Wednesday, March 6, 2013 — DT 27057

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27057
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, December 24, 2012
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27057]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 27051 through DT 27056 which were published in The Daily Telegraph from Monday, December 17, 2012 through Saturday, December 22, 2012.

Introduction

I was expecting a puzzle from Rufus today and this is unmistakeably one of his creations. I was a bit surprised by the theme, thinking that he might be rushing the season a mite. However, as I discovered, the National Post has skipped an entire week's worth of puzzles which brings us up to Christmas Eve in Britain. So let me be the first — or last — to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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   Wrapped gift, being soft on Clare, perhaps (6)

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

4a   It's suspended just before Christmas (8)

9a   Game in crackers is a mystery (6)

The surface reading refers to a Christmas cracker^[5], a decorated paper cylinder which, when pulled apart, makes a sharp noise and releases a small toy or other novelty.

10a   One that talks one round to see Handel's Messiah? (8)

Messiah^[7] is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by German-born British Baroque composer George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) with a scriptural text compiled by librettist Charles Jennens (1700 – 1773).

12a   Dead drunk, providing old stories (4)

Edda^[5] can refer to either of two 13th-century Icelandic books, the Elder or Poetic Edda (a collection of Old Norse poems on Norse legends) and the Younger or Prose Edda (a handbook to Icelandic poetry by Snorri Sturluson). The Eddas are the chief source of knowledge of Scandinavian mythology.

13a   Christmastide presents of theatre seats (5)

14a   Party includes a number in religious group (4)

To be precise, the number would be one hundred.

17a   Famous play in its second week on January 5th? (7,5)

Twelfth Night^[5] is the evening of 5 January, the eve of the Epiphany (6 January) and formerly the twelfth and last day of Christmas festivities. Twelfth Night; or, What You Will^[7] is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season.

20a   Rip off celebrant out to be the first to decorate the tree in UK (6,6)

Prince Albert is reputed to have introduced the German custom of the Christmas tree to Britain. However, it would appear that the legend is not entirely correct.

In Britain, George III's German-born queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800; but the custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family. Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with the custom and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote, "After dinner... we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room... There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees..." After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became even more widespread throughout Britain.^[7]

23a   Pass round a traditional New Year's gift (4)

In Scotland, New Year's^[7] (Hogmanay) is celebrated with several different customs, such as First-Footing, which involves friends or family members going to each other's houses with a gift of whisky and sometimes a lump of coal.

24a   I had conducted the carollers, perhaps, but became lazy (5)

The phrase "the carollers, perhaps" is a bit of an extra flourish in keeping with the theme of the puzzle.

25a   Christmas spirit always surrounds her (4)

Similar to the above clue, the word "Christmas" is a bit of decoration for the season.

28a   Drink -- it's the end of the bird (8)

I had to smile a bit at Libellule's hint. Should it be the "male end of a bird" or the end of a male bird?

29a   Ingredients relating to cold mince pie (6)

30a   Presents for ladies are out with some circles (8)

31a   Fancies outsize tree inside (6)

I'm afraid that I have reservations about fancy and opine being synonyms. Fancy^[10] seems to be used in the sense of to suppose or imagine ⇒ I fancy it will rain. Opine^[10] means to to hold or express an opinion ⇒ he opined that it was all a sad mistake. I admit that the word suppose is listed as a synonym for opine. However, I think that this is a case where the meaning of the word suppose is broad enough to encompass both fancy and opine. Nevertheless, although fancy and opine may both be synonyms of suppose, I am not convinced that it necessarily follows that they are synonyms of each other.

The sizes of clothing that North Americans would describe as plus-size^[7] (or often big and tall in the case of men's clothing) would be called outsize (OS^[5]) in Britain.

Down

1d   Stages which will be packed at Christmas (8)

In the cryptic reading, stages must be interpreted a as a verb.

2d   They lead the way in the present transport system (8)

3d   These trees may be obtained from Wilhelmstrasse (4)

Wilhelmstrasse^[7] is a major thoroughfare in Berlin, Germany. Until 1945, it was recognised as the centre of the government, first of the Kingdom of Prussia, later of the unified German Reich, housing in particular the Reich Chancellery and the Foreign Office. The street's name was thus also frequently used as a metonym for overall German governmental administration, much as the term "Whitehall" is often used to signify the British governmental administration as a whole.

5d   They gave original Christmas presents (5,4,3)

6d   Trim tree finally with attractive result (4)

7d   Where Jesus lived is setting up a king (6)

King Lear^[7] is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all.

8d   About the end of December, reached Santa's base (6)

In Britain, it seems that department store Santas hang out in caves. Google "Santa's grotto" and you'll get a flood of responses, such as this one.

11d   Like Idle Jack in pantomime? Definitely not (7,5)

A pantomime^[5] is a traditional British theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas. Idle Jack (sometimes called Jack Idle or Jack the idle apprentice) is a character from the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat^[7].

15d   By start of evening a Christmas tree may be lit up (5)

16d   What may be decked, when sun rises, will (5)

18d   Tiptoe in craftily to get round robin (8)

A round robin^[3,4] is a petition or protest on which the signatures are arranged in a circle in order to conceal the order of signing. According to Collins English Dictionary, the term round robin to describe a tournament in which each player or team plays against every other player or team is a US and Canadian usage.

19d   Run out of decorations in packets, perhaps (8)

21d   Frozen hanger-on (6)

22d   A Christmas present drawer (6)

This "drawer" is no artist.

26d   It may hold needles on the tree -- but only as a present (4)

... that is, it will do nothing to prevent your fir tree from dropping its needles all over the carpet!

27d   Watch punch initially trickle away (4)

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