DT 30053 (full review)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30053

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 30^th July 2022

BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

Greetings from Kolkata. A very pleasant and straightforward Saturday puzzle from Cephas that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind reading and important feedback.

‘Antepenultimate’, part of the wordplay to the clue of 16a, led me, in the first place, to know more about the adjectival ‘ultimates’ via the net. Although I was familiar with ‘ultimate’ and ‘penultimate’ only, I got to learn, besides ‘antepenultimate’ from the clue, other words like ‘preantepenultimate’ and ‘propreantepenultimate’. In a nutshell, ‘ultimate’ is last, ‘penultimate’ is last but one in a series of things or second last, ‘antepenultimate’ is last but two or third last, ‘preantepenultimate’ is last but three or fourth last and ‘propreantepenultimate’ is last but four or fifth last.

For a while, exclusion zone, the definition to the clue in 4d, struck me as a ‘sort of secluded area’.

I learnt from the net that the word ‘classical’, as the answer to the clue of 7d, has developed from the French word classique that itself has its root in the Latin word classicus that originally referred to the highest class of ancient Roman citizens. The same description goes for the German word klassik. We use classical to describe something that is traditional in form, style or content. It is also used to describe things which relate to the ancient Greek or Roman civilisations. A classical language is a form of a language that was used in ancient times and is now no longer used, or only used in formal writing. Classical music is music that is considered to be serious and of lasting value. Classical can also be used as the shortened version for classical music.

Le Mans, the answer to the clue of 18d, is a city in northwestern France on River Sarthe and is a part of the Pays de la Loire Region. It has hosted, since 1923, the internationally-famous ’24 Hours of Le Mans’ endurance sports car race. In French, the suffix -eau or -elle, which is added to nouns, has a diminutive function. The suffix -eau is used for singular masculine nouns and the suffix -elle is used for singular feminine ones, particularly to indicate that the noun is small and young; their respective plural being -eaux and -elles. Well, that should be enough to reason why the male and the female inhabitants of Le Mans are called Manceaux and Mancelles respectively!

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    End period at school in America (8)
TERMINUS: TERM (period at school) as each of the periods in the year, alternating with vacation, during which instruction is given in a school, IN from the clue and US (America) as the abbreviation for the United States (of America) take to the definition of the end of a railway or other transport route, or a station at such a point

6a    Back, not front, in black coat (6)
JACKET: [B]ACK from the clue having B as the front or first letter removed (not front) and placed inside (in) JET (black) as a glossy black colour arrive at the definition of a short coat, especially one that is hip-length and has a front opening and sleeves

9a    Somewhat unkind, offensively somewhat (4,2)
KIND OF: Part of or hidden inside (somewhat) [UN]KIND OF[FENSIVELY] guides to the definition of an adverb meaning sort of or to some extent

10a    Equality accepted and shared (8)
PARTAKEN: A charade of PAR (equality) as an equality in value or standing and TAKEN (accepted) as accepted or received something guides to the definition of a verb in the participle form meaning possessed or shared a certain nature or attribute

11a    One has a job to be one (8)
EMPLOYEE: A cryptic definition of a person who is employed by another person, business firm etc for wages or salary

12a    Take for granted quietly missing ‘Carry On‘ (6)
RESUME: [P]RESUME (take for granted) meaning taken for granted that something exists or is the case having P (quietly) as a written abbreviation for piano in music indicating that the piece should be played quietly not present (missing), arriving at the definition of a verb meaning to begin again or continue an activity or task after a pause or interruption

13a    Be aware of the facts as to how many runs have been made? (4,3,5)
KNOW THE SCORE: KNOW THE SCORE (how many runs have been made?) as referring to a cricket enthusiast eager to know how many runs have been made by a team cryptically leads to the definition of an informal phrase meaning to be aware of the essential facts about a situation

16a    Fourth last antepenultimate contest (7-5)
QUARTER-FINAL: A charade of QUARTER (fourth) one of the four equal parts of something or the fourth part of a measure of time and FINAL (last) as last in place, order or time takes to the definition of a match or round of a knockout competition that precedes the semi-final

19a    Team backed working for inventor (6)
EDISON: SIDE (team) as a sports team retreated (backed) as a reversal in the down clue followed by ON (working) as functioning or working as of an electrical appliance or power supply lead to the definition of the American inventor and one of the most creative inventors of all time who invented, inter alia, the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph and the motion picture camera

21a    Encouraged old Rod, the eccentric (8)
EXHORTED: EX (old) as someone with whom a person was once associated in a relationship or marriage or as a prefix indicating of a person no longer what they were but still living followed by an anagram (eccentric) of ROD THE take to the definition of a verb in the past tense meaning strongly encouraged or urged someone to do something

23a    Implicated in car stopping short with reporter (8)
INVOLVED: IN from the clue, VOLV[O] (car) as a type of car considered to be strongly-built and very safe that is devoid of its last letter (stopping short) and ED (reporter) as the abbreviation for editor who is, inter alia, a journalist who investigates, edits and reports news stories for newspapers, radio and television, arriving at the definition of a verb in the past tense meaning became occupied or engrossed in something or got into difficulties or complicated circumstances from which it was difficult to escape

