Friday, May 3, 2013 — DT 27106

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27106
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27106]
Big Dave's Review Written By scchua
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

For a change, I recognized that the puzzle is a pangram — but I only suspected this might be the case when the Q appeared in the penultimate clue to be solved. When I checked the population of the puzzle, I discovered that the other 25 letters were already present and accounted for.

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

4a   Something that moves one's spirit? (3,5)

8a   Sort of pressure exerted by broadcasting address (6)

In presumably at least some British dialects, "talk" is pronounced the same as "torque".

9a   Hamlet's liver? (8)

I had entered VILLAGES from VILLAGE (hamlet) + S ('s). That left me sorely perplexed as to why "liver" might mean villages!

10a   Cartridge for printed part of Sunday paper (8)

Cartridge^[4] is used in the sense of a light-tight film container that enables a camera to be loaded and unloaded in normal light. In Britain, such a unit is also known as a cassette magazine or simply a magazine^[4]. The American Heritage Dictionary gives a broader definition of magazine^[3] as a compartment in a camera in which rolls or cartridges of film are held for feeding through the exposure mechanism.

11a   Expecting King George to have keen following (6)

By tradition, the ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are 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 — and that of King George was GR^[5] — from the Latin Georgius Rex.

12a   No idea, but left in without snooker equipment (8)

13a   Almost arrived before one with only this to wear! (8)

When a phrase like "this to wear" is the definition, it is to be interpreted as 'the solution is something to wear'.

16a   Muscle-bound man with complaint going west of Madeira, say (8)

Madeira^[5] is an island in the Atlantic Ocean off NW Africa, the largest of the Madeiras, a group of islands which constitutes an autonomous region of Portugal; population 247,161 (2007); capital, Funchal. Encountered by the Portuguese in 1419, the islands were occupied by the Spanish 1580–1640 and the British 1807–14. Madeira^[5] (also called Madeira wine) is a fortified wine from the island of Madeira. In Britain, a Madeira cake^[5] is a close-textured, rich kind of sponge cake —
so named because it was eaten as an accompaniment to a glass of Madeira.

19a   Ladies by lake in famous battle (8)

In Britain, the Ladies^[5] is a term for a women’s public toilet. Loo^[5] is an informal British term for a toilet.

21a   Raise with card winning (4,2)

Note scchua's reference to a court card^[5] — the British name for a face card^[5].

23a   Launch programme in such a work area (4-4)

24a   Heavier than air machine making you go tar free? (8)

An autogiro^[5] (also spelled autogyro) is a form of aircraft with freely rotating horizontal blades and a propeller. It differs from a helicopter in that the blades are not powered but rotate in the slipstream, propulsion being by a conventional mounted engine.

25a   Talk about the French holiday home (6)

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

26a   European on river studies a source of assistance (8)

Down

1d   Half of locums with friend in the area (7)

In Britain, a locum^[5] is a person who stands in temporarily for someone else of the same profession, especially a cleric or doctor.

2d   Adopt a defensive position for old-fashioned side on the field (6,3)

In cricket, the off^[5]  (also off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The other side of the field is known either as the leg^[5] (also leg side) or on (also on side).

3d   Conclude investigators drowned in river (6)

The Criminal Investigation Department (seemingly better known by its abbreviation CID^[2]) is the detective branch of the British police force.

The Dee^[5] is a river in NE Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen. Another river of the same name rises in North Wales and flows past Chester and on into the Irish Sea.

4d   Be slightly unbalanced and resolve a case -- how unorthodox (4,1,5,5)

5d   Offence caused by college male in lively environment (8)

In the UK, poly^[5] is used as a short form for polytechnic^[5], an institution of higher education offering courses at degree level or below, especially in vocational subjects. In Britain the term polytechnic has largely dropped out of use. In 1989 British polytechnics gained autonomy from local education authorities and in 1992 were able to call themselves universities.

6d   Animal lair with no ventilation oppresses priest (5)

7d   Odds on Alice, possibly, must be exceptional (7)

In horse racing, starting price (abbreviation SP)^[10] [likely a British term] means the latest odds offered by bookmakers at the start of a race.

14d   Drama underlying second promise to provide fencing (9)

15d   Government financier's salary covered by working extra (8)

17d   An area that's rubbed out by age, of course (7)

18d   Found topless model worried about tiger! (7)

20d   Ditch or river full of fish? Quite the contrary (6)

The tench^[5] is a European freshwater fish (Tinca tinca) of the carp family, popular with anglers and widely introduced elsewhere.

22d   City play up in knockout (5)

Kyoto^[5] is an industrial city in central Japan, on the island of Honshu; population 1,389,595 (2007). Founded in the 8th century, it was the imperial capital from 794 until 1868.

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