DT 30533 (Full Review)

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  Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30533

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 10^th February 2024

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

Looking at the clues for 1a, 6a and 10a, I did wonder why there were exclamation marks at the end of the clue as the definitions didn’t really require them. Once I’d solved 28/24a, the earworm inducing theme and the need for the exclamation marks was revealed

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought

Across

1a    Old monk’s room in French church? Goodness! (10)
EXCELLENCE – EX (old) CELL (monk’s room) EN (French word for in) CE (Church of England)

6a    Family departs? Gracious! (4)
KIND – KIN (family) D (abbreviation for Departs)

10a    Sailor boarding ship? Great balls of fire! (5)
STARS – TAR (sailor) ‘boarding’ SS (steam ship)

11a    Criminal will rest, carrying a flight case? (9)
STAIRWELL – An anagram (criminal) of WILL REST ‘carrying’ A (from the clue)

12a    Booming English lad in verbal onslaught (8)
RESONANT – E (English) SON (land) in RANT (verbal onslaught)

13a    Port cracked open? (5)
SPLIT – A lovely Croatian port or a way of saying cracked open

15a    Service people with it inside a year (7)
AMENITY – MEN (people) with IT (from the clue) inserted into (inside) A Y (A Year)

17a    Inuits troubled by a hot country (7)
TUNISIA – An anagram (troubled) of INUITS followed by A (from the clue)

19a    Knight in Scottish town also writer (3,4)
AYN RAND – An American author and philosopher – N (chess abbreviation for knight inserted into the Scottish town of AYR and then followed with AND (also)

21a    Metal band RC allowed on Channel Islands (7)
CIRCLET – CI (Channel Islands) RC (from the clue) LET (allowed)

22a    Routine America oddly unable to follow (5)
USUAL – The odd letters of UnAbLe follow US (America)

24a    See 28 Across

27a    Preserve dignity with this female: brilliant goalie? (4-5)
FACE-SAVER – F (female) ACE (brilliant) SAVER (goalie)

28a & 24 Across Eccentric Rye jeweller is rock and roller (5,3,5)
JERRY LEE LEWIS – An anagram (eccentric) of RYE JEWELLER IS gives us the rock and roller who recorded Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire

29a    Christmas — without the Spanish? (4)
NOEL – NO (without) EL (the Spanish word for the)

30a    Relative difficulty in loosening tie? (6,4)
GRANNY KNOT (relative) KNOT (difficulty) combine to give a knot that is very difficult to untie

Down

1d    Enjoyment found in Eastbourne as ever (4)
EASE – Found in EastbournE AS Ever

2d    Clean home wrecked for changeable type (9)
CHAMELEON – An anagram (wrecked) of CLEAN HOME

3d    Catch young female duck (5)
LASSO – LASS (young female) 0 (duck in cricket scoring)

4d    When muddled, say sect offers exalted feeling (7)
ECSTASY – An anagram (when muddled) of SAY SECT

5d    Firm at it trapping lake bird (4,3)
COAL TIT – CO (company, firm) AT IT (from the clue) ‘trapping’ L (lake)

7d    Current understanding gives example (5)
IDEAL – I (the symbol for electrical current) DEAL (understanding)

8d    Florentine poet embracing one Latvian dabbler (10)
DILETTANTE – DANTE (Florentine poet often found in cryptic crosswords) into which is inserted (embracing) I (Roman numeral for one) LETT (native of Latvia)

9d    Jailbird pre-irons pants (8)
PRISONER – An anagram (pants) of PRE IRONS

14d    Rib served with a cake for urchin (10)
RAGAMUFFIN – RAG (rib, tease) A (from the clue) MUFFIN (cake)

16d    How bright idea may arrive? (2,1,5)
IN A FLASH – cryptic definition

18d    Persist: what scrap metal dealer did around Spain? (7,2)
SOLDIER ON – SOLD IRON (what scrap metal dealer did) ‘around’ E (the IVR Code for Spain)

20d    Rescue ship (7)
DELIVER – To rescue or to ship

21d    V-sign from revolutionary facing Reagan? (7)
CHEVRON – CHE (crosswordland’s favourite revolutionary) V (versus, facing) RON (Reagan)

23d    Article dropped by dirty pawnbroker (5)
UNCLE – AN (indefinite article) ‘dropped’ by UNCLEan (dirty)

25d    Appreciate Juliet in that role finally reversed (5)
ENJOY – J (the letter represented by Juliet in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet) inserted into a reversal of YON (that) and E (the final letter of rolE)

26d    Bag from fringes of Carnaby Street (4)
CYST – The ‘fringes’ or outside letters of CarnabY StreeT

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