DT 27761

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27761

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty *– Enjoyment ***

This puzzle was published on Saturday, 28th March 2015

A fairly average Saturday puzzle as far as I can recall – the main source of comments being the problems people had with16a.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

Across

1a           Combining two illegal drugs makes one crazy (8)
CRACKPOT – Combine two drugs – CRACK and POT

6a           Spot daughter with fruit (6)
DAPPLE – D (daughter) with APPLE (fruit)

9a           Drive home in brougham merrily (6)
HAMMER is hidden in brougHAM MERrily.

10a         Excited to get in live coverage after a dip (8)
BATHROBE – ATHROB (excited) put in BE (live).

11a         Suave type, one captivated by some hot dancing (8)
SMOOTHIE –   An anagram (dancing) of SOME HOT plus I (one = I – captivated).

12a         Hard men trap insect (6)
HORNET – H (hard) OR (ordinary ranks, men) NET (trap).

13a         Imprison lawyer in gambling organisation that’s state of the art (4,2-2-4)
BANG UP-TO-DATE –   BANG UP (slang term for to imprison) and DA (District Attorney, lawyer) inserted into the TOTE (gambling organization).

16a         French art links two fish — a point used in the main (7-5)
MARLINE-SPIKE –   Never in the history of crossword blogging has one clue caused so much fuss.   A spelling I didn’t know for a spike used to separate strands of a rope is obtained by ‘linking’ a MARLIN and a PIKE with the French word meaning art – ES – as in Thou art…. Tu es.

19a         Visually tired by keeping king in play (6)
BLEARY –   BY (from the clue) keeps King LEAR (from Shakespeare’s play).

21a         Chemical compound produced from aluminium and potassium mixed with other metals we hear (8)
ALKALOID –   Chemical symbols for aluminium – AL – and potassium – K – followed with a homophone (we hear) of ALLOYED (mixed with other metals).

23a         An ant kit adapted for use against armoured vehicles (4-4)
ANTI-TANK –   An anagram (adapted) of AN ANT KIT.

24a         Provoke to riot, perhaps, able to be seen when broadcast (6)
INCITE –   Another homophone (when broadcast) of IN SIGHT (able to be seen).

25a         Physicist showing unaccustomed weight (6)
NEWTON –   NEW (unaccustomed) and TON (weight).

26a         Government books supplying lot of soldiers (8)
REGIMENT –   REGIME (government) NT (New Testament, books).

Down

2d           Subjects of genuine document (6)
REALMS –   REAL (genuine) MS (document, manuscript).

3d           Appeared ordinary in small part (5)
CAMEO –   CAME (appeared) O (ordinary).

4d           Classic venue for women entertained by country music queen (9)
PARTHENON –   HEN (for women) entertained by [Dolly] PARTON.

5d           Pictorial representation accomplished with gold after time (7)
TABLEAU –   ABLE (accomplished) and AU (chemical symbol for gold) put after T (time).

6d           Germany long in depression (5)
DITCH –   D (IVR code for German) and ITCH (long).

7d           Tiger and pard shot as sort of game (9)
PARTRIDGE –   An anagram (shot) of TIGER and PARD.

8d           Trio belt out words from opera (8)
LIBRETTO –   An anagram (out) of TRIO BELT.

13d         Traditional singer of considerable weight embracing girl briefly (9)
BALLADIST –   BALLAST (considerable weight) embracing DI (abbreviated [briefly] girl’s name).

14d         Left enthralled by lookalike monarch for brief moment (9)
TWINKLING –   L (left) inserted into (enthralled by)   TWIN (lookalike) KING (monarch).

15d         Standard way to get round initially common manner of speaking (8)
PARLANCE – PAR (standard) and LANE (way) put round the initial letter of Common.

17d         Strike sovereign or pound (7)
SMACKER –   SMACK (strike) ER (the cipher of our current Queen) – a SPANKER being an informal term for a pound sterling.

18d         Youngster with knowledge about one set of races (6)
KITTEN – KEN (knowledge) put round I (one) and TT (Tourist Trophy races).

20d         Desire indefinite time in history? (5)
YEARN – YEAR N might be a way of describing an indefinite time in history.

22d         Doctor upset Greek character with pass (5)
LOCUM –   A reversal (upset) of MU (Greek character) and COL (mountain pass).

Gnomey’s started his ‘week off’ a little early    …. I’ll be back next week with reviews of both weekend puzzles.

S4 B2