Friday, December 13, 2013 — DT 27270

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27270
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, August 30, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27270]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Gazza
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

With two clues remaining unsolved, I reluctantly called for assistance from my electronic aides today. However, I felt much better about my performance when I saw that Gazza had rated the puzzle as four stars for difficulty.

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 & 26a   Play with energy running around in gym (4)

Peer Gynt^[7] is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906).

PT^[5] is the abbreviation [British, according to Oxford Dictionaries Online] for physical training^[5], the systematic use of exercises to promote bodily fitness and strength.

3a   Mum and boy, a quiet little boy socially awkward? (10)

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

9a   Defeat sees king ousted (4)

Rex^[5] (Latin for king, abbreviation R^[5]) denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

10a   Most impressive workshop almost blocking two streets (10)

11a   Where many of you will now be writing, in theory (2,5)

13a   Absurd behaviour of cleaner (a dame, not a maiden) (7)

This clue is a charade — in more ways than one.

Char^[5] is another name for a charwoman^[5], a dated British term for a woman employed as a cleaner in a house or office. 

In cricket, a maiden^[5], also known as a maiden over, (abbreviation M)^[5] is an over in which no runs are scored. An over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

14a   Thinking outside the box may lead to these inside it! (11)

18a   It would be unusual for this spy to be centre stage (6,5)

In his review, Gazza describes this clue as a semi-all-in-one — which implies that the entire clue serves as the definition.

I interpreted the clue a bit differently, taking the definition to be "this spy" — which, in uncustomary fashion, is found in the middle of the clue. Not only is the definition situated in an unusual spot, but the wordplay is structured in an unusual inverted manner, telling us that an anagram (it would be unusual for) of the solution produces (to be) CENTRE STAGE. Of course, if CENTRE STAGE is an anagram of the solution, then the converse is also true.

21a   Further test limited by broken rope (7)

In the UK, MOT^[5] (also MOT test) refers a compulsory annual test for safety and exhaust emissions of motor vehicles of more than a specified age. It is an abbreviation of Ministry of Transport, which introduced the original test.

22a   Listening to explosive, say, wanting noise restricted (7)

HE^[5] is the abbreviation for high explosive.

23a   This writer's sure to make a prediction of personal restriction (3,2,5)

Gazza has called this a double definition, so I'll follow his lead. The second definition is more a literal interpretation of the phrase in the solution than a valid definition.

I'll be bound^[5] is a British expression used to emphasize that one is sure of something ⇒ she’s hatching more little plots, I’ll be bound!.

24a   A bishop gets in the way of union -- it's forbidden (4)

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

TU^[5] is the abbreviation for Trade Union.

25a   Terrible danger, even in ground-floor apartment (6,4)

A garden flat^[5] is a basement or ground floor flat [British term for apartment] which opens on to a garden.

26a   See 1 Across

Down

1d   River to rise -- that same river's trapped creature (8)

The Po^[7] is a river that arises in the Cottian Alps and flows eastward across northern Italy entering the Adriatic Sea through a delta near Venice.

The wordplay would be parsed as PO (river) placed next to (to) RISE (from the clue) into which is inserted (is trapped) PO (that same river). In this clue, the word "to" is used in the same sense as it is in expressions such as "put your shoulder to the wheel" or "have your nose to the grindstone".

2d   Attendants taking time following head of empire joke (8)

In addition to the meaning provided by Gazza, equipage^[10] also has an archaic meaning of a group of attendants or retinue.

4d   Modify piece of furniture in church according to report (5)

5d   Something eaten in lorry -- the man's eating all right! (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].

6d   A fresh start for pupils before they were eleven? (1,5,5)

Here "eleven" is a cross-reference to clue 11a whose solution is ON PAPER. You must replace the cross-reference indicator ("eleven") with the solution to clue 11a to complete the present clue.

As late as the early to mid-1950s, apparently, British school children (at least the younger ones) wrote on slates rather than on paper. Eventually, they would graduate to writing on paper.

Students wrote on slates with either chalk or a slate pencil, the latter tending to make an irritating squeaking sound — similar to fingernails on a blackboard. On Yahoo! Answers, I found an article titled Did you get to learn to write on a slate at school? in which a number of people from Britain describe their childhood use of slates at school. One woman writes:

Yes I do remember learning my numbers on slate at school, I started school in 1950 and we were living in Bristol at the time. I just remember them in the first class in the infants [Note: In Britain, a schoolchild between the ages of about four and eight is known as an infant^[5] ⇒ their first year at infant school] after that it was pencils and pens and inkwells. Goodness me I have not thought about that for years.

I mentioned the slate to my husband and he has just informed me that they were more civilised where he lived (North East of England) and had paper and pencils, no tea for him tonight!

7d   Perhaps Oxford's leading element needs to step up (6)

8d   Responsibilities of the French with strings attached (6)

In grammatical terms, du^[8] is a French determiner^[5] meaning 'some' or 'of the'.

12d   Police tense about period long ago (11)

15d   Marked with sign of approval or shown disapproval? (6,3)

16d   Many rise when trained in educational establishment (8)

17d   Flap during road accident in which animal may have got killed (4,4)

Shunt^[5] is British slang for a motor [vehicle (see note below)] accident, especially a collision of vehicles travelling one close behind the other ⇒ a lorry [truck] shed its load, causing an eight-vehicle shunt.

Note: Motor^[5] is an informal British term for a car ⇒ we drove out in my motor.

19d   Season to be frugal with article unavailable (6)

20d   Seize foreign money after initial 80 per cent devaluation (6)

22d   Husband has upset woman -- could it make her go red? (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