DT 27462

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27462

A full review by crypticsue

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

This puzzle was published on  Saturday, 12th April 2014

The Saturday Mysteron seems to have upped the difficulty level for his last couple of appearances which for me anyway increases the enjoyment factor.

 

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 Person adored taking time in warm place with Roy perhaps (5-5)
HEARTTHROB – Insert T (taking Time) into HEARTH (warm place) and follow with ROB (Rob ROY, the Scottish outlaw).

6a Assemble for service (4)
MASS – A double definition – gathering together or the service of Communion.

10a Perry introducing leader of backing group (5)
COMBO – B, the leader of Backing, inserted into COMO (Perry Como the singer). Nice surface reading.

11a Fool guitar player, fussy type (3-6)
NIT-PICKER – NIT (fool) and PICKER (someone who plays a guitar using his nails.

12a Weapon of wood, pine on front (7)
LONGBOW – LONG (pine for) and BOW (the front of a ship).

13a Great man in resting place one turns to ashes (7)
CHEROOT – HERO (great man) inserted into a COT (resting place).

14a Putting strain on right girl engaged in kissing (5-7)
NERVE-RACKING – Insert R (right) and VERA (girl) into NECKING (kissing amorously).

18a Support a stranger picked up involved in drunken sprees (12)
BACCHANALIAN – A homophone (picked up ) of BACK (support) AN ALIEN (a stranger)

21a Craft needed to break through pack (7)
ICEBOAT – A cryptic definition of an ice-breaking vessel.

23a Beat for speed over university track (7)
OUTRACE – O (over in cricket scoring) U (university) and TRACE (track down).

24a Fruit bats entering holding area (9)
TANGERINE – An anagram (bats) of ENTERING with A (area) inserted.

25a Badly behaved child losing head, a mistake (5)
ERROR – Remove the head or first letter from a TERROR (badly behaved child).

26a Send cycling tips (4)
ENDS – Cycling indicates that you should move the first letter of SEND to the end

27a Rick engrossed by money’s finer details (5,5)
BRASS TACKS – A STACK or hayrick goes inside (engrossed by) BRASS (a slang term for money).

Down

1d Mild oath the French abuse (6)
HECKLE – HECK (a mild oath) and LE (the French word for the).

2d Scottish Nationalist, not the first nut (6)
ALMOND – Remove the first letter of the surname of the leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, Alex SALMOND.

3d Repair man makes brother lose out (14)
TROUBLESHOOTER – An anagram (makes) of BROTHER LOSE OUT.

4d Made by craft working down in harbour (4-5)
HAND-WOVEN – An anagram (working) of DOWN inserted into HAVEN (harbour).

5d Choose integrated circuit by sight (5)
OPTIC – OPT (choose) and IC (integrated circuit).

7d At risk of thrashing — if one does this (3,3,2)
ASK FOR IT – An anagram (thrashing) of AT RISK OF.

8d Long-term plan to go wrong, about to become upset (8)
STRATEGY – STRAY (go wrong)around a reversal (upset in down clue) of GET (to become)

9d End tennis match broken showing loss of enthusiasm (14)
DISENCHANTMENT – An anagram (broken) of END TENNIS MATCH.

15d Opportunities for big wins nearly part romantic couple (9)
ROLLOVERS – ROL[e] (nearly all of a part) and LOVERS (romantic couple).

16d Spirit shown by Arabs in Thessaly (8)
ABSINTHE – Hidden in, or shown by, ArABS IN THEssaly.

17d Native Americans in uplifting studies shown on TV (8)
SCREENED – CREE (Native Americans) in a reversal (uplifting) of DENS (studies).

19d Material that’s great, opulent mostly (6)
FABRIC – FAB (great) and RIC[h] (opulent mostly).

20d Wreckage turned up by gentleman on bottom of sea (6)
DEBRIS – a reversal (turned up) of SIR (gentleman) and  BED (bottom of the sea).

22d One game in German city (5)
TRIER –  A person   willing (game)   to have a go at something or a German city on the banks of the Moselle River.

 

I’ll be back on Sunday with a review of the Monthly Prize Puzzle – there’s still a few more hours to have a go and solve the mystery before entries close tomorrow.