Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27654
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *– Enjoyment ***
This puzzle was published on Saturday, 22nd November 2014
Lovely, straightforward start to my Saturday solving. The fact that there are six anagrams and, as Caravaggio commented “… this puzzle evoked memories of Saturday’s past”, I think this week it is thank you to Cephas rather than one of the Saturday Mysterons.
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Across
1a I hand Pimms out, one in schooner perhaps (10)
MIDSHIPMAN – An anagram (out) of I HAND PIMMS, schooner here being a type of ship rather than a glass.
6a Hunk‘s small short dog (4)
SLAB – S (small) and LAB (a ‘short’ or abbreviated Labrador dog)
9a English novelist — he sends a message (7)
EMAILER – E (English) followed by the American novelist – Norman MAILER.
10a Deep Purple get a man rocking (7)
MAGENTA – An anagram (rocking) of GET A MAN.
12a Business is booming at first having experienced shock (13)
THUNDERSTRUCK – THUNDERS (is booming) goes before (at first) TRUCK (business dealings).
14a Sea monster covered up bloomer (6)
ORCHID – ORC (a mythical sea monster) HID (covered up).
15a Blossomed following getting depressed (8)
FLOWERED – F (following) and LOWERED (getting depressed).
17a Illegal passenger‘s expressions of pain and disgust going into hold (8)
STOWAWAY – Expressions of pain OW and disgust AW inserted into STAY (hold).
19a Some Caerphilly cheese as dessert item (6)
LYCHEE is hidden in some of CarephilLY CHEEse.
22a Labour politician mostly turned to tackle electoral fraud (6-7)
BALLOT-RIGGING – Most of [Ed]BALLs (Labour politician), a reversal (turned) of TO and RIGGING (tackle).
24a Rich person takes year in popular holiday area (7)
MONEYED – ONE (a person) and Y (year) are taken into MED (the Mediterranean being a popular holiday area).
25a Abraham’s son is married, embraced by Jacob’s wife contrarily (7)
ISHMAEL – IS (from the clue) and M (married) the latter ‘embraced by’ a reversal (contrarily)of LEAH (Jacob’s wife).
26a In Kent area, see fruit (4)
SLOE – LO (see) inserted into SE (the area of England where Kent can be found).
27a Laughing uncontrollably this month is irritating (2,8)
IN STITCHES – INST (this month) and ITCHES (is irritating).
Down
1d People taking in island air (4)
MIEN – I (island) ‘taken in by’ MEN (people).
2d Uncompromising doctor with cold drinks wine (7)
DRASTIC – DR (doctor) and C (cold) with ASTI inserted (drinks wine).
3d Can holy ritual somehow be producing visions? (13)
HALLUCINATORY – An anagram (somehow)of CAN HOLY RITUAL.
4d Stick in front of plane certainly for take-off (6)
PARODY – P (the ‘front’ of plane) ROD (stick) and AY (certainly, of course).
5d Officers laid arms all over the place (8)
ADMIRALS – An anagram (all over the place) of LAID ARMS.
7d French tongue — clipped or showing listlessness? (7)
LANGUOR – LANGUe (the French word for language (tongue) with its last letter removed (clipped) and OR (from the clue). One of those rare occasions where the solver doesn’t have to think ‘now does the U come before the O, or vice-versa?’.
8d Bald, racked characters reincarnated in TV comedy (10)
BLACKADDER – Splendid wordplay, except I am not sure how many bald racked characters there were in the various series. An anagram (characters reincarnated) of BALD RACKED.
11d I don’t believe you, on top of all the rage, escape punishment (3,4,4,2)
GET AWAY WITH IT – GET AWAY (another way of saying I don’t believe you) and WITH IT (all the rage).
13d Composing bogus poems is a sign one’s scared (5,5)
GOOSE BUMPS – An anagram (composing) of BOGUS POEMS.
16d Verbally abused an unpleasant woman (8)
HARRIDAN – A homophone (verbally)of HARRIED (abused, harassed) followed by AN (from the clue).
18d Soldiers secure old holiday resort (7)
ORLANDO – OR (ordinary ranks, soldiers) LAND (secure) and O (old).
20d Wizard boarding school’s not right having hard bunk (7)
HOGWASH – Remove RT (not right)from HOGWARTS (Harry Potter’s boarding school) and then follow the remaining letters with H for hard.
21d A spirit favouring youth (6)
AGEIST – A and GEIST (spirit).
23d A former railway charity (4)
ALMS – A(from the clue) and the initials of the London Midland and Scottish Railway.