Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28952
A full review by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
An exceedingly straightforward Saturday puzzle – well I thought so anyway
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.
Across
1a Time with teacher to frame question for difficult employer (10)
TASKMASTER – T (time) with MASTER (teacher) to ‘frame’ ASK (question)
6a Some flirt with a fool (4)
TWIT – Lurking in part of (some) flirT WITh
9a Body of soldiers, NCOs avoiding exam (5)
CORPS – CORPORALS (NCOs) ‘avoiding’ or omitting ORAL (exam)
10a Strangely, his dogma united capital (9)
MOGADISHU – An anagram (strangely) of HIS DOGMA U (united)
12a Senator grins wickedly about statesman’s first offence (13)
TRANSGRESSION – An anagram (wickedly) of SENATOR GRINS ‘about’ the S that is the first letter of Statesman
14a Bearded woman finally entering American sanctuary (8)
UNSHAVEN – N (the final letter of woman) ‘entering’ US (American) HAVEN (sanctuary)
15a Part of peaceful Hammersmith — or somewhere next door? (6)
FULHAM – Lurking in part of peaceFUL HAMmersmith is the next-door part of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
17a Call up about lifting mechanism (6)
PULLEY – A reversal (about) of YELL (call) and UP (from the clue)
19a Snake coffee’s trendy, reportedly (8)
MOCCASIN – A homophone (reportedly) of MOCHAS (coffees) IN (trendy)
21a On the way, like oil? (2,3,8)
IN THE PIPELINE – In preparation or where you’d find an oil supply
24a Army’s revolutionary command (5,4)
ABOUT FACE – A cryptic definition of an army ‘revolutionary’ order – so who else put TURN before they realised it wouldn’t work with 22d?
25a Sharp cold (5)
NIPPY – Biting or a timely reference to the weather at the time of solving/review typing
26a Optimise the condition of air (4)
TUNE – A verb meaning to optimise the condition of or another word for a piece of music
27a Steps adopted by coppers in epidemic (10)
PESTILENCE – STILE (steps) ‘adopted by’ PENCE (coppers)
Down
1d Get to grips with missing the French food (4)
TACK – Remove the French definite article – LE – from TACKLE (get to grips with)
2d Special ceremonies for goblins? (7)
SPRITES – SP (special) RITES (ceremonies)
3d Poor running in games meant running miles first (13)
MISMANAGEMENT – An anagram (running) of GAMES MEANT and M (miles ‘first’) Slightly odd to use running twice – once as part of the definition and again as the anagram (indicator)?
4d See terms organised for part of the school year (8)
SEMESTER – An anagram (organised) of SEE TERMS
5d Man behind the counter heading off for mountain (5)
EIGER – Remove the ‘heading’ or first letter of the surname of the man who invented the GEIGER counter
7d Want to trap serpent that’s ill-tempered (7)
WASPISH – WISH (want) to ‘trap’ ASP (serpent)
8d Competition our chap set up in temporary accommodation (10)
TOURNAMENT – OUR (from the clue) and a reversal (set up in a Down clue) of MAN (chap) inserted into TENT (temporary accommodation)
11d Not working, manipulated city’s loan fund (13)
DYSFUNCTIONAL – An anagram (manipulated) of CITYS LOAN FUND
13d One petitions current leader of Conservatives to block overthrow (10)
SUPPLICANT – I (electrical current) C (the ‘leader’ of Conservatives) to ‘block’ SUPPLANT (overthrow)
16d Nobody opening — it’s a disappointing affair (3-5)
NON-EVENT – NONE (nobody) VENT (opening)
18f Deflated and sad after service that’s not quite right (3,4)
LET DOWN – DOWN (sad) goes after LET (a service in a game of tennis that’s not quite right so the player gets to have another try)
20d Stay out too long (5,2)
SLEEP IN – A cryptic definition
22d One judge could be cross (5)
IRATE – I (one) RATE (judge)
23d Farm building next to empty ravine (4)
BYRE – BY (next to) RavinE (empty telling you to remove the contents of ravine)
Thanks to CS for the review.
As discussed on the day I thought that 20d could equally well have been ‘sleep on’ as in “My alarm failed to go off so I slept on and missed my train” (which I’m hoping is not the case tomorrow!).
I would agree with the given ratings, only 23d was new to me, but the wordplay is quite transparent.
Thanks for the review CS.
On Saturday’s blog, I commented about unindicated Americanisms saying that I would follow-up today, so here goes:
24a is definitely an Americanism, About Turn is the ‘revolutionary’ command used in the UK which is why several of us could not complete 22d after completing 24a ‘incorrectly.’
4d is a maybe Americanism because it implies two academic terms per year, which there are in the USA while there are three academic terms per year in the UK.
20d is also a maybe Americanism, it certainly originated in the USA versus ‘lie in’ in the UK although it has probably crossed the Atlantic as the BRB does not indicate any ‘attribution.’
Oh well, now I have to go and check that my Stallion ‘Pedant’ is comfortable in the stable.
I’m not sure that I find the star rating of difficulty very useful. I found 28952 to be a stinker but I quite often find puzzles rated 2 or 3 star to be relatively easy. I think it’s the way my brain is wired as opposed to the reviewer’s brain is wired it’s just a personal thing. That said thanks for everything it’s always fun to contrast someone else’s experience as opposed to my own.
Thanks for the review, CS, I found this much easier than usual for a Saturday puzzle. I agree with Senf about the Americanisms, semester was the stand-out annoyance for me this week. I hate the word! But thanks to the setter anyway for a sound well-constructed puzzle.