Thursday, May 8, 2014 — DT 27380

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27380
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27380]
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 █ - 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

In his review, gazza describes this as a "straightforward puzzle". That it is, and — I might add — one with less than the usual ration of Briticisms.

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   Very thin peer given gum (10)

While I never think of it as a verb, gum^[5] means to fasten with gum or glue ⇒ the receipts are gummed into a special book. As that is certainly something that I would never say (or expect to hear said), perhaps this is primarily a British usage.

I got the correct solution, but I thought in terms of a 'stick of (chewing) gum'.

A note on gazza's illustration:

L. S. Lowry^[7] (1887–1976) was an English artist famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th century. He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for urban landscapes peopled with human figures often referred to as "matchstick men". A large collection of Lowry's work is on permanent public display in a purpose-built art gallery on Salford Quays (a part of Greater Manchester), appropriately named the Lowry. Lowry rejected five honours during his life – including a knighthood in 1968 and consequently holds the record for the most rejected British honours.

6a   Married? He’s crazy to become engaged! (4)

10a   Exposed, a king in retreat heading west (5)

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

As a reversal indicator, "heading west" is an instruction to enter the letters into the grid from right to left.

11a   One byword abroad for an extremely talented young man (3,6)

I was slightly surprised to discover that the term boy wonder^[3,5,10,11] actually appears in most of the dictionaries that I consulted.

The term may be best known in the guise of Batman's crime-fighting partner, Robin the Boy Wonder^[5].

12a   County set eating pigeons hotel left out (8)

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

Somerset^[5] is a county of southwestern England, on the Bristol Channel; county town, Taunton.

13a   Stand in calm lake (5)

15a   Fire out of control around North? No, a conflagration (7)

17a   Greek in series causes annoyance (7)

18a   Excited seeing Sterne’s first book (7)

Laurence Sterne^[5] (1713–1768) was an Irish novelist. He is best known for his nine-volume work The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1759–67), which parodied the developing conventions of the novel form.

Genesis^[5] is the first book of the Bible, which includes the stories of the creation of the world, Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel, and the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

21a   Conservative, one departing in a chopper (7)

23a   Flower expert losing face (5)

24a   Scheme to mislead summit (8)

27a   Blind mice, perhaps to her, seem unsettling (9)

28a   Strange invention covered by article (5)

29a   Function of burger bun, it’s said (4)

30a   Technocrat ordered outdoor garment (6,4)

Down

1d   French painter trimmed long hair (4)

Édouard Manet^[5] (1832–1883) was a French painter. He adopted a realist approach which greatly influenced the impressionists, using pure colour to give a direct unsentimental effect. Notable works: Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863), Olympia (1865), and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882).

2d   Make it fly (4,3)

3d   Stall close to Spanish border (5)

4d   Sauce boat cracked when curry initially poured in (7)

A minor slip appears to have crept into gazza's hint. I'm sure he intended to write "... with a synonym for ‘when’ ...".

5d   Hidden tomb, under which one’s cold (7)

7d   Recipient of product sold ensured special delivery (3-4)

8d   Bad luck coming across resistance from uncompromising types (10)

Hard lines^[5] (a variant of hard luck) is an informal British way to express sympathy or commiserations.

In physics, R^[5] is the symbol for electrical resistance.

9d   Adore material supplied by Cavalier poet (8)

Richard Lovelace^[5] (1618–1657) was an English poet. A Royalist, he was imprisoned in 1642, when he probably wrote his famous poem ‘To Althea, from Prison’.

Cavalier^[5] and Royalist^[5] are both names for a supporter of King Charles I against Parliament in the English Civil War. 

14d   Captain supporting call for MC (10)

I have to admit that the significance of "MC" in the surface reading slipped by me — but, as we see from his review, it did not escape gazza.

In the UK and Commonwealth countries, the Military Cross^[5] (abbreviation MC) is a decoration awarded for distinguished active service on land, instituted in 1914 (originally for officers).

16d   Kept back, being shy (8)

19d   Everyday occasion, ultimately, at Russian river (7)

The Ural River^[5] is a river, 1,575 miles (2,534 km) long, that rises at the southern end of the Ural Mountains in western Russia and flows through western Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea at Atyraū.

20d   Help for victim? Sounds like it (7)

21d   Business interest (7)

22d   Taken in by advert, I google film (7)

Vertigo^[5] is a 1958 psychological thriller starring James Stewart and Kim Novak that was produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

25d   Soft, every single fruit (5)

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.

26d   Ring sandpiper (4)

I had never heard of this bird. As for ring, I think the definition is rather loose.

Apparently, ring^[2] is used in the sense of a group of people or things arranged in a circle while knot^[2] is used in the sense of a small gathering or cluster of people, etc. Yes, both words can denote a gathering of people. However, the former specifically applies to a group of people arranged in a circle while the latter describes a group of people who are not arranged in a circle.

The knot^[10] is a small northern sandpiper, Calidris canutus, with a short bill and grey plumage.

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