Friday, November 1, 2013 — DT 27238

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27238
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27238]
Big Dave's Review Written By scchua
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 threw in the towel and called out my electronic reinforcements with two clues left to solve. After all, one can only be expected to bash one's head against a brick wall for so long.

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   Not paying attention when former PM returns (6)

Sir Robert Peel^[5] (1788–1850) was a British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1834-5 and 1841-6. As Home Secretary (1828–30) he established the Metropolitan Police (hence the nicknames bobby and peeler). His repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 split the Conservatives and forced his resignation.

5a   Scary wild dog almost trapping relation (8)

A dingo^[5] (Canis dingo) is a wild or half-domesticated dog with a sandy-coloured coat, found in Australia.

9a   Plant may crush them in order to protect name (13)

10a   A bit roughly, I beg your pardon (8)

In the wordplay, some^[5] is used in the sense of approximately ⇒ some thirty different languages are spoken.

11a   Quite  a bit! (6)

Quite^[5] (also quite so) is an exclamation expressing agreement with or understanding of a remark or statement ⇒ ‘I don’t want to talk about that now.’ ‘Quite’.

Rather^[5] is a dated British exclamation used to express emphatic affirmation, agreement, or acceptance ⇒ ‘You are glad to be home, aren’t you?’ ‘Rather!’.

12a   Common sense's beginning for people in party (6)

A Green party^[7] is a formally organised political party based on the principles of Green politics, such as social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, and environmentalism. Green parties exist in nearly 90 countries around the world; many are members of Global Greens, an international network of Green parties and political movements that works to implement the Global Green Charter. In the UK, there are separate Green parties for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales.

14a   Information stored at sea -- bad planning (8)

16a   Source of gold, for example, in person acting for bully (8)

19a   Get retribution in heaven, generally (6)

21a   Road bridge needing something to impart stiffness (6)

23a   Conceited person's to pay a call with bird (8)

25a   Clumsy touches on book, say (13)

26a   Spring in lock offering access unlawfully (8)

27a   Most retiring set out after quiet end to party (6)

Down

2d   Help Straw on the radio (7)

The setter deceptively capitalizes "Straw" — likely in an effort to suggest Jack Straw^[7], a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) who served as a Cabinet Minister in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

In his review, scchua characterizes as whimsical the description of a straw being a sucker ("a straw whimsically named after what you do with it"). However, Collins English Dictionary does define sucker^[4] as a pipe or tube through which a fluid is drawn by suction.

3d   The end of Lady in Lake is a high spot (5)

The clue may well be an allusion to the Lady of the Lake^[7], the titular name of the ruler of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. She plays a pivotal role in many stories, including giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father.

4d   Dislike accommodating son chasing job immediately (9)

5d   Indicated study will need books on Labour leader (7)

In Crosswordland, the word "books" is often used to clue either the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT).

Ed Miliband^[7] is a British Labour Party politician who is currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition.

6d   Guide's American idol out of love (5)

The setter missed an opportunity to capitalize "idol". Then again, perhaps the Brits aren't familiar with this US television programme.

7d   Board accepts one satisfied schedule (9)

Board^[5] is an archaic term for a table set for a meal ⇒ he looked at the banquet which was spread upon his board.

8d   Book on anaesthetics? (7)

Numbers^[5] is the fourth book of the Bible, relating the experiences of the Israelites in the wilderness after Moses led them out of Egypt.

In the second definition, "number" is used in the whimsical cryptic crossword sense of something that numbs.

13d   Leaves for golf in Arab states (9)

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

15d   Beefy sends son to the back for accessories (9)

17d   New car boot sale alas cancelled for this month (7)

In this clue, we find an anagram where some letters first have to be deleted from the fodder. That is, we have an anagram (new) of CAR BOOT SALE after ALAS has been removed (cancelled). Some would argue that the letters should appear the same order in both the fodder and the removal instruction. This criteria is not met in this clue, as the letters to be removed appear in the fodder in the order ASAL.

Boot^[5] is the British term for the trunk^[5] of a car. In Britain, a car boot sale^[5] (or boot sale^[5]) is an outdoor sale at which people sell unwanted possessions, typically from the boots of their cars.

18d   Swindles not working -- covered in tears (3-4)

Here swindle is a noun rather than a verb.

20d   What may help you look good with girls? (7)

22d   Animal from hard currency area (5)

The yen^[5] is the basic monetary unit of Japan ...

24d   Rising desire to throttle editor demanding attention (5)

... sometimes.

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