DT 28030 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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DT 28030

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28030

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment **

This puzzle was published on Saturday, 6th February 2016

The perfect crossword for a newcomer to the world of solving cryptic crosswords, although one has to feel sorry for the poor postman carrying all the competition entries into Telegraph Towers as the number of entries must have been 24a, as I wasn’t alone in finding this  one of the easiest Prize Puzzles ever.

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Across

1a           Timer almost jammed, causing alert (8)
WATCHFUL –   WATCH (timer) FUL[l] (almost jammed full)

5a           Train for Rugby, say (6)
SCHOOL –   A verb meaning to train or a public school such as Rugby perhaps

9a           Art grade for modelling in fashion industry (3,5)
RAG TRADE –   An anagram (for modelling) of ART GRADE

10a         Woman formerly seen around hospital floor covering right leg (6)
MATRON – MAT (floor covering)R (right) ON (the leg side on a cricket pitch)

11a         There’s no end of bother behind bar in American’s carriage (7)
RAILCAR –   CAR (care, bother, without its ‘end’) goes behind RAIL (bar)

12a         Criminal, evil one goes to city having forsaken east end (7)
ILLICIT – ILL (evil) I (one)   CIT (city having forsaken its ‘east end’ or final letter)

13a         Champion  who opens Olympics? (11)
TORCHBEARER –   Double definition time.

16a         Take note of this: scores must embrace I say! (4,2,5)
MARK MY WORDS –   MARKS (scores) ‘embrace’ MY WORD (I say!)

21a         In Scotland, know and name the corrupt man (7)
KENNETH –   KEN (he Scottish word for know) and an anagram (corrupt) of THE.

22a         Tax returns earn free accommodation in Greece (7)
TAVERNA –   Lots of discussion about the ‘accommodation’ but the BRB says “in Greece, a type of guesthouse with a bar, popular as holiday accommodation”.   A reversal (returns) of VAT (tax) followed by an anagram (free) of EARN.

23a         Drug work I polished off (6)
OPIATE – OP (work) I (from the clue) ATE (polished off)

24a         Jumbo-sized portion of chicken or moussaka (8)
ENORMOUS –   Hidden in a portion of chickEN OR MOUSsaka

25a         Attack unexpectedly and get going (4,2)
TURN ON – And another double definition.

26a         What a surprise — both sides fit (4,4)
WELL WELL – Both sides of this expression meaning what a surprise mean ‘fit’ and healthy.

Down

1d           Cautious about Catholic slogan (3,3)
WAR CRY –   WARY (cautious) goes round RC (Roman Catholic)

2d           In Serengeti, grisly river! (6)
TIGRIS –   Hidden in SerengeTI GRISly

3d           Chair to set out that comes in a pod (7)
HARICOT –   An anagram (set out) of CHAIR TO

4d           Low plants develop during thunder burst (11)
UNDERGROWTH –   GROW (develop) inserted into an anagram (burst) of THUNDER

6d           Third character on the radio‘s a proper idiot (7)
CHARLIE –   The third letter of the alphabet – C – is represented by Charlie in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet.   The word is also used informally to mean a proper idiot.

7d           Publicly known to be working with criminal history (2,6)
ON RECORD – ON (to be working) RECORD (criminal history)

8d           Kind of policy that’s unlikely to appeal to schoolchildren (4-4)
LONG-TERM –   Because children like long holidays.

12d         One is late paying this tax (11)
INHERITANCE –   Although it is the heirs of the ‘late’ person who actually pay the tax.

14d         Discover second donkey in the open air (5,3)
SMOKE OUT – S (second) MOKE (donkey) OUT (in the open air)

15d         Borderline cheek that is going over rector’s head (8)
FRONTIER –   FRONT (cheek) IE (that is) R (the ‘head’ of Rector)

17d         Various trams circuiting east — ring for conductor (7)
MAESTRO –   An anagram (various) of TRAMS ‘circuiting’ E (east), the result then followed with an O (the letter that is ring-shaped)

18d         A few part with a pound (7)
SEVERAL –   SEVER (part)A (from the clue) L (£ pound)

19d         Group of trees, old inside and hollow (6)
GROOVE –   O (old) put inside GROVE (group of trees)

20d         Young woman raised south of Virginia as servant (6)
VASSAL –   LASS (young woman) reversed (raised) and put under (south of) VA (the abbreviation for Virginia).

 

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2 comments on “DT 28030

  1. Being a novice to the Saturday Telegraph crossword, my husband and I polished off number 28,030 apart from one or two clues and seemed to impress people in the pub where we imbibing at the time. We are not so pleased with ourselves knowing that this is ‘enjoyment’ difficulty. Serves us right for being smug. :unsure:

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