DT 27713

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27713

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment **

This puzzle was published on Saturday, 31st January 2015

I solved this puzzle on the way to London for the blog’s birthday bash and, given that I was solving it assisted by a very chatty five year old girl, the only things that I could recall about this Mysteron puzzle is  that I did like 5a and 5d.      Not much help when you are asked to review it at short notice, but it soon all came back to me.

Across

1a           Put an end to   hard drink (6)
SCOTCH – Two definitions, the first meaning to put an end to or crush something, for example a plan.

5a           Bond villain’s not half one to take tips from Smersh — he may go round in a tank (8)
GOLDFISH – remove the last 4 letters of GOLDFinger (Bond villain)  then add I for  the one in the clue and the tips of the word SMERSH.   My online searches confirm my thought that SMERSH should all be in capitals.

9a           Primitive weapon for lord hosting an event on grouse moor (10)
PEASHOOTER – Place A SHOOT (event on grouse moor) inside a PEER (Lord)

10a         Stern  parent (4)
REAR –  Double definition time.

11a         Old king’s regulation side dish (8)
COLESLAW –   COLE (the merry nursery rhyme king) and LAW (regulation).

12a         Take seconds — that’s more than enough (6)
SAMPLE –  S (seconds) and AMPLE (more than enough).

13a         Honour embracing old music producer (4)
OBOE –   OBE (honour – Order of the British Empire) embracing O (old).

15a         Healthy fare served up by crone in make-up (8)
ROUGHAGE –   Insert a HAG (crone) into ROUGE (make up).

18a         Unnatural voice of latest hit (8)
FALSETTO –   An anagram (hit) of OF LATEST.

19a         Annoyed expression as celebrity makes a comeback (4)
RATS –   A reversal (makes a comeback) of STAR (celebrity).

21a         Time to publish paper (6)
TISSUE –   Time for an ‘old friend’.   T (time) and ISSUE (publish).

23a         It’s eaten? Not normally — it’s drunk (8)
ANISETTE –   An anagram (not normally) of ITS EATEN.

25a         Youngster — a developing creature (4)
PUPA –   PUP (young dog) and A (from the clue).

26a         It’s smoked and cured each summer (10)
MEERSCHAUM –   An anagram (cured) of EACH SUMMER.

27a         Overtake a golfer getting shot across top of pin (8)
LEAPFROG –   Another anagram (getting shot) of A GOLFER and the ‘top’ of Pin.

28a         Leader in rock broadcast (6)
SHEIKH –   A homophone (broadcast) of SHAKE (rock).

Down

2d           Company holding left-wing set of beliefs (5)
CREDO –  RED (the colour associated with left-wing parties) inserted into CO (company).

3d           Vulgar criminal steals set (9)
TASTELESS –   Another anagram (criminal) of STEALS SET.

4d           Bear climbing on the French fairground stall (4-2)
HOOP-LA –   A reversal of POOH (Winnie-the-Pooh , bear) climbing on(or being followed by) LA (the French word for the).

5d           What Faberge often did for classic advertising slogan (2,2,4,2,2,3)
GO TO WORK ON AN EGG –   A lovely cryptic definition – it helped, of course, if you were of an age  to remember the slogan!

6d           Has fun cutting back lily-white flower (8)
LARKSPUR – LARKS (has fun) followed by a reversal (back) of almost all of (cutting) PURE (lily-white).

7d           Place for discussion class about university (5)
FORUM –   Insert U (university) into FORM (class).

8d           Sailor seen in faint nocturnal illumination (9)
STARLIGHT –   TAR (sailor) inserted into SLIGHT (faint).

14d         Get lost with cuddles regularly for great happiness (9)
BEATITUDE –  BEAT IT (get lost) followed by the regular letters of cUdDlEs.

16d         Clothes-drier’s to work in garden — it may be lucky (9)
HORSESHOE –   HORSE[‘]S (clothes drier’s  are sometimes called  clothes horses) and HOE (work in garden).

17d         Ship carrying right flag (8)
STREAMER –   R (right) inserted into STEAMER (ship).

20d         The old lady to feel nostalgia for America (6)
MISSUS –   Split 4,2 one might MISS [the]  US.

22d         Swindle gains little money for villain (5)
SCAMP –  SCAM (swindle) and P (the abbreviation for a penny, little money).

24d         Queen getting into food trade (5)
TRUCK – R (Regina, Queen) inserted into TUCK (food).

Gnomey is due a week off from blogging next week which should give him time to recover from his neck problems before he needs to type his next review.   Get well soon.