Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2891
A full review by crypticsue
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This puzzle was published on Sunday 19th March
BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ****
Sunday puzzles are always so good that it is hard to think of anything original to say when drafting the review prologue. I have no special favourites this time, as the whole thing was a pleasure to both solve and review.
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
8a Taking everything into account, nothing more to say? (3,4)
ALL TOLD – Including everything so there’d be nothing more to say
10a Land in Africa, having changed regalia (7)
ALGERIA – An anagram (changed) of REGALIA
11a Clever and popular mastermind embracing love (9)
INGENIOUS – IN (popular) GENIUS (mastermind) embracing O (love)
12a Delivered wood ahead of time (5)
DEALT – DEAL (wood) ‘ahead of’ T (time)
13a Second list that’s barely adequate (5)
SCANT – S (second) CANT (list, like cant here, can be defined as a sloping or tilted position
14a Book format the writer partly selected (7)
MATTHEW – Partly selected is a clear indication that you should be looking for a lurker, this time in forMAT THE Writer; the book, of course, being part of the New Testament
17a Country staged it badly for supplier of home-made products (7,8)
COTTAGE INDUSTRY – An anagram (badly) of COUNTRY STAGED IT
19a Protester runs after small child’s vehicle (7)
STRIKER – R (runs) goes after S (small) TRIKE (child’s vehicle)
21a Crowd surrounding one in lift (5)
HOIST – HOST (crowd) surrounding I (one)
24a Something produced in bars — heavy metal, for instance (5)
MUSIC – A nice cryptic definition all-in-one clue
26a Present as means to make novel acquisition, say (4,5)
BOOK TOKEN – And another
27a Foreign car in neutral, having crashed (7)
RENAULT – An anagram (having crashed) of NEUTRAL
28a Man committed to union securing new funding (7)
FINANCE – N (new) secured in FIANCE (man committed to union)
Down
1d River so long pilots use these to communicate (6)
RADIOS – R (river) ADIOS (so long)
2d Standard tirade that’s patently offensive (8)
FLAGRANT – FLAG (standard) RANT (tirade)
3d Healthy dog that wasn’t attached to early movies (10)
SOUNDTRACK – SOUND (healthy) TRACK (dog)
4d Mean policy adjusted minor’s pay (9)
PARSIMONY – An anagram (adjusted) of MINORS PAY
5d Part in tragedy, like King Lear (4)
AGED – Nice surface reading for another lurker – this time hidden in trAGEDy
6d Inspiration found in the bar when drunk (6)
BREATH – An anagram (when drunk) of THE BAR
7d Unfortunate sailor‘s reason for having no play? (8)
CASTAWAY – Split your solution 4,4 and the rest of the clue makes sense
9d Minimal amount of medicine from doctor prior to surgical procedure (4)
DROP – DR (doctor) goes prior to OP (surgical procedure)
15d Move weight, creating criterion (10)
TOUCHSTONE – TOUCH (move) STONE (weight)
16d Scoundrel in favour of dividing money given back (9)
REPROBATE – PRO (in favour of) ‘dividing’ REBATE (money given back)
17d Get ready for pool in fine woollen garment (8)
CASHMERE – CASH (ready money) MERE (pool)
18d Intelligent and fine man not captured on board (8)
THINKING – THIN (fine) KING (man not captured on a chess board)
20d Feel aggrieved about being put in post again (6)
RESENT – RE SENT (put in the post again)
22d Bound to insert names to be preserved (6)
TINNED – Insert N N (names) into TIED (bound)
23d Perform with female fellow or don? Just the opposite (4)
DOFF – DO (perform) F (female) F (fellow) If you ‘don’ something you put it on, but if you DOFF it, you do the opposite
25d China much misrepresented (4)
CHUM – China being Cockney rhyming slang for a friend – an anagram (misrepresented) of MUCH. The sort of clue you spot and solve while waiting for the printer to produce the piece of paper with the crossword on it and then shoot yourself in the foot by writing it in the space for 23d and wondering why you can’t solve 26a!
S1