Thursday, February 7, 2013 — DT 27029

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27029
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27029]
Big Dave's Review Written By scchua
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

After struggling for some time with the lone remaining clue (12a), I called in the electronic reserves who quickly pointed me in the right direction. I had been at sea on an ice floe when I would have spent my time far more productively at the casino.

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   The lowest point of seabed by Gibraltar ... (4,6)

Gibraltar^[5] is a British overseas territory near the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; population 28,800 (est. 2009); languages, English (official), Spanish.
Occupying a site of great strategic importance, Gibraltar consists of a fortified town and military base at the foot of a rocky headland, the Rock of Gibraltar. Britain captured it during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704 and is responsible for its defence, external affairs, and internal security.

10a   Rejects, with no new projections (5)

The illustration that sschua has chosen for the clue is a picture of the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club^[7] (commonly referred to as the Spurs), an English football [soccer] club based in Tottenham, London, that plays in the Premier League (the top level league in English football).

The team is rather difficult to identify in the kit (uniform) they are wearing (which I believe is from the 2009-2010 season). The players appear to be billboards for a casino, with the club logo (a rooster perched on a soccer ball) inconspicuously displayed on the upper left (your right) portion of the player's chest. Let's hope that hockey never degrades to this level of commercialism!

11a   Standard finance should cover exercise book (9)

I do have a minor quibble with scchua's hint. I would say that PE^[5] is actually an abbreviation for physical education rather than physical exercise.

12a  A section of pack  ice (8)

I thought that the definition here was extremely well disguised. I initially supposed that the definition must be "section" and that "pack ice" was either wordplay or a second definition.

19a   Shot the wife to share the cost (2,5)

In Britain, duchess^[5] is an informal and affectionate form of address used (especially among cockneys) by a man to a girl or woman ⇒ ‘Spotted a likely one, duchess?’. It may be used in referring to one's wife — which is likely the original sense in which it was used (rhyming slang for wife from Duchess of Fife). However, it seems that the usage has expanded to include any girl or woman. Nevertheless, when shortened to dutch^[5] (usually one's old dutch), it would seem that it does specifically refer to one's wife.

21a   Supporters, of course, eating rotten sweets (7)

In Britain, a sweet^[5] is a small shaped piece of confectionery made with sugar ⇒ a bag of sweets [known as candy^[5] in North America].

24a   Underplay but note one's energy (8)

In British music notation, a minim^[5] (also called a half note [which is the usual name used in Canada and the United States]) is a note having the time value of two crotchets^[3,4] [quarter notes] or half a semibreve^[3,4] [whole note], represented by a ring with a stem.

27a   Place surrounding unusually green island's national park (9)

The Serengeti National Park^[7], located in Tanzania, is famous for its annual migration of over 1.5 million white bearded (or brindled) wildebeest and 250,000 zebra and for its numerous Nile crocodile.

2d   Edged outside to support amusing person warned by police (9)

Caution^[5] is an informal, dated [and, perhaps, British] term for an amusing or surprising person ⇒ ‘You’re a caution, you are,’ she said.

4d   One sticks up for maximum rate at sea (7)

As well as being a decorative knot or bow of ribbon worn on the top of the head, popular in the 18th century, a topknot^[5] may also be (in an animal or bird) a tuft or crest of hair or feathers.

7d   City initially offer millions -- what a surprise! (5)

As part of his hint, scchua uses a photo of A-ha^[7] (stylized a-ha), a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982.

14d   Advanced voting system goes red, perhaps around the fifth of August (10)

... or, equally valid, around the first of September. Proportional representation (abbreviation PR)^[5] is an electoral system in which parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them ⇒ PR has been a success in Germany.

21d   Rebellion of Granite City (7)

Of course, I had to know if there is such a place as Granite City or if the name is merely a figment of the setter's imagination. There are, in fact, a few candidate locations.

Granite City^[7] is a ghost town in the Similkameen region of British Columbia, Canada. The town sprang up following the discovery of gold in Granite Creek in 1885. By 1915 the gold rush was over and Granite City lay deserted.

Granite City^[7] is a city in the US state of Illinois. Officially founded in 1896, Granite City was named by the Niedringhaus brothers who established it as a steel making company town for the manufacture of kitchen utensils made to resemble granite.

St. Cloud^[7], a city in the US state of Minnesota, is nicknamed Granite City for the granite quarries that have operated in the area since the 1880s.

However, the true answer is undoubtedly Aberdeen, Scotland^[7]. Aberdeen's architecture is known for its principal use during the Victorian era of granite, which has led to its local nickname of the Granite City or more romantically the less commonly used name the Silver City, since the mica in the stone sparkles in the sun.

Tangier^[5] is  a seaport on the northern coast of Morocco, on the Strait of Gibraltar commanding the western entrance to the Mediterranean; population 762,583 (2004). Portuguese from the end of the 15th century, Tangier was ruled by the sultan of Morocco 1684–1904, when it came under international control; it passed to the newly independent monarchy of Morocco in 1956.

23d   Swear sulphur is part of remedy (5)

The symbol for the chemical element sulphur is S^[5].

25d   Two days lost in Midland city (5)

The Midlands^[7] is an area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important location for the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Milan^[5] is a city in NW Italy, capital of Lombardy region; population 1,295,705 (2008). A powerful city in the past, particularly from the 13th to the 15th centuries, Milan is today a leading financial and commercial centre.

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