Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - DT 26903

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26903
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26903]
Big Dave's Review Written By Pommers
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

I completed this without outside help — largely due to the fact that I was required to spend a lot of time with very little to do in a location where I had no access to my electronic assistants.

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.

9a   Unfashionable players in Coventry? (7)

Coventry^[5] is an industrial city in the west Midlands of England. Send someone to Coventry is a British expression meaning to refuse to associate with or speak to someone ⇒ some people ignore and send to Coventry individuals they disapprove of. The phrase, which originated in the mid 18th century, is sometimes said to stem from the extreme unpopularity of soldiers stationed in Coventry, who were cut off socially by the citizens, or because Royalist prisoners were sent there during the English Civil War, the city being staunchly Parliamentarian.

11a   I’m ready to face university with no preparation (9)

Ready^[5] may be a synonym for prompt when used in the sense of keen or quick to give ⇒ every time I rang up, she was ready with some excuse.

17a   Stops in abandoned side streets (7)

I presume that the rationale for using "abandoned" as an anagram indicator may come from abandon being used in the sense of complete lack of inhibition or restraint ⇒ she sings and sways with total abandon. However, I do recognize that the former is a past participle of a verb used as an adjective and the latter is a noun.

25a   Accessory for a formal suit with new cut around top of neck (7)

A dinner jacket (abbreviation DJ or dj)^[10] is a man's semiformal evening jacket without tails, usually black with a silk facing over the collar and lapels. It is known in North America as a tuxedo.

2d   Working with volunteers, parking freely available (2,3)

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

4d   Where one may write comment on pied-à-terre? (4-3)

A pied-à-terre^[5] is a small flat [apartment in North America], house, or room kept for occasional use.

7d   Wild rose, for example, on worker in queue (9)

Eglantine is another name for sweetbrier^[3,4] (or — should you prefer — sweet brier^[2], sweetbriar^[3], or sweet briar^[5]), a Eurasian rose (Rosa eglanteria) having prickly stems, fragrant leaves, bright pink flowers, and scarlet hips. Apparently, the scientific name may be either Rosa eglanteria or Rosa rubiginosa.

In Britain, a line or sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn to be attended to or to proceed is called a queue^[5] and people queue in a queue^[5] rather than line up in a line-up^[5].

14d   Sugar worried — not good with former PM and stars (4,5)

John Major^[7] is a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997.

17d   Reduce the value of French class (7)

North Americans have an additional route to the solution that is not available to the Brits. On this side of the pond, a grade is a class in school. In Britain, the term form is used instead of grade. In Britain, a form^[5] is a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number. Thus the fifth form would be the linguistic counterpart to the fifth grade in North America and Form 1 would be like saying Grade 1. Thus Pommers must establish the equivalency of class and grade using other senses of the words.

De^[8] is a French preposition meaning of.

22d   Fish smell with no origin (5)

The tench^[5] is a European freshwater fish (Tinca tinca) of the carp family, popular with anglers and widely introduced elsewhere.

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)

Signing off for today — Falcon