Tuesday, April 9, 2013 — DT 27086

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27086
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, January 28, 2013
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27086]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ 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

There is nothing too taxing in the puzzle that Rufus has served up today. The clue which gave me the most trouble — and my last one in — was 18a. I even put the puzzle aside for a while hoping that my subconscious mind would perform its magic (following the advice of crypticsue, a fellow blogger on Big Dave's site) but, when I came back to it, I was still stymied. Nevertheless, I was determined not to let a one star puzzle get the better of me and I persevered (or, as Mary would say on Big Dave's blog, "perservated"). And, suddenly, the solution revealed itself.

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

1a   Passport -- or search warrant? (5,6)

A double cryptic definition.

9a   The uncertain chairman's lack of control (9)

10a   Number three is wrong (5)

"Number" is defined in the whimsical cryptic crossword sense of something that numbs.

11a   Stays will alter a waist (6)

Are "stays" and "awaits" really synonyms? If they are, wouldn't the statement "Stay here and await my return" be totally redundant?

12a   Well brought up, but lacking refinement? (5,3)

13a   Former star played walk-on characters (6)

15a   Can't serve venison without bottle of wine (8)

Although the setter has chosen to invert the sentence order, the wordplay effectively amounts to put (serve) DEER (venison) outside (without) CANT (from the clue).

18a   Greeks and Romans are different for instance (8)

19a   Still, it could affect one's reception (6)

21a   Rate rise for renovating major roads (8)

23a   Glass-paper? (6)

The Daily Mirror^[7] (informally The Mirror) is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Libellule refers to this publication by the informal British term red top^[5] (from the red background on which the titles of certain British newspapers are printed).

26a   Front cover (5)

... not one found on a book.

27a   Live out on new development (9)

28a   Expansion of the novel 'Greenmantle' (11)

As usual, the quotation marks which were present in The Daily Telegraph fail to appear in the National Post. Does Canadian trade policy prohibit the importation of such punctuation?

Greenmantle^[7] is the second of five novels by John Buchan featuring the character of Richard Hannay, first published in 1916 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. It is one of two Hannay novels set during the First World War, the other being Mr Standfast (1919); Hannay's first and best-known adventure, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), is set in the period immediately preceding the war.

John Buchan, who bore the title of Lord Tweedsmuir, served from 1935 to 1940 as Governor General of Canada.

Down

1d   Issue call-up to rising Greek character (7)

The wordplay is a reversal (up) of NAME (call) + a reversal (rising) of ETA (Greek character).

Eta^[5] is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet (Η, η).

2d   The Pope's top gear (5)

... in other words, his headgear.

3d   Cathy built career in sporting competition (5,4)

The Solent^[7] (to which Libellule refers in his review) is a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England. It is an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting, hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually.

4d   It's bad to be overthrown (4)

5d   People cannot recollect having bad ones (8)

6d   Put your foot down to obtain new trade (5)

7d   He takes obstacles in his stride (7)

8d   It currently controls others at building (8)

... a rheostat^[5] being an electrical instrument used to control a current by varying the resistance.

14d   Understood vessel could be reserved (8)

16d   A time to receive praise for virtue (9)

17d   Brewed ale round there is heavenly! (8)

18d   Stubborn Old Testament character has a New Testament following (7)

20d   Rising singer joining company, a capital investment (7)

... another piece of headgear.

22d   Get up about mid-morning and wash (5)

Here we encounter a fairly common cryptic crossword device, with the construction "mid-morning" being used to clue the middle letter of "morNing".

24d   Gather together for hike (5)

25d   Dismal party game is upsetting (4)

While two major variants of the game of rugby exist in the real world, only one seems to have gained favour in Crosswordland. Rugby union (RU)^[5] is a form of rugby played in teams of fifteen, in contrast to rugby league^[5], which is played in teams of thirteen.

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon