type of pop music (6)
REGGAE –   Insert G (about  Good) into EAGER (an adjective meaning enthusiastic) and then reverse (backing) the result.

Down

1d           Break records with small humanitarian organisation (3,5)
RED CROSS –  An anagram (break) of RECORDS followed by S (small).

2d           Some supper for meritorious singer, perhaps (9)
PERFORMER –   Another hidden word – this time hidden in some of supPER FOR MERitorious.

3d           Complain over nothing on Circle Line — it can save commuters money (3,4)
CAR POOL –    CARP (complain) O (nothing) O (circle) and L (line).

5d           Bill a repairman falsified for top female in company (5,9)
PRIMA BALLERINA –   An anagram (falsified) of BILL A REPAIRMAN.

6d           Let in again to study literature with US university (7)
READMIT –   READ (study literature) and MIT (the US University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

7d           Bound to imprison ring-leader that’s prosecuted (5)
TRIED –   Insert or imprison the ‘leader’ of Ring into TIED (bound).

8d           Carp, possibly, about popular conclusion (6)
FINISH –   The second appearance of carp, this time as an example, possibly, of a  FISH into which should be inserted IN (popular).

9d           Conflict symbolised by different colours of house-plants? (4,2,3,5)
WARS OF THE ROSES –  A very nice &Lit gives us the conflict between two Royal houses.

15d         Settling very shortly into a bit of work at last? (9)
RESOLVING –   Insert V (very shortly) into RESOLING, the sort of work a shoe mender might do at a last.

16d         Drive off from established area for practice shots (8)
ESTRANGE –   EST (the abbreviation for established)  and RANGE (somewhere Gnomey would like to spend more time practicing his golf shots).

18d         In a perfect world, I had European associate (7)
IDEALLY –   ID (I’d, I had) E (European) and ALLY (associate).

19d         Key property to develop over long period (7)
GESTATE –   G (the key of G in music) and ESTATE (property).

Can’t resist the opportunity to show off  Alfie, the latest  to ‘develop over a long period’ in our family .

20d         Put down brief reminder to renew membership (6)
SUBDUE –  Split 3, 3 this would be an abbreviated way of reminding you that your membership subscription is due for renewal.

22d         Including one piece of basic education for learner in class is stupid (5)
CRASS –   Replace the L in class with one of the three R’s (piece of basic education).

Thanks to Virgilius once again for a puzzle, with lovely clues with the right amount of solving trickiness but relatively straightforward  to explain – a blogger’s dream in fact.   Gnomey’s turn to have Sunday fun for the next  two weeks, while I see what Saturdays have to offer in the way of entertainment.