Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28426
A full review by gnomethang
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This puzzle was published on Saturday 13th May
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Morning All! This puzzle strayed into 2 star difficulty. I found it the usual standard of Saturday puzzle with a few easy hits and a few very nice clues.
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
3a Classic western produced by RADA tutor? (10)
STAGECOACH – A tutor at RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) might cryptically be referred to as a STAGE COACH.
8a Difficult at college being short of money (4,2)
HARD UP – A charade of HARD/difficult and UP/at University.
9a Facing plot after work, work over (8)
OPPOSITE – Place a SITE or plot after OP (work, Opus_ and the reversal (up) of the same.
10a Famous guitarist with his group, one presiding over celebrations (3,5)
MAY QUEEN – The famous guitarist is Brian MAY and his band is QUEEN.
11a Time for a coffee in the Spanish fair (6)
ELEVEN – EL for ‘the’ in Spanish followed by EVEN for fair/unbiased.
12a Anyway, don’t contemplate so much (10)
REGARDLESS – If you don’t contemplate so much then you REGARD LESS.
14a Area round capital no longer rated badly (7,6)
GREATER LONDON – An anagram (badly) of NO LONGER RATED.
20a Try sailing at sea — it could make you hoarse (10)
LARYINGITIS – An anagram (at sea) of TRY SAILING.
22a Police unit using bad PR a lot (6)
PATROL – An anagram, indicated by ‘bas’, of PR A LOT.
23a Dishonest behaviour in dreadful piece of drama (4,4)
The cryptic definition is a charade of FOUL (dreadful) and PLAY (piece of drama).
24a One with dimples that may get hooked on a course (4,4)
GOLF BALL – I tend toward a slice (left to right) myself but a dimpled golf ball may be hooked (a right to left shot for a right handed golfer).
25a Pleasant accompanying English university girl (6)
EUNICE – Place NICE or pleasant after E(nglish) and U(niversity).
26a While not present at work, a bishop posted one article (2,8)
IN ABSENTIA – you can be IN (at work) and then add A B(ishop) followed by SENT/posted and I A for ‘one article’
Down
1d Yale gang, for a change, fail badly (3,2,3)
LAY AN EGG – I had not heard of this expression which is an anagram (for a change) of YALE GANG.
2d Correspond after a duke gets fit (8)
ADEQUATE – A form the clue and the abb. D(uke) followed by EQUATE or correspond/tally.
3d Extent of odds studied (6)
SPREAD – The odds on a horse race are the S(tarting) P(rice) or SP. Follow that with READ for studied.
4d Rule clubs ignored after a while (4)
ANON – Ignore or remove the C(lubs) in (c)ANON Law
5d To support energy, squeeze in very strong coffee (8)
ESPRESSO – Pplace PRESS (squeeze) inside/in SO for very and place under (supporting in a Down clue) E for Energy. Note the definition is ‘strong coffee’ not ‘very strong coffee’.
6d Group inside enjoys terrific shellfish (6)
OYSTER – The shellfish is hidden (a group of letters inside) enj OYS TER riffic.
7d Ship — clipper, perhaps (6)
CUTTER – A simple definition with a synonymous boat.
13d Faux pas made by enfant terrible blowing top (5)
ERROR – Remove/blow the top letter in (t)ERROR or ‘enfant terrible’.
15d Count late manoeuvring as revealing (8)
TELLTALE – TELL for count and then an anagram (manoeuvring) of LATE.
16d Daughter put on excellent meaty spread (8)
DRIPPING – D for Daughter and then RIPPING – a dated word for excellent.
17d Barking canine with us, a source of irritation (8)
NUISANCE – An anagram (barking mad) of CANINE and/with US.
18d Primate‘s word of disapproval during Prohibition (6)
BABOON – Place a BOO or word of disapproval inside a BAN/prohibition.
19d Page about marvellous small house (6)
PREFAB – A charade of P for Page, RE for reference/about and then FAB, a slightly less dated word for excellent/marvellous.
21d Sickness in Ghana? Use antibiotics (6)
A hidden word IN Gha NA USE Antibiotics.
23d Half a century in Rome inhabiting big residence (4)
FLAT – Place L, the Roman Numeral for fifty/a half century inside FAT or big.
Thanks to the setter (I am not going to offer a guess anymore Mr Chamberlain!),
I’ll be back next Friday.
I wonder how many people know about dripping these days!
Welcome to the blog, Dawn.
I nearly made a comment to that effect whilst thinking of the ripping/fab archaisms.
My mum was a ‘War Baby’.
Thank you Gnomethang, I think I come under the ‘slogger’ rather than the ‘better’, it is not often I manage to complete wholely unaided but I enjoy all the reviews to try and understand everything. I am often guilty of getting the answer without completely getting the wordplay so all your efforts are much appreciated.
The vast majority of us are Sloggers here, m’dear!
As for the rest of your comment – that is precisely what we are here for!.
You may recall that I used to masquerade under the name of ‘Caravaggio’, Gnomie, so I’ll have to confess my guilt – I got told off by Tilsit last Saturday because I made the mistake of referring to an alternative, incorrect answer to 10a… You’ll appreciate that it’s a hell of a job justifying ‘Van Halen’ as an answer but from the initial wording of the clue and the fact that it was ‘3,5’… Yes, I went off at a tangent and lost valuable time by doing so. Kind regards, Aljanon.