Monday, July 20, 2015 — DT 27715 (Bonus Puzzle)

Prologue

The National Post may be publishing on a reduced schedule for the summer. However, that shouldn't mean you have to forgo your Monday puzzle. Here is DT 27715, the puzzle that I expect would have appeared had the presses run today.

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27715
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27715]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Gazza
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

This puzzle should give you little excuse for not getting on with the rest of your day.

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   Unexpectedly // published, ring fellow livid about article (3,2,3,4)

"fellow" = F (show explanation )

F^[2] is the abbreviation for Fellow (of a society, etc). For instance, it is found in professional designations such as FRAIC (Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada).

hide explanation

9a   Formal meeting /in/ Bury to contend with (9)

Bury^[7] is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, 7.9 miles (12.7 km) north-northwest of the city of Manchester.

10a   Italian river // miles away from wood (5)

What did he say?

In his review, Gazza refers to timber as wood that’s been prepared for use in building or carpentry. In Britain, the word timber[10] is used for the building material known to North Americans as lumber. In Britain, lumber[5] has a totally different meaning than it does in North America, being articles of furniture or other household items that are no longer useful and inconveniently take up storage space.

The Tiber^[5] is a river of central Italy, upon which Rome stands. It rises in the Tuscan Apennines and flows 405 km (252 miles) generally south-westwards, entering the Tyrrhenian Sea at Ostia. Italian name Tevere.

11a   So sad, broadcast about English // port (6)

Odessa^[5] is a city and port on the south coast of Ukraine, on the Black Sea; population 1,008,600 (est. 2009).

12a   Shorts // all the rage? Nonsense (3,5)

Pants^[5] is an informal British term meaning rubbish or nonsense ⇒ he thought we were going to be absolute pants.

13a   Trying experience /in/ old wood across river (6)

In Britain, deal^[5] means (1) fir or pine wood as a building material or (2) a plank made of fir or pine wood [what we in North America would commonly refer to as lumber (see discussion at 10a)]. Apparently, this meaning of deal^[3,11] also exists (or once existed) in North America, but I would think that it is very rarely used now — especially by the general public.

15a   Part of speech on one period of history /is/ waffle (8)

Waffle^[5] is a British term meaning to speak or write at length in a vague or trivial manner ⇒ he waffled on about his problems.

18a   Female injured diarist /gets/ immediate treatment (5,3)

19a   Watchword /of/ chap painting in retirement (6)

21a   Rose playing ancient instrument /in/ set (8)

A lute^[5] is a plucked stringed instrument with a long neck bearing frets and a rounded body with a flat front, rather like a halved egg in shape.

23a   Drawing /of/ small sailing vessel (6)

26a   Bird, // yellow, heading off (5)

27a   Awfully pleased about a new // walkway (9)

28a   Statement to media /and/ crowd regarding charter (5,7)

Down

1d   Rings about fabulous bird outside in // river (7)

The roc^[5] is a gigantic mythological bird described in the Arabian Nights.

The Orinoco^[5] is a river in northern South America, which rises in southeastern Venezuela and flows 2,060 km (1,280 miles), entering the Atlantic Ocean through a vast delta. For part of its length it forms the border between Colombia and Venezuela.

2d   Name /in/ headline? (5)

3d   To begin with, // keep hugging a celebrity (3,1,5)

A keep^[5] is the strongest or central tower of a castle, acting as a final refuge.

4d   What may be hard to dry? (4)

"hard" = H (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

This is a semi-&lit. (semi-all-in-one) clue. The entire clue provides the definition, while the portion of the clue with the dashed underline acts as wordplay.

5d   Thoroughly impress // dandy, reportedly, and live-in partner (4,4)

Beau^[5] is a dated term for a rich, fashionable young man; in other words, a dandy.

6d   At university, superior // by way of intelligence (2,3)

In Britain, up^[5] means at or to a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge ⇒ they were up at Cambridge about the same time.

Up top^[5] is an informal British expression meaning by way of intelligence ⇒ a man with nothing much up top.

7d   A worker having eaten roll, departs // full (8)

"departs" = D (show explanation )

In travel timetables, departs is indicated by the abbreviation d^[5] ⇒ Plymouth d 0721.

hide explanation

8d   Wife sears fresh // fish (6)

The wrasse^[5] is any of numerous species of marine fish with thick lips and strong teeth, typically brightly coloured with marked differences between the male and female.

14d   Mocking // father over in seedy bar (8)

16d   Chess player's letters /causing/ offence (9)

Black^[5] is the player of the black pieces in chess or draughts [checkers] ⇒ Black’s king’s defences are somewhat weakened.

17d   The other woman /may be/ married, I emphasise (8)

18d   Warning call about ancient city /in/ uproar (6)

Fore^[5] is an exclamation called out as a warning to people in the path of a golf ball.

"ancient city" = UR (show explanation )

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC. Ur^[7] is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.

hide explanation

20d   A permit held by the // runner (7)

22d   No mixer, // single, introduced to both sides? (5)

24d   Piece from Tahiti, a rare // jewelled headdress (5)

Scratching the Surface
Tahiti[5] is an island in the central South Pacific, one of the Society Islands, forming part of French Polynesia; population 178,173 (2007); capital, Papeete. One of the largest islands in the South Pacific, it was claimed for France in 1768 and declared a French colony in 1880.

25d   Pole // with no excess fat? Not quite (4)

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