ST 2803

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2803

A full review by gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty *– Enjoyment ****

This puzzle was published on Sunday, 5th July 2015

Morning All! This puzzle was a lot gentler than last Sunday’s which will please some. There were still some lovely clues with brilliant surface readings.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.  You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five best!

Across

1a           Respect natural setting in which silver’s found (6)
HOMAGE – AG, the chemical symbol for silver is found in HOME or natural setting.

4a           Prophetic work with unchanged line about what lies repeatedly in future (6)
SAMUEL – Place SAME (unchanged) and L for Line around the outside (about) U – the letter that is repeated in fUtUre.

8a           Evil racket almost covering one state (8)
ILLINOIS – ILL for evil and almost all of NOIS(e) for din/racket) covering I for one.

10a         Start of crossword clue, ending with unknown material (6)
CHINTZ – The starting letter of Crossword – C , then HINT for clue and lastly the mathematical unknown variable Z.

11a         Record piece of music (4)
NOTE – Two definitions – To Note something down in a record and the smallest musical element.

12a         Some lesser vice manifested in private, maybe (10)
SERVICEMAN – Hidden in (SOME of) lesSER VICE MANifested.

13a         Drinks diners combined with sweets, perhaps (7,5)
DESSERT WINES – A very nice clue and an anagram (perhaps) of the combined letters of DINERS and SWEETS – pretty much an all-in-one or &Lit clue.

16a         Still returning to ruined shelters, however (12)
NEVERTHELESS – Reverse (return) EVEN/still and then make an anagram (ruined) of SHELTERS.

20a         Again find something obvious about Mao’s little book? Just the opposite (10)
REDISCOVER – Split the answer as RED IS COVER and swap the first and last words (just the opposite) to get something obvious about Mao’s little book i.e. COVER IS RED.

21a         Vessel buoyant — what’s odd in that? (4)
BOAT – The odd letters in BuOyAnT.

22a         Jacket got from trunk, or put back (6)
BOLERO – The BOLE or trunk of a tree then the reversal (put back) of OR from the clue.

23a         From bearings, identified position close to fighting (8)
RINGSIDE – A second hidden word (indicated by from) inside beaRINGS IDEntified.

24a         Try again to find setter’s anagram (6)
RETEST – An anagram of SETTER – nice and easy!.

25a         Strange story about European that lies in bed under water (6)
OYSTER – Make a strange anagram of STORY and include E for European.

Down

1d           Husband, completely outstanding, revered (8)
HALLOWED – H, the abb. for Husband, and then ALL OWED (completely outstanding/due).

2d           Part of New England twice heard primary shock (5)
MAINE – Two homophones (twice heard) of MAIN (primary) and MANE (a shock of hair).

3d           Shopkeeper sounded less refined (7)
GROSSER – A homophone (sounded) of GROCER/shopkeeper.

5d           Dispose of lots, using element of WMD in battle (7)
AUCTION – Place U for Uranium (one of the elements in nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction) inside ACTION for battle.

6d           Run as live broadcast, in general (9)
UNIVERSAL – An anagram, indicated by broadcast, of RUN AS LIVE.

7d           Wrongly ordered all the killing (6)
LETHAL – Another anagram (wrongly ordered) of ALL THE. The good surface reading made this ‘all the’ more difficult to spot.

9d           Drink with sailors in small club (11)
SCREWDRIVER – The CREW of sailors inside S for Small and a golf DRIVER (club).

14d         Feeling about male attitude (9)
SENTIMENT – Place SENTIENT (feeling) around the outside of M for Male.

15d         Irishman, for example, is on spacecraft that comes down (8)
ISLANDER – Nice and straightforward – Is from the clue on top of (ON in a down clue) a LANDER or a spacecraft that comes down to the surface of a planet.

17d         Brutal emperor’s final word of dominance over us (7)
VICIOUS – Julius Caesar famously said VENI, VIDI, VICI (I came, I saw, I conquered) having bashed up the Brits so his final word of dominanace, VICI needs to be placed before O for Over and US from the clue. Cracking clue!.

18d         King including rook and duck in place for breeding birds (7)
HERONRY – Place R for Rook (from the chess abb. and O for Duck/Zero in cricket inside King HENRY.

19d         Artist appearing in American gambling centre I run (6)
RENOIR – A famous US gambling centre, RENO , followed by I and R for Run (more cricket abbreviations!)

21d         Plague first spread around East (5)
BESET – Spread BEST (first/in front) around E for East.

Thanks to Mr Greer for the gentler puzzle than the previous week, I’ll see you all tomorrow morning.