Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3302
A full review by crypticsue
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
This puzzle was published on 2nd February 2025
BD Rating –Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another Sunday, another Dada Prize Puzzle – This one had six anagrams and nine clues requiring something to be inserted into something else, six of them very close together in the Across clues – if I had been test solving this crossword, I would certainly have drawn the setter’s attention to it.
Please let us know what you thought
Across
7a Jetty inspiring individual developer (7)
PIONEER – PIER (jetty) ‘inspiring’ ONE (individual)
8a Down bird (7)
SWALLOW – Double definition, one a verb, the other a noun
10a King entertained by drunken fop, male perhaps (3,7)
FOR EXAMPLE – REX (king) ‘entertained’ by an anagram (drunken) of FOP Male
11a Food served in brasserie at seven (4)
EATS – Nearly every solved crossword has either RD or Jane written by a clue you’ll know they hate. This time it was Jane’s turn to complain about the food hidden in the last three words of the clue
12a Cake entering proceedings in court of justice (8)
TRIBUNAL – BUN (cake) ‘entering’ TRIAL (proceedings)
14a Canine dentist originally found in Dorset town (6)
POODLE – The original letter of Dentist found in POOLE (Dorset town)
15a One playing in bold team, never going to lose (11)
INDOMITABLE – I (Roman numeral for one) inserted into an anagram (playing) of IN BOLD TEAM
19a Modest bottles with drink (6)
SHANDY – SHY (modest) ‘bottles’ AND (with)
20a Leader ruling over Norway, though not absolutely (8)
GOVERNOR – Hidden in part (not absolutely) of rulinG OVER NORway
22a God suffering reverses (4)
EROS – A reversal of SORE (suffering)
23a Persistent manoeuvres, lovely quality (10)
PRETTINESS – An anagram (manoeuvres) of PERSISTENT
25a Break heart of cohort, lady I fancy (7)
HOLIDAY – The ‘heart’ of coHOrt and an anagram (fancy) of LADY I
26a Peach biscuit (7)
CRACKER – An informal term for something good (peach) or a biscuit
Down
1d Prejudice important Tory moves (7)
BIGOTRY – BIG (important) and an anagram (moves) of TORY
2d Queen Victoria on thin ice, ultimately (4)
ANNE – The ultimate letters of VictoriA oN thiN icE
3d Get back, for example, into water (6)
REGAIN – EG (for example) inserted into RAIN (water)
4d Clean round summit in Tibet, each climber (5,3)
SWEET PEA – SWEEP (clean) goes round T (the summit in Tibet), followed by EA (each)
5d Miserable before arrest, as manual worker (4-6)
BLUE-COLLAR – BLUE (miserable) COLLAR (arrest)
6d Unfriendly house, way into field (7)
HOSTILE – HO (house) STILE (way into field)
9d Magic buzzer for children’s competition (8,3)
SPELLING BEE – SPELLING (magic) BEE (buzzer)
13d Cause of embarrassment, loopy family (6,4)
BANANA SKIN – BANANAS (loopy) KIN (family)
16d Cleric blowing top about pious Greek god (8)
OLYMPIAN – hOLY MAN (cleric) without the first letter (blowing top) goes ‘about’ PI (pious)
17d Old vehicle I love appears in plan (7)
CHARIOT – I (one) O (love) ‘appears’ in CHART (plan)
18d Huge battle starts to test everyone’s resolve (7)
MONSTER – MONS (First World War battle) and the ‘starts’ to Test Everyone’s Resolve
21d Electorate strove for reform (6)
VOTERS – An anagram (for reform) of STROVE
24d Cooler chip (4)
NICK – Slang for a prison (as is cooler) or a verb meaning to chip