Thursday, July 3, 2014 — DT 27420

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27420
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, February 22, 2014
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27420 - Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27420 - Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (Review)
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
Notes
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

I may have prematurely called in the electronic reserves today. Despite having all the right pieces, I could not manage to correctly assemble the strange structure at 14d. Perhaps with a bit more effort I would have succeeded.

Error in Today's Puzzle

There is an error in clue 17a which should read:

• 17a   A call for help about finest incombustible material (8)

That is, the final part of the clue is "incombustible material" rather than "in combustible material" — which totally changes the type of material one needs in the solution!

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   Harvey’s struggling — he’s lacking change (4)

The illustration used by Big Dave in his hints is taken from Harvey^[7], a 1950 film based on Mary Chase's play of the same name, directed by Henry Koster, and starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull. The story is about a man whose best friend is a pooka^[5] [in Irish mythology, a hobgoblin] named Harvey—in the form of a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch tall invisible rabbit.

3a   Biscuit, Western fare cooked (5)

6a   Select participant in Olympic kayaking (4)

8a   The precise item (8,7)

9a   Leg ring available if required (2,4)

In cricket, the  leg^[5] (also known as the leg side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball ⇒ he played a lucky stroke to leg. The leg side is also known as the on side (also called the on^[5]). Naturally, the other side of the field is known as the off side^[5] (also called the off).

10a   Bedmaker in nursery? (8)

11a   Fill with Courage, popular drink (8)

Courage^[7] is a brand of British beer.

13a   One making cuts, resetting an exam (6)

15a   Large number of stockings with a hole in — 6 perhaps! (6)

Terms such as "a number", "a large number", or "a great many" are often indicators that a Roman numeral is required.

The numeral 6 in the clue is a cross reference indicator directing the solver to insert the solution to clue 6a in its place to complete the clue.

17a   A call for help about finest incombustible material (8)

Note the error in the clue [see Error in Today's Puzzle (above)].

19a   Peacekeeping type, we hear, is not requested (8)

This is a homophone clue that might work in Boston, but few other places in North America. The word "sort", when pronounced in a non-rhotic^[5] British accent ("so't"), sounds like "sought". Non-rhotic accents omit the sound /r/ in certain situations, while rhotic accents generally pronounce /r/ in all contexts.

21a   One doesn’t consciously go into it (6)

22a   Get real land (4,4,2,5)

23a   It’s in taste to allow it to stand (4)

Stet^[5] (as a verb) means let it stand (used as an instruction on a printed proof to indicate that a correction or alteration should be ignored).

24a   Faithful promises to repay, pence first (5)

Pence^[5] is a plural form of penny^[5], a British bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound in Britain's modern decimal currency system. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p^[5].

25a   Must cast out piece of soot (4)

Down

1d   Sid voiced upset: ‘This CD needs watching’ (9)

2d   US force arranged to concentrate on something different (7)

3d   Very obvious court order’s needed over lager being spilt (4,5)

4d   Load of engineers going into action (7)

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

5d   Less common initially, Art and English being interspersed among reading, writing and arithmetic (5)

"Reading, writing, and arithmetic" are commonly known as the "three Rs" (reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic). The letter A is clued by the phrase "initially Art". While one could extend this to say that the letters A and E are clued by the phrase "initially Art and English", this reasoning is not essential as E itself is a well known abbreviation for English.

6d   It could be free or highly valuable — that’s amusing (9)

A triple definition.

7d   Volcanic crater plays a part in topographical derangement (7)

12d   Champion rugby player’s single set of books (9)

In rugby, a prop^[5] (also called prop forward) is a forward at either end of the front row of a scrum.

In Crosswordland, the word "books" — which today is expanded to "set of books" — is often used to clue either the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT).

13d   High-flier that’s unusually below par (9)

In golf, albatross^[5] is another term for a double eagle^[5], a score of three strokes under par at a hole.

14d   Shelter is closed, welcoming in French after November (6,3)

In French, en^[8] is a preposition meaning in.

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

Nissen hut^[5] is a chiefly British name for a hut made of corrugated iron with a concrete floor, similar to a Quonset hut [named after Peter N. Nissen (1871–1930), the British engineer who invented it].

16d   Leaflet from worker on strike (7)

17d   Venetian merchant and soldier held up by ten (7)

Antonio^[7] is the title character in The Merchant of Venice (c. 1596-8), a play written by English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616).

18d   So much French spirit causing uncontrolled outburst (7)

In French, tant^[5] is an adverb meaning so much.

20d   Band take off, covering Queen (5)

Regina^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for queen] denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

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