Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2856
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
I was away from home visiting my lovely grandson (and his mum and dad) when this puzzle was published and, apart from being far too busy having fun, had no access to a printer, so solved this excellent Sunday offering back at work during my Tuesday lunch hour, having managed not to read either the hints or any of the comments in the interim.
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Across
7a Crew I misdirected across part of ocean, as self-styled expert (8)
WISEACRE – An anagram (misdirected) of CREW I goes across SEA (part of ocean)
9a Best performance yet put on CD, perhaps (6)
RECORD – double definition clue number one.
10a Animal one relocated in Guiana (6)
IGUANA – Relocate the I (one) in Guiana to the front of the word
11 Still awaiting development, for example, in local (8)
NEGATIVE – EG (for example) goes inside NATIVE (local)
12a Futuristic writings weirdly fit iconic scene (7,7)
SCIENCE FICTION – An anagram (weirdly) of FIT ICONIC SCENE
15a Concern resolved (4)
FIRM – And another double definition.
17a Vessel sunk in Channel in error (5)
LINER – ‘Sunk’ or lurking in channeL IN ERror
19a Man on board, one of two or three on watch (4)
HAND – More double definitions, the second one of these being more cryptic than the other.
20a Negotiators put the writer in grave situation with journals (14)
INTERMEDIARIES – INTER ME (put me, the writer, in a grave) DIARIES (journals)
23a Air, mostly in G, tenor made a mess of (8)
NITROGEN – An anagram (made a mess of) IN G TENOR
25a Sailor turned over another kind of rock (6)
BASALT – Reverse AB (sailor ‘turned over’) and put him before SALT (an informal term for a sailor)
27a Crashed airmen are left behind (6)
REMAIN – An anagram (crashed) of AIRMEN
28a Faint-hearted line by dramatist before end of play (8)
COWARDLY – COWARD (Noel, the dramatist) and L (line) go before Y, the end of play.
Down
1d Slightly injure player on side (4)
WING – The fourth double definition clue
2d Mother left in charge, unlike father (6)
FEMALE – MA (mother) and L (left) go in FEE (charge)
3d Crew bringing in European import (4)
MEAN – MAN (crew) ‘brings in’ or has inserted E (European)
4d Like terrible accident, overturned vehicle trapping soldier (6)
TRAGIC – An overturned or reversed CART ‘trapping’ GI (soldier)
5d Author, his novel, and his nationality (8)
SCOTTISH – Sir Walter SCOTT and an anagram (novel) of HIS
6d Article in French region giving source of work of art (10)
PROVENAANCE – AN (indefinite article) goes inside the French region of PROVENCE.
8d Abandon husband inside church area near altar (7)
CHANCEL – H (husband) goes inside CANCEL (abandon)
13d Finds fault with it, in charge in emergencies (10)
CRITICISES – IT (from the clue) and IC (in charge) go inside CRISES (emergencies)
14d Set up barrier for illicit trader (5)
FENCE – Double definition time again!
16d Like woman raising issue or unusually alert man (8)
MATERNAL – An anagram (unusually) of ALERT MAN
18d Colourful display from artist in London area (7)
RAINBOW – RA (artist) IN BOW (area of London)
21d Dreadful rage in Queen facing opposition in court (6)
REGINA – How the queen is described in a court of law – eg Regina versus – An anagram (dreadful) of RAGE IN.
22d Assign to classes again in place of holiday (6)
RESORT – This clue made me think of the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter although I don’t think it was allowed to change its mind and re-sort.
24d French city relative pronounced pleasant to look at (4)
NICE – A double definition with a difference. The French city of NICE sounds like (pronounced) NIECE (relative), but it doesn’t sound like NICE in the sense of pleasant to look at. Shame there wasn’t room for the biscuit, the name of which I’m never quite sure how to pronounce!
26d University in 50s, calm period (4)
LULL – U (university) goes inside three lots of L (the Roman numeral for 50).
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