ST 3186 (full review)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3186

A full review by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

A typical Dada Sunday Prize puzzle 

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a    Alcohol taster in audition? (6)
LIQUOR – A homophone (in audition) of LICKER (taster)

5a    Titanic could end in tragedy (6)
MIGHTY – MIGHT (could) and the end in tragedY

10a    Attention-seeker was in front, running well after taking fluid (5)
OILED – OI (attention seeker) LED (was in front)

11a    Vessel caught by reef, lower potentially (9)
FLOWERPOT – Hidden in (caught by) reeF LOWER POTential

12a    Company in rush, cause of suffering (7)
SCOURGE – CO (company) inserted in SURGE (rush)

13a    Length, an imperial measure, for cord round neck (7)
LANYARD – L (length) AN (from the clue) YARD (imperial measure)

14a    Filthy individual, cause of swine flu in piglets? (9)
LITTERBUG – LITTER (piglets) BUG (cause of swine flu)

17a    Dignified accent (5)
GRAVE – Double definition

18a    Head in order earlier (5)
PRIOR – And another, the order being one of monks

19a    Reason one upset with a trial (9)
RATIONALE – An anagram (upset) of ONE with A TRIAL

21a    Beneficiary back in house after member had dinner (7)
LEGATEE – The back in housE goes after LEG (member) ATE (had dinner)

23a    Surprisingly, heart stolen by you and I in 22 Down (7)
WREATHE – An anagram (surprisingly) of HEART ‘stolen by’ or inserted into WE (you and I) to produce a synonym for the solution to 22d

25a    Aide-memoire about a balance (9)
REMAINDER – REMINDER (aide-memoire) goes ‘about’ A (from the clue)

26a    Called ‘Apennine’ finally, mountain group (5)
RANGE – RANG (called) and the final letter of AppeninE

27a    Shellfish offering you something that’s eaten raw for starters (6)
OYSTER – The ‘starters’ of Offering You Something That’s Eaten Raw

28a    Barking threat, barking character? (6)
HATTER – An anagram (barking) of THREAT produces a Lewis Carroll character known for being mad (barking)

Down

2d    Packed White House? (5)
IGLOO – A cryptic definition of a house made from packed snow

3d    Wife in nude, rear designed for knickers, say! (9)
UNDERWEAR – W (wife) inserted into an anagram (designed) of NUDE REAR

4d    Arm skimmed dessert (5)
RIFLE – A tRIFLE (dessert), skimmed or with its top taken off

5d    Lower luminosity initially in dark — by this (9)
MOONLIGHT – MOO (lower) and L (luminosity initially) inserted in NIGHT (dark)

6d    Common environmentalist (5)
GREEN – A piece of common land or an environmentalist

7d    Cream on fruit for chief (3,6)
TOP BANANA – TOP (cream) on BANANA (fruit)

8d    Dinosaur held up by pterodactyl is so fierce (6)
FOSSIL – Hidden in reverse (held up by) in pterodactyL IS SO Fierce

9d    Inedible food, dog’s tea almost entirely a dog’s breakfast! (6)
STODGE – An anagram (a dog’s breakfast) of almost all of DOGS TEa

15d    Oojamaflip, insubstantial and tacky (9)
THINGUMMY – THIN (insubstantial) and GUMMY (tacky)

16d    Finish in trade for local worker (9)
BARTENDER – END (finish) inserted in BARTER (trade)

17d    Go everywhere with glass firstly (or bottle when drunk) (5-4)
GLOBE-TROT – The first letter of Glass and an anagram (when drunk) of OR BOTTLE

18d    Contemptible friend, judge (6)
PALTRY – PAL (friend) TRY (judge)

20d    Number fifty though follows forty-nine, ultimately (6)
ELEVEN – L (Roman numeral for 5O) EVEN (though) goes after the ultimate letter of forty-ninE

22d    Dance revelation (5)
TWIST – Double definition

23d    Value in know-how, or theory (5)
WORTH – Hidden in know-hoW OR THeory

24d    Anxious to be perfect, say (5)
TENSE – Anxious or an example of a time in grammar

.