DT 28857

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28857

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 29^th September 2018

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

Back to the trickier end of the Saturday spectrum, well I thought so anyway. I ended up a bit grumpy when I finished, to the extent that when I submitted my solved grid on line, I rated it as ‘irritating’.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Put up arms, and their attachments (8,6)
SHOULDER BLADES – SHOULDER (pick up) BLADES (arms)

10a    Without a recipe, cooks whisper and drink (7,2)
RUSTLES UP – RUSTLE (whisper) SUP (drink)

11a    Something Italian chefs make in annoyance, adding nothing (5)
PESTO – PEST (annoyance) O (nothing)

12a    Gong goes about one — start of crossword-solving exam? (7)
MEDICAL – The sort of exam that might solve a health-related problem – MEDAL (gong) goes ‘about’ I (one) and the C at the start of crossword

13a    ‘Tyger’ with a new spin (6)
GYRATE – An anagram (new) of TYGER and A (from the clue)

15a    Heartless sport that may be seen in ring (4)
RUBY – Remove the G at the heart of the sport of RUGBY

17a    Swimming as vocation, somewhere beside the Atlantic (4,6)
NOVA SCOTIA – An anagram (swimming) of AS VOCATION

18a    Sprats at dinner-time — one’s option would be to do this rabbit (4,3,3)
CHEW THE FAT- The option of Mrs Sprat who ‘could eat no lean’

20a    Insect following grouse (4)
BEEF – BEE (insect) F (following)

22a    Son gets tot up, interrupting rest (6)
LADDIE – ADD (tot up) interrupting LIE (rest) My question would be is a son a little boy – mine are both far from little!

23a    Pickled eel sandwiches German city backed for honour (7)
ENNOBLE – An anagram (pickled) of EEL ‘sandwiches’ a reversal (backed) of the German city of BONN

26a    Universal smell reservists found over naval vehicle (1-4)
U-BOAT – U (universal) BO (smell) and a reversal (over) of TA (the former Territorial Army reservists)

27a    Wreckage may be acceptable in cutting allotment (9)
RUINATION – U (acceptable) and IN (from the clue) ‘cutting’ RATION (allotment)

28a    Gas ring let fuel spread, sticking to its own controls (4-10)
SELF-REGULATING – An anagram (spread) of GAS RING LET FUEL

Down

2d    Watered the garden in tights? (5)
HOSED – Double definition

3d    Clue an alternative for ‘Loosen‘ (6)
UNLACE – An anagram (alternative) of CLUE AN

4d    Saudis all owe debts — to a large extent that’s forbidden (10)
DISALLOWED – Lurking in a large extent of sauDIS ALL OWE Debts

5d    Grave message close to charcuterie: ‘Ready to eat‘ (4)
RIPE – RIP (message found on a grave) and the ‘close’ to charcuteriE

6d    Learner at first not taking part in developing spicy mime (3-4)
LIP-SYNC – L (learner at first) and N (part of the word not) inserted into an anagram (developing) of SPICY

7d    Break down seeing detective’s meeting with hood (9)
DISMANTLE – DIS (detective’s) meeting with MANTLE (hood)

8d    Battle with copper one might be hard-pushed to win? (5-9)
SHOVE-HALFPENNY – A lovely cryptic definition of a game that I’d probably spell ha’penny

9a    Green, blue and red school flag (7,7)

PRIMARY COLOURS – PRIMARY (school) COLOURS (flag) – I obeyed BD’s instructions and looked up to find out about whether green is a primary colour and apparently:

“Green is an additive primary colour, the kind of primary colour that you use to mix light into different colours. The other additive primaries re red and blue. There are also subtractive primary colours, used when you are mixing colours with filters, paints, inks, printing presses, etc. These primaries are cyan, yellow, and magenta.”

14d    Bossy male hack wearing wire for broadcast? (10)
MANAGERIAL – M (male) and NAG (hack here referring to a horse), the latter ‘wearing’ AERIAL (wire)

16d    Lolly on list as something that adds to a meal? (5,4)
BREAD ROLL – BREAD (like lolly a slang term for money) ROLL (list)

19d    Fraud is bit of a blow (7)
TWISTER – A dishonest person or a tornado

21d    Young admirer follows popular character shown by TV before five (6)
INFANT – FAN (admirer) follows IN (popular) and then T (TV before the Roman numeral for five is removed)

24d    One sitting in outbuilding in Scotland, 21 (5)

BAIRN – I (one) sitting in BARN (outbuilding) to give us a word someone in Scotland might use for a 21d

25a    Leader to call newspaper’s bluff (4)
CRAG – The ‘leader’ of Call plus RAG (newspaper)