24a    Val literally a wrecker! (6)
VANDAL: A cryptic way of arriving at the definition of a person who deliberately destroys or damages property belonging to others from V AND A L (Val literally) as the word split up in a literal manner or sense or as letter for letter

25a    Show about meat (6)
REVEAL: A charade of RE (about) as a commercial jargon used to indicate ‘with reference to’, ‘concerning’ or ‘about’ and VEAL (meat) as the flesh of a young calf used as food guides to the definition of a verb meaning to cause or allow something to be seen

26a    My French bird, it has four legs! (8)
MONGOOSE: A charade of MON (my French) as the possessive adjective ‘my’ used with masculine singular noun in general, but also with feminine singular noun starting with a vowel or mute ‘h’ in the French language and GOOSE (bird) as a large waterbird with a long neck, short legs, webbed feet, and a short broad bill guides to the definition of a small carnivorous mammal with a long body and tail, four short legs and a grizzled or brindled coat, noted for its ability to kill poisonous snakes, rodents etc and native to Africa, Asia and southern Europe

Down

2d    Not at first, imagine unravelling riddle (6)
ENIGMA: An anagram (unravelling) of [I]MAGINE without I as the initial or first letter (not at first) gives the definition of something that is puzzling, mysterious or difficult to make sense of

3d    Poser is one to be copied (5)
MODEL: Double definition; the second being a noun referring to a person or thing used as an example to follow or imitate that leads to the first also a noun meaning a person employed to pose for an artist, photographer or sculptor

4d    Exclusion zone where spiders rule? (2-3,4)
NO-FLY ZONE: The definition of an area over which aircraft are forbidden to fly, especially during a conflict is cryptically arrived at from an area where spiders prey on flies so that the flies are either killed or avoid the area (where spiders rule)

5d    Wise ape isn’t going berserk (7)
SAPIENT: An anagram (going berserk) of APE ISN’T guides to the definition of a formal adjective meaning having or showing great wisdom or sound judgment

6d    Panellist on trial (5)
JUROR: A way of arriving at the definition of someone who is part of a group that hears evidence in a trial and gives a verdict

7d    Music of the highest rank? (9)
CLASSICAL: Double definition; the second being an adjective meaning belonging to the highest class of ancient Roman citizens that leads to the first referring to the type of music that belongs to the formal musical tradition of the Western world, more particularly the European music composed from about 1750 to 1830 that features balance, elegance and homophonic textures

8d    At all times to a greater extent until the end of time (8)
EVERMORE: A charade of EVER (at all times) as always or forever and MORE (to a greater extent) as to a greater or higher degree takes to the definition of an adverb meaning until doomsday, for all time to come, eternal or in perpetuum

13d    Limit of pedestrianism (9)
KERBSTONE: A cryptic way of arriving at the definition of a long, narrow stone or concrete block, laid end to end with others to form a kerb or the raised edge of a pavement which separates it from the road, thus creating a boundary restricting the pedestrians to walk within the limit area of the pavement and not use the roadway

14d    He in Devon involved Dutch city (9)
EINDHOVEN: An anagram (involved) of HE IN DEVON guides to the definition of the fifth largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands

15d    Advice from youngster in uniform about African party (8)
GUIDANCE: GUIDE (youngster in uniform) as a member of organisation for girls analogous to the Scouts Association is placed around (about) ANC (African party) as the abbreviation for the African National Congress that has been the governing party of the Republic of South Africa since 1994, arriving at the definition of a noun meaning advice or information aimed at resolving a problem or difficulty, especially as given by someone in authority

17d    Unattached monks’ liberty (7)
FREEDOM: A charade of FREE (unattached) as not fixed or physically obstructed and DOM (monks) as a title prefixed to the names of some Roman Catholic dignitaries and Benedictine and Carthusian monks leads to the definition of a noun referring to a state of not being imprisoned or enslaved

18d    Anselm struggles to find race venue (2,4)
LE MANS: An anagram (struggles) of ANSELM guides to the definition of a city of northwest France, famous for its annual 24-hour sports car races

20d    Orange part of the body? (5)
NAVEL: Double definition; the second being the umbilicus or depression in the centre of the abdomen of the body that leads to the first referring to a variety of orange with a navel-like depression and a smaller orange enclosed

22d    Musical work penned by Byron downloaded (5)
RONDO: Part of or hidden inside (penned by) [BY]RON DO[WNLOADED] reveals the definition of a musical composition whose principal subject recurs in the same key in alternation with other subjects, often the last movement of a sonata

There were several clues that I liked in this pangrammatic puzzle such as 1a, 6a, 13a, 23a, 24a, 26a, 14d, 15d, 20d and 22d; 26a being the best of the lot. Many thanks to Cephas for the entertainment, to BD for the encouragement and to Gazza for the assistance. Would love to be here again. Have a delightful day.