ST 3029

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3029

A full review by gnomethang

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This puzzle was published on 10th November 2019

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

Morning All! Maybe I was a bit grumpy when I solved this but I didnt have aas much fun as solving recent Sunday puzzles. That said there was nothing to really beef or grouse about!.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a           Definitely not smart to cross river in wood (6,6)
NORWAY SPRUCE – NO WAY! Or ‘definitely not’ across R for River and then SPRUCE for smart/tidy.

9a           Criticise grouse meat (5,4)
ROAST/criticise and BEEF/grouse complain(t).

10a        Reminiscent of the past, inferior terraced houses, west-facing (5)
RETRO – The answer is hidden/housed by and reversed/west facing inside inferi OR TER raced.

11a        Don’t start selling excursion (6)
OUTING – Remove the start letter from tOUTING or selling.

12a        Cheese poor, nice crackers (8)
PECORINO – An anagram (crackers) of POOR NICE.

13a        Turn right entering country (6)
SPRAIN – R for Right inside SPAIN – as in turn an ankle.

15a        Making tuneful sound, flashy armour? (8)
WARBLING – Flashy armour might cryptically be referred to as WAR BLING.

18a        Veterans maintaining good condition in horses (8)
STAGGERS – Veterans are also known as (campaign) STAGERS. Include G for Good. Not a disease that I knew.

19a        Engineer beginning on wrong corner (6)
WANGLE – W is the beginning on the word W(rong). Add ANGLE for corner.

21a        Best series of deliveries arrive (8)
OVERCOME – A charade of an OVER in cricket and COME for arrive.

23a        Quite strange sending back party food (6)
ODDISH – A reversal of DO (sending back party) and then a DISH of food.

26a        Cushion trimmed at the front in many cases (5)
OFTEN – Trim the front letter from (s)OFTEN or cushion.

27a        Alert, looking to pass or shoot? (2,3,4)
ON THE BALL – The first is the definition and the remainder refers to a footballer who is ON THE BALL i.e. is in a position to pass or shoot with the ball.

28a        Italian team calling for half-time? (12)
INTERMISSION – INTER Milan the Italian football team and then a MISSION or calling/vocation.

Down

1d           Squeezed between poles, shaft becomes smaller (7)
NARROWS – An arrow SHAFT is squeezed between North and South.

2d           Reply on legislative document (5)
REACT – RE: for on/about and a legislative ACT of parliament.

3d           Showing up late in the evening perhaps, lot of noise generated at first (9)
ATTENDING – Late in the evening might be AT TEN. Add a DIN for noise and the first letter in G(enerated).

4d           Basic construction dropped (4)
SHED – Two definitions – an outhouse and to lose skin in e.g. a reptile.

5d           Rocky mineral broken by fine soldier (8)
RIFLEMAN –  An anagram (rocky) of MINERAL is broken by F for Fine.

6d           What motorist after breakdown might be heard shouting a load? (5)
CARGO – Split as CAR! GO! This might be an imprecation by a broken down motorist.

7d           Impressive punching (8)
STRIKING – A straightforward double definition.

8d           Food centre stretched to provide tea (6)
OOLONG – The centre letters in fOOd and then LONG for stretched.

14d        Sergeant doctored substances found in laboratory (8)
REAGENTS – A doctored anagram of SERGEANT.

16d        Seers bald, surprisingly clean-shaven (9)
BEARDLESS – Another anagram – this one of SEERS BALD and indicated by ‘surprisingly’.

17d        Flower border: tedious stuff written about that (8)
PRIMROSE – A RIM or border has PROSE or tedious stuff written about/around it.

18d        Perfect prize scooped by boy (4,2)
SPOT ON – A POT or prize is included in (scooped by) a SON/boy.

20d        Level he once managed, to inspire learner (7)
ECHELON – A managed anagram of HE ONCE takes in/inspires L for Learner.

22d        What’s carried by responsible type on principle (5)
CANON – A person deemed responsible is said to carry the CAN. Ad ON from the clue.

24d        I complain endlessly about queen from Basra, say? (5)
IRAGI – I RAI(l) or complain with the end off is around the outside of (about) Q for Queen.

25d        Stop NY baseball team going up (4)
STEM – Reverse (going up) the METS baseball team from New York.