ST 2699

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2699

A full review by gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Morning All! – There were a few clues in this puzzle that I took some time to parse but the grid fill came in quite quickly.

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           Reverentially treated male joining bank or put on board (4-10)
HERO-WORSHIPPED – A good charade to start with – HE (male) added to (joining) ROW(bank or tier in a theatre) followed by OR from the clue and finally SHIPPED (but on board *a boat*)

9a           Pieced together like information Government leader listed (7)
GLEANED – The leading letter in G(overnment) then LEANED (Listed/tilted)

10a         Person attracted by another, unfortunately married (7)
ADMIRER – Beautifully simply. An anagram of MARRIED , indicated by unfortunately. Where have you been all my life?

11a         Shrub that’s usually found in front of Parisian house (3)
RUE – Both a Shrub and the French word for Strett which is found in front of a house in Paris for example.

12a         In charge on paper that’s economical with words (11)
TELEGRAPHIC – Remember that A on B means A AFTER B in an across clue. So IC (abbreviation of In Charge) AFTER the TELEGRAPH newspaper.

14a         Highlight in hairpiece on someone’s head (6)
STRESS – TRESS (a piece of hair) on the heading letter of S(omeone’s).  S-TRESS

15a         Centigrade conversion of actual temperature within Asian city (8)
CALCUTTA – C for Centigrade followed by an anagram (conversion) of ACTUAL which contains T for Temperature within – Tricky but good.

17a         Set out in ship, I hear (8)
LISTENER – An anagram (out) of SET inside a LINER (ship) – LI (STE) NER

19a         In court, fail to keep secret (6)
CLOSET – LOSE (fail to keep_ inside the abbreviation for  e.g. a Tennis court – CT.

22a         Maker of current changes in schools one’s been expelled from earlier (11)
TRANSFORMER – A Current (or Voltage) regulator. TRA(i)NS – the I for One having been expelled or removed from a synonym of Schools with FORMER for ‘earlier’.

23a         Letter-writer‘s enclosure (3)
PEN – An easy double definition but remember that the apostrophe ‘S means IS. A letter writer IS also another name for an enclosure.

24a         ‘andgun carrier protecting daughter and grandparent, perhaps (7)
OLDSTER – That’ll be your (h)OLSTER carrying (or protecting) D for Daughter. The cockney dropped Haitch tells us to remove the same from the synonym.

26a         As persona non grata, excel at fly-fishing? (7)
OUTCAST – The cryptic definition meaning to throw the fly at the end of your rod further than the next man.

27a         What many shun, more or less? (4-6,4)
FOUR-LETTER word – WHAT, MANY, SHUN, MORE and/or LESS are all examples in this great &Lit or All-in-one clue. The whole sentence provides the definition.

Down

1d           Excited over formal proposal — that’s clear for all to see (4-10)
HIGH-RESOLUTION – HIGH (Up/excited) and then RESOLUTION – a formal proposal in e.g. a war treaty.

2d           Include a couple of Europeans in order, possibly, to get this animal (3,4)
ROE DEER – E an E (a pair of E(uropeans)) inside an anagram (possibly) of ORDER – ROE D (EE)R

3d           Watered around popular flowers for bouquet experts (4-7)
WINE-TASTERS – WET (watered) around the outside ok IN (popular) then add ASTERS  – a common Crosswordland flower.

4d           Take a lot of shots at puzzle (6)
RIDDLE – Two definitions – riddle with bullets and a conundrum. Simple but effective again.

5d           Either piece of Crown Derby, for example (8)
HEADGEAR – A good cryptic definition. Both a CROWN and a DERBY are examples of a hat.

6d           Dog leads needed for peace of mind (3)
POM – The leading letters in Peace Of Mind. Yer dog is the POM(eranian).

7d           Confused others about a limitation of audition (7)
EARSHOT – A confused anagram of OTHERS around the outside of A (from the clue).

8d           Engaged in timely theft? (14)
PROCRASTINATED – Remember that “Procrastination is the Thief of Time”. A good Cryptic Definition.

13d         What gives you potential to race clear? (11)
ACCELERATOR – A semi-all-in-one – A potential anagram of TO RACE CLEAR will give you the bit of the car that will make you speed up!.

16d         Support we can call on partly secures our centre (8)
RESOURCE – A hidden word in secuRES OUR CEntre

18d         Prepare for attack from traditionalist and Tory (5,2)
STAND TO – The traditional command to raise arms is another hidden word (indicated by from) inside traditionaliST AND TOry

20d         Parson improperly harbouring love for choir member (7)
SOPRANO – An anagram (improperly) of PARSON outside of (harbouring) O for ‘love’ (zero or nothing in Tennis).

21d         Significance of minutes grasped by one side on board (6)
IMPORT – M for Minutes inside I (one) and PORT (one side of a ship, on board)

25d         Jack and ten, initially, then ace, king, or queen (3)
TAR – The Initial letter of T(en) then A from the clue and finally R – which can be Rex or Regina, The abbreviation for King or Queen in Latin

 

Thanks to Virgilius for the puzzle, I’ll see you all tomorrow for a review of last Saturday’s Prize Puzzle.