Thursday, March 14, 2013 — DT 27066

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27066
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, January 4, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27066]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ 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

Gazza awarded this puzzle three stars for difficulty. Based on my experience, I would have to think that it lies at the lower end of the three star range.

Should you visit Big Dave's site, you will find that there are no comments posted there for today's puzzle. The hosting service that Big Dave uses experienced a major systems failure at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 5, 2013 which necessitated restoral from a backup made at 3:00 a.m. on Friday, January 4, 2013. As a result, all information posted to Big Dave's site during this period was lost. Big Dave was able to rebuild the reviews posted during that period from the reviewers own personal offline backups, but there was no way to recover the comments. In addition to today's puzzle, this situation will also affect the puzzle that I expect to be published in the National Post tomorrow. See here for more information.

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.

Across

1a   How reader catching up on back issues of magazine proceeds  occasionally? (4,4,2,4)

9a   Little energy, feeling more dead? It shows you what's in the food! (1-6)

In Britain, E-number^[5] denotes a code number preceded by the letter E, denoting food additives numbered in accordance with European Union directives.

10a   Girl about 10 may be one receiving a signal (7)

The delectable Anna Friel^[7] (selected by Gazza to be a visual hint in his review) is an English actress who has appeared on television and the stage in Britain, as well as in a number of films. Outside of film, she is probably best known in the USA for her work as Charlotte "Chuck" Charles in the ABC comedy series Pushing Daisies for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2008.

11a   River going down a long way with no small power (3)

The Dee^[5] is a river in NE Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen. Another river of the same name rises in North Wales and flows past Chester and on into the Irish Sea.

12a   I may help someone with their accounts (5-6)

14a   Like a sort of friend -- that's what the traditional building society is! (6)

In Britain, a building society^[5] is a financial organization which pays interest on investments by its members and lends capital for the purchase or improvement of houses. Building societies originally developed as non-profit-making cooperative societies from friendly societies^[5] (a mutual association providing sickness benefits, life assurance, and pensions). Since 1986 changes in legislation have allowed them to offer banking and other facilities, and some have become public limited companies [i.e. no longer a mutual association].

15a   Disease in part of Greater Manchester repeatedly, we hear (4-4)

Bury^[7] [pronounced berry — although, according to Gazza, not by the locals] is a town in Greater Manchester, England. One of Bury's most notable residents was Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and founder of the Metropolitan Police Service [see 21d].

17a   A competitor receiving honour according to the old records? (8)

A Companion of Honour (abbreviation CH) is a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour^[7], an order of the Commonwealth realms^[7] founded by King George V in June 1917 as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion.

19a   Seaman meets nurse in foreign port (6)

Ordinary seaman (abbreviation OS)^[5] is the lowest rank of sailor in the Royal Navy, below able seaman. Ostend^[5] is a port on the North Sea coast of NW Belgium, in West Flanders; population 69,175 (2008). It is a major ferry port with links to Dover, England.

22a   Talk by volunteers before a stupid person is taken around US city (11)

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency. Goon^[3,4] is used in the sense of a stupid or deliberately foolish person. In North America, one would be more likely to think of the term as meaning a thug.

23a   Carrier bringing note back (3)

In music, tonic sof-fa (or sol-fa^[3]) refers to the set of syllables  used to represent the tones of the scale. In the US, the names of the notes are generally spelled do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti while, in the UK, they are known as doh (or do), ray (or re), mi (or me), fah (or fa), soh (or sol), lah (or la), and te (or ti)^[4] [where two spellings are shown, the first is the primary spelling and the second is a variant spelling].

24a   Tributes came in after accident, full of love (7)

An encomium^[5] (plural encomiums or encomia) is a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly. 

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

26a   Rob needs tablet -- declining years? (7)

... a tablet used for medicinal purposes.

27a   Author unread -- lad’s exam going badly (9,5)

Alexandre Dumas^[5] may refer to either of two (father and son) French novelists and dramatists:

• Alexandre (1802–70); known as Dumas père. Although he was a pioneer of the romantic theatre in France, his reputation now rests on his historical adventure novels The Three Musketeers (1844-5) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-5).
• Alexandre (1824–95), son of Dumas père; known as Dumas fils. He wrote the novel (and play) La Dame aux camélias (1848), which formed the basis of Verdi’s opera La Traviata (1853).

Down

1d   One taking steps to make others aware of injustice? (7,7)

2d   Little work for the toffs -- time to cut back on indulging, being rich? (7)

In the study of music, Op. (also op.)^[5] is an abbreviation meaning opus (work). It is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication.

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective with respect to language or social behaviour meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners. The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

3d   Boasting got out of hand -- one may be on the slippery slope (11)

As an aside, I have noticed that British term for a sled of almost any description seems to be toboggan. Thus a luge is a toboggan, a bobsled is a toboggan - but the Brits don't appear to have real toboggans.

4d   Wine obtained in summer lottery (6)

Merlot^[5] is a red wine made from the Merlot grape, a variety of black wine grape originally from the Bordeaux region of France.

5d   Sandwiches and wine consumed by little piggies (8)

Toastie^[5] is an informal British name for a toasted sandwich or snack.

Asti^[7] (formerly known as Asti Spumante) is a sparkling white Italian wine that is produced throughout southeastern Piedmont but is particularly focused around the towns of Asti and Alba. Since 1993 the wine has been classified as a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) and as of 2004 was Italy's largest producing appellation.

6d   Shoddy stuff which hospital chucked out (3)

Tat^[5] is British slang for tasteless or shoddy clothes, jewellery, or ornaments ⇒ the place was decorated with all manner of gaudy tat.

Precise stylists maintain a distinction between that and which: that is used as a relative pronoun in restrictive clauses and which in nonrestrictive clauses. ... The more formal the level of language, the more important it is to preserve the distinction between the two relative pronouns; but in informal or colloquial usage, the words are often used interchangeably. [see here for the full text of this usage note from Collins English Dictionary as well as an even lengthier one from The American Heritage Dictionary.]

7d   Mammal grazed with hair hanging round (7)

8d   Lack of prejudice fan is reminded about before start of season (4-10)

13d   Everyone entertained by wandering resident back in place (11)

16d   Chief going around isn't getting support (8)

18d   Part of the church making fortune -- pounds! (7)

The pound^[5] (also pound sterling) is the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence. While the symbol for pound is £, it is often written as L^[10].

20d   Record weird hair on male in ancient tribe (7)

In the Old Testament, Ephraim^[10] is the younger son of Joseph, who received the principal blessing of his grandfather Jacob (Genesis 48:8–22). This is also the name of the tribe descended from him.

21d   Bobby is a good conductor (6)

In Britain, bobby^[5] is an informal name for a police officer. The name comes from a nickname for Robert, the given name of Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and founder of the Metropolitan Police Service.

25d   This person's upset and cross -- it's a mess (3)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as compiler, setter, author, or writer to refer to himself or herself. In the present clue, our setter refers to himself simply as "this person". To solve such a clue, one must usually substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used  in the clue. Today, we have the added wrinkle of including the appropriate person of the verb to be in contracted form.

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[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)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon