Wednesday, March 20, 2013 — DT 27071

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27071
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, January 10, 2013
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27071]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
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

While pommers recuperates from a nasty respiratory infection, Big Dave steps in to review today's puzzle from RayT. Although Big Dave rates it as three stars for difficulty, I would say — based on having finished it unaided — that it sits on the far bottom edge of three star territory. Perhaps I should be a bit more egotistical and crow about having finished a three star puzzle without assistance.

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   Talk about bosom, redhead's put together! (11)

Having become mistakenly fixated on prate being the word clued by "talk", this was my last one in.

9a   Scraps lacking resistance in bars (7)

10a   Attachment of woman welcoming former husband (6)

12a   It's stir following bust for twister (7)

In the cryptic reading, bust is the past participle of the verb to bust. Both bust and torn describe damage, although I'm not necessarily convinced that the words are interchangeable.

13a   Dodgy pal with nice bird (7)

In Britain, bird^[5] is an informal term for a young woman or a man’s girlfriend. Look for this a few more times today.

14a   Frost reportedly wrote in this (5)

Robert Frost^[7] (1874 – 1963) was an American poet, highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech.

15a   Album with 'Time' becoming timeless (9)

17a   Sailor hangs around for birds (9)

More birds (see 13a). As for the synonym for hang, you might sling a hammock between two trees.

20a   Moisten food's main ingredient retaining temperature (5)

22a   Awkwardly sit with same painter (7)

Henri Matisse^[7] (1869 – 1954) was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship.

24a   Most fashionable bird embracing the French (7)

Another bird (see 13a). In the French language, les^[10] is the plural form of the definite article.

25a   Perceived sixth sense that is dead (6)

26a   Hostelry holds room back reserved (7)

27a   Weighing of certain hands in game (11)

Down

2d   Put back record left in competition (7)

3d   Past master (9)

4d   Floated on top of putrid bog (5)

5d   Lock combination for altering without opening (7)

I think Big Dave intended to type "(A)TERING" in his hint.

6d   Transport bill carrying a team about (7)

Big Dave saw this one way and I another. I parsed it as TAB ([restaurant] bill) containing (carrying) {XI (a [cricket] team) + CA ([the two-letter Latin abbreviation for] about)}. To my mind, either interpretation is valid.

XI is the Roman numeral for eleven^[7], which is the number of players on a cricket team (or a soccer team, for that matter) ⇒ at cricket I played in the first eleven.

7d   Intrepid beating Mount Everest endlessly (11)

8d   Small, voluptuous and dirty (6)

In the cryptic reading, dirty^[7] is used in the sense of dishonest or dishonourable, rather than unclean.

11d   One Knight trying to trap Queen is unusual (11)

In algebraic notation, the usual modern way of recording chess games, the letter N stands for the knight^[7] (K being reserved for the king). By tradition, the ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus the cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

16d   Pleasure having bent for punishment (9)

18d   Performer in part is tested (7)

19d   Girls with large behinds, capturing his heart (7)

The usual British slang term for the behind is arse^[10], with ass^[5] being considered an Americanism. The term is apparently considered to be less vulgar in the UK than it is an this side of the Atlantic. Collins English Dictionary has the following to say about arse:

Dating back at least a thousand years, and taboo till around the middle of the 20th century, this venerable "Anglo-Saxon" word now seems unlikely to cause offence in all but the most formal contexts. Its acceptability has possibly been helped by such useful verb formations as "to arse about" and "I can't be arsed".

20d   Trail found in mountain stretch (7)

Ben^[5] (especially in place names) is Scottish for a high mountain or mountain peak (such as Ben Nevis, a mountain in western Scotland that rises to 1,343 m (4,406 ft) making it is the highest mountain in the British Isles.).

21d   Makes out with a wife to swing (6)

23d   More gnarled  tree? (5)

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