Wednesday, May 8, 2013 — DT 27109

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27109
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, February 23, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27109 - Hints]  Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27109 - 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

Introduction

I finished today's puzzle without calling in my electronic assistants — admittedly, in two sittings. This would clearly seem to support crypticsue's frequent admonition to set the puzzle aside and "cogitate" when an apparent impasse is reached.

This having been a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, we find two postings on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — one on the date of publication containing hints for selected clues (as well as the majority of reader comments) and a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest.

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   Go to pieces as rent's increased (5,2)

9a   Outline in which one car is overturned (8)

10a   Grandee adopted defensive stance (2,5)

11a   Cares not about one farther up the tree (8)

12a   Creator of a ramshackle hut finished with gold (6)

Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture. In heraldry, a tincture^[5] is any of the conventional colours (including the metals and stains, and often the furs) used in coats of arms.

13a   Escape outpouring that follows passing of coach perhaps (10)

15a   Old Bob is able to look at something quickly (4)

In the UK, a shilling^[2] (abbreviation s^[2])  was a monetary unit and coin, in use prior to the introduction of decimal currency in 1971, worth one twentieth of a pound or 12 old pence (12d). Bob^[2] is an informal term for a shilling. The word "old" alludes to the fact that the shilling is no longer in circulation since the introduction of decimal currency.

16a   American native whose day always seems the same? (9)

Groundhog Day^[7] is a 1993 American comedy film starring Bill Murray who plays an arrogant and egocentric Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day again and again. After indulging in hedonism and numerous suicide attempts, he begins to re-examine his life and priorities.

21a   Artillerymen's pints carried away (4)

In the UK, the Royal Regiment of Artillery^[7], commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA), is the artillery arm of the British Army.

22a   Nice cat lad gets befuddled -- it's not intended (10)

24a   Count governed in a daze (6)

25a   Told of French beginning to take Scottish isle, suffering complete reverse (8)

In French, de^[8] is a preposition meaning 'of'. Arran^[5] is an island in the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland.

27a   Increase  prison sentence (7)

28a   State of uncertainty caused by southern coppers reportedly holding American (8)

In Britain, pence^[5] is a plural form of penny. Oxford advises that both pence and pennies have existed as plural forms of penny since at least the 16th century. The two forms now tend to be used for different purposes: pence refers to sums of money (five pounds and sixty-nine pence) while pennies refers to the coins themselves (I left two pennies on the table).

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound (and is abbreviated p). In the system formerly used, a penny was equal to one twelfth of a shilling or 240th of a pound (and was abbreviated d, for denarius).

29a   Film expert standing in front of gallery (7)

The Tate Gallery^[5] (commonly known as simply the Tate) is a national museum of art in London, England founded in 1897 by the sugar manufacturer Sir Henry Tate (1819 – 1899) to house his collection of modern British paintings, as a nucleus for a permanent national collection of modern art. It was renamed Tate Britain in 2000, when the new Tate Modern gallery opened.

Down

2d   Reject belief in bird losing weight then adding weight (8)

Is the wren — as Big Dave states — a "British bird". I suppose the answer may be yes — and no.

The wrens^[7] are mostly small, brownish passerine birds in the mainly New World family Troglodytidae. There are approximately 80 species of true wrens in approximately 20 genera. Only the Eurasian Wren occurs in the Old World, where in Anglophone regions it is commonly known simply as the "wren" as it is the originator of the name. The name wren has also been applied to other, unrelated birds, particularly the New Zealand wrens (Acanthisittidae) and the Australian wrens (Maluridae).

3d   In conflict about flogging (8)

4d   Mark's after articles from France and Germany, getting stress (10)

In French, un^[8] is the masculine singular form of the indefinite article [don't be misled by Big Dave's hint], while der^[8] is a form of the German definite article used in various declensions.

5d   Graphic symbol of swindler's confession? (4)

6d   Lay out trendy underwear (6)

"Lay out" in the sense of making a purchase that you hope will generate a return.

In Britain, an undershirt is is known as a vest^[4] (and what North Americans think of as a vest would be called a waistcoat).

7d   One of the family runs into trouble (7)

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation R^[5] indicates run(s).

8d   Bid of £100 raised by end (2-5)

Ton^[5] is British slang for a hundred, in particular a speed of 100 mph, a score of 100 or more, or a sum of £100 ⇒ he scored 102 not out, his third ton of the tour.

The example relates to cricket where batsmen bat in pairs, one at either end of the pitch. The batting side (team) is out when ten of the eleven players have been dismissed as there is no longer enough players to form a pair. The remaining batsman is said to be "not out", although the batting side itself is out.

11d   Cut off a date line when travelling (9)

14d   Second Catholic's disposed to be concerned with education (10)

17d   Incline to fail, interrupting scholarship perhaps (8)

18d   Part of shoe damaged -- it's a blow (8)

19d   Glossy coat to go missing, worn by Romeo (7)

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

20d   Player putting key in a lock (7)

23d   Reread novel that's more treasured (6)

26d   Otherwise gripped by Handel's 'Esther' (4)

Esther^[7] is an oratorio by German-born British Baroque composer George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) and is generally acknowledged to be the first English oratorio. The work was originally composed in about 1718, but was heavily revised into a full oratorio in 1732.

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