Tuesday, October 15, 2013 — DT 27225

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27225
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27225]
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 The National Post has skipped DT 27224 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Monday, July 8, 2013. [See commentary "Monday Puzzle AWOL" below].

Introduction

I managed to complete this puzzle without assistance — in large part due to being in a situation where I had lots of time on my hands and no access to my electronic helpers.

Monday Puzzle AWOL

Before setting off for the long weekend, I had posted a link to Big Dave's Crossword Blog for the puzzle which I expected to be published on Monday (or, more precisely, to appear on the Monday Diversions page which I expected to be published in Friday's edition of the National Post). As it turns out, no  Monday's Diversions page would seem to have been included in Friday's paper — nor in any other edition of the paper for that matter. The solution grid published in today's paper is for DT 27224, the puzzle that I expected to appear yesterday. In tomorrow's (Wednesday's) paper, a correction notice appears providing the solution to the puzzle (DT 27223) that appeared in Friday's paper. From these indications, I conclude that a Monday's Diversion page — containing DT 27224 and the solution to DT 27223 — had been prepared (likely for inclusion in Friday's edition of the paper) but which, due to an oversight during production, was omitted from the paper.

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. The underlined portion of the clue is the definition.

Across

1a   Adult swan regularly seen in team (5-2)

"Regularly" indicates a regular sequence of letters. It could be the even letters or it could be the odd letters. On rare occasions, I have even seen it used to denote other regular patterns, such as every third letter. The precise pattern in unspecified leaving the solver to figure out which pattern is needed to satisfy the clue.

5a   Provoke about Queen? Knight might have put his foot in it (7)

R^[5] is the abbreviation for Regina or Rex (Latin for queen or king, respectively).

9a   Assumes soft face is developed with nothing removed (7)

10a   Let out by river next to grass snake (7)

In the UK, grass^[5] is used informally as a noun to mean a police informer and as a verb meaning to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ someone had grassed on the thieves. This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper = copper).

11a   I broadcast concert around end of September? Not right! (9)

12a   Sailor back with one old relationship (5)

13a   Mid-Europeans without an agency for infections? (5)

15a   Endures getting worried about bishop's act of resigning (9)

Right Reverend^[5] (abbreviation RR^[2]) is a title given to a bishop, especially in the Anglican Church ⇒ the Right Reverend David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham.

17a   50 per cent of suspects stopped getting sentence deferred? (9)

19a   Forbidden nocturnal animal goes round and round and round (5)

22a   Fruit drink that's consumed very quietly (5)

Pianissimo (abbreviation pp)^[5] is a direction used in music to mean either (as an adjective) very soft or very quiet or (as an adverb) very softly or very quietly.

23a   Corruption of French intonation (9)

In French, de^[8] is a preposition meaning 'of'.

25a   Perhaps he may be in favour of no United Nations (7)

26a   Fancy picture frames in (7)

27a   One puts clothes on  sideboard (7)

A dresser in the UK is quite a different piece of furniture than what we know as a dresser on this side of the Atlantic. In Britain, a dresser^[5] is a sideboard with shelves above for storing and displaying plates and kitchen utensils, while in North America it is a chest of drawers.

28a   Closest squirrels are in drey (7)

A drey^[5] is the nest of a squirrel, typically in the form of a mass of twigs in a tree.

Down

1d   Cows might be looking round rear of tractor (7)

2d   Cop could make away with lolly maybe, and run (7)

In Britain, lolly^[5] is another term for lollipop.

For the Brits, the term lollipop^[5] encompasses a much wider range of treats than it does here in North America. In addition to those types of confectionery (candy^[5] to North Americans, sweets^[5] to the Brits) that we know as lollipops (or suckers^[5]), the term also includes what the Brits call ice lollies. An ice lolly^[5] is a piece of flavoured ice or ice cream on a stick (the former is known in North America as a popsicle^[5] and the latter would usually be referred to simply as ice cream on a stick)..

In the UK, ice^[5] may refer to an ice cream, ice lolly^[5], or portion of water ice^[5] [a dessert consisting of frozen fruit juice or flavoured water and sugar].

The solution given by Deep Threat in his review is based on the expression make away with^[3] being used in the sense of to kill or destroy. This is a meaning with which I am not familiar — although, the fact that it is found in The American Heritage Dictionary would seem to indicate that the usage is not exclusively British. I am acquainted with the phrase in the sense of to carry off or steal.

I interpreted the clue a bit differently than he did with "could make" being a link between the definition and the wordplay and the wordplay being OFF (away; absent from work) + (with) ICE (lolly, maybe) + (and) R (run).

3d   Some volcanic eruptions getting more warm (5)

4d   Full of spirit (9)

5d   Fish in small trap, wriggling (5)

A sprat^[3,4] is a small marine food fish, Clupea sprattus, of the northeast Atlantic Ocean and North Sea that is eaten fresh or smoked and is often canned in oil as a sardine; also called brisling.

6d   Head off to bury pet smashed by front of car (9)

7d   Brother and sister are scolded about the Spanish (7)

Rate^[5] is an archaic term meaning to scold (someone) angrily ⇒ he rated the young man soundly for his want of respect.

In Spanish, el^[8] is the masculine singular form of the definite article.

8d   Place to eat is awful -- seconds not required, right? (7)

In general, parlour^[5] (usually with a modifier) refers to a shop or business providing specified goods or services ⇒ (i) an ice-cream parlour; (ii) a funeral parlour. Collins English Dictionary characterizes this usage as chiefly US, Canadian, and New Zealand^[4]. In the Caribbean, a parlour^[4] is a small shop, especially one selling cakes and nonalcoholic drinks.

14d   Remains underground? (9)

16d   Row about journalist in decline (9)

17d   Envelope might be posted with ma unfortunately losing ring (7)

18d   Guess attitude after drink (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.

20d   Tiger -- if no blood's bandaged up that could be roaring (7)

21d   Finished tea out of sorts -- scoff too much? (7)

23d   One who gives university fellow worry, oddly departed (5)

At Oxford and Cambridge universities, a fellow^[10] is a member of the governing body of a college who is usually a member of the teaching staff.

A don^[10] is a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.

24d   Drop a stage production (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