Monday, July 1, 2013 — DT 27147

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27147
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27147]
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
Notes This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, June 29, 2013 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

After a month-long break from solving and blogging, I'm starting to get back into the old routine — but finding myself lagging a bit behind.

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   Type of egg  dish (6)

Scotch egg^[5] is a British dish consisting of a hard-boiled egg enclosed in sausage meat, rolled in breadcrumbs, and fried.

In British English, dish^[10] is an informal term meaning to ruin or spoil ⇒ he dished his chances of getting the job.

In the cryptic reading, scotch^[10] is used in the sense of to put an end to or crush ⇒ bad weather scotched our plans.

4a   Hypocritical couple dealt with (3-5)

The wordplay is TWO (couple) + FACED (dealt with).

10a   Pole received by more mature artist (3,6)

11a   Haggard, relative after touch of gout (5)

12a   Players must hold an ace in this game (7)

13a   Base of British Legion abroad (7)

Here part of the anagram fodder is an abbreviation for a word found in the clue. This situation also arose in a recent Sunday Times puzzle carried in the Ottawa Citizen.

14a   Volley from Sarah, playing against Oscar (5)

Sally (and hence Sal) is a nickname for Sarah^[7]. Oscar^[5] is a code word representing the letter O, used in radio communication.

15a   Tree got damaged after onset of great ball of fire (2-6)

18a   Drink in Cheers, embracing single girl (3,5)

In the surface reading, Cheers^[7] may possibly be a reference to the Boston bar featured in the long-running American sitcom of that name.

In the cryptic reading, however, cheers^[5] is a chiefly British exclamation expressing gratitude or acknowledgement for something ⇒ Billy tossed him the key. ‘Cheers, pal.’ This versatile exclamation can also be used to (1) express good wishes before drinking  ⇒ ‘Cheers,’ she said, raising her glass or (2) good wishes on parting or ending a conversation  ⇒ ‘Cheers, Jack, see you later.’.

Ta^[5] is an informal British exclamation signifying thank you ⇒‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully.

20a   Small island about to disappear (5)

Minorca^[5] is the most easterly and second-largest of the Balearic Islands, a group of Mediterranean islands off the east coast of Spain, forming an autonomous region of that country.

23a   Agree to collect travel document in a port on the Danube (4,3)

Novi Sad^[5] is an industrial city in Serbia, on the River Danube, capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina.

25a   At home, admirer cheers Spanish princess (7)

Four the second time in four clues, the setter offers thanks.

26a   Ill-tempered woman ignoring a sign (5)

27a   White stone in altar base cracked (9)

28a   Admirable place in Scotland, reportedly (8)

Stirling^[5] is a city and administrative region in central Scotland, on the River Forth.

29a   Peashooter, say, with no pea? Useless (6)

Down

1d   Cabinet needs to prove argument ... (8)

I initially had BOOKCASE, although I was at a loss to fit it to the wordplay. This incorrect answer also stymied my efforts at 1a.

2d   ... having spoken about row first, maybe (7)

3d   Where one may be taught style, given opportunity (9)

5d   Argument upset supremo with excellent business funds? (7,7)

6d   Character from 'Oliver!' with cigarette -- that's cool? (5)

Fagin^[7] is a fictional character who appears as an antagonist of the novel Oliver Twist which was penned by English writer Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870).

7d   Break up street fight after start of carnival (7)

8d   Diane on the river in a state of indecision (6)

9d   In a state of open hostility? War gets grandad upset (2,7,5)

16d   Meet a firm struggling in period allocated? (9)

17d   Ordeal on last test drive (5,3)

19d   Opposite of how poetry may be written (7)

21d   Below southern half of Cannon Street, work round the clock (3-4)

Cannon Street^[7] is a road in the south of the City of London.

In music, an opus^[5] (abbreviation  Op. or op.^[5]) is a separate composition or set of compositions. In general, an opus is an artistic work, especially one on a large scale ⇒ he was writing an opus on Mexico.

22d   Cards produced by Kay Evans after a shuffle (6)

Although Kay Evans is likely a fictional denizen of Crosswordland, that does happen to be the name of a member of the 1960s American pop music girl group The Goodees^[7].

24d   Look gloomy and threatening, boat having left (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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon