Tuesday, May 28, 2013 — DT 27123

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27123
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27123]
Big Dave's Review Written By Deep Threat
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

It took me a while to get rolling today, but in the end I was able to avoid calling out my electronic reinforcements.

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   Flee, pocketing diamonds after a mischievous adventure (8)

5a   Army chaplain having no right on board in a suit (6)

In Crosswordland, the phrase "on board" can usually be counted on to be either a reference to a chessboard or a voyage aboard a steamship (abbreviation SS^[5]).

10a   Doctor bored with antisocial drug (8,7)

11a   Member must have pluck to suggest a practical joke (3-4)

Leg-pull^[3,4,11] is an informal term for a practical joke or mild deception. Collins English Dictionary characterises this expression as British — but it is found in the American dictionaries as well.

12a   Unknown number fired from outside, non-stop (7)

In mathematics (algebra, in particular), an unknown^[10] is a variable, or the quantity it represents, the value of which is to be discovered by solving an equation ⇒ 3y = 4x + 5 is an equation in two unknowns. [Unknowns are typically represented symbolically by the letters x, y and z.]

13a   Disastrous failure by the enemy to find explosive device (4,4)

In cryptic crosswords, we often find that time is the enemy, expressed by Irish poet William Butler Yeats as "The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time" meaning that innocence and beauty are each subject to the ravages of time.

15a   Condescend to draw missing son (5)

18a   Permit inexperienced leader to leave (5)

20a   Sense agreement amongst rowing crew (8)

The Boat Race (mentioned by Deep Threat in his review) is an annual rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights on the River Thames in London, United Kingdom. It usually takes place on the last Saturday of March or the first Saturday of April.

23a   Designer  calendar? (7)

25a   Deliver TV without charge (3,4)

26a   Suffer in silence if bedridden? (4,2,5,4)

27a   Gen we circulated about a cultural trend (3,3)

Gen^[5] is British slang for information ⇒ you’ve got more gen on him than we have.

28a   Hears a CD prepared for party game (8)

... now all we need is a charade type clue that produces ANAGRAMS as its solution.

Down

1d   Make possible arrest breaking Helen's heart (6)

2d   Barbecue -- reduced cost to get on stream (9)

3d   Appropriate for parish priest in France (7)

In France, a parish priest is called a curé^[4].

4d   Bore encountered in train, invariably (5)

6d   Suppose injured rep needs nurse (7)

7d   River in NI county in flood (5)

Northern Ireland^[5] (abbreviation NI^[5]) is a province of the United Kingdom occupying the NE part of Ireland; population 1,775,000 (est. 2008); capital, Belfast. Down^[5] is one of the Six Counties of Northern Ireland, since 1973 an administrative district; chief town, Downpatrick.

8d   Extra little earner, perhaps, for food store during function (8)

9d   Get together because second badge must be shortened (8)

14d   Reject past convention (8)

16d   Is golf club entertaining that female novelist? (9)

Christopher Isherwood^[5] (1904 – 1986) was a British-born American novelist whose notable works include Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye to Berlin (1939; filmed as Cabaret, 1972).

17d   Monk artist's introduced (8)

Grigori Rasputin^[7] (1869 – 1916) was a Russian mystic and advisor to the Romanovs, the Russian Imperial family.

19d   Up, appealing (7)

21d   A whole number teeing off close to marker (7)

22d   Wrath perhaps after tax put up in sport (6)

24d   Cock-eyed query we raised (5)

25d   Smart wife is interrupting mum (5)

According to The Chambers Dictionary, mum^[1] can be used as an interjection meaning not a word.

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