ST 3261 (Full Review)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3261

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 21 April 2024

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

A fairly average Sunday Prize Puzzle

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Across

1a           Sport bound to feature in transmission (11)
SHOWJUMPING – JUMP (bound) to ‘feature’ in SHOWING (transmission)

10a         Dump tool, head sheared off (5)
HOVEL – sHOVEL (tool) with its ‘head sheared off’

11a         Boat, vessel crossing a river (9)
CATAMARAN – CAN (vessel) ‘crossing’ A (from the clue) and TAMAR (the river that forms the border between Devon and Cornwall

12a         Somebody with green soap in a lather (9)
PERSONAGE – An anagram (in a lather) of GREEN SOAP

13a         Tree when developed bears a type of apple (5)
EATER – An anagram (when developed) of TREE ‘bears’ A (from the clue)

14a         Town near Salford in religious book? (6)
ECCLES – A town near Salford or the abbreviation for the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes

16a         Careful in area certain to be overwhelmed by sea (8)
MEASURED – A (area) SURE (certain) ‘overwhelmed’ by MED (Mediterranean Sea)

18a         Extremely elegant primarily in cap — and tie! (4,4)
DEAD HEAT – DEAD (extremely) and the ‘primary’ letter of Elegant inserted in HAT (cap)

20a         Second bag into which stuffed one work of art (6)
MOSAIC – MO (second) SAC (bag) the latter ‘stuffed’ by I (Roman numeral for one)

23a         Massive housing association ultimately with nothing for house (5)
BINGO – House being an informal name for the solution – BIG (massive) ‘housing’ N (the ultimate letter of associatioN with O (nothing) added at the end

24a         Two boys, a state (9)
LOUISIANA – LOUIS and IAN (two boys) A (from the clue)

26a         Clipper in gale with punts at sea (6,3)
STAPLE GUN – An anagram (at sea) of GALE with PUNTS – useful when you need to clip together several pieces of paper in a fairly permanent way

27a         A giant, under any circumstances (2,3)
AT ALL – A (from the clue) TALL (giant)

28a         Little bits messier then when scattered around (11)
SMITHEREENS – An anagram (when scattered around) of MESSIER THEN

Down

2d           Initially high above — float there? (5)
HOVER – The initial letter of H and OVER (above)

3d           Old PM getting stick after statute drawn up (7)
WALPOLE – POLE (stick) goes after a reversal (drawn up) of LAW (statute)

4d           Totally exposed, portmanteau of male relatives? (6)
UNCLAD – Combining or covering (portmanteau) of UNCLe dAD

5d           Amateur snooker player pockets red, shortly (8)
POTTERER – POTTER (snooker play) ‘pockets’ REd (short or truncated)

6d           Songs — they may make you feel nothing (7)
NUMBERS – Songs or things that make you feel numb

7d           Transport for a pastor on top of hill somewhere in London (9,4)
SHEPHERDS BUSH – SHEPHERDS (pastor) BUS (transport) H (top of Hill)

8d           Representation of priorate in African city (8)
PRETORIA – An anagram (representation) of PRIORATE

9d           Out of the blue, but a red pencil is incorrect (13)
UNPREDICTABLE – An anagram (incorrect) of BUT A RED PENCIL

15d         Projecting feature observed gripping a tool (8)
CHAINSAW – CHIN (projecting feature) SAW (observed) ‘gripping’ A (from the clue)

17d         Opening in fact an inadequate window (8)
FANLIGHT – The ‘opening’ in Fact, AN (from the clue) LIGHT (inadequate)

19d         Delinquent in house with mould that dilapidated (7)
HOODLUM – HO (house) with an anagram (dilapidated) of MOULD

21d         Treading the boards, one leg after another? (2,5)
ON STAGE – STAGE (one leg) goes after ON (another leg)

22d         Shakespearean carpenter, fruity thing (6)
QUINCE – A character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream or a type of fruit

25d         Turkish commander popular — encore! (5)
AGAIN – AGA (Turkish commander) IN (popular)