Friday, August 22, 2014 — DT 27456

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27456
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, April 5, 2014
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27456 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27456 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) crypticsue (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

For some inexplicable reason, the southwest quadrant proved to be very stubborn. I spent as much time on it as I did on the entire remaining parts of the puzzle.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

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

6a   Company's preferred number one choice? (4,9)

The Grand National^[5] [mentioned by crypticsue in her review] is an annual horse race established in 1839, a steeplechase run over a course of 4 miles 856 yards (about 7,200 metres) with thirty jumps, at Aintree, Liverpool, in late March or early April. This year, the race was held on April 5, the day that this puzzle appeared in The Daily Telegraph. The race may be familiar as the setting for National Velvet^[7], a 1944 film based on the 1935 novel of the same name by British author Enid Bagnold (1889-1981). The film stars Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and a young Elizabeth Taylor.

8a   Estimated the value of grain and paid out (6)

9a   Yearn to go by roads in the lengthiest direction (8)

Longways^[5] (or longwise) is another word for lengthways^[5] (or lengthwise) ⇒ it has been sliced longways to show the internal structure. Collins English Dictionary indicates that longwise^[10] is a US or Canadian usage but does not characterise lengthwise^[10] in a similar fashion. I must say that I do not recall ever having seen the term longwise used — and most certainly not the term longways. I would say and expect to hear lengthwise. As for lengthways, one need look no further than the definition for off side found in the comment for 2d.

I parse the wordplay as LONG (yearn) + (to go by [to go beside]) WAYS (roads).

10a   Prevented clergyman making an appearance (3)

This is a rare case where the definition appears in the middle of the clue. However, cryptically the clue reads as "Prevented, clergyman making an appearance" which is equivalent to saying "Clergyman making an appearance in prevented". So, you see, once one straightens out the convoluted structure of the clue, the definition finds itself at the beginning.

11a   Cores -- get uncle to remove one (6)

As an anagram indicator, remove^[5] is used in the dated sense of to change one’s home or place of residence by moving to (another place) ⇒ he removed to Wales and began afresh.

12a   Sloths, armadillos, etc saying goodbye to paradise? (8)

In zoology, Edentata^[5] is another term for Xenarthra^[5], an order of mammals that comprises the edentates. All should now be perfectly clear!

If not, an edentate^[5] is a mammal of an order distinguished by the lack of incisor and canine teeth, including the anteaters, sloths, and armadillos, all of which are native to Central and South America.

Eden^[5] (also Garden of Eden) is the place where Adam and Eve lived in the biblical account of the Creation, from which they were expelled for disobediently eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The term Eden has come to mean a place or state of great happiness; an unspoilt paradise ⇒ the lost Eden of his childhood.

In Britain, ta-ta^[5] is an informal way to say goodbye ⇒ well, I’ll say ta-ta, love. 

14a   Worry about the thing found in an old mattress (7)

16a   Escape through broken gateway (7)

20a   Sent off, goalie's run to enter women's area! (8)

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

Seraglio^[5] is another name for the women’s apartments (harem) in an Ottoman palace.

23a   Later but not too late (2,4)

24a   After Penny leaves, it's still a patch of ground (3)

The clue indicates that if we were to remove the abbreviation for penny from a word meaning "a patch of ground", we would end up with another word meaning "a patch of ground".

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound (and is abbreviated p).

25a   Sad beautiful girl on the phone one's seen in the woods (8)

The bluebell^[5] is a European woodland plant (Hyacinthoides (or Endymion) nonscripta) of the lily family, which produces clusters of blue bell-shaped flowers in spring. The name has also been applied to various other plants found in North America, Australia and South Africa.

26a   Fluid a palm's spilling (6)

27a   Regularly goes round disreputable group (6,7)

Down

1d   Two allowed personal ornament (8)

My American dictionaries define brace simply as a pair of like things ⇒ three brace of partridges^[3] or a pair or couple ⇒ a brace of grouse^[11] — although you may detect a bit of a theme in the usage examples. Collins English Dictionary emphasizes this point by defining brace as a pair or two, especially of game birds ⇒ a brace of partridges^[10], a definition that is very similar to the one found in Chambers 21st Century Dictionary [a pair or couple, especially of game birds^[2]]. It would appear that the entry in The Chambers Dictionary may expand the definition beyond birds to other types of game [a pair or couple (especially of game shot)^[1]]. There is absolutely no doubt that the definition found at Oxford Dictionaries Online broadens the scope beyond game birds [a pair of something, typically of birds or mammals killed in hunting ⇒ thirty brace of grouse]. [Not only does Oxford expand the scope of the definition, it greatly increases the bag limit.]

2d   Cricket stroke's finished with spin (3,5)

Off^[5] is an informal British term (used with respect to an item on a menu) meaning temporarily unavailable [for example, due to the supply having been exhausted] ⇒ strawberries are off.

In the wordplay, drive^[5] is used in the sense of a trip or journey in a car.

In cricket, an off drive^[5] is a drive^[5] [(in ball games) a forceful stroke made with a free swing of the bat, racket, or foot against the ball] to the off side [of the field]. The off^[5]  (also known as off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The other half of the field is known as either the leg^[5] (also called leg side) or on (also called on side).

3d   Twisted Romeo being ditched developed gradually (7)

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

4d   Fruit's finished before halfway point of 500 years celebration (6)

In her review, crypticsue presents one possibility. She could equally well have written "The first six letters of the fourteen letter QUINCENTENNIAL (celebration of 500 years)".

5d   Fool can upset comedian (6)

6d   Palmist put large amount of money on counter (7-6)

A teller^[5] is a person appointed to count votes, especially in a parliament. Teller as a name for a person employed to deal with customers' transactions in a bank is a chiefly North American usage.

7d   Aswan Dam? One very much older! (8,5)

By implication, the definition is "one very much older [than the Aswan Dam].

Aswan^[5] is a city on the Nile in southern Egypt, 16 km (10 miles) north of Lake Nasser; population 266,000 (est. 2006). Two dams across the Nile have been built nearby. The controlled release of water from Lake Nasser behind the High Dam produces the greater part of Egypt’s electricity.

For the longest time, I overlooked the obvious solution and toyed with other possibilities. For a while, I had EGYPTIAN WOMAN. When 23a nixed that choice, I tried EGYPTIAN MOMMA (doh!). Needless to say, these missteps did nothing to assist in solving 27a.

13d   Diminutive part that's edible (3)

By implication, the definition is "[something] that's edible".

In her review, crypticsue indicates that this is a double definition. However, I see it as a hidden word clue where the wordplay is hidden (part) in dimiNUTive.

15d   Old woman insultingly labelled a bad speller! (3)

... with "a bad speller" being someone who casts evil (bad) spells.

17d   Mad exploit overshadowing learner's study of voting trends (4,4)

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.

18d   Beast devastating tent area (8)

The edentate missing from the clue for 12a finally shows up.

19d   Picture made by university amateur going in for initial energy (7)

21d   Take retribution for engineer briefly blocking street (6)

22d   Hear someone conducting German songs (6)

A lied^[5] (plural lieder) is a type of German song, especially of the Romantic period, typically for solo voice with piano accompaniment.

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