Thursday, January 10, 2013 — DT 27007

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27007
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, October 26, 2012
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27007]
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

I usually need a bit of electronic assistance to complete puzzles which have been rated three stars for difficulty. I thought that would also be the case today. I had come up with a fairly obvious answer for 1d but could not explain the wordplay. I also had less obvious answers for 13a and 21a, and because I could not justify the wordplay was reluctant to accept them. After much cogitation, the explanations to the latter two clues gradually dawned on me — first 21a and then 13a. Once I had 13a, the explanation for 1d hit me like a bolt out of the blue.

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   Is legendary bird seen around about a Mediterranean island (7)

The roc^[5] is a gigantic mythological bird described in the Arabian Nights. Corsica^[5] is a mountainous island off the west coast of Italy, forming an administrative region of France; population 273,000 (est. 2004); chief towns, Bastia (northern department) and Ajaccio (southern department). It was the birthplace of Napoleon I.

The definition might be "Mediterranean island" (as shown above and described by Gazza in his review) with the wordplay being a reversal (seen around) of {IS (from the clue) + ROC (legendary bird)} + C (about; circa) + A (from the clue). However, given that the word circa (about) also has an alternative abbreviation, the definition could equally well be "a Mediterranean island" with the wordplay being a reversal (seen around) of {IS (from the clue) + ROC (legendary bird)} + CA (about; circa).

15a   Revolutionary time has to be right, with commander leading (7)

The Russian Revolution^[5] is the revolution in the Russian empire in 1917, in which the tsarist regime was overthrown and replaced by Bolshevik rule under Lenin.
 

There were two phases to the Revolution: the first, in March (Old Style, February, whence February Revolution), was sparked off by food and fuel shortages during the First World War and began with strikes and riots in Petrograd (St Petersburg). The tsar abdicated, and a provisional government was set up. The second phase, in November 1917 (Old Style, October, whence October Revolution), was marked by the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in a coup led by Lenin. After workers' councils or soviets took power in major cities, the new Soviet constitution was declared in 1918.

Old Style^[5] refers to the method of calculating dates using the Julian calendar.

17a   To accommodate dead, the underworld widens out (7)

Dis^[10] can mean either (1) (also called Orcus or Pluto) the Roman god of the underworld or (2) the abode of the dead; underworld.

19a   Two games in Hants town (7)

Hants^[5] is the abbreviation for Hampshire^[5], a county on the coast of southern England; county town, Winchester. Gosport^[7], a town situated within the county of Hampshire, lies on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour opposite the City of Portsmouth.

Go^[7] is a board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,500 years ago (from whence it spread, first to Korea and Japan, and then worldwide). The game is noted for being rich in strategy despite its relatively simple rules. According to chess master Edward Lasker: "The rules of Go are so elegant, organic, and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe, they almost certainly play Go." The name Go is derived from the Japanese name of game "igo".

21a   Sung part 'notedly superior'? (7)

In music, a descant^[5] is an independent treble melody sung or played above a basic melody.

27a   Person at end of line misconstrued language (9)

Esperanto^[5] is an artificial language devised in 1887 as an international medium of communication, based on roots from the chief European languages. It retains the structure of these languages and has the advantage of grammatical regularity and ease of pronunciation.

28a   Motorway lane cut short in city (5)

The M1^[7] is a north–south motorway [controlled access, multilane divided highway] in England connecting London to Leeds.

4d   English bishop involved in row is an eager person (7)

Right Reverend^[5] (abbreviation RR^[2]) is a title given to a bishop, especially in the Anglican Church.

5d   Old doctor entertained by fat Italian citizen (7)

In Britain, the degree required to practice medicine is a Bachelor of Medicine^[7] (MB, from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus), which is equivalent to a North American Doctor of Medicine (MD, from Latin Medicinae Doctor). The degree of Doctor of Medicine also exists in Britain, but it is an advanced degree pursued by those who wish to go into medical research. Physicians in Britain are still addressed as Dr. despite not having a doctoral degree.

A Lombard^[5] is a native of Lombardy in northern Italy.

8d   Something in steel that makes main street look awful (10)

Martensite^[10] is a constituent formed in steels by rapid quenching, consisting of a supersaturated solid solution of carbon in iron. It is formed by the breakdown of austenite when the rate of cooling is large enough to prevent pearlite forming. [Named after Adolf Martens (1850 – 1914), German metallurgist.]

23d   Superior meal but without starter (5)

Starter^[5] is a chiefly British term (but certainly one not unfamiliar in Canada) meaning the first course of a meal.

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