Thursday, February 21, 2013 — DT 27039

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27039
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, December 3, 2012
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27039]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
BD 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

With other matters demanding my attention, perhaps I did not devote as much time and effort to this puzzle as usual. However, I did find it rather tricky — though enjoyable. There were several clues where Rufus succeeded in totally misdirecting my attention, such as with the gourmand at 23a. My electronic assistants did get me back on track, and I managed to complete the puzzle with their help.

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.

1a   Leaped -- above oneself? (6,2)

Although not identified as such by the British and World English version of Oxford Dictionaries Online, the US English version does identify jumped-up^[6] as a chiefly British expression denoting someone who considers themselves to be more important than they really are, or who has suddenly and undeservedly risen in status ⇒ she’s not really a journalist, more a jumped-up PR woman.

6a   Cut it and keep quiet (6)

Cackle^[2] (on both sides of the Atlantic) is (1) the sound made by a hen or a goose; (2) derogatory a raucous laugh like this; or (3) shrill, silly chatter. The expression cut the cackle means to stop chatting aimlessly and come to the point. I found this expression in all the British dictionaries that I consulted, and in none of the American ones.

10a   Evocative of European river ebbing fast (8)

The Oder^[5] is a river of central Europe which rises in the mountains in the east of the Czech Republic and flows northwards through western Poland to meet the River Neisse, then continues northwards forming the northern part of the border between Poland and Germany before flowing into the Baltic Sea.

11a   Knots  of painters? (8)

A painter^[5] is a rope attached to the bow of a boat for tying it to a quay [thus, a bow line]. A bowline^[5] is a simple knot for forming a non-slipping loop at the end of a rope.

21a   Anticipate warning shout to Gessler's opponent (8)

Albrecht (also known as Hermann) Gessler^[7] (c. 14th century) was a probably legendary Habsburg bailiff at Altdorf, whose brutal rule led to the William Tell rebellion and the eventual independence of the Swiss Confederacy.

24a   Result in changes for part of Ireland (6)

Properly Ulster^[10] is an area that was a province and former kingdom of N Ireland which passed to the English Crown in 1461. Following centuries of conflict, Ulster was partitioned in 1921, with six counties forming Northern Ireland (a region within the United Kingdom) and three counties joining the Republic of Ireland. Despite this, Ulster is a widely-used (if inaccurate) name for Northern Ireland.

7d   They spend their time together (4-5)

My first entry here was LIFE-MATES (cryptically, a couple of lifers in prison) — which seemed to fit the bill rather well but turned out to be incorrect.

14d   Make a series of calls on zero zero (4,5)

A North American would more than likely express this as 'call around'.

The "zero zero" may carry no special significance — of course, I felt compelled to look for some.

Zero Zero^{[Terry's Random Ramblings]} is the title of an album by British songwriter, musician, and producer Mike Batt^[7] which is the soundtrack to a video production he created for Australian TV in the early 1980′s. If you’ve heard of it, you know exactly what it is. If you haven’t, the one-line summary is “Boy in a future society where emotions have been banished falls in love and gets a lobotomy for his trouble.”

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