DT 27666

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27666

A full review by gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***

This puzzle was published on Saturday, 6th  December 2014

Morning All! A quite enjoyable solve, I thought, that didn’t take too long at all.

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           Driving manoeuvre, say doing a U-turn, with Gabriel getting clipped (4,6)
GEAR CHANGE – Reverse EG to GE (say/for example doing a U-turn) then add all but the last letter of the ARCHANGE(l) Gabriel (getting the last letter clipped off).

6a           Sign of official correspondence for electrical units (4)
OHMS – The first is the cryptic definition – OHMS is the abb. for On Her Majesties Service which is noted on all official government and royal correspondence.

9a           Mafioso trashed Rome around summer time (7)
MOBSTER – An anagram (trashed) of ROME around BST for British Summer Time.

10a         Match official testimonial with no charge taken (7)
REFEREE – Remove NC – an abb. of No Charge from REFERE(nc)E or testimonial.

12a         Organised worker intrudes into a struggle (5,8)
TRADE UNIONIST – An anagram (struggle) of INTRUDES INTO A.

14a         She wrote ‘A Transatlantic Decade’ (6)
AUSTEN – Split as (1,2,3) this becomes A US TEN or ‘A Transatlantic Decade’.

15a         Aid to understanding foreign films being nuanced about it (8)
SUBTITLE – Place SUBTLE (nuanced) around the outside of IT from the clue.

17a         Aggressive youth had Nikes scuffed (8)
SKINHEAD – An anagram (scuffed) of HAD NIKES.

19a         Area west of New South Wales the Queen’s come back to (6)
ANSWER – A charade of A(rea), N(ew) S(outh) W(ales) and ER, Elizabeth Regina or the Queen

22a         Amount of business done by electronics company is sweet (5,8)
APPLE TURNOVER – A pleasant cryptic definition remembering the tech giant APPLE.

24a         See Kent all out with extreme sharpness (7)
KEENEST – An anagram (all out) of SEE KENT.

25a         Time Foreign Office should intervene in riot quickly (7)
HOTFOOT – Place T for Time and the FO or Foreign Office inside a HOOT/riot/blast.

26a         Provide comfort and support mostly (4)
EASE – All but the last letter (mostly) of EASE(l) or support for a painting.

27a         Keep protection with cutting through dreary escarpment (10)
DRAWBRIDGE – Place W for With inside a DRAB (dreary) RIDGE (escarpment). Nice definition!

Down

1d           Like pheasant, e.g. male having bright covering (4)
GAMY – GAY – the original meaning being bright or cheerful, around (covering) M for Male.

2d           A Roman assassin moving right up in a tree (7)
ARBUTUS – Not a word I was familiar with but clued in a straightforward manner and the checking letters helped. Start with A BRUTUS (one of Caesar’s assassins) and move the R up one place (in a down clue).

3d           Dairy product, possible output of goat etc, it’s said to make you smile (7,6)
COTTAGE CHEESE – An anagram (possible output of) GOAT ETC followed by CHEESE – what the photographer asks everyone to say to achieve a series of rictus grins.

4d           A vice that’s accepted (6)
A GREED – Nice and simple – A from the clue and GREED (one of the vices).

5d           A bloomer to stick around Eastern princess (8)
GERANIUM – to GUM or stick around E for Eastern and RANI (a Hindu princess or queen) – G E RANI UM

7d           Musician playing rap hits (7)
HARPIST – An anagram (playing) of RAP HITS. Simple but effective.

8d           Show passion and skill embracing wife and lover (10)
SWEETHEART – SEETHE (show passion/boil) around W for Wife and then ART or skill.

11d         One is going from one party to another — got travel info somehow (8,5)
FLOATING VOTER – An anagram (somehow) of GOT TRAVEL INFO.

13d         Being madly made, does it rise when sheep’s angry? (10)
RAMSHACKLE – If one is annoyed one gets one’s hackles up so what a male sheep might get up is a RAM’S HACKLE. Like it although I wonder if the setter meant badly not madly?

16d         Brag about amateur’s support (8)
BALUSTER – To BLUSTER or brag around the outside of A for Amateur.

18d         What reporter announces to create wow factor (7)
IMPRESS – A reporter ot journalist might declare I’M PRESS.

20d         Military leader has news about half of army line (7)
WARLORD – WORD or news (any word from the Front?) around (about) half of the word AR(my) and L for Line.

21d         A Big Apple entertainment failing to start, in a haphazard way (6)
ANYHOW – A from the clue then NY for New York (the Big Apple) and then s(HOW) or entertainment that fails to start.

23d         One’s sore, getting left out of fashion (4)
STYE – Remove L for Left out of STY(l)E or fashion.

Thanks to the setter, now I AM on a break for a week as I erroneously thought was the case last week – thanks for the nudge crypticsue!