Thursday, December 1, 2011 - DT 26652

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26652
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, September 8, 2011
Setter Ray T
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26652]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

Today, we have an enjoyable puzzle from Ray T with a couple of signature clues (the slightly risqué 20a) and 8d with its reference to his favourite bank, Queen. The puzzle is also quite light on Briticisms - although the slang meaning of 'bell' in 11d was new to me.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

1a   Big group hug encompassing new nostalgia (11)

R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band from Athens, Georgia that was big in the 80s and 90s.

13a   Do well to shut up! (7)

Do^[5], as used here, is an informal British term meaning swindle.

17a   Pet returned in end, so treated for worms? (9)

For the cryptic reading, consider pet^[5] to be a noun used as a modifier, as in the phrase "a pet tiger".

25a   Fuzz catching fellow and robber’s heading for nick (6)

Nick^[5] is British slang meaning to steal.

4d   Airline, so spartan (5)

Initially having only the middle letter of the solution, I approached the wrong gate. I was fine once I realized that I needed to board British Airways (BA)^[7] rather than Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)^[7].

7d   Class as sin a tenet including murder (11)

Obviously Big Dave meant to write "hidden in the first five words of the clue" rather than "first five letters".

11d   Ring one chap boxing about to get aggressive (11)

Bell^[5] is an informal British expression meaning to telephone someone ("I'm sorry, sir, but she can't take your call right now." "No problem, I’ll bell her tomorrow").

18d   Intimate guys can love inside (7)

I think that the "xxx" in Big Dave's hint is just a temporary placeholder for a synonym that never got inserted, rather than a stand-in for risqué material (although, with a Ray T puzzle, one just never knows!).

21d   Frock for church? (6)

Frock^[5] means to invest (a person) with the office or status of a cleric. It seems to me that one is far more apt to encounter the converse of this word (i.e., defrock) - and perhaps that, in itself, is a telling commentary on the state of the church.

References: 
^[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2] - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3] - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5] - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6] - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7] - Wikipedia
^[8] - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)

Signing off for today - Falcon