Monday, June 27, 2016 — DT 28052

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28052
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, March 3, 2016
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28052]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers
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 28051 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, March 2, 2016.

Introduction

No great leap forward today — merely a small hop, as the National Post skips one 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 (//). Definitions presented in blue text are for terms that appear frequently.

Across

1a   Pass // cost United a thrashing (11)

Scratching the Surface

In the names of sports clubs, U[5] is the abbreviation for United[5] — in Britain, a word commonly used in the names of soccer and other sports teams formed by amalgamation ⇒ Man U [Manchester United]. Manchester United Football Club[7] (often referred to simply as United — and often as Man Utd or Man U) 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 (the top level in the English football league system).

9a   You French scoff over // large dishes (7)

In French, tu^[8] is the second person singular pronoun meaning 'you'.

10a   Ship so overturned /by/ man-eating monster (6)

"ship" = 'SS' (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

An ogress^[5] is a female ogre^[5] which, in folklore, is a man-eating giant.

12a   One cheats /in/ party game (7)

Twister^[5] is an informal British term for a swindler or dishonest person ⇒ she’s a back-stabbing, double-dealing twister.

13a   Officer // roughly put leader of terrorists in torment (7)

14a   Once capsized crossing a // body of water (5)

15a   Money that is admitting Queen // supporter (9)

Brass^[5] is an informal British term for money ⇒ they wanted to spend their newly acquired brass.

"Queen" = ER (show explanation )

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.

hide explanation

17a   Most macabre // secret unfolded about meat dish? (9)

20a   Dull // sandwich has a French filling (5)

"a French" = UN (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is un^[8].

hide explanation

22a   Span on prize // bird's feathers (7)

24a   Part of calf or elegant part of // limb (7)

As pommers points out in his review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the second "part of" is superfluous. It is not part of the wordplay and don't see how it could be considered to be a link phrase. I suspect that the setter may have confused foreleg with forearm. A foreleg is a limb — unlike a forearm which is only part of a limb.

25a   Stroke // initially soothing after worries (6)

26a   Show // criminal's almost expected before court ... (7)

"court" = CT (show explanation )

Ct^[2] is the abbreviation for Court in street addresses — and possibly in other contexts as well.

hide explanation

Show^[5] is used in the sense of conduct or lead ⇒ show them in, please.

27a   ... villain's given time by judge /for/ show (11)

Down

2d   Last of ormolu trim // left on plate (7)

3d   Alluring // birds with ale, drunk, on Ecstasy (9)

"Ecstasy" = E (show explanation )

E^[5] is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒ (i) people have died after taking E; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties.

hide explanation

4d   With no parking, stay in charge /of/ patient (5)

"in charge" = IC (show explanation )

The abbreviation i/c^[5] can be short for either

1. (especially in military contexts) in charge of ⇒ the Quartermaster General is i/c rations; or
2. in command ⇒ 2 i/c = second in command.

hide explanation

5d   Relevant // support in Apple's first operating system (7)

Trivial Pursuit

The Apple I[7] computer, released by the Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in 1976, was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. It went on sale in July 1976 at the Satanic price of $666.66. About 200 units were produced. The computer had no operating system. Apple's first operating system, Apple DOS 3.1[7] for the Apple II computer, was introduced in June 1978. There was no Apple DOS 1 or 2, per se. Versions 0.1 through 2.8 were serially enumerated revisions during development, which might as well have been called builds 1 through 28. Apple DOS 3.0, a renamed issue of version 2.8, was never publicly released due to bugs.

6d   Falls // about when about half dead (7)

7d   Doctor to pose with chest // instrument (11)

8d   Voyage /for/ ships' companies, say (6)

As is customary, the National Post has published the version of the clue which appeared in the printed edition of The Daily Telegraph.

A very minor change was introduced in the version of the puzzle which appeared on the Telegraph Puzzles website:

• Voyage /for/ ships' companies, we hear (6)

11d   Lay out one on door // search (11)

16d   A terrific oily // mechanic (9)

An artificer^[5] is a skilled mechanic in the armed forces.

18d   Teach // English University course beginning in time (7)

19d   Plant with unpleasant odour /produces/ fake medicine (7)

20d   Aristocrat, // apart from old lace (7)

Net^[3] is a fine mesh fabric used as curtain or dress material or as the foundation for various laces.

A baronet^[5] (abbreviation Bt^[5]) is a member of the lowest hereditary titled British order, with the status of a commoner but able to use the prefix ‘Sir’.

Delving Deeper
The nobility in Britain or Ireland (whose members are known as peers[5]) comprises the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron. In order of precedence, a baronet sits below a baron but above a knight. Baronets and knights both hold the status of commoners. The title of baronet is hereditary whereas that of knight is non-hereditary.

21d   Top mark in German? (6)

An umlaut^[5] is a mark (¨) used over a vowel, especially in German, to indicate a different vowel quality.

23d   Stops losing head /and/ relaxes (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