Tuesday, June 10, 2014 — DT 27403

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27403
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, February 3, 2014
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27403]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

Rufus offers up a fairly gentle puzzle today, although I did need to do a bit of research on the British chaperone.

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   He contributes to the liquid assets of a bank (5,5)

9a   Country copper with a degree (4)

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

10a   Comedians' outing -- that's usually good for a laugh (5,5)

Desperate Dan^[7] [mentioned by Miffypops in his review] is a wild west character in the British comic The Dandy. He first appeared in its first issue, dated 4 December 1937. He is reputed to be the world's strongest man, able to lift a cow with one hand. Even his beard is so tough he has to shave with a blowtorch. Among his favourite foods is "cow pie" — which apparently is a whole cow baked in a pie, and not a "meadow muffin".

11a   The long version lacks nothing in measurement (6)

12a   A pound's given in exchange rate here in Canada (7)

... with a pound being a unit of weight rather than the more commonly encountered British currency.

15a   It makes a dramatic setting for action (7)

16a   Tea breaks about six -- good show! (5)

Evita^[7] is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It concentrates on the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and eventual death.

17a   A monster spiller of gore (4)

18a   Victor, say, to embrace with love (4)

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

Victor Hugo^[5] (1802–1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist. A leading figure of French romanticism, he brought a new freedom to French poetry, and his belief that theatre should express both the grotesque and the sublime in human existence overturned existing conventions. His political and social concern is shown in his novels. Notable works: Hernani (drama, 1830) and Les Misérables (novel, 1862).

19a   They fix the markets for jewellery (5)

21a   Returned and surrendered (7)

22a   It puts us in the shade, naturally (7)

24a   It's inadvisable to get us confused with wine (6)

27a   Third party? (10)

In Britain, gooseberry^[5] is a name for a third person in the company of two people, especially lovers, who would prefer to be alone ⇒ they didn’t want me playing gooseberry on their first date. The term comes from gooseberry-picker, referring to an activity used as a pretext for the lovers to be together.

28a   He abandons the art for making a sweet (4)

Sweet^[5] is the British term for (1) a piece of candy^[5] ⇒ a bag of sweets or (2) a sweet dish forming a course of a meal; in other words, a pudding or dessert.

29a   Decided to have property and stay in it (6,4)

Down

2d   Expression used to attract attention (4)

The clue published in the National Post differs ever so subtly from what appeared in Britain:

• 2d   Expression that's used to attract attention (4)

However, the omission of one word ("that's") would seem to be enough to change the clue from a double definition (as it was in Britain) into a cryptic definition (as I see the Canadian version).

3d   Mince pie to include a drug (6)

4d   Undeterred by sandbank in river (7)

The definition is "undeterred by" and not merely "undeterred" (as shown in Miffypops review).

5d   Annoy an informer (4)

Nark^[5] is British slang meaning to cause annoyance to ⇒ women like her nark me.

Nark^[5] is an British slang for a police informer ⇒ I’m not a copper’s nark.

6d   Copy original recipe, cooking plaice (7)

7d   With which one takes the plunge, but bounces back (6,4)

8d   Tearful student Mary chose to have special treatment (10)

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.

12d   Suffering with relatives? Write to these for advice (5,5)

In the UK, an agony aunt^[5] (or agony uncle) is a person who answers letters in an agony column^[5] — a column in a newspaper or magazine offering advice on personal problems to readers who write in.

13d   Sharply worded cable warning to keep out (6,4)

14d   Stay clear when hungry prima donna turns up (5)

Hungry meaning 'nothing in the belly (middle)". Therefore, one must insert the letter O (which looks like the numeral 0) into the middle of a word meaning "prima donna".

15d   A good man to get on in the theatrical profession (5)

19d   Pulls out Greene's novel (7)

Graham Greene^[5] (1904–1991) was an English novelist. The moral paradoxes he saw in his Roman Catholic faith underlie much of his work. Notable works: Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940), and The Third Man (written as a screenplay, and filmed in 1949; novel 1950).

20d   Peak calls turned out to be about Further Education (7)

Further education^[5] (abbreviation FE^[5]) is a British term for education below degree level for people above school age : more school-leavers expect to go on to further education.

Scafell Pike^[5] is a mountain in the Lake District of northwestern England, in Cumbria. Rising to a height of 978 m (3,210 ft), it is the highest peak in England.

23d   It's in action, certainly (6)

25d   Infantry base (4)

26d   Team celebrated victory (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