Monday,May 5, 2014 — DT 27377

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27377
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, January 3, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27377]
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 parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

I found this puzzle to be fairly difficult and I needed to exercise a good deal of perseverance to reduce it to two unsolved clues, at which point I issued a call to my electronic helpers. European soccer players are far from being my strong suit, so it is not surprising that I needed help with that clue. The other clue is one that I probably should have got. My downfall was in thinking that I had to reverse the wrong part of the clue. Giovanni is noted for throwing in an obscure word or two. Today, he has used them very liberally. Fortunately, I was able to work most of them out from the wordplay even though they were new to me.

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.

Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (& lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions.

Across

1a   Cheating types can crush a gal’s spirit (11)

10a   Rubbish with nasty smell all right for burying (5)

In British and Irish slang, hum^[10] (as a noun) denotes an unpleasant odour and (as a verb) means to smell unpleasant.

11a   Robber can be cruel, horrible, stealing pounds (9)

The pound^[5] (also pound sterling) is the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence. While the symbol for pound is £, it is often written as L^[10].

12a   Dawn’s sort of drink? Quite the opposite (9)

Sundowner^[5] is an informal British term for an alcoholic drink taken at sunset.

13a   Sarah is back as Paul’s companion (5)

Sal^[7] is a diminutive for Sally^[7] — which, in turn, is a diminutive for Sarah.

St Paul^[5] (died circa 64) was a missionary of Jewish descent; known as Paul the Apostle, or Saul of Tarsus, or the Apostle of the Gentiles. He first opposed the followers of Jesus, assisting at the martyrdom of St Stephen. On a mission to Damascus he was converted to Christianity after a vision and became one of the first major Christian missionaries and theologians. His epistles form part of the New Testament.

Silas^[5] or Silvanus (1st century AD) was a leading member of the Early Christian community, who later accompanied Paul on parts of his first and second missionary journeys.

14a   Provide new kit for returning criminal (6)

In this clue, kit^[5] is used in the more general sense of a set of articles or equipment needed for a specific purpose rather than in the specific British sense — which we have recently seen — of clothing used for an activity such as a sport [i.e., uniform]. However, in his review, Deep Threat uses "kit" in a somewhat similar vein to the latter meaning.

16a   Like goods sent back to base to be mended? (8)

18a   Support a terrible fellow audibly in card game (8)

Baccarat^[5] is a gambling card game in which players hold two- or three-card hands, the winning hand being that giving the highest remainder when its face value is divided by ten. In his review, Deep Threat alludes to the fact that the letter "T" is silent — thereby essentially negating the validity of this homophone clue.

20a   Something botanical seen in track in Home Counties (6)

A spathe^[5] is a large sheathing bract enclosing the flower cluster of certain plants, especially the spadix of arums and palms.

The Home Counties^[5] are the counties surrounding London in southeast (SE) England, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire.

23a   Worked with head covered (it could get greasy) (5)

With the "head [letter] covered", it would not be visible.

24a   Eats baker prepared — for times like these? (3,6)

In North America, we customarily take coffee breaks while Brits prefer tea breaks.

26a   Cafe in Paris is a pit — it I avoided! (9)

In French, est^[8] is the third person singular of the present indicative of the verb être (to be).

An estaminet^[5] is a small cafe selling alcoholic drinks.

27a   Object when strange editor goes the wrong way (5)

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

28a   Old people struggling along with boys receiving a kiss (5-6)

The Anglo-Saxons^[5] were Germanic inhabitants of England between the 5th century and the Norman Conquest.

Down

2d   Compare man making revolution with king captured (5)

K^[5] is an abbreviation for king that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

3d   Maybe bridge crosses land that’s wet and yellow (7)

Bridge^[10] is a card game for four players, based on whist, in which one hand (the dummy) is exposed and the trump suit decided by bidding between the players.

Gamboge^[5] is a gum resin produced by various East Asian trees (in particular Garcinia xanthochymus), used as a yellow pigment and in medicine as a purgative.

4d   English saint unknown in an American capital (6)

St Alban^[5] (3rd century) was the first British Christian martyr, a native of Verulamium (now St Albans). He was put to death for sheltering a fugitive priest.

In mathematics (algebra, in particular), an unknown^[10] is a variable, or the quantity it represents, the value of which is to be discovered by solving an equation ⇒ 3y = 4x + 5 is an equation in two unknowns. [Unknowns are typically represented symbolically by the letters x, y and z.]

Albany^[5] is the state capital of New York, on the Hudson River; population 93,539 (est. 2008).

5d   Suffered inside having taken acidic milk, we hear (8)

6d   Travel in opposite directions — feature outwardly noticeable (7)

7d   Exposer of bad things — one telling us the game’s over? (7-6)

8d   The Spanish red wine being handed around — coming from this? (8)

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

Claret^[5] is a red wine from Bordeaux, or wine of a similar character made elsewhere:

Historically, a cellaret^[5] (US also cellarette) was a cabinet or sideboard for keeping alcoholic drinks and glasses in a dining room.

9d   Women wearing the trousers may not be seen as such! (5-8)

15d   Seaman departed having grabbed copper for kiss (8)

Ordinary seaman (abbreviation OS)^[5] is the lowest rank of sailor in the Royal Navy, below able seaman.

The symbol for the chemical element copper is Cu^[5] (from Latin cuprum).

17d   French former footballer on a lake in Swiss region (8)

Eric Cantona^[7] is a French actor and former international footballer [soccer player] for the French national team. He played for several French football clubs as well as Leeds United before ending his professional footballing career at Manchester United.

A canton^[5] is a state of the Swiss Confederation.

19d   What can be awfully bad on old fellows? (7)

21d   Soldier cuts short in broadcast? It doesn’t seem to make sense (7)

Para^[4,11] (short for paratrooper) is a soldier in an airborne unit.

22d   Hypocritical language very big in some poetical pieces (6)

The sizes of clothing that North Americans would describe as plus-size^[7] (or often big and tall in the case of men's clothing) would be called outsize (OS^[5]) in Britain.

A canto^[5] is one of the sections into which certain long poems are divided ⇒ Dante 's Divine Comedy has 100 cantos.

25d   Commercial promotion by head of marketing in business organisation (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