Friday, March 1, 2013 — DT 27048

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27048
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, December 13, 2012
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27048]
Big Dave's Review Written By Digby
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

My attempt to solve this puzzle while preoccupied with other tasks achieved very little progress. However, once I was able to settle down and focus my undivided attention on the puzzle, the solutions all fell into place.

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.

Across

5a   Staggering, naff flashy jewellery (8)

Naff^[5] (as an adjective) is British slang meaning lacking taste or style ⇒ he always went for the most obvious melody he could get, no matter how naff it sounded. Chambers (and, seemingly, Chambers alone) tells us that naff^[2] (as a noun) is also British slang for an incompetent.

Based on the above meanings from Oxford Dictionaries Online, I had supposed that, in the surface reading, naff was an adjective and, in the charade that makes up the wordplay, that it was being used as a noun [as the adjectival meaning didn't appear to fit].

However, prompted by a comment from Gazza (see below), I did a bit more research and discovered that naff^[2] (as an adjective) can seemingly have a much broader range of meaning than one would surmise from Oxford, namely (1) stupid or foolish, (2) tasteless or vulgar, or (3) rubbishy, of poor quality, or worthless. Therefore, I endorse Gazza's suggestion that naff is, in fact, used as an adjective in the wordplay.

In British slang, the word naff^[5] is also used as a euphemism for fuck (in expressions of annoyance) ⇒ (i) she told press photographers to naff off; (ii) more naffing guidelines!.

OTT^[5] (employed by Digby in his review of this clue) is British slang for over the top ⇒ presenting him as a goalscoring Superman seems a bit OTT.

13a   Mythological figure seeing reflection? (4)

The surface reading would seem to take us in one direction but the cryptic reading leads to a different conclusion. In Greek mythology, Narcissus^[5] was a beautiful youth who rejected the nymph Echo and fell in love with his own reflection in a pool. He pined away and was changed into the flower that bears his name. Forget about the visible reflection and concentrate on an audible one.

15a   'Rock' perhaps, a drug (8)

Rock^[5] is an informal name for a small piece of crack cocaine  ⇒ crack sells for $20 a rock.

18a   General accepting medal for regular? (8)

Regular^[5] is used in the sense of a regular customer ⇒ pub regulars.

The Order of Merit^[7] (abbreviation OM^[5]) is a dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by King Edward VII, admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, and is limited to 24 living recipients at one time from these countries plus a limited number of honorary members. The current membership includes one Canadian (former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien).

George Armstrong Custer^[7] (1839 – 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. After building a strong reputation in the Civil War, Custer was dispatched to the west to fight in the Indian Wars. His disastrous final battle overshadowed his prior achievements. Custer and all the men with him were killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, fighting against a coalition of Native American tribes in a battle that has come to be popularly known in American history as "Custer's Last Stand." I'm not sure about Digby's characterisation of Custer as the "hero of the Little Bighorn".

Actually, Custer was not a general at the time of his death. During the Civil War, he had briefly held the rank of Brevet (temporary) Major General, but reverted to his permanent rank of Captain at the end of the war. By 1876, he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

25a   Express and Sun showing arrogance (4)

The Daily Express^[7] and The Sun^[7] are a daily national tabloid newspapers published in the United Kingdom.

26a   Turning red, I entered, taking part (10)

I must respectfully disagree with Digby's statement that " the indicator is also the solution". I would say that the hidden word indicator is "taking" (in the sense of 'holding').

28a   Look concerned with pain returning (6)

Looking at Digby's comment, I wonder if the first part of the charade may be clued by "concerned with" rather than just "concerned". The proposition re^[5] means about or concerning, and I am having a difficult time seeing how it would mean either "concerned" or "concerned with".

Down

2d   Sheet that's turned over for the French siesta (5)

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

3d   Ship's mate's abnormal love in club (9)

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

4d   Scarfs remains after last of leftovers (6)

Despite Oxford Dictionaries Online characterising it as a North American usage, I interpret scarf^[5] in the surface reading as meaning to eat or drink (something) hungrily or enthusiastically ⇒ he scarfed down the waffles.

I also have to question whether a scarf and a sash are the same thing. A scarf^[5] is a length or square of fabric worn around the neck or head and a sash^[5] is a long strip or loop of cloth worn over one shoulder or round the waist, especially as part of a uniform or official dress.

5d   Area of real danger, but I'm dubious (7,8)

I agree with Digby to some extent on this clue. However, I would call it a semi all-in-one rather than an all-in-one clue. The entire clue constitutes the definition, and a portion of it serves as the wordplay which is an anagram (dubious) of REAL DANGER BUT IM. One might argue that the definition is merely "area" but that would be exceedingly vague and the remainder of the clue certainly provides further precision to the definition (or, more formally, the primary indication).

6d   Cool Queen, second time around (8)

In the UK, mo^[5] is an informal term for a short period of time (hang on a mo!) [abbreviation of moment].

By tradition, the ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs use initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus the cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

Time^[2] is used in the sense of a particular period being considered, especially the present. For instance, the phrases 'as of that time' and 'as of that date' mean the same thing.

8d   Fruit centre in a confection (9)

Confection^[5] is the action of mixing or compounding something ⇒ the confection of a syllabub.

16d   Left sweetheart first wearing wedding band (9)

The use of "sweetheart" to clue the letter E is a common cryptic crossword convention, with "sweet heart" being the middle letter (heart) of swEet.

22d   Starters of seaweed, uncooked seafood's hidden inside (5)

Starter^[5] is a chiefly [but certainly not entirely] British name for the first course of a meal.

24d   Bull almost decapitated champion (5)

In Britain, bull^[5] is another name for a bullseye ⇒ aim for the bull!. In archery and shooting, an inner^[5] is (1) a division of the target next to the bullseye or (2) a shot that strikes the inner ⇒ the Doctor found the bull, and held it to the close, while Servis only scored inners.

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