Thursday, December 22, 2011 - DT 26674

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26674
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26674]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ 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 █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

Even with the correct solutions, there were a handful of clues for which I did not comprehend the wordplay.

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.

12a   Artist left after nothing said (4)

RA^[5] is the abbreviation for Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

25a   What can make car chap has to get round to? (9)

The definition is "What can make". Automaton is another name for a robot.

5d   A delicate matter in New Jersey, say? (3,6)

I must admit that I didn't completely understand the wordplay here. International Kidney is a cultivar of potato grown primarily as a new potato. In the UK, they are best known as Jersey Royal potatoes^[7] which are grown only in Jersey. Jersey Royal is a Trade mark.

7d   People in authority admitting leading a form of government (8)

I also missed the wordplay here, which is THEY (people in authority) containing (admitting) ARCH (leading).

13d   Leaders, real idiots in disarray (10)

In Britain, a leader^[2] (or leading article) is an article in a newspaper, etc. written to express the opinions of the editor.

15d   Dog inflamed crossword compiler (3,6)

In Britain, red setter^[5] is an informal name for an Irish setter.

16d   Popular batting order (2,6)

In cricket, in^[5] means batting. In baseball, a team is said to be up [at (or to) bat] while in cricket a team is in.

17d   Book about knight and time on one idyllic island? (8)

This is the clue where I needed a bit of electronic assistance, although it does not seem especially difficult in hindsight. In modern chess notation, the symbol for knight is N (since K is used for king). In older systems of notation, knight was abbreviated as Kt.

20d   Number crossing mouth of Red River (6)

The Severn^[5] is a river of SW Britain. Rising in central Wales, it flows north-east then south in a broad curve for some 290 km (180 miles) to its mouth on the Bristol Channel.

References: 
^[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)

Signing off for today - Falcon