Tuesday, September 3, 2013 — DT 27195

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27195
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27195]
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

You might say that I ran into a bit of trouble in the southeast corner today — or maybe I just ran out of patience. While there is a fair dose of Briticisms in today's puzzle, they did not set me back too much as I have encountered many of them in the past.

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   Subtlety about beautiful chess pieces brought by tournament's leader (10)

Re^[5] meaning about or concerning comes from Latin, being the ablative case of res 'thing'.

6a   Fancy wife going with that man (4)

10a   Clear  chamber (5)

11a   On high church in a London suburb (9)

Minster^[5] is a British term for a large or important church, typically one of cathedral status in the north of England that was built as part of a monastery ⇒ York Minster.

Upminster^[7] is a suburban town in east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located 16.5 miles (26.6 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross [considered to mark the centre of London].

12a   Vague details about duck put in quarantine (8)

Hopefully, you remembered duck from yesterday's puzzle. In cricket, a duck^[5] is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] ⇒ he was out for a duck. This is similar to the North American expression goose egg^[5] meaning a zero score in a game.. In British puzzles, duck is used to indicate the letter "O" based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter.

13a   Horrify a friend parking in the centre (5)

15a   Member leading group of players? This may confirm it (7)

The team captain^[7] of an association football [soccer] team is usually identified by the wearing of an armband.

17a   Monster -- little child, Marie, being naughty (7)

In Greek mythology, the chimera^[5] is a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.

19a   Dubious sort with alcoholic drink on platform (7)

21a   Divine decoration for cakes, trimmed (7)

Angelica^[5] is a tall aromatic plant of the parsley family, with large leaves and yellowish-green flowers. It is used in cooking and herbal medicine. Its candied stalks are used in confectionery and cake decoration.

22a   Sign right in the middle of Galician port (5)

Vigo^[5] is a port on the Atlantic in Galicia, NW Spain.

24a   Old coin, out-of-the-way object (8)

The farthing^[5], a former monetary unit and coin of the UK, withdrawn in 1961, was equal to a quarter of an old penny.

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).

27a   On back of lorry, the man's holding fine vegetable (9)

Lorry^[5] is the common British name for a truck. Artic^[5] is an informal British term for an articulated lorry [a semi-trailer^[5] to North Americans].

28a   Leading European state (5)

29a   Clergyman must get rid of cold soon (4)

In the Church of England, a canon^[5] is a member of the clergy who is on the staff of a cathedral, especially one who is a member of the chapter ⇒ he was appointed canon of Christ Church, Oxford.

30a   Fierce eagles crossing small desert (10)

Erne^[5] is a literary name for the sea eagle^[5], a large Eurasian fish-eating eagle that frequents coasts and wetlands.

Down

1d   Enthusiastically praise  party (4)

2d   More of us playing, around South, this form of golf (9)

Foursome^[5] is a golf match between two pairs of players, with partners playing the same ball [playing alternate strokes] ⇒ Wales led 3-2 after the morning foursomes.

3d   Native from Botswana talking (5)

Natal^[5] is not referring to the former province of South Africa. Rather, natal^[5] is an adjective meaning relating to the place or time of one’s birth ⇒ he was living in the south, many miles from his natal city.

4d   Climbed hill around outskirts of Trowbridge (7)

Trowbridge^[7] is the county town of Wiltshire, England, situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, approximately 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Bath, Somerset.

5d   Monica worried about daughter travelling (7)

7d   Excited, male sheep used for breeding (3,2)

Tup^[5] is a chiefly British term for a ram ⇒ tups were set free among the ewes for mating.

8d   London landmark, indistinct during parade (6,4)

Blear^[5] is an archaic adjective meaning dim, dull, or filmy ⇒ a medicine to lay to sore and blear eyes.

Marble Arch^[5] is a large arch with three gateways at the NE corner of Hyde Park in London. Designed by John Nash, it was erected in 1827 in front of Buckingham Palace and moved in 1851 to its present site.

9d   Participating, and winning (8)

14d   Artist in Baltic country volunteers for operatic work (2,8)

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[5]) is a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency. 

16d   Tune for church service (3,5)

The Church of England (CE)^[10] is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

18d   A rose, say, worker planted in row (9)

Eglantine^[5] is another term for sweet briar^[5], a Eurasian wild rose (Rosa rubiginosa) with fragrant leaves and flowers..

20d   As if I'm bothered about old criminals (7)

21d   Simple-minded person needing help to catch flightless bird (7)

23d   Old-style resort, resort without sun (5)

25d   Pigeon in front of railing (5)

26d   Inferior, the French steamship (4)

Le^[8] is the masculine singular form of the French definite article.

We are often left to infer that a steamship is involved. However, today's setter leaves no doubt as to what type of ship is expected.

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