Wednesday, October 29, 2014 — DT 27508

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27508
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, June 5, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27508]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Falcon
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

Today, I very quickly recognized this as a puzzle that I had seen before. However, I was very nearly forced to look at my own hint for 8d. Fortunately, the penny dropped just as I was about to throw in the towel. I have a vague recollection that I got the solution to this clue in June without much difficulty due to having seen a very similar clue only a few days previous in another 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. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   Drink's needed by worker -- // an aid to office work? (9)

In Britain, a short^[5] is a drink of spirits served in a small measure^[5] [a container of standard capacity used for taking fixed amounts of a substance] or, as Collins English Dictionary puts it, a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer^[10].

6a   Inform on // German author (5)

In the UK, grass^[5] is used informally as a noun to mean a police informer and as a verb meaning to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ someone had grassed on the thieves. This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper = copper).

Günter Grass^[5] is a German novelist, poet, and dramatist. Notable works: The Tin Drum (novel, 1959) and The Flounder (novel, 1977). He was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize for Literature.

9a   A number heard before crashing? (7)

10a   English doctor entering quiet medical area -- // one that's deceptive? (3-6)

Emergency room^[5] (abbreviation ER^[5]) is a North American term. The equivalent British term would be either accident and emergency^[5] (abbreviation A & E) or casualty department^[5] (or casualty ward).

Oxford Dictionaries Online characterises GP^[5] (abbreviation for general practitioner) as a British usage. Nevertheless, I would say that this abbreviation is certainly in widespread use in Canada.

11a   Unusual gripe in the morning? /That's/ saying (7)

12a   Comfort /given by/ vicar entertaining priest with little energy (7)

A rector^[5] and a vicar^[5] are both members of the clergy. In the the Church of England, a rector is an incumbent of a parish where all tithes formerly passed to the incumbent, whereas a vicar is an incumbent of a parish where tithes formerly passed to a chapter or religious house or layman.

 In the Bible, Eli^[5] is a priest who acted as a teacher to the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1-3).

13a   Event requiring national crosses? (7,8)

17a   Trendy // resort from which bachelor's ejected (5-2)

Brighton^[5] is a resort on the south coast of England, in East Sussex; population 127,700 (est. 2009).

Right-on^[3] means up-to-date and sophisticated. Although I had supposed that it might be a British expression, I was surprised to find it listed in The American Heritage Dictionary. Oxford Dictionaries Online defines right-on^[5] as an informal, often derogatory term meaning in keeping with fashionable liberal or left-wing opinions and values ⇒ the right-on music press. Collins English Dictionary says that right-on is an informal term denoting modern, trendy, and socially aware or relevant ⇒ (i) The people that come to watch the play are all those right-on left-wing sort of people.; (ii) right-on green politics; (iii) the young, right-on student crowd.

19a   Severe // military bigwig detaining an American close to unit (7)

22a   Below par flavour /observed in/ less popular period (9)

23a   Judge and retiring society girl getting day /in/ growing area? (7)

The word "retiring" was omitted from the clue when it first appeared in the UK. The version of the puzzle on The Daily Telegraph website did get corrected at some point during the day of publication (see the comment that Big Dave inserted into my review at his website).

From my experience, the life cycle of a puzzle is as follows:

1. The setter creates the puzzle and submits it to the puzzle editor.
2. The puzzle editor and setter refine the puzzle.
3. The puzzle is distributed in syndication.
4. The puzzle editor may make changes to the puzzle (with or without consulting the setter) after it has been distributed in syndication. These (and subsequent) changes do not appear in the syndicated puzzle (which has already been distributed).
5. The puzzle is prepared for publication. Errors may be introduced during the production process. These errors sometimes also carry forward to the online version of the puzzle.
6. The online version of the puzzle is posted to the website. Errors introduced at this point affect only the online version of the puzzle.

Given that no one on Big Dave's site reported differently, the error was likely present in both the print version and the online version of the puzzle in Britain. As the error does not appear in the syndicated version of the puzzle, we can assume that it was likely introduced during the production process at The Daily Telegraph.

24a   Ground // that's blocked near thoroughfare (5)

25a   Inspector in the flying squad? (4,5)

Flying squad^[5] (as we are meant to interpret it in the surface reading) is a British term for a division of a police force or other organization which is capable of reaching an incident quickly ⇒ (i) the gang were caught by the Flying Squad; (ii) a medical flying squad.

Down

1d   Comfort // thus found with delicate fabric (6)

2d   Old boy damaged violin, /showing/ forgetfulness (8)

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.

3d   Problem /in/ police device around Spain (6)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Spain is E^[5] [from Spanish España].

4d   A yard in run-down area /provides/ refuge (6)

5d   Husky, perhaps, actor Richard goes over line /in/ poor poetry (8)

Richard Gere^[7] is an American actor. Among his film credits is a starring role opposite Julia Roberts in the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman.

6d   Come out /as/ one involved in US party club that's riotous (2,6)

GOP^[5] stands for Grand Old Party, a nickname for the Republican Party in the US.

7d   /Get/ a place on course about extremely traditional // PM (6)

Although it appears at the beginning of the clue, the word "get" would appear to serve effectively the same purpose as a link word.

Clement Attlee^[5], 1st Earl Attlee (1883–1967) was a British Labour statesman, Prime Minister 1945–51. His term saw the creation of the modern welfare state and the nationalization of major industries.

8d   Theatre worker capturing actor's heart, // provider of delicacy? (8)

13d   A logger working round year /is/ grotesque figure (8)

14d   Make economies -- /and/ have another dig? (8)

15d   What paparazzi might get /in/ improbable venture (4,4)

16d   Labs unit planned /in/ foreign city (8)

Istanbul^[5] is a port in Turkey on the Bosporus, lying partly in Europe, partly in Asia; population 10,757,300 (est. 2007). Formerly the Roman city of Constantinople (330–1453), it was built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. It was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 and was the capital of Turkey from that time until 1923.

18d   Boss // upset man in the middle with cigarette (6)

Gaffer^[5] is an informal British term for a person in charge of others; in other words, a boss ⇒ street cleaners stopping for a smoke when their gaffer isn’t in the vicinity.

19d   Church students holding second // count (6)

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

You may recall from yesterday that, in the UK, NUS^[5] is the abbreviation for the National Union of Students^[5], a confederation of students’ unions in the United Kingdom.

20d   Maintenance // that, if followed, produces secret look? (6)

This is an inverse wordplay type of clue — specifically an inverse reversal. The solution to the clue consists of a reversal indicator and its fodder, with the result of the reversal being found in or given by the clue.

The solution is UPKEEP which, if split (2,4), could be used in a down clue in a cryptic crossword as wordplay indicating a reversal (up) of KEEP giving the result PEEK (secret look).

The wordplay tells us that if we follow the instructions (UP KEEP) given in the solution to the clue, the result will be a synonym for 'secret look'.

21d   Councillor shortly getting correct // praise (6)

Cr^[5] is the abbreviation for Councillor.

The wordplay is CR (Councillor shortly; abbreviation (shortly) for Councillor) + (getting) EDIT (correct).

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