Monday, June 22, 2015 — DT 27692

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27692
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27692]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By 2Kiwis
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's puzzle is a bit more gentle than many of those we have seen recently. My electronic assistants enjoyed a day off.

As you will see mentioned in the comments on Big Dave's site, this puzzle was published in the UK on the day of the terrorist attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

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 (//). Definitions presented in blue text are for terms that appear frequently.

Across

1a   Understands // right to wear pants (6)

5a   Germany is bound, say, /to show/ a lack of belief (8)

"Germany" = D (show explanation )

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Germany is D^[5] [from German Deutschland].

hide explanation

9a   Hang // prints in order to cover grub, oddly (6,2)

Apology not accepted!
Boothill Cemetery, Tombstone, Arizona

10a   Dates and marmalade spread over nougat -- originally // plum (6)

A damson^[2] is (1) a small purple plum or (2) the tree it grows on.

Delving Deeper

The damson[7] or damson plum (Prunus domestica subspecies insititia, or sometimes Prunus insititia) is an edible drupaceous fruit, a subspecies of the plum tree. Varieties of insititia are found across Europe, but the name "damson" is derived from and most commonly applied to forms which are native to Ireland and Great Britain. Damsons are relatively small plum-like fruit with a distinctive, somewhat astringent taste, and are widely used for culinary purposes, particularly in fruit preserves or jam.

11a   Party animal sent back /for/ words to music (8)

"party" = LIB (show explanation )

The Liberal Party^[5] (abbreviation Lib.^[5] or L^[2]) in Britain emerged in the 1860s from the old Whig Party and until the First World War was one of the two major parties in Britain. In 1988 the party regrouped with elements of the Social Democratic Party to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, now known as the Liberal Democrats. However, a small Liberal Party still exists.

hide explanation

What did they say?

In their review, the 2Kiwis refer to an animal that might be called Tarka perhaps. Tarka the Otter[7] (in full Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers) is a highly influential novel by English naturalist, farmer and prolific, ruralist author Henry Williamson (1895–1977). The book, first published in 1927, has never been out of print since first publication.

12a   Scrimping and scraping /means/ half ot them split (6)

As was the case in the UK, this clue contains a typo and should read:

• 12a   Scrimping and scraping /means/ half of them split (6)

There is also discussion at Comment #8 on Big Dave's blog about whether the word "means" may be part of the definition:

• 12a   Scrimping and scraping means // half of them split (6)

13a   Set // homework and read after revision (8)

Prep^[2,5,10] (short for preparation^[2,5,10])  is an informal British term, used chiefly in independent schools (see below), for schoolwork that is set to be done outside normal school hours, either in school or as homework.

In Britain, an independent school^[10] is a school that is neither financed nor controlled by the government or local authorities; in other words, an independent school^[2] is not paid for with public money and does not belong to the state school system. A private school^[2,5] is a special case of independent school, being a school run independently by an individual or group, especially for profit and supported wholly by the payment of fees. A public school^[2] is yet another class of independent school being a secondary school, especially a boarding school run independently of the state, financed by endowments and by pupils' fees. What we in North America would call a public school^[2], is known in the UK as a state school.

15a   Contrary view on head of finance/'s/ charges (4)

17a   Panel discussion is about return /of/ jobless (4)

19a   Dependency with no source of cash /is/ a plus (8)

"source of cash" = C (show explanation )

The initial letter (source) of the word "Cash".

hide explanation

20a   Call for more // heart, chasing points (6)

21a   Plant // rotation for the most part -- so be it! (8)

A cyclamen^[5] is any of several species of European plant of the primrose family, having pink, red, or white flowers with backward-curving petals and grown as a winter-flowering pot plant.

22a   A right of reply about route /creates/ indifference (6)

"right of reply" = Y (show explanation )

The final or rightmost letter in the word "replY".

hide explanation

23a   Material spiked /is/ put back (8)

Rep^[5] is a fabric with a ribbed surface, used in curtains and upholstery.

24a   Spring in lock /giving/ illegal entry (8)

25a   Most recent // play without wingers before international (6)

"play without wingers" = LA (show explanation )

The word "pLAy" with the initial and final letters removed (without wingers).

hide explanation

International^[5] is a British term for a game or contest between teams representing different countries in a sport ⇒ the Murrayfield rugby international.

A Test^[5] (short for Test match)^[5] is an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries ⇒ the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies.

Down

2d   Rescue // dog with no tail (8)

3d   They'll give you a leg-up (8)

4d   Study the score, // express resignation and walk (5-4)

Sight-read^[5] means to read and perform (music) from sheet music, without preparation ⇒ by the time he was seven, Mozart could sight-read anything he was given.

Wouldn't you say that is virtually the complete opposite of "study the score".

5d   Politically motivated CD? (10,5)

CD^[5] is the abbreviation for corps diplomatique (diplomatic corps).

6d   Destroyed // hut after turning up pictures (7)

7d   Mismatched // diamonds, say, pinched by nude criminal (8)

8d   Medicine // container and cruet for disposal (8)

14d   Energy (and power) is firm friend // of a bishop (9)

"energy" = E & "power" = P (show explanation )

In physics, E^[5] is a symbol used to represent energy and P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power (among other things).

hide explanation

15d   Foreign Office reacts badly /is/ the prediction (8)

Foreign Office^[5] (abbreviation FO^[5]) is short for Foreign and Commonwealth Office^[5], the British government department dealing with foreign affairs.

16d   Get out of // botched EU caveat (8)

If "evacuate" is taken to be a transitive verb, the clue parses as I have shown above. On the other hand, if "evacuate" is considered to be an intransitive verb, the clue parses as the 2Kiwis have shown in their review:

• 16d   Get out /of/ botched EU caveat (8)

The European Union^[5] (abbreviation EU) is an economic and political association of certain European countries as a unit with internal free trade and common external tariffs. The European Union was created on 1 November 1993, with the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty. The European Union consists of 28 member states^[7], 19 of which use the common currency unit, the euro^[7] — although the membership of Greece would appear to be hanging by a thread. [Note: I have corrected the figures for both the number of member states in the EU and the number of those using the euro, both of which have changed since the entry at Oxford Dictionaries Online was written.]

17d   At home mainly healthy worker /gets/ medication (8)

18d   The French covered in buzzing flies /must be/ dead (8)

"the French" = LES (show explanation )

In French, the plural form of the definite article is les^[8].

hide explanation

19d   Conveyance /supplied with/ a new Irish penny? (7)

"penny" = P (show explanation )

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] (plural pennies [for separate coins] or pence [for a sum of money]) is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p^[5].

hide explanation

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