ST 2701 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 2701

by crypticsue  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2701

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****

So hard to think of something original to say about the weekly treat from Virgilius.  Once again a splendid mix of clues with too many ‘clues I liked best’ to pick just one.

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           British antique, fine and excellent — type it’s hard to miss (8)
BOLDFACE –  B (British) OLD (antique) F (fine) and ACE (excellent) go together to make this type of font.

9a           Evil once order breaks down? (8)
VIOLENCE –   An anagram (order) of EVIL ONCE.

10a         End of cat — or dog (4)
TAIL –   Something found on the end of a cat can also be  a verb meaning to follow closely.

11a         Extremely angry Peruvian might claim this (12)
INCANDESCENT –   The original inhabitants of Peru were the Incas, so a Peruvian might claim he was of INCAN   DESCENT.

13a         A king was still checked (8)
ARRESTED –   A (from the clue) R (Rex, king) and RESTED (was still).

15a         Exemplary worker    from the city of Paris (6)
TROJAN –  A trusty or hard-working person; a citizen or inhabitant of Troy, the home of Paris, son of Priam.

16a         Old marketplaces supporting agriculture, initially (4)
FOR A – The plural of a forum or old Roman marketplace –   FOR (supporting) and A (the initial letter of agriculture).

17a         Cautious husband being driven barmy, ultimately (5)
CHARY – An adjective meaning cautious or wary –   Insert H (husband) into CAR (if he is in the car, he is  ‘being driven’!) and finish with the last letter of barmY (barmy ultimately).

18a         Problem as stated, more or less (4)
SOME –   A homophone (as stated) of the mathematical problem, the SUM.

20a         State positively and loudly within a company (6)
AFFIRM –   Insert F (the abbreviation for loud – Forte) into A FIRM (a company).

21a         Half-century for opener as score changes game (8)
LACROSSE –   L (the Roman numeral for 50, half a century) followed by an anagram (changes) of AS SCORE.

23a         Far-sightedness about diamonds I included in share calculation (4,8)
LONG DIVISION –   Insert D (diamonds) and I (from the clue) into LONG VISION (far-sightedness).

26a         Restore order at midday, ignoring the odds (4)
TIDY –   Ignore the ‘odds’ and the even letters of aT mIdDaY will provide the solution.

27a         Swimmer‘s temperature included by medic (8)
STURGEON –   Include or insert T (temperature) into a SURGEON.

28a         Testing how pearl of wisdom may pass into posterity (8)
ASSAYING –   Split ASSAYING 2, 6 and you will see how a pearl of wisdom, or saying, could pass into posterity.

Down

2d           Work for orchestra and choir or a small group around band (8)
ORATORIO –   OR  and A (from the clue) and TRIO (small group), the latter having an O (which looks like a circle or band) inserted.

3d           Considering adding carpeting to foodstore (12)
DELIBERATING –   DELI (food store) and BERATING (carpeting, telling off).

4d           Bird turned over eggs etc when disturbed (6)
AVOCET –   A reversal (turned over) of OVA (eggs) and an anagram (when disturbed) of ETC.

5d           Uniform happening to get cut (4)
EVEN –   Cut or take the last letter from an EVENt or happening.

6d           Commander using minimal force in powerful way (8)
COGENTLY –   CO (commanding officer) and GENTLY (using minimal force).

7d           Finishes off drink on the house in low joint (4)
KNEE –  The last letters (finishes) of drinK oN thE housE.

8d           Allocation of time for piece of writing (8)
SENTENCE –  Time allocated to a prisoner, or part of a piece of writing.

12d         Angry over run in Cambridgeshire, say, that’s not on track (5-7)
CROSS-COUNTRY  –  CROSS (angry) and COUNTY (Cambridgeshire is  an example,  say, of a county) with R (run in cricket score) inserted.

14d         Pull on line, in a manner of speaking (5)
DRAWL –   DRAW (pull on) and L (line)

16d         Perfect female not bound by regulations (8)
FLAWLESS –   F (female) plus LAWLESS (not bound by regulations).

17d         Assembled in a ring round politician (8)
COMPILED –   Insert MP (Member of Parliament, politician) into COILED (in a ring).

19d         Elephant-like creature creating small commotion, trapped by guy (8)
MASTODON –   A pre-historic ancestor of the elephant –   Insert  into MAN (trapped by guy) S (small) and TO DO (commotion).

22d         Turning points, as sea, we hear, gets higher (6)
CRISES –   A homophone (we hear) of sea – C plus RISES (gets higher).

24d         Common sense from them? On the contrary (4)
NOUS –   Just split the solution 2, 2 and read the clue again!

25d         Insular part of Scotland held by Nationalists (4)
IONA –  A small Inner Hebridian island is hidden in (held by) natIONAlists.

2 comments on “ST 2701”

  1. The trouble with trying to comment on a review of a crossword that I did eleven days ago are a) finding the crossword and b) remembering what I thought at the time. 10/10 for first and rather less for the second.
    I do, since finding this blog, always enjoy Sunday crosswords a lot.
    I do remember having trouble with 22d.
    For a while I misunderstood my answer for 17a which was right but for all the wrong reasons. I could see that the definition was ‘cautious’ but I thought the ‘husband being driven’ was ‘char’ – as in doing the housework (fat chance in our house) followed by ‘Y’.
    As usual for a Sunday there are too many wonderful clues to put them all down so I’ll just go for a couple – 11a and 24d.
    With thanks to Virgilius and crypticsue.

  2. PS Never been first to comment before – actually, thinking about it properly, never been first to do anything before!

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