Monday, May 20, 2013 — DT 27117

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27117
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27117]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
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
Notes This puzzle appears on the second [unlabeled Monday] Diversions page in the Saturday, May 18, 2013 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Similar to the experience reported by Gazza, it was a handful of clues in the northwest quadrant that I found most difficult. With a period of cogitation, I was able to solve all but one of them.

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

2a   An expert at assessing faults? (12)

8a   Measure of insulation found with a traditional dress (4)

In Britain, tog^[5] means a unit of thermal resistance used to express the insulating properties of clothes and quilts. The name comes from the word togs (meaning clothes) on the pattern of an earlier unit called the clo (first element of clothes).

9a   Dub lout misbehaving around factory's entrance suspect (8)

10a   Flower getting spread around island past its best? (8)

In Britain, marg^[10] is short for margarine.

11a   Rear royal figure to stop progress (6)

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   Pollution from pass encountered around North (10)

A defile^[5] is a steep-sided narrow gorge or passage (originally one requiring troops to march in single file) ⇒ the twisting track wormed its way up a defile to level ground.

13a   Catch criticism faced by part of hospital (6)

The most frequently visited area of the Crosswordland Hospital continues to be the ear, nose and throat (ENT^[2]) department.

16a   Put off fellow interrupting animals (5)

F^[2] is the abbreviation for Fellow (of a society, etc).

17a   Put aside old novel with affection, nothing less (6)

She^[7], subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by English writer Henry Rider Haggard (1856 – 1925), first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887. She is one of the classics of imaginative literature, and as of 1965 with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages, one of the best-selling books of all time. Extraordinarily popular upon its release, She has never been out of print.

18a   Prim woman calms room after disorder around hotel (10)

Hotel^[5] is a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication.

A schoolmarm^[5] is a female school teacher (in Britain, a schoolmistress), especially one regarded as prim, strict, and brisk in manner. British dictionaries characterise this meaning of schoolmarm^[2,5] as being North America. Interestingly, the extension of the term schoolmarm^[10] to women other than school teachers is said by Collins English Dictionary to be a British usage — though I believe that it may be used in this way in North America as well. It would appear that this is a North American expression which has been adopted in Britain — but only in its figurative sense.

21a   Fastening material concealed by level crossing (6)

23a   Vulgarity endures sadly with first of sketches (8)

24a   Old artist accommodated in remote old state (8)

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[5]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. 

25a   Spell in Italian city I relinquished (4)

Turin^[7] is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River.

26a   Autonomy obtained by more than one paper, we hear (12)

The Independent^[7] is a British national morning newspaper published in London. Nicknamed the Indy, it was launched in 1986 and is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers.

Down

1d   Comfort in putting up very large ornamental material (6)

The sizes of clothing that North Americans would describe as plus-size^[7] (or often big and tall in the case of men's clothing) would be called outsize (OS^[5]) in Britain.

2d   Ridiculing poor trails about London gallery (9)

The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)^[7] is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It contains galleries, a theatre, two cinemas, a bookshop and a bar.

3d   Trainer might have this popular fish (6)

4d   Unexciting  location for traffic island? (6-2-3-4)

5d   It can be killing with no end of jokes? (8)

This an & lit. (all-in-one) clue. The entire clue provides the wordplay which is SLAUGHTER (killing) having the S (end of jokeS) deleted (it can be ... with no). As for the definition, an endless stream of exceptionally funny jokes might cause one to figuratively "die of laughter".

6d   Prosper in good school (3,2)

Eton College^[7], often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent [private] school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor". It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, and is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868. [Note: In Britain, "public schools" are a special class of private school; what North Americans would call public schools seem to be referred to in Britain by terms such as state-run or state-funded schools].

7d   Impudence shown by childish character -- it can make you stew! (8)

Peter Pan^[5], a boy with magical powers who never grew up, is the hero of a play of the same name (1904) by Scottish dramatist and novelist J. M. Barrie (1860 – 1937). The name has come to symbolize a person who retains youthful features or childlike characteristics ⇒ the author is a Peter Pan obsessed with his own childhood memories.

14d   Stop a trim teen getting out of shape (9)

15d   Fit into tight space and get clipped holding gardening tool (8)

16d   Dreary tea sold improperly close to cafe (8)

19d   Peculiar relative? That's very likely! (4-2)

20d   Holiday destination in October emptied among others (6)

22d   Divided  segment of garlic (5)

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)

Happy Victoria Day — Falcon