ST 2774

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2774

A full review by crypticsue

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

This puzzle was published on Sunday, 14thDecember 2014

 

Another Sunday puzzle with lots to enjoy

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           Ostentatiously display fraternal love, initially, in front of relative (6)
FLAUNT –   The initial letters of Fraternal and Love followed by an AUNT.

4a           Abridged volume is by Tolstoy, say, or British noble (8)
VISCOUNT –   V (abbreviated – abridged – Volume) IS (from the clue) and COUNT (Tolstoy was a count).

10a         Revolutionary movement in West he introduced to political bloc (9)
CARTWHEEL –   W (west) and HE (from the clue) ‘introduced’ into CARTEL (political bloc).

11a         Fool‘s gold found in second excavation, finally (5)
MORON –   Insert OR (heraldic gold) into MO (second)  and N (the final letter of excavation).

12a         Object set in long piece of jewellery (7)
PENDANT – END (object) set into PANT (long for).

13a         Portion husband consumed in abstracted state (7)
TRANCHE –   H (husband) consumed by or inserted into TRANCE (abstracted state).

14a         Neck or lip, or nearby part of head (5)
CHEEK –   Cheek, neck and lip can all mean impudence;   a cheek is part of your head or face

15a         Ethical system — test it in my case? (8)
MORALITY –   ORAL (test)and IT put into MY.

18a         Strict disciplinarian putting soldier outside time and time again (8)
MARTINET – T (time) inserted into MARINE (soldier) and followed by another T (time again).

20a         Enthusiastic enjoyment, something that blows over (5)
GUSTO – GUST (something that blows) and O (over in cricket scoring).

23a         Following style of president lacking capital in part of US (7)
ALABAMA –   A LA (following style of) and OBAMA minus his capital letter.

25a         Original clue in paper put back as centrepiece? (7)
NUCLEUS   – An anagram (original) of CLUE inserted into a reversal (put back) of the SUN newspaper.

26a         Unfriendly, small, and petty quarrel (5)
STIFF –   S (small) plus TIFF (petty quarrel).

27a         Taking offence about article liable to be shocking? On the contrary (9)
INSULATED – INSULTED (taking offence) with A (indefinite article) inserted.

28a         Get a rule revised to exercise control (8)
REGULATE –   An anagram (revised) of GET A RULE.

29a         Like a mule held by lengthy bridle (6)
HYBRID –   Hidden (held by) in lengtHY BRIDle.

Down

1d           Cosmetic treatment from female expert on the cards (4,4)
FACE PACK –   F (female) ACE (expert) and PACK (of cards).

2d           Organise a run over series of mountains (7)
ARRANGE –   A (from the clue) R (run) RANGE (series of mountains).

3d           Course that’s what expanding company seeks (9)
NEWMARKET –   Split the racecourse 3, 6 and that’s what the expanding company is seeking.

5d           The writer will repeat point that’s not a problem for reader (14)
ILLITERATENESS –   ILL (I, the writer, will) ITERATE (repeat) NESS (point).

6d           Note bullets set up for part of list, invariably (5)
COMMA – My favourite clue –   C (musical note) and a reversal of AMMO (bullets) gives you a punctuation mark invariably found in lists and as part of the clue too!

7d           Utter shambles surrounding church in European city (7)
UTRECHT –   An anagram (shambles) of UTTER put round CH (church).

8d           Take part in event and emphasise it’s not normally what one rides (6)
TANDEM – Hidden in eventTAND EMphasise. I know Virgilius is very good at hiding words but it took me ages to see why the solution was what it was!

9d           Nostalgic chap mailed a catalogue, including old boys in it (14)
SENTIMENTALIST –   Insert MEN (old boys) into IT and then inserted the result into SENT A LIST (mailed a catalogue).

16d         Within the neighbourhood, housing foreign fighter in sensible fashion (9)
LOGICALLY –   A GI (American or foreign soldier, fighter) inserted into LOCALLY (within the neighbourhood).

17d         Odd piles rearranged, not evenly distributed (8)
LOPSIDED –   An anagram (rearranged) of ODD PILES.

19d         Before PM starts, a vitality that’s remarkable (7)
AMAZING –   AM (morning comes before PM afternoon) followed by ZING (vitality).

21d         As we’re perturbed about temperature, producing warm garment (7)
SWEATER –   An anagram (perturbed) of AS WERE with T (temperature) inserted.

22d         Old ruler commemorated in July or August (6)
CAESAR –   The names of the months of July and August come from JULIUS and AUGUSTUS who were both old rulers known as CAESAR.

24d         Like legal action, start off really bad (5)
AWFUL – Remove the L (start off) LAWFUL (like legal action).

Apologies for the delay in posting this review, but Gnomey’s busy work schedule and necesary R&R got in the way of crossword solving.   He should be  here in the morning with the review of ST 2775.