Friday, January 17, 2014 — DT 27297

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27297
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27297]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog 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 █ - solved but without fully understanding the wordplay or definition █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

Fortunately, today's puzzle was not too difficult — thus giving me a bit of a chance to catch up on my blogging.

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

7a   Bound to interrupt outburst in shabby public building (7)

Fleapit^[3,4,11] is chiefly British slang for a shabby cinema or theatre.

8a   Not a regulated port in part of Canada (7)

Ironically, this was one of my last ones in.

Rio de Janeiro^[5] (commonly known as Rio) is a city in eastern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast; population 6,093,472 (2007). The chief port of Brazil, it was the country’s capital from 1763 until 1960, when it was replaced by Brasilia.

10a   Admirer in a suit sent misguidedly around hospital (10)

11a   Bout of indulgence in soldiers generally discontented (4)

In the British armed forces, the term other ranks^[5] (abbreviation OR^[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

According to cryptic crossword convention, discontented is deemed to mean having the contents removed (by analogy to words such as disemboweled).

12a   Hear of hunting event and dance offering food (8)

In the sport of hunting, meet^[4] refers to the assembly of hounds, huntsmen, etc, prior to a hunt.

14a   Shackleton, perhaps, foremost of explorers with others around the North (6)

This polar explorer actually explored the Antarctic, rather than the Arctic.

Sir Ernest Shackleton^[5] (1874–1922) was a British explorer. During one of his Antarctic expeditions (1914–16), Shackleton’s ship Endurance was crushed in the ice. Shackleton and his crew eventually reached an island, from where he and five others set out in an open boat on a 1,300-km (800-mile) voyage to South Georgia [an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean, east of the southern tip of South America] to get help.

15a   One may be gripped by magazine before school getting fast transport (6,5)

A bullet train^[5] is a Japanese high-speed passenger train.

19a   Long to be accepted by street pack (6)

20a   Fellow made to be unruly restrained by a military chief (8)

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.

22a   Family left in lavatory (4)

23a   Deviation in a boat at sea boarded by English bishop (10)

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.

25a   Occupation found in largely modest clubs, say (7)

26a   After crashing, note rule inexperienced driver ignored on the way (2,5)

The letter L often gets clued by terms such as "learner" or "student, but today's setter has chosen to use "inexperienced driver".

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

Down

1d   Man from Malta, say, not one for defamatory talk (7)

2d   Break  feature in car (4)

Proving that there is often more than one way to skin a cat, my interpretation of "break" differed from that of Deep Threat. I saw break^[5] in the sense of a rush or dash in a particular direction, especially by an attacking player or team ⇒ Norwich scored on a rare break with 11 minutes left.

3d   It could be taken during easiest afternoon? (6)

4d   Fool reported above river -- a jumper? (8)

In the UK, nit^[5] is an informal term for a foolish person ⇒ you stupid nit!.

The River Wear^[7] in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At 60 mi (97 km) long, it is one of the region's longest rivers.

In Britain, a jumper^[5] is a knitted garment typically with long sleeves, worn over the upper body [in North American parlance, a sweater]. What we call a jumper, the Brits would call a pinafore^[5] (a collarless sleeveless dress worn over a blouse or [British] jumper [i.e., North American sweater]). Thus if a British lass wore a pinafore over her jumper and a North American gal wore a jumper over her sweater, they would be dressed identically.

5d   Dressing and fashion an aim, yes? No (10)

6d   Loathing wind after endless food (7)

9d   Cross here for those returning? (6,5)

Return^[5] (said of an electorate) means to elect (a person or party) to office ⇒ the city of Glasgow returned eleven Labour MPs.

Ballot paper^[5] is the British name for a slip of paper used to register a vote. The term does not sound familiar to me; I think ballot sheet sounds more familiar. However, the Elections Canada website does use the term ballot paper.

13d   Excessive sensitivity and pained expression at home harboured by tragic girl (10)

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles^[7] or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic. Though now considered an important work of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardy's day.

16d   Seducer in group beginning to host a major share of debauchery (8)

A Lothario^[5] is a man who behaves selfishly and irresponsibly in his sexual relationships with women ⇒ they are seduced by a handsome Lothario who gains control of their financial affairs.

17d   Dangerous road plus ground with day receding (7)

18d   Cheese is firm and dry in appearance on reflection (7)

Ricotta^[5] is a soft white unsalted Italian cheese.

21d   Out-and-out nationalist ultimately supporting Scottish isle (6)

Arran^[5] is an island in the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland.

24d   Movement typical, perhaps, of grey  communist (4)

A Trot^[5] is a Trotskyist or supporter of extreme left-wing views ⇒ (i) a band of subversive Trots; (ii) he declared that the Corporation was a ‘nest of long-haired Trots.

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