Tuesday, October 7, 2014 — DT 27490

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27490
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, May 15, 2014
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27490]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Kath
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

The review of today's puzzle at Big Dave's Crossword Blog is written by Kath whom many of you may know better as the alley cat half of the archy and mehitabel blogging duo.

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. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

7a   Tossing caber is about love /for/ exercise (8)

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.

9a   Animals /found in/ Eastern regions (6)

The eland^[5] is either of two species of large spiral-horned African antelope (Tragelaphus derbianus, the giant eland or Tragelaphus oryx, the common eland) which live in open woodland and grassland.

10a   Confused/?/ Looks it, oddly (4)

11a   Keep camera rolling /for/ arbitrator (10)

12a   Criminal one lynched, keeping // isolated (6)

14a   Tense streak carrying undergarment /in/ farce (8)

In grammar, t.^[10] is the abbreviation for tense.

In Britain, a vest^[5] is an undergarment worn on the upper part of the body, typically having no sleeves. The garment that North Americans call a vest is known in the UK as a waistcoat.

15a   Crews /for/ ship around river (6)

In Crosswordland, you will find that a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[10].

The River Taff^[7] is a large river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Little Taff and the Big Taff — before joining to form the Taff and flowing south to Cardiff Bay.

17a   Excise // of French allowed by English (6)

In French, de^[8]is a preposition meaning 'of''.

20a   Escape /is/ hard, caught by toilet support (8)

Had I been a lawyer, rather than an engineer, I might have had an easier time finding the solution.

H^[5] is an abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.
Loo^[5] is an informal British term for a toilet.

22a   Revulsion // from inside somewhat reduced (6)

I debated with myself whether the hidden word indicator is "from inside" or whether it is merely "inside" with "from" acting as a link word between the definition and wordplay.

I concluded that it is the former through the process of substituting the phrase "hidden in" in place of the candidates. "Revulsion hidden in somewhat reduced" certainly sounds more correct than "Revulsion from hidden in somewhat reduced".

23a   Open dress I fancy /showing/ dimple (10)

24a   Truncheon // cracked on someone's head initially (4)

Cosh^[5] is an informal British term for a thick, heavy stick or bar used as a weapon ⇒ the defendants deny having a self-loading pistol and a telescopic cosh.

25a   Raise? He might! (6)

This is a semi-all-in-one clue which is also a double definition of a sort. The entire clue provides one definition in the form of a question and answer. Converted to a statement, it would become "He might raise" — referring to a better in a game of poker, for instance.

The word "raise" as a verb serves as the other definition ⇒ She returned to school to better her chances of landing a good job.

In the case of the former meaning, depending on which dictionary one consults, better is an alternative spelling of bettor or bettor is an alternative spelling of better. However, note that the clue only works if the "better" spelling is used in order to match the spelling of the second definition.

Collins English Dictionary tells us that bettor^[10] is an alternative (especially US) spelling of better.

Chambers 21st Century Dictionary agrees that bettor^[2] is an alternative spelling of better but makes no mention of it being a US term.

Oxford Dictionaries Online, on the other hand, concurs that bettor^[5] is a chiefly US term, but turns things around by stating that this is the principal spelling with better being an alternative spelling.

26a   Beginning of deluge flooding // home (8)

Down

1d   Becoming // so crude, blasted about nothing (8)

2d   Left /and/ right on board vessel (4)

3d   Just // small and intimate (6)

4d   Agree end to struggle /for/ dissident (8)

5d   Command // hand over mature soldiers on time (10)

6d   Turn away, catching start of distasteful // commercial (6)

Advert^[5] is an informal British term for an advertisement. North Americans would shorten it even further to just ad^[5] [a word that would appear to be used also in the UK].

8d   Inadequate // container in dirty place (6)

13d   Anger /of/ former Queen, bit clutching snake (10)

In her explanation, Kath sets out all the elements in the right places but the order in which she does so varies slightly from that shown in the clue. The wordplay is {EX (former) + ER (queen) + ATE (bit)} containing (clutching) ASP (snake).

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

16d   Having problem of toes or otherwise? (8)

In Crosswordland, problems and complaints are often medical in nature.

18d   Time for plainchant? (8)

Plainchant^[5] is another term for plainsong^[5], unaccompanied church music sung in unison in medieval modes and in free rhythm corresponding to the accentuation of the words, which are taken from the liturgy.

In the Christian Church, evensong^[5] is a service of evening prayers, psalms, and canticles, conducted according to a set form, especially that of the Anglican Church.

The clue is a play on EVEN (plain) + SONG (chant).

19d   Stern /and/ bow includes heart of ship (6)

21d   Old boy ogled /and/ observed ... (6)

In Britain, an old boy^[5] (abbreviation OB^[2])  is (1) a former male student of a school or college ⇒an old boy of Banbury County School or (2) a former male member of a sports team or company ⇒the White Hart Lane old boy squared the ball to present an easy chance from 12 yards. It is also a chiefly British affectionate form of address to a boy or man ⇒ ‘Look here, old boy,’ he said.

22d   ... seductive // one with polished exterior (6)

Honied is an alternative spelling of honeyed^[5].

24d   Respiratory disorder // caught early (4)

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c^[5] denotes caught (by).

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