Monday, April 8, 2013 — DT 27085

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27085
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, January 26, 2013
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain) - [possibly*]
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27085 - hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27085 - review]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave - hints gnomethang - review
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
Notes *Although one comment mentions Cephas as possibly having set the puzzle, the identity of the setter is not actually confirmed on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.

Introduction

We get a fairly gentle puzzle to start our week — a puzzle which ended the week in Britain. Our run of puzzles appearing on the same day of the week as they did in the UK has come to an end for now. Unless the National Post skips some puzzles, the stars will next align six weeks from now.

This was a Saturday prize puzzle in The Daily Telegraph so there are two entries on Big Dave's site — the first posted on the day of publication (with a few hints as well as most of the comments) and the second posted following the close of the contest (which contains the full review).

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   Really  it is the quickest way to get high (8,2)

A double definition, the second being a tad cryptic. In Britain, straight up^[5] is an informal expression meaning truthfully or honestly ⇒ come on, Bert, I won’t hurt you—straight up.

Once again, I warn you to be aware that the underlining in the clues on Big Dave's site can be misleading in clues such as this one. I know from personal experience working with the WordPress software used there that — unless the author takes extraordinary measures — adjacent sections of underlined text "bleed" into each other making it appear to be a single stretch of underlined text rather than multiple discrete segments of underlined text.

6a   Warning: one may get passionate about nothing (4)

In Britain, one may either hoot or toot a warning. A hoot^[5] is a raucous sound made by a horn, siren, or steam whistle whereas a toot^[5] is a short, sharp sound made by a horn, trumpet, or similar instrument ⇒ (i) an accidental toot from the saxophonist; (ii) the blue van’s familiar toots. As a verb, hoot^[5] means (with reference to a car horn, siren, etc.) to make or cause to make a hoot ⇒ a car horn hooted, frightening her; (ii) [with object] Sam hooted his horn and toot^[5] denotes (1) [with object] to sound (a horn or similar) with a short, sharp sound ⇒ an impatient motorist tooted a horn or (2) [no object] make a toot ⇒ a car tooted at us. While the term "toot a horn"is used in North America, we don't use the expression "hoot a horn". Instead, we would likely say "honk^[5] a horn" [an expression that would seem to be used in Britain as well].

8a   Worthless weapon returned by a politician (8)

Not a word I was familiar with, but easy enough to derive from the wordplay.

9a   Regretted overtaking child's horse, by the sound of it -- that's rough (6)

Children in the UK - and bettors at British racetracks - commonly refer to a horse as a gee-gee^[5]. The term was originally a child's word, a reduplication of gee^[5], a command to a horse to go faster.

Gee-Gees^[7] is certainly a familiar name to those of us who live in Ottawa as it is used by the athletic teams that represent the University of Ottawa in all of its sporting events. The term "Gee-Gee" is taken from horse racing where a Gee-Gee is the first horse out of the starting gate [I could find no support for the contention that the term specifically refers to "the first horse out of the starting gate"; perhaps this is a bit of literary embellishment]. The name GGs also describes the university colours, garnet and grey. For many years, the team was known as the Garnet and Grey (French: Grenat et Gris); the name Gee-Gees was chosen to appeal to both francophone and anglophone fans of this bilingual university.

10a   Sentimental type having nervous reaction (8)

11a   Marchers should be  foot division? (6)

Another double definition, with the first being cryptic. My first entry here was INCHES, even though I was not 100% comfortable with it. When I could find no compelling solution for 6d, I was forced to revisit this choice.

12a   Miss a festivity (4)

14a   Imagine having drink with model (7)

As a verb, sup^[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒ (i) she supped up her soup delightedly; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle. As a noun, it means (1) a sip of liquid ⇒ he took another sup of wine or (2) in Northern England or Ireland, an alcoholic drink ⇒ the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery.

18a   Sign  first letter only (7)

The dictionary entry for sign^[5] does not explicitly indicate that the act of initialing a document falls within the scope of the definition. However, when approached from the other direction, initial^[5] is defined as to mark or sign (a document) with one’s initials in order to authorize or validate it.

20a   Regularly misread 'Queen and Country' (4)

Queen and Country^[7] is an artwork by British artist Steve McQueen. The work is a set of 155 sheets of stamps, each sheet commemorating a soldier who lost their life in the Iraq War between 2003 and 2008. The work was a co-commission between the Manchester International Festival and the Imperial War Museum.

23a   Playful little woman has company going to Kent maybe (6)

Little Women^[7] is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888). The novel follows the lives of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters.

Kent^[5] is a county on the SE coast of England; county town, Maidstone.

24a   Advance twice -- but be reasonable! (4,4)

25a   Generous number from Rome having whip-round (6)

26a   Heather, for all to see, at home before one making pasta (8)

Ling^[5] is the common heather (Calluna vulgaris), a purple-flowered Eurasian heath that grows abundantly on moorland and heathland.

The setter uses "for all to see" as a code phrase for U. Under the British system of film classification^[7] a U (for 'universal') rating indicates that a film is suitable "for all the family" (or at least for children over 4 years of age).

27a   Tax produces flippancy when it's dodged (4)

Big Dave, who explains the wordplay as "Start with a word meaning flippancy and drop (dodge) the IT" comments " I’m not sure that this works as it is flippancy that produces a tax when it is dodged". This comment makes sense if dodged is considered to mean avoided. However, if one defines dodged as skirted or gone around, then the clue can be interpreted as saying "LEVY (tax) produces LEVITY (flippancy) when it goes around IT (when IT is gone around (dodged))".

28a   Shake and stretch? You'll get it if you're on mine (10)

"You" referring to the solver of the puzzle and "mine" to the setter.

Down

1d   Second strip that's worn in summer (8)

2d   Three-quarters of army group in administration (6)

3d   Determined where camper might be found (6)

4d   Her baring could be sign of what is to come (9)

The first robin spotted following the end of winter, perhaps.

5d   Priest takes craftsman to be supporter of a cause (8)

6d   Perhaps Snowdon's most memorable part? (4,4)

Snowdon^[7] is the highest mountain in Wales, at an altitude of 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland.

High spot^[5] is the most enjoyable or significant part of an experience or period of time ⇒ the high spot of the tour was to be an audience with the Pope. I would be much more inclined to use the term high point^[5] which Oxford Dictionaries Online defines using the exact same words (albeit with a far more mundane usage example) ⇒ the English lesson was the high point of the morning. Nevertheless, I would be very comfortable using the phrase hit the high spots^[5], meaning to visit the most exciting places in a town.

7d   To repeat jazzed-up form of entertainment (8)

13d   Sweet drink on the rocks? (9)

In Britain, a sweet^[5] can be a small shaped piece of confectionery made with sugar ⇒ a bag of sweets [known as candy^[5] in North America]. Another British meaning for a sweet is a dessert.

15d   A top duet performed that's modern (2-2-4)

16d   In abbey, technology is given precedence (8)

17d   Teams who arranged stall at fairground (8)

In Britain, side^[7] is another term for a sports team.

19d   Cooking his meat first makes you irritable (8)

21d   Black bird dog (6)

22d   Falling out on the lake? (6)

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon