DT 29078

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29078

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 15^th June 2019

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

I found it quite interesting that in all the comments last Saturday no-one remarked on the fact that this grid has so many double unches that even I noticed, probably because taking so long over my last two in (8a and 25a) took me into 2.5* time

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Cartel work with City (4)
OPEC – OP (work) EC (the postcode for the City of London)

3a    Former president with influence means to get round America (10)
EXPRESSWAY – EX (former) PRES (president) SWAY (influence)

8a    Keeps in check worries about planet? (8)
FORBEARS – FEARS (worries) ‘about’ ORB (planet?)

9a    Brazil’s first and second then French XI in third place (6)
BRONZE – BR (Brazil’s first and second letters) and then ONZE (the French word for eleven – XI in Roman numerals)

10a    Wind instrument — blow me having score to follow (6)
CORNET – COR (blow me) followed by NET (score)

11a    Clipped dunce’s head with a spanner first (8)
ABRIDGED – A (from the clue) and BRIDGE (spanner) go first before D (the ‘head’ of Dunce)

13a    Block and close tab that’s dodgy (8)
OBSTACLE – An anagram (that’s dodgy) of CLOSE TAB

14a    Scientist heading away to have good time fairly soon (6)
OFFING – A place or time some way off doesn’t really match ‘fairly soon’. However, the solution can be obtained by removing the ‘heading’ of bOFFIN (scientist) and adding G (good)

16a    Yankee airborne flying erratically (6)
YAWING – Y (Yankee in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet) AWING (airborne)

19a    Settled a claim by not fighting? (8)
AMICABLY – An anagram (settled) of A CLAIM BY

21a    Agriculturalist engages personnel department for exciting work (8)
THRILLER – TILLER (agriculturalist) ‘engages’ or takes on HR (personnel department)

22a    Heather getting to grips with old Beethoven piece (6)
EROICA – ERICA (heather the plant) ‘getting to grips with’ or holding O (old)

23a    Getting over the hill, some sherpas titter (4,2)
PAST IT – Hidden in some of sherPAS TITter

24a    Disregard finished appearance (8)
OVERLOOK – OVER (finished) LOOK (appearance)

25a    Cutting down fat (10)
SHORTENING – My last one in – a double definition – cutting down or fat to make pastry ‘short’ or crisp but readily crumbling. I think you have to be a certain age to know this word in relation to fat and/or be left with the ear worm ‘Mama’s little baby loves shortnin’ bread’

26a    Health resorts getting gullible people to return (4)
SPAS – A reversal (to return) of SAPS (gullible people)

Down

1d    Detecting scent, see, rising over plant (9)
OLFACTORY – A reversal (rising) of LO (see) over FACTORY (plant)

2d    Scandalous bet incriminates member of government (7,8)
CABINET MINISTER – An anagram (scandalous) of BET INCRIMINATES

3d    Stretcher case I left superficially injured (7)
ELASTIC – An anagram (injured) of CASE I LT (the outside or superficial letters of LefT)

4d    Fool blocking servant’s way through (7)
PASSAGE – ASS (fool) ‘blocking’ PAGE (servant)

5d    Trade sanction so engrossing business graduate (7)
EMBARGO – ERGO (so) ‘engrossing’ MBA (Master of Business Administration, business graduate)

6d    Impending threat that could make some old cowards start to flee (5,2,8)
SWORD OF DAMOCLES – An anagram (that could make) of SOME OLD COWARDS and the ‘start’ to Flee

7d    Surrender return on investment (5)
YIELD – Crosswordland’s double definition of the month makes another return

12d    European working a very long time (3)
EON – E (European) ON (working)

15d    Stay a week held in irons? That will do for conspirator (3,6)
GUY FAWKES – GUY (stay, rope) A (from the clue WK (week) held in FES (FE being the chemical symbol for iron)

17d    What’s left from burning tree (3)
ASH – Double definition

18d    Support for driver in popular car by junction, reportedly? (4,3)
GOLF TEE – This particular driver being a GOLF (popular car) club, put next to a TEE (T junction ‘reportedly’). Surely the support is for the ball rather than the club?

19d    Monk who is leader in artificial intelligence arguing from first principles (1,6)
A PRIORI – PRIOR (monk who is leader) in AI (artificial intelligence)

20d    Variety of salad vegetable — only its tip’s usually taken in (7)
ICEBERG – A type of lettuce – the second part of the clue refers to the fact that you can only see the very tip of an iceberg in the ocean

21d    Snacks from recycling pasta (5)
TAPAS – Recycling indicates the need to move the final two letters of PASTA to the front of the word