Tuesday, November 19, 2013 — DT 27250

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27250
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27250]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog 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

In my case, the puzzle proved to be slightly more difficult than the 1.5 stars awarded by scchua. Although, it surely would have helped immensely had I remembered the British name for bingo.

Unfortunately I have fallen behind in my blogging activities as I continue to be plagued by a succession of computer woes, making it extremely difficult to get my posts completed in a timely manner.

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   The result of engaging comedians? (6,2,4)

9a   Frank to reveal son all right in prison (9)

Despite being a North American term, 'pen' must be reasonably well-known to the the Brits. As scchua mentions in his review, penitentiary^[5] and its short form, pen^[5], are North American terms for a prison for people convicted of serious crimes.

10a   House needs work on wine store (5)

In Britain, house^[5] is old-fashioned term for bingo.

The British version of bingo^[7] bears very little resemblance to the North American game of the same name (or one might say that they are about as similar as cricket and baseball). The British game (formerly called housey-housey) and the North American version both involve matching numbers drawn at random to those on tickets (Britain) or cards (North America). However, the format of British tickets is totally different from that of North American cards — and, consequently, so are the winning combinations. In Britain, it is common for winners to yell "House!" (rather than "Bingo!") when a winning combination is attained.

In Britain, a bin^[4,5] is a partitioned stand for storing bottles of wine.

11a   Offender's secret on right of access (6)

12a   Highly-developed sub used without purpose (8)

In Britain, a sub^[5] is an advance or loan against expected income ⇒ ‘I’ve got no money.’ ‘Want a sub?’

The wordplay is ADVANCE (sub) + D {USED (from the clue) minus (without) USE (purpose)}.

13a   Millions invested in thin-sounding cure (6)

15a   Hang around branch, gathering in great numbers (8)

18a   He trades off support for the crown (8)

19a   Settled engineers in old environment (6)

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the Sappers, is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

21a   A call for help, boxing top material considered hazardous (8)

23a   Left one wearing short dress to have fun and games (6)

26a   Find the answer and clear missing sailor (5)

In the Royal Navy, able seaman (abbreviation AB)^[5], is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

27a   Starter's terrible irritation, missing beginning of race (9)

28a   Limited accommodation for replacement stablehand? (8,4)

Down

1d   Surfer in river run over by tanker (7)

Bowser^[4,5] (seemingly a British term) is a tanker [truck] used for fuelling aircraft and other vehicles or for supplying water. Oxford Dictionaries Online describes the term as a trademark. Collins English Dictionary elaborates further on this description, telling us that the word was originally a US proprietary name, from S. F. Bowser, a US inventor, who made the first one in 1885.

The term bowser^[7] is used by water companies in the United Kingdom to refer to mobile water tanks deployed to distribute fresh water in emergency situations where the normal system of piped distribution has broken down or is insufficient. The term rose to prominence in general usage in England in July 2007 when severe flooding in the valley of the River Severn caused interruption of the piped-water supply to a large area of Gloucestershire.

Bowser can also be used to describe a fuel tanker used to deliver fuel to aircraft at airports or airfields. The term is also used to describe refuelling boats used to supply seaplanes.

In Australia and New Zealand, bowser^[4,5] is an obsolete term for a a petrol [gasoline] pump at a filling station.

2d   Giant metal container holding tar, mostly (5)

In Greek mythology, the Titans^[5] are the older gods who preceded the Olympians and were the children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). Led by Cronus, they overthrew Uranus; Cronus' son, Zeus, then rebelled against his father and eventually defeated the Titans. The term titan today means a person or thing of very great strength, intellect, or importance ⇒ a titan of American industry.

3d   I see what you mean! (3-6)

4d   Duck when crossing east of cork trees (4)

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.

5d   Opportunity to employ daughter with new slowing of output (4-4)

6d   Bone up a little, covering Italy (5)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Italy is I^[5].

7d   One local, full of cold, is doing nothing (8)

If I had been able to get the solution for 10a (which was likely a snap for British solvers), then the solution to this clue would have likely fallen into place quite nicely.

8d   Food for sexy setter? (3,3)

14d   Food for team changing before dance (8)

16d   Concerned with soldiers providing protection for the audience (9)

The Royal Engineers make a second appearance (see comment for 19a).

17d   Cameron, for example, once admitting second language (8)

David Cameron^[7], Prime Minister of the UK, attended Eton College — in other words, he is an  Etonian^[5], a past or present member of Eton College.

Eton College^[7], often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent [private] school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor". It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, and is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868. [Note: In Britain, "public schools" are a special class of private school; what North Americans would call public schools seem to be referred to in Britain by terms such as state-run or state-funded schools].

18d   Frost on case of satire gets gruff (6)

The surface reading of the clue may well be an allusion to Sir David Frost^[7] (1939–2013), an English journalist, comedian, writer, media personality and television host. Frost rose to prominence in the UK when he was chosen to host the satirical programme That Was the Week That Was in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on US television. He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them The Nixon Interviews with former United States President Richard Nixon in 1977, which were adapted into a stage play and film.

20d   Proper behaviour of French company -- odd! (7)

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

Rum^[5] is dated British slang meaning odd or peculiar ? it’s a rum business, certainly. 

22d   Result of effort getting constituency to adopt women? (5)

In Britain [and, as well, in Canada], a seat^[5] is a parliamentary constituency ⇒ a safe Labour seat in the North-East.

I would say that scchua's comment that the solution to the clue "has nothing to do with politics" betrays a lack of familiarity with the current Canadian political situation. It seems to me that quite a few Canadian politicians have been producing copious amounts of this substance recently.

24d   Line on German chap's game (5)

Otto is a stereotypical German name. In Crosswordland, I have observed that German men are almost invariably named either Otto or Hans.

25d   Revealing feminine apparel? (4)

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