Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - DT 27018

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27018
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, November 8, 2012
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27018]
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

Although not overly difficult, I have to agree with pommers that this puzzle did provide a good dose of enjoyment.

Although the puzzle was set by RayT — which he himself confirms in a comment on Big Dave's site — it does not include the signature reference to the Queen. In his comment, he suggests that this may have been a deliberate ploy on his part to see what people might think of a puzzle if they were not aware that he was the setter.

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   After drink around mid-afternoon, gets up and staggers (9)

As a verb, sup^[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒ (i) she supped up her soup delightedly; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle. As a noun, it means (1) a sip of liquid ⇒ he took another sup of wine or (2) in Northern England or Ireland, an alcoholic drink ⇒ the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery.

12a   Girl and small fellows say, dress up (8)

Regular visitors to Crosswordland have surely discovered that the most popular girl's name there certainly has to be Di.

13a   Airmen flying in aerobatics initially showing fibre (6)

The Royal Air Force^[5] (RAF) is the British air force, formed in 1918 by amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (founded 1912) and the Royal Naval Air Service (founded 1914).

15a   Novel girl covering routine, large and rude (8)

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles^[7] or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic. Though now considered an important work of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardy's day.

2d   Drunk compiler's admitted boob (5)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as compiler, setter, author, or writer to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must usually substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used  in the clue. However, today the setter introduces a possessive form, meaning we need to use a possessive pronoun.

In Britain, in addition to having the meanings known in North America, boob^[4] can also be used as (1) a noun meaning an embarrassing mistake or blunder or (2) a verb (as the setter uses it in this clue) meaning to make a blunder.

5d   Fat Elvis performed for party (8)

pommers graciously chooses to portray Elvis "before he got fat" ...

... here is the "after" picture ...

7d   Incumbent Obama to lose power? (8)

I had a bit of a struggle reconciling that the words incumbent and resident are synonymous. I guess they are close enough that one can leap across the chasm separating them.

Incumbent^[4] may be being used as an adjective meaning morally binding or necessary or, in other words, obligatory and resident^[4] may be being employed as an adjective in the sense (with respect to qualities, characteristics, etc.) existing or inherent (in).

16d   Sensational redhead trouble in affair (9)

As far as I can determine from my dictionaries, thing does not seem to have a specific connotation related to sexual impropriety, but rather it is a synonym for affair in a much broader sense. Thing^[2] can mean (1) an event, affair or circumstance ⇒ Things are getting out of hand or (2) (things) affairs in general ⇒ So, how are things?.

However, in 1972, Billy Paul did sing "Me and Mrs.Jones / We got a thing goin' on ...".

17d   Mugs almost offended judge (8)

In Britain, a mug^[5] is a stupid or gullible person ⇒ they were no mugs where finance was concerned. As pommers alludes to, sore^[5] meaning upset and angry is chiefly a North American usage ⇒ I didn’t even know they were sore at us.

25d   Sabbath music fan sort of singing (4)

In his review, pommers ponders "Not sure if S is an allowed abbreviation for Sabbath ..." A quick glance in The Chambers Dictionary confirms that it is — in fact, it is the very first entry.

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