DT 27803

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27803

A full review by gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***

This puzzle was published on Saturday, 16th May 2015

Morning All! This one barely scraped into two star difficulty. I think I quite enjoyed it at the time!.

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           Decision given by Italian who made notes before court (7)
VERDICT – VERDI – th eItalian composer (who made notes) followed by CT – the abb. for court.

5a           Nickname promises to be questionable (7)
DUBIOUS – To DUB is to give a nickname and the IOUS are promises (to pay).

9a           Over half of publicity is allowable (5)
LICIT – A hidden word which is slightly more than half of the word pubLICITy.

10a         Lying about joining with criminal (9)
RECUMBENT – A cgaharade of RE (about), CUM (Latin for with) and BENT for criminal.

11a         Percussion in a medley above audible limit (10)
SUPERSONIC – An anagram, indicated by ‘in a medley’ of SUPERSONIC.

12a         Stop in area to follow TV doctor (4)
WHOA – The ubiquitous TC Doctor – WHO – followed by A for Area.

14a         Strangely enough it’s a large sum of money (5,7)
SMALL FORTUNE – A cryptic definition playing on the large/small dichotomy.

18a         Part of body of country, large and wild to the west (7,5)
ADRENAL GLAND – LAND for country with an anagram (wild) of LARGE AND in front (to the left/west of the puzzle in an across clue)

21a         Composer has dropped in for some meat (4)
CHOP – Remove the IN from the composer CHOP(in).

22a         Vehicle for transferring property (10)
CONVEYANCE – Two definitions, a conveyer of goods e.g. a van and also estate conveyance.

25a         Fans staying behind (9)
FOLLOWING – Another double definitions – a famous band attracts a following and those lagging behind are also following.

26a         Popular at present yet without any chance of success (2-3)
NO WIN – Split as NOW IN we get a phrase meaning Popular (IN) and At present )NOW).

27a         Pine needs support, one standing near the boundary (4,3)
LONG LEG – To Pine is to LONG for something and a support is e.g. a LEG of a table. LONG LEG is a boundary fielder in cricket.

28a         Ruler more troubled for each being imprisoned (7)
EMPEROR – A troubled anagram of MORE that contains PER (for each. The container indicator is ‘being imprisoned’.

Down

1d           French dance in which I’ll get covered up, in case (6)
VALISE – A Waltz in French is a VALSE – Cover the letter I with it to get the French for a (suit)case.

2d           Formula for rice pudding and pie one’s left (6)
RECIPE – an anagram (pudding) of RICE followed by P(i)E – with the I having left. Good case for an all-in-one clue here.

3d           Knight invading being put in grave captivity (10)
INTERNMENT – Place N for Knight (from the chess notation – K is King!) inside INTERMENT for grave.

4d           Trunk found along equator somewhere (5)
TORSO – Another hidden word indicated by ‘found along’ and hidden in equaTOR SOmewhere.

5d           Lying revealed in deft clue I compiled (9)
DECEITFUL – An anagram (compiled) of DEFT CLUE I.

6d           Married in bar — coming up, sign of baby on the way? (4)
BUMP – Place M – the abb. for married in a family tree – inside a reversal (coming up) of a PUB/bar.

7d           Rigorous examination about catch at sea (8)
OVERHAUL – A charade of OVER (about) and HAUL (a catch at sea).

8d           Places university knocked back, held by models (8)
SITUATES – Place U for University and ATE for knocked back/consumed inside SITS for models or poses.

13d         Biscuit you’ll need spirit to break (6,4)
BRANDY SNAP – A charade of the BRANDY spirit and to SNAP or break.

15d         Laugh out loud, striding along and bounding about (9)
LOLLOPING – Another charade, this time of LOL (Internetz for Laugh Out Loud) and then LOPING for striding along.

16d         Fabulous being cooler — then caught island flu outbreak (8)
FANCIFUL – Start with a FAN/cooler then add C for Caught, I for Island and finally an anagram (outbreak) of FLU.

17d         Stream and lake going over rising New York borough (8)
BROOKLYN – Place a BROOK/stream and L for Lake on a reversal (rising) of NY – the abb. for New York.

19d         Menswear designed without accommodating this writer’s solution (6)
ANSWER – Remove ME (this writer) from (me)NSWEAR and then make an anagram (designed).

20d         One laments being more intense (6)
KEENER – To KEEN is to cry/lament so a KEENER is one who laments. If you are KEENER then you are more comparatively intense.

23d         Lacking precision against malaria? (5)
VAGUE – V for Versus (against) and then the AGUE – a generic term for lots of previously undefined illnesses including malaria.

24d         Snake Pass contains one (4)
COIL – Place I for One inside a COL or mountain pass.

I’ll see you all next Friday.