DT 28276

Daily Telegraph No 28276

A full review by crypticsue

This puzzle was published on 19th November 2016

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** –  Enjoyment ***/****

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one surprised by the increase in difficulty level of this week’s Saturday Prize Puzzle which certainly increased, for me anyway, the enjoyment factor too

 

Across

1a           Run off with pins and needles for a short time (10)
FLEETINGLY – FLEE (run off) TINGLY (with pins and needles)

6a           Work a large stone (4)
OPAL – This week’s chestnut – OP (work) A (from the clue) L (large)

9a           Constant pain in store (5)
CACHE – C (constant) ACHE (pain)

10a         In row, no writer offers penetrating article for the household (3-6)
TIN-OPENER – Put inside  TIER (row)   O (nothing, no) and  PEN (writer) 

12a         Growth for helping to secure our time on earth (13)
PROLIFERATION – PRO (for) and RATION (helping) securing LIFE (our time on earth)

14a         Telegraph leader’s cutting becoming very popular (8)
TRENDING – T (the leader of Telegraph) RENDING (cutting)

15a         Look close, I will pick up fellow (6)
SHUFTI – SHUT (close) and I (one) picking up F (fellow)

17a         Rubbish let off gas (6)
TATTLE – TAT (rubbish) followed by an anagram (off) of LET

19a         Old politician, Liberal, in improper diaries (8)
DISRAELI – L (Liberal) inserted into an anagram (improper) of DIARIES.   I vaguely remembered something about Disraeli and diaries and thought this might be a semi &Lit and a Google search confirms that I could be right as “Disraeli was also a compulsively autobiographical novelist who captured his contemporaries in print and sold them to a delighted public long before it became de rigueur for politicians to publish diaries and memoirs. He was not the first celebrity to sell books on the basis of reputation alone; but he paved the way for a publishing industry founded on selling the illusion of insight into the private lives of the rich and famous”

21a         Met men cheered in a storm — raising this? (5,2,6)
CRÈME DE MENTHE – An anagram (in a storm) of MET MEN CHEERED

24a         Something deep in Iowa, old-style country (9)
ABYSSINIA – the ‘old-style’ or former name of Ethiopia is obtained from ABYSS (something deep) IN (from the clue) and IA (the abbreviation for Iowa)

25a         Appearance of men on radio (5)
GUISE – A homophone (on radio) of GUYS (men)

26a         What rough seas do to ship (4)
TOSS – TO (from the clue) and SS (Steam Ship)

27a         People out to waylay those not out? (6,4)
PICKET LINE – people who waylay those not joining them out on strike.

Down

1d           Carbon will puncture spare tyre in particular (4)
FACT – C (the chemical symbol for carbon) ‘puncturing) FAT (spare tyre)

2d           Round headland, see running fugitive (7)
ESCAPEE – An anagram (running) of SEE goes round CAPE (headland)

3d           First piece of opera singer told he must perform? Could be (3,10)
THE GONDOLIERS – An anagram (must perform)  of O (the first ‘piece’ of Opera) and SINGER TOLD HE 

4d           Tucking into bananas endlessly, there’s nothing for Frenchman to make healthy bit of food (8)
NUTRIENT –  RIEN (the word the Frenchman would use to say ‘nothing) ‘tucked into’ NUTTy (bananas ‘endlessly’ 

5d           Spike Milligan ultimately trapped by ‘Spike’ (5)
LANCE – N (Milligan ‘ultimately’) trapped by LACE (spike a drink, for example)

7d           Church leader needs pollsters to overturn argument (7)
PONTIFF – a reversal (to overturn) of NOP (National Opinion Poll) followed by TIFF (argument)

8d           Try sailing at sea — it’s a pain in the neck (10)
LARYNGITIS – a painful inflammation in the neck area – an anagram (at sea) of TRY SAILING

11d         Be reluctant to co-operate in obscure piece of drama (4,4,2,3)
PLAY HARD TO GET – a way of being reluctant sounds like a piece of drama was too obscure to ‘get’ or understand.

13d         Treat facts carelessly — it’s politicians’ talent (10)
STATECRAFT – An anagram (carelessly) of TREAT FACTS

16d         Path that can take one to Broadway? (8)
SIDEWALK – This American term for a path could well take you to Broadway in New York

18d         Patterns on textiles being drawn certainly (3-4)
TIE-DYES – TIE (being drawn) YES (certainly)

20d         Old professors turned up one occasion without sign of hesitation (7)
EMERITI – A reversal (turned up) of I (one) TIME (occasion) goes outside  (without) ER (sign of hesitation)

22d         Boredom shown by English nun confused this writer (5)
ENNUI – E (English), an anagram (confused) of NUN and I (this writer)

23d         It’s inherited from Kelly perhaps (4)
GENE – Inherited from your parents or the singer most known for ‘Singing in the Rain)

S2