Friday, January 4, 2012 - DT 27003

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 27003
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, October 22, 2012
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27003]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 27002 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, October 20, 2012.

Introduction

Typical fare from Rufus today. It was a cluster of clues in the northwest quadrant that troubled me today.

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   The pack must return to desert (5)

In North America, rat^[3] means to betray one's associates by giving information ⇒ he ratted on his best friend to the police. However, in Britain, rat can take on the additional meaning of to default (on) or abandon ⇒ he ratted on the project at the last minute.

22a   Hunt for a drink? Just the opposite (7-3)

Seemingly a British term, a stirrup cup^[2] is an alcoholic drink that is given to someone, originally a rider, who is about to leave, especially someone who is going on a hunt. The original version of "one for the road", one might say.

25a   Advocate for a famous explorer gaining essential point (9)

Marco Polo^[7] (1254 – 1324) was a Venetian merchant traveler whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China.

27a   Following points go to the prosecution (7)

Here, "points" refers to points of the compass.

28a   Uncommon pronoun (5,2)

This pronoun is uncommon as it's used by royalty rather than commoners.

3d   Come in force, showing initiative (10)

Both of the variants prise and prize are used in Britain as well as in the US. However, in Britain, prise^[5] is considered to be the principal version of the word with prize^[5] considered to be a variant spelling. The situation is reversed in the US.

5d   Food from the earth -- £500 to an aficionado (6,3)

In Britain, a peanut is known as a monkey nut^[5] and a sum of £500 as a monkey^[5].

7d   Sarcastic driver possibly in charge over a learner (8)

If you will pardon the sarcasm, I can't let this clue pass without a comment. In the real world, a driver^[5] is a golf club with a flat face and wooden head, used for driving from the tee. However, in Crosswordland, it would seem that a driver is an iron, rather than a wood!

To be fair to the setter, a 1 iron is known as a driving iron^[7]. However, according to Wikipedia, "By and large, the 1 iron is defunct, and is no longer being produced.".

The 1 iron has the least surface area on its face and so is commonly regarded as the hardest club in the bag to hit. Professional golfer Lee Trevino is famously quoted, after he had almost been struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open, that if he were out on the course and it began to storm again he would take out his 1 iron and point it to the sky, "because not even God can hit a 1 iron."

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