ST 2705

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2705

A full review by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Never mind a full English, a bowl of cereal or even toast with my home-made greengage jam – the best way to start Sunday morning is with a Virgilius cryptic crossword.  This one wasn’t one of his most difficult but it had the usual high level of entertainment.

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           Doctor man’s cut in private room (7)
SANCTUM –   An anagram (doctor) of MANS CUT.

5a           Like debonair young man     in a hurry (7)
DASHING –   stylish and showy or rushing somewhere.

9a           Writes a short novel about university (7)
AUTHORS –  An anagram (novel) of A SHORT with U (university) inserted produces part of a verb meaning to create as an author.

10a         Advises what’s one essential to make a crossword popular (5,2)
CLUES –   CLUES (essential for a crossword) and IN (popular).

11a         Bird taking most of fruit — shame about that (9)
GUILLEMOT –   insert nearly all (most of)  of a LEMOn into GUILT (shame).

12a         Old clothes in which to chatter idly (5)
TOGAS –   TO (from the clue) and GAS (chatter idly or vapidly).

13a         Appropriate port for ship? On the contrary (5)
RIGHT –    A synonym for appropriate is also the opposite of port which as everyone knows is the left hand side of a ship!!

15a         Philosopher, self-proclaimed existential thinker? (9)
DESCARTES was the philosopher, who said ‘I think, therefore I am’.

17a         Newspaper partly concealing crime in minister’s house (9)
PARSONAGE –   Insert the crime of ARSON into a PAGE (part of a newspaper).

19a         The thankyou letter coming from Athens originally (5)
THETA –   THE (from the clue) and TA (thank you).

22a         Construction associated with Hoover when put in as US president (5)
ADAMS –   Insert DAM (there is a famous one named after President Hoover) into AS (from the clue).

23a         Movie director set to shoot after brief hold-up (9)
HITCHCOCK –   HITCH (brief hold up) and COCK (to pull back the trigger on a gun ready to shoot).

25a         Evil-doer holding power, professional propagandist? (7)
SPINNER –   Insert P (power) into a SINNER or evil-doer.

26a         Having reformed, in ashes and sackcloth (7)
HESSIAN –   An anagram (having reformed) of IN ASHES.

27a         A lot of rulers can be extremely dastardly and disagreeable (7)
DYNASTY –   The outside (extremely) letters of DastardlY plus NASTY (disagreeable).

28a         A pacifist finally in position to pacify (7)
PLACATE –    Insert A (from the clue) and T (pacifisT finally).

Down

1d           Small happy dog’s air of superiority (7)
SWAGGER –   S (small) and WAGGER (a lovely way to describe a happy dog).

2d           One of those sweet words of affection or love (7)
NOTHING –  A whispered word of affection and endearment ,  or love in the sense of zero, nought.

3d           Charge for bridge, going over river to do some fishing (5)
TROLL – To fish with a moving bait –   Insert R (river) into TOLL (charge for bridge).

4d           Sources of information for many as dim as me, possibly (4,5)
MASS MEDIA –   An anagram (possibly) of AS DIM AS ME.

5d           European money formerly put into education (5)
DUCAT –   Hidden in eDUCATion.

6d           Hit it big, ultimately, in royal house in European city (9)
STUTTGART –   Insert into the Royal House of STUART the final letters (ultimately) of hiT, iT and biG.

7d           Understanding not absent from mind, proverbially (7)
INSIGHT –   Split 2, 5 it is the opposite of the proverb ‘out of sight, out of mind’.

8d           Sourcebook? (7)
GENESIS –   The book of the Bible that deals with the creation and development of everything on earth.

14d         Large number in middle of summer (9)
THOUSANDS –   Two thousands –  MM in Roman numerals – is hidden in the middle of suMMer.

16d         Illicit tapes show awful working environment (9)
SWEATSHOP –   An illicit anagram of TAPES SHOW.

17d         People’s leader elevated and honoured (7)
PRAISED –   P (the ‘leader’ of people) and RAISED (elevated).

18d         Change order right before meal — dig in without starters (7)
REALIGN –  R (right) followed by mEAL  dIG and iN (without their ‘starters’ or first letters).

20d         Beethoven’s work, including his fourth, is rousing stuff (7)
EROTICA –   Insert the fourth letter of BeeThoven into his work EROICA.

21d         Question one about name obliquely (7)
ASKANCE –   ASK (question) ACE (one) with N (name)  inserted.

23d         Badger member of undistinguished trio (5)
HARRY –   Any old  Tom, Dick or HARRY – harry as a verb means to badger or harass.

24d         Pour cold water on a book of prophecy (5)
HOSEA –   HOSE (pour cold water on) and A (from the clue).

I’m back in the morning with a review of last Saturday’s puzzle.