Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2554
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
I mislaid my original copy with timing, so not sure of my difficulty rating – maybe 4 stars rather than 3 by Sunday puzzle standards. Now that I’ve re-solved the puzzle and written up the clues, well up to standard – no epic hidden word, but three all-in-ones, two old queens and lots of other entertainment.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | One insect holding another back with little force (6) |
| FEEBLY – reversal of BEE (one of the two stock insects), in FLY which is a stock insect in real life but not so common in cryptic clues | |
| 4 | Lots of water in which to put English ships (8) |
| GALLEONS – E=English, in GALLONS | |
| 10 | Note invariably inserted in travel document? Just the opposite (4,5) |
| VICE VERSA = “just the opposite” – (C=note,EVER=invariably) in VISA. Very nice deception here as “just the opposite” is a standard trick in clue writing when something like “A in B” produces a nonsensical surface meaning but “B in A” makes a better one. So you might have wasted time looking for a “note” that was a travel document inside something to match “invariably”. | |
| 11 | Style that is abbreviated for attractive girl (5) |
| CUTIE – CUT=style, i.e. = “that is abbreviated” (literal meaning of “id est”) | |
| 12 | Make longer sentence (7) |
| STRETCH – two definitions, and nothing to do with writing that goes on for longer than it needs to. | |
| 13 | Was obliged to cut tail off fish (7) |
| HADDOCK – HAD = “was obliged” (I had to pay up = I was obliged to pay up”), DOCK = “to cut tail off” | |
| 14 | Last character held by a sleuth, an old Indian (5) |
| AZTEC – Z in “a tec” | |
| 15 | Person who supports HM, not her predecessor (8) |
| SECONDER = person who supports, plus “second E.R.” as an indication of “Brenda” rather than Good Queen Bess | |
| 18 | Bad person, one put inside, right? (8) |
| PRISONER – I=1 in anag. of (person + R=right) – an &lit/all-in-one | |
| 20 | Hero who’s acted in Italian city with love (5) |
| ROMEO = “hero who’s acted” – ROME,O=love – another &lit/all-in-one | |
| 23 | Without conductor’s lead, play it badly, as usual (7) |
| TYPICAL – C in anag. of (play it) – orchestral musicians might not always agree with the surface reading – there are many tales of vicous comments about poor conductors. One orchestral muttering from New York: “This is the music police. Put the baton dowm, and walk away from the podium.” | |
| 25 | In football, say, briefly managed part of Scottish outfit (7) |
| SPORRAN = part of Scottish outfit – here is one from the site where I found a balmoral hat for another recent blog report. SPOR(t)=”football, say, briefly”, RAN=managed | |
| 26 | Show line with style, as this? (5) |
| MODEL – MODE=style,L=line – another all-in-one | |
| 27 | Transparency by government that calculating person used to manipulate (5,4) |
| SLIDE RULE – if you’ve never used one, you can go here for the experience shared by maths students before about 1976 – I just caught the dying gasps before calculators took over. SLIDE=transparency,RULE=govt. | |
| 28 | Artful person reorientated lost boys (8) |
| SLYBOOTS = artful person – anag. of (lost boys) | |
| 29 | Attending critical trial to give evidence (6) |
| ATTEST = to give evidence – AT = attending, TEST = critical trial | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Top-quality game with man on board (4-4) |
| FIVE-STAR = “top-quality” – FIVES = game, TAR = sailor = “man on board” – another good bit of deception, as “man on board” could indicate a chess piece or similar, and “on board” is a really cheesy old cryptic clue indication for “inside SS (steamship)” | |
| 2 | Short piece of music, perhaps, 20 heard on radio in bar (7) |
| EXCERPT = R = “Romeo, heard on radio” (radio alphabet), in EXCEPT = bar | |
| 3 | Odd clue – it is about verse in part of OT (9) |
| LEVITICUS = part of OT – V=verse, in anag. of (clue it is) | |
| 5 | English writer whose biggest hero was Hercules, mostly (6,8) |
| AGATHA CHRISTIE – whose hero was Hercule Poirot – who was busy finding the killer of a thirties flapper on some Freeview channel during my original solving of the puzzle | |
| 6 | Most of fortune I had reduced – that’s understandable (5) |
| LUCID = understandable – LUC(k)=fortune,I’d = I had | |
| 7 | Not within reach, as a result (7) |
| OUTCOME = result – OUT = not within, COME = reach – pedants may insist on “come to”, but this one hasn’t checked the dictionary – in my speed-merchant solving mode it was plenty close enough | |
| 8 | Pronouncement of moment for Arab leader (6) |
| SHEIKH = “shake” = movement | |
| 9 | Canned music producers (6,3,5) |
| BRAHMS AND LISZT = “music producers”, and rhyming slang for pissed = canned | |
| 16 | Quarrel in home that’s extremely illiberal (9) |
| NARROWEST = exremely illiberal – ARROW = quarrel, in NEST = home | |
| 17 | Exhausted after drink in part of bar (8) |
| DOWNBEAT = part of bar – the first beat of a bar as usually indicated by the bloke were so rude about at 23A. DOWN = drink (verb), BEAT as in ‘dead beat’ = exhausted | |
| 19 | Chat in frivolous way with expedition (7) |
| RAPIDLY = with expedition (2nd meaning) – RAP=chat,IDLY | |
| 21 | One of the Tudors switching endless parts in tent (7) |
| MARQUEE = tent – Queen Mary = “one of the Tudors”, with the words switched after losing the last letters. | |
| 22 | Remnants of old chestnuts, perhaps, found in puzzles (6) |
| STUMPS = both “puzzles” and “remnants of old chestnuts” when these are trees. Long-standing readers will appreciate the wry joke from BG, who’s called me an “arch-roaster of chestnuts” or similar | |
| 24 | Place for locking up old instrument (5) |
| CELLO = instrument – CELL=place for locking up, O=old – a simple enough clue to solve, but well-crafted to make you think however briefly about something like a more secure version of the shelving in this picture | |
Thanks Peter for the excellent review, i really enjoyed this crossword on Sunday, a nice easy trawl through after a heavy Saturday night.
Just started doing the Sunday puzzle a month or so ago, and I really like them. Thanks for the review. 18a & 20a, but which was the 3rd all-in-one clue? 5d?
18, 20 and 26 (all across) are the ones I’m calling all-in-ones.
I’d call 5D a cryptic definition (using subtraction), or a definition plus an indication using subtraction and a bit of knowledge. It’s quite a good example of why it’s not always worth making sure you put a clue into the right pigeonhole – you can spend more time worrying what kind it is than solving it or appreciating it, and that shouldn’t really be the point.
Thanks for the enlightenment, Peter. I tend to agree that clue classification is more for purists than true solvers, but interesting nonetheless.