Monday, November 16, 2015 — DT 27823

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27823
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27823]
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
Notes
The National Post has skipped DT 27821 and DT 27822 which were published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, June 6, 2015 and Monday, June 8, 2015.

Introduction

I struck out again today in my at bat versus the editors at the National Post. I was prepared for a fast ball, but once again they surprised me by delivering a curve ball — skipping two puzzles today.

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   Father's leading wise man/'s/ lobby (7)

I must say that I tend to think of a lobby more as an entry room than a passage. However, in the UK, the term lobby^[5] (also division lobby) denotes each of two corridors in the Houses of Parliament to which MPs retire to vote. I don't know whether we use the same terminology in the Canadian Parliament.

5a   Moves involving kings -- /and/ where they might move to? (7)

In chess, castle^[5] (often as a noun castling) means to make a special move (no more than once in a game by each player) in which the king is transferred from its original square two squares along the back rank towards a rook on its corner square which is then transferred to the square passed over by the king.

9a   Important Wilde character goes round a // grave (7)

The Importance of Being Earnest^[7] (subtitled A Trivial Comedy for Serious People) is a play by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854–1900). First performed in 1895, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations. One of these false identities happens to be "Ernest", a name adopted by John "Jack" Worthing who is the principal male character in the play.

10a   Sounds like where campers are // concentrated? (7)

11a   Broadcast? // Shocked about title, oddly (9)

12a   Rover's perhaps going west across Spain, // dear? (5)

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

13a   Abandon // urge to go after diamonds (5)

"diamonds" = D (show explanation )

Diamonds^[2] (abbreviation D^[2]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

hide explanation

15a   A page -- keen -- /is/ given the job (9)

17a   Mechanisms in clocks // have briefly to divide short periods of time (9)

19a   Good to cut dreadful // song at the end (5)

You will never hear one performed for you.

"good" = G (show explanation )

The abbreviation G^[10] for good likely relates to its use in grading school assignments or tests.

hide explanation

22a   Nick Nolte regularly /portrays/ mechanical man (5)

Nick^[5] is an informal British term meaning to steal ⇒ she nicked fivers from the till.

Scratching the Surface
Nick Nolte[7] is an American actor and former model. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards, twice for Best Actor and once for Best Supporting Actor.

23a   Going back // over last character for Alan Turing to pen (9)

Over^[5] is a preposition used in the sense of on the subject of ⇒ a long and heated debate over unemployment.

Scratching the Surface
Alan Turing[5] (1912–1954) was an English mathematician. He developed the concept of a theoretical computing machine, a key step in the development of the first computer, and carried out important code-breaking work in the Second World War. He also investigated artificial intelligence.

25a   Running after // Carol after tea (7)

Cha (or chai) are alternative spellings for char^[5], an informal British name for tea.

26a   Alluring woman with anger -- // that could give one a pain in the neck (7)

27a   Third in Premiership? United, /it's been/ revealed (7)

Scratching the Surface

The Premiership[5], is the former name (1993–2007) for the Premier League[5], the top division of professional soccer in England and Wales. Manchester United Football Club[7] (often referred to simply as United) is an English professional football [soccer] club, based at Old Trafford [football stadium] in Old Trafford [district of Manchester], Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. By the way, in the 2014-15 season (which completed a couple of weeks before this puzzle appeared in the UK), United finished in fourth place. They also sit in fourth place in the standings for the current season.

28a   Caught // second horse with ends of strong rope? Splendid! (7)

Down

1d   Ironed clothes // in a hurry (7)

2d   Man/'s/ small expression of hesitation with very small insect (7)

Man^[5] is a dated term for a manservant or valet ⇒ get me a cocktail, my man.

3d   Fresh // beer right on time (5)

4d   Please, // host, // provide amusement (9)

5d   'Boiled rice!' daughter // screamed (5)

6d   Upset, 'It's safe,' I'd // answered (9)

7d   Biggest // ten logs chopped up (7)

8d   Walked // very softly around horse? On the contrary (7)

Pianissimo^[5,10] (abbreviation pp^[5,10]) is a direction used in music to mean either (as an adjective) very soft or very quiet or (as an adverb) very softly or very quietly.

14d   Thread to go under amateur // athlete's vulnerable tendon (9)

16d   Good things // I have in premises (9)

Premise^[5] is used in the sense of to state or presuppose (something) as a premise (show explanation ) ⇒ one school of thought premised that the cosmos is indestructible.

Premise^[5] (as a noun) denotes an assertion or proposition which forms the basis for a work or theory ⇒ the fundamental premise of the report.

hide explanation

17d   Getting into three-wheel car I measured up /is/ a marvel (7)

18d   Shake // spoilt child in struggle (7)

20d   Working out -- temperature's boosted -- // showering (7)

I wondered why "boost" would be considered to be a deletion indicator. As it turns out, boost^[5] is an informal North American term [new to me] meaning to steal (something) ⇒ he’d had his wallet boosted in a bar. This use of North American slang created the expected consternation on Big Dave's Crossword Blog (see the thread originating at Comment #7).

21d   Brain? // Mine is on top (7)

Egghead^[3,4,11] is an informal, usually disparaging, term for an intellectual or highbrow.

Egg^[1] is slang for a bomb or mine.

23d   Outfit I had /to make/ with no bending (5)

24d   Alcohol leads to Bill's awful // dance (5)

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