Tuesday, March 12, 2013 — DT 27061

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27061
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, December 29, 2012
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27061-hints]  Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27061-review]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave (hints) gnomethang (review)
BD 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

I would say that I found the puzzle to be slightly more of a challenge than gnomethang's rating would indicate. I did have to activate the reserves to help me with one clue.

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

8a   Things drifting, not turned round by board (8)

9a   In  reception (2-4)

Unlike gnomethang, I interpreted this as a double definition with "in" meaning 'at home' and an at-home^[5] being a party in a person’s home or (dated) a period when a person has announced that they will receive visitors in their home..

10a   Agile Romeo embraced by Mata Hari? (4)

Romeo^[5] is a code word representing the letter R, used in radio communication.

Mata Hari^[5] (1876–1917) was a Dutch dancer and secret agent; born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. She probably worked for both French and German intelligence services before being executed by the French in 1917. Her name has come to symbolize a beautiful and seductive female spy ⇒ a Mata Hari of world finance.

11a   Fancy divorcee at ground (10)

In the cryptic reading, "ground" is a verb (or past participle used as an adjective).

12a   Horse, cob Ron tamed (6)

A cob^[4] is a thickset short-legged type of riding and draught horse.

14a   Not good-looking! (4-4)

15a   Comment on late news? (7)

I have no excuse for failing to see the solution to this clue right away. My Word Finder software turned up only a single possibility matching the checking letters.

17a   Plants in this place may conceal trap (7)

In the cryptic reading, "trap" is a verb.

20a   Cleaner's mother welcoming one's special appeal (8)

You have two chances to get the correct solution here. You may interpret the clue (as gnomethang did) to be {CHARS (cleaner's) + MA (mother)} containing I (one) or you may prefer my interpretation which is {CHAR (cleaner) + (has; 's) MA (mother)} containing (welcoming) IS (one's). In gnomethang's version, the 's that is attached to "one" is a contraction for is and serves as a link word between the wordplay and definition.

In the UK, char^[5] is another name for a charwoman^[5], a dated term for a woman employed as a cleaner in a house or office. 

22a   Discrimination shown by second divorcee one's married (6)

23a   List of items turns Liberal off (4,2,4)

24a   Cut to remove bird's tail (4)

25a   Being virtuous, he acts out of character (6)

26a   Teacher's account seen by the man as source of worry (8)

In Britain, head^[5] is short for for headmaster^[5] (a man who is the head teacher in a school), headmistress^[5] (ditto for a woman), or head teacher^[5] (the teacher in charge of a school).

Down

1d   Nonsense to applaud with role backfiring (8)

2d   Just nothing left in New York (4)

3d   Boss takes leader of industrialists round workroom (6)

Popper^[5] (employed by gnomethang in his review) is an informal British term for a press stud^[5], a small fastener on clothing, engaged by pressing its two halves together (a snap^[5] to North Americans).

4d   Hammer on the door? (7)

5d   Type of crack that's parting? (8)

Both gnomethang and I appear to have found this clue difficult to categorize. After a considerable bit of vacillating, I opted to call it a cryptic definition, while gnomethang seems to see it as a double definition (with one of the definitions possibly being cryptic).

Barnet^[5] (appearing in gnomethang's review) is British slang for a person’s hair. In Britain, the line of scalp revealed in a person’s hair by combing the hair away in opposite directions on either side is called a parting^[5] (rather than a part^[5], as it is known in North America) ⇒ his hair was dark, with a side parting.

6d   Gossip in phone kiosk? (10)

Again gnomethang and I differ with respect to the categorization of the clue. I think it is double definition with chatterbox^[5] arguably being another name for a "gossip" and a "phone kiosk"^[5] (phone booth to North Americans — and to Brits, as well) could cryptically be described as a chatter box (a box inside which you chatter).

7d   Film mob I've roused (1-5)

13d   Tailless tarantula is bothering botanist (10)

16d   Situation vacant, no stamp required (4-4)

In Britain, post-free^[5] means carried by post [the postal service] free of charge to the customer ⇒ (i) [as adjective] to arrange for a free survey fill in the post-free coupon; (ii) [as adverb] pamphlets were sent post-free to interested readers. The equivalent term in Canada is generally postage paid ⇒ complete and return the attached postage paid reply card.

18d   Georgia's portable lamp (8)

19d   Flair giving Peter pain (7)

Peter Pan^[5] is the hero of J. M. Barrie’s play of the same name (1904), a boy with magical powers who never grew up. The name has come to symbolize a person who retains youthful features or childlike characteristics ⇒ the author is a Peter Pan obsessed with his own childhood memories.

21d   Hospital overlooks number for summit (6)

22d   Witness woodcutter's up-and-down motion (6)

24d   Close main line (4)

The main^[5] is an archaic or literary term referring to the open ocean.

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