DT 30449 (full review)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30449

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 4^th Nov 2023

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

Greetings from Kolkata. A nice and straightforward Saturday puzzle from Cephas that I highly enjoyed solving and now I present to you a review of the same for your kind perusal and valuable feedback.

Cathedral, the answer to the clue of 24a, took me to my days at Alliance Française, Calcutta. I was in my late teens when I first started learning French. In the very first semester, I heard the word ‘cathedrale’ coming from the mouth of my teacher who was from France. I was mesmerised. I would be keen to hear that word over and over again. In different semesters, I had different teachers, but the way each one pronounced the word was the same. I could imitate them perfectly and they were also pleased with my pronunciation. I feel that learning Arabic to read the Quran at a rather early age gave me that edge. I later came across the Italian ‘cattedrale’ and the Spanish and Portuguese ‘catedral’ while learning those languages, but none could give me the pleasure that ‘cathedrale’ gave, though I must admit that the German ‘Kathedrale’ did please me half for its latter part.

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Across

1a    Firm restricted guests (7,7)
LIMITED COMPANY: A charade of LIMITED (restricted) as an adjective denoting restricted in size, amount or extent and COMPANY (guests) as a visiting group of people guides to the definition of a firm whose owners have liability for its debts etc only according to their financial stake in it

8a    Not in any way having specialised skill reported (5)
NOHOW: The definition of a colloquial adverb denoting not in any way, in no definable way or not at all is arrived at from KNOW-HOW (specialised skill) as the specialised skill or knowledge of how to do something smoothly and efficiently that goes to serve as a homophone heard by the audience (reported)

9a    Church made by graduate with quartz (8)
BASILICA: A charade of BA (graduate) as the abbreviation for Bachelor of Arts that is a university degree conferred upon a student who has successfully completed an undergraduate course in the arts or humanities and SILICA (quartz) as a hard, unreactive, colourless compound which occurs as the mineral quartz and as a principle constituent of sandstone and other rocks takes to the definition of a rectangular medieval Roman catholic church, usually with a nave, two or four aisles, one or more vaulted apses and a timber roof

11a    On vacation, dance with Conservative speaker who might get plastered? (9)
DECORATOR: D[ANC]E having its innermost letters vacated or emptied out (on vacation) followed by (with) C (Conservative) as the abbreviation for Conservative as referring to the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom and ORATOR (speaker) as a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled leads to the definition of a person whose job is to decorate the interior of buildings by hanging wallpapers after painting the walls that might also need plastering and in the process his hand may get daubed with plaster

12a    Diocese to make sure about (3,2)
SEE TO: SEE (diocese) as the office of bishop of a particular diocese and TO from the clue lead to the definition of a verb meaning to look after or to make sure about

13a    Means of escape secured by adventurer (4)
VENT: Part of or hidden inside (secured by) AD[VENT]URER guides to the definition of an outlet, or an emission, discharge or means of escape, especially of gas, smoke or a liquid

14a    Mrs Simpson maybe allowed to return message (8)
TELEGRAM: A combo of MARGE (Mrs Simpson maybe) as perhaps referring to Marjorie Jacqueline ‘Marge’ Simpson, a homemaker and matriarch of the Simpson family and one of the five main characters in ‘The Simpson’ TV series and LET (allowed) as a verb in the past tense meaning allowed to go or come to turn back (return) as a reversal in the across clue takes to the definition of a message sent by telegraph and usually presented in printed form

17a    Second marine upset with year in college (8)
SEMINARY: S (second) as the abbreviation for second denoting the basic unit of time and MARINE subject to an anagram (upset) followed by (with) Y (year) as the abbreviation for year leads to the definition of a theological college providing training and instruction to ministers, priests, rabbis etc

19a    Wind up good person before work (4)
STOP: A charade of ST (good person) as the abbreviation for Saint or saint who is a sanctimonious or holy person and OP (work) as the abbreviation for opus that refers to work, especially a musical composition in which one is numbered in order of publication takes to the definition of a verb meaning to cause an action, process or event to come to an end

23a    Egg-shaped container found in empty office (5)
OVATE: The definition of an adjective meaning egg-shaped or shaped in outline like an egg is arrived at from VAT (container) as a large vessel or tank, especially for fermentation, dyeing or tanning seen inside (found in) O[FFIC]E that is devoid of its inner letters (empty)

24a    Impressive building: see around it! (9)
CATHEDRAL: A cryptic definition of any principal Christian church building that is an impressive work of architecture with the episcopal see or the territory of a bishop’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction around it

25a    Dispensed with current measure for gas (8)
FIREDAMP: FIRED (dispensed with) as an informal verb in the past tense meaning dismissed an employee from a job and AMP (current measure) as a short form of ampere that is the standard unit of measurement for the strength of an electrical current in a charade leads to the definition of a combustible gas given off by coal etc, chiefly methane

26a    Famous Dickensian dance? (5)
TWIST: Double nounal definition; the first being the title character and protagonist of the famous novel ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens that leads to the second referring to a dance which became popular in 1962, in which the dancer constantly twists the body

27a    Rugby player confused ref with right move for three-quarters, say (6,8)
PROPER FRACTION: PROP (rugby player) as either of the two rugby players as prop forwards at the ends of the front row of the scrum and an anagram (confused) of REF followed by (with) R (right) as the abbreviation for right and ACTION (move) as a move, an act or a thing done takes to the definition of a fraction that is less than one, with the numerator less than the denominator, an example of which is three-quarters or three of the four equal parts

Down

1d    Lengthy split in schoolwork? (4,8)
LONG DIVISION: A charade of LONG (lengthy) as an adjective meaning extended in time or denoting measuring a great distance from end to end and DIVISION (split) as split, separation or partition guides to the definition of the mathematical method for dividing large numbers into smaller groups or parts, as taught in schools

2d    Grumble about this hairdo (7)
MOHICAN: MOAN (grumble) as an informal verb meaning to complain or grumble, typically about something trivial placed around (about) HIC (this) as the masculine singular form of the adjective ‘this’ in the Latin language takes to the definition of a punk hairstyle in which the head is shaved at the sides and the remaining strip of hair is worn stiffly erect and sometimes brightly coloured

3d    Attempt to include fancy wad that’s cheap and showy (6)
TAWDRY: TRY (attempt) as an attempt or an effort to accomplish something to take in (include) an anagram (fancy) of WAD guides to the definition of an adjective meaning showy but cheap and of poor quality

4d    Be up in time for talk (6)
DEBATE: BE from the clue going up (up) as a reversal in the down clue put in (in) DATE (time) as the time of an event takes to the definition of a verb meaning to talk about possible courses of action with argument before arriving at a decision

5d    One watches old boy, somebody in court (8)
OBSERVER: A charade of OB (old boy) as the abbreviation for old boy and SERVER (somebody in court) as somebody who serves a legal process, such as a summons or court order yields the definition of a person who observes in any sense or who follows events closely and comments publicly on them

6d    Angrily lets rip, welcoming answer in column (8)
PILASTER: An anagram (angrily) of LETS RIP taking in (welcoming) A (answer) as the abbreviation for answer guides to the definition of a square column, partly built into and partly projecting from a wall

7d    Greek character getting easy to understand type of energy (7)
NUCLEAR: A charade of NU (Greek character) as the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet and (getting) CLEAR (easy to understand) as easy to see or understand and leaving no doubts produces the definition of a type of energy that is released or absorbed during reactions taking place in atomic nuclei

10d    Magazine complains too violently (12)
COSMOPOLITAN: An anagram (violently) of COMPLAINS TOO guides to the definition of the name of the world’s largest selling magazine, with 200 million readers annually in a hundred countries

15d    Profoundly involved but not up to one’s neck (4-4)
KNEE-DEEP: A cryptic definition of an informal expression meaning profoundly involved but not neck-deep

16d    Type of critic having no standing? (8)
ARMCHAIR: The definition of a type of critic as referring to someone who speaks critically on topics they actually know very little to nothing is arrived at from just a cryptic way of saying that this type of critic is sitting down (having no standing)

18d    More interesting, but not to vegetarians, perhaps (7)
MEATIER: Double definition of adjectives in comparative degree; the first meaning more interesting or substantial and the second referring to having more meat that’s a strict ‘no’ to the vegetarians

20d    Limits to public transport? (7)
TERMINI: A cryptic definition of the end points of a railway or other public transport route, describing the culmination of the maximum possible journey at either point

21d    Places reversed — soldiers in a daze (6)
STUPOR: PUTS (places) as lays, deposits or places in a particular position overturned (reversed) as a reversal in the down clue followed by OR (soldiers) as the abbreviation for other ranks that describe the military personnel who are not commissioned officers leads to the definition of a state of near-unconsciousness or insensibility as caused by alcohol, drugs etc

22d    Digestive spasm following fizz (6)
PEPTIC: TIC (spasm) as a sudden muscle spasm, especially one caused by a nervous condition preceded by or coming after (following) PEP (fizz) as an informal noun meaning liveliness, brisk energy or initiative and high spirits takes to the definition of an adjective meaning having a good digestion or of or relating to pepsin or the digestive juices

The clues that I liked in this puzzle were 1a, 9a, 24a, 25a, 27a, 1d, 15d and 16d; 27d being the topper. My prayers to the Almighty for the eternal rest and peace of BD and my thanks to Cephas for the entertainment and to Gazza for the assistance. Looking forward to being here again. Have a gorgeous day.