DT 29533

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29533

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on 28^th November 2020

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

A nice middling difficulty, actually to be found on the back page of the paper, Saturday Prize Puzzle. There are  quite a lot of clues that made me smile which means I have a fair idea who the setter was

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Across

8a    Star witnesses not entirely marvellous (4)
MAGI – Not entirely all of MAGIc (marvellous)

9a    For audience bring in tea dispenser (3)
URN – A homophone (for audience) of EARN (bring in)

10a    Start on ploughman’s with low-fat pickle? (6)
PLIGHT – P (the start on Ploughman’s) and LIGHT (low-fat)

11a    Writer taken outside street restaurant (6)
BISTRO – BIRO (writer) taken outside ST (street)

12a    Frank describing works of Luke and John? (8)
POSTMARK – The Gospels of Luke and John come POST the Gospel of MARK

13a    Rocky pass, one circling safe place to walk (7,8)
PELICAN CROSSING – An anagram (rocky) of PASS ONE CIRCLING

15a    Beloved son, small, placed by couple (7)
SWEETIE – S (son) WEE (small) TIE (couple)

17a    Little Rod, an immature swimmer (7)
TADPOLE – TAD (little) POLE (rod)

20a    Time aboard cosy starship is working for scientists (15)
ASTROPHYSICISTS – T (time) goes ‘aboard’ an anagram (working) of COSY STARSHIP IS

23a    Doorbell broken — here one’s invited to knock! (8)
BORDELLO- An anagram (broken) of DOORBELL I wasn’t the only one to be surprised by this clue and its solution appearing in a DT crossword, but for me, anyway, it confirmed my guess as to who set the crossword

25a    Pasta strip and bean? (6)
NOODLE – A pasta strip and an informal term for the head (as is ‘bean’)

26a    Hairstyle that might be red or grey? (6)
MULLET – A hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round; fish that can be either red or grey

27a    The old swine at first gives thumbs-up (3)
YES – YE (old-fashioned the) S (the first letter of swine)

28a    Smoker sighted in Vietnam (4)
ETNA – Hidden (sighted in) viETNAm

Down

1d    Nation on Chile’s borders shows venom (6)
MALICE – MALI (nation) on the ‘borders’ of ChilE

2d    Assistance lifts clan in bitter attack (8)
DIATRIBE – A reversal (lifts) of AID (assistance) followed by TRIBE (clan)

3d    Georges perhaps one involved with gun schemes? (9,6)
AUTOMATIC PILOTS – AUTOMATIC (gun) PLOTS (schemes) with I (one) ‘involved’

4d    Examine pitch initially used in cricket? (7)
INSPECT – P (pitch initially) used in INSECT (cricket?)

5d    Religious doctrine rewritten as Sicilian Pope leads mass (15)
EPISCOPALIANISM – An anagram (rewritten) of AS SICILIAN POPE goes before ‘leads’ M (mass)

6d    Settled problem over paper used in chemistry test (6)
LITMUS – LIT (settled) and a reversal (over) of SUM (problem)

7d    Become friendlier, we hear, finding God (4)
THOR – A homophone (we hear) of THAW (become friendlier)

14d    Raul Sanguineti beaten all ends up for nothing (3)
NIL – A reversal (up) of the ‘ends’ of rauL sanguinetI beateN

16d    Lived once in Bath — hard to leave! (3)
WAS – Remove the H (hard to leave) from WASh (bath)

18d    Spooner becomes confused about international killer (8)
POISONER – An anagram (confused) of SPOONER ‘about’ I (international) – sneaky use of the word SPOONER!

19d    Replacement used for term: issue for children? (7)
SYNONYM – issue is a SYNONYM for children

21d    Strain to get through this puzzle? (6)
RIDDLE – Double definition

22d    Knack revealed in story books (6)
TALENT – TALE (story) NT (books of the New Testament)

24d    Burden setter and solver must carry? (4)
ONUS – The burden is ON US (the setter and solver)