ST 3008

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3008

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 16^th June 2019

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

Nice and straightforward – although I did wonder if I’ve been doing these crosswords for far too long as there did seem to be a lot of things I’ve seen many times before

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Across

8a    Seafood sailor has without garnish? (7)
ABALONE – AB (Able-Bodied Seaman, sailor) ALONE (without garnish)

10a    Tableland where petal’s unfolded, gold (7)
PLATEAU – An anagram (unfolded) of PETAL followed by AU (the chemical symbol for gold)

11a    Most ignorant, it’s implied — if nothing else (9)
LEASTWISE – LEAST WISE (most ignorant)

12a    Alliance one’s struck (5)
MATCH – Double definition

13a    Back on ship, harsh (5)
STERN – Double definition

14a    Look at cricket, for example, to catch Pakistan’s opener (7)
INSPECT – INSECT (cricket for example) to ‘catch’ P (Pakistan’s ‘opener’)

17a    Together, needing no further inspiration? (2,3,4,6)
IN THE SAME BREATH – No more breath needed

19a    Fed nothing, tried food grilled (7)
TOASTED – O (nothing) is ‘fed’ into TASTED (tried)

21a    Start in film? (5)
ONSET – If you were in a film, you would be ON SET

24a    Spring walk (5)
MARCH – A Spring month or a way of walking

26a    Spell words wrong here: typos! (3,6)
HEY PRESTO – An anagram (wrong) of HERE TYPOS

27a    Grabbing attention, row gets more emotional (7)
TEARIER – EAR (attention) is grabbed by TIER (row)

28a    Mother-in-law perhaps initially disappearing — joy! (7)
ELATION – Remove the initial letter from rELATION (mother-in-law perhaps)

Down

1d    This thick-skinned? Give us a ring (6)
CALLUS – CALL US (give us a ring)

2d    A collector entertained by favourite bird (8)
PARAKEET – A (from the clue) RAKE (collector) ‘entertained by’ PET (favourite)

3d    Gin swilled in happy party (10)
CONTINGENT – An anagram (swilled) of GIN inserted into CONTENT (happy)

4d    Mixture of tripe and peas, stimulating food! (9)
APPETISER – An anagram (mixture of) TRIPE and PEAS

5d    Initially with army — Royal Marines not cool? (4)
WARM – The initial letters of With and Army followed by RM (Royal Marines)

6d    Spot touching the boil (6)
SEETHE – SEE (spot) touching THE (from the clue)

7d    Caged by parvenu, that chirruping bird (8)
NUTHATCH – Lurking in (caged by) parveNU THAT CHirruping

9d    Bad electrified lifts (4)
EVIL – A reversal (lifts in a Down clue) of LIVE (electrified)

15d    European boors react when provoked (5-5)
SERBO-CROAT – An anagram (when provoked) of BOORS REACT

16d    Jack, for example, out of tune — a playing fiddler? (4-5)
CARD-SHARP – CARD (Jack for example) SHARP (out of tune)

17d    Familiar prisoner keeps it up (8)
INTIMATE – INMATE (prisoner) ‘keeps’ a reversal (up) of IT (from the clue)

18d    Couple of fools batting for killer (8)
ASSASSIN – ASS and ASS (a couple of fools) IN (batting)

20d    A secondary route on the continent? (6)
ABROAD – A (from the clue) B ROAD (secondary route)

22d    Difficult Norse god nearly dispensing with earl (6)
THORNY – THOR (Norse god) and NY (nearly without the ‘earl’)

23d    Some pretty neat river (4)
TYNE – Lurking in pretTY NEat

25d    Welcome drop of the hard stuff? (4)
HAIL – A double definition to finish – the second one weather-related

B1