Monday, July 22, 2013 — DT 27163

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27163
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, April 27, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27163 - Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27163 - Review]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (Review)
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 As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review. This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, July 20, 2013 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Having last week skipped the puzzle published in the UK on Saturday, the National Post again changes course and this week includes the Saturday puzzle.

While gnomethang awarded this puzzle a mere two stars for difficulty, there is a sizable number of comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog indicating that the writers found the puzzle more difficult than that. I will add my vote to that number.

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   Political group substitutes seat of government (5,5)

... not only the "seat of government", but equally  the "seat of opposition".

In the UK, front bench^[5] refers to the foremost seats in the House of Commons, occupied by the members of the cabinet [from the governing party (or parties, in the case of a coalition government)] and shadow cabinet [from the opposition party (or parties)] ⇒ (i) his place on the Opposition front bench will be at stake; (ii) [as modifier] a front-bench spokesman on European affairs.

In Britain, Members of Parliament literally sit on benches. In Canada, even though MPs sit at desks rather than on benches, the term front bench is still used.

6a   Sounds like robust greeting (4)

10a   A set backing fabulous author (5)

Aesop^[5] (6th century BC) was a Greek storyteller. The moral animal fables associated with him were probably collected from many sources, and initially communicated orally. Aesop is said to have lived as a slave on the island of Samos.

11a   Amazing bird seen round top of tree (9)

12a   One's inclined to allow end to be held (8)

13a   Playwright's digestive problem requiring nurse (5)

Henrik Ibsen^[5] (1828 – 1906)was a Norwegian dramatist. He is credited with being the first major dramatist to write tragedy about ordinary people in prose. Ibsen’s later works, such as The Master Builder (1892), deal increasingly with the forces of the unconscious and were admired by Sigmund Freud. Other notable works: Peer Gynt (1867), A Doll’s House (1879), Ghosts (1881).

IBS is the abbreviation for irritable bowel syndrome.

In the UK, a State Enrolled Nurse^[5] (abbreviation SEN) is a nurse enrolled on a state register and having a qualification lower than that of a State Registered Nurse. It seems that this expression is sometimes shortened to enrolled nurse (abbreviation EN^[10]). The entry for State Enrolled Nurse^[10] in Collins English Dictionary would suggest that the term in no longer in use [even though we have now seen it twice in three days].

15a   Conservative needs to make rapid progress in discipline (7)

17a   Unconventional priest's locked up over sharp reply (7)

An over^[5] (abbreviation O^[5]) is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

19a   One no longer working on Hebridean island (7)

Tiree^[5] is an island in the Inner Hebrides, to the west of the isles of Mull and Coll.

21a   A paper round with right paper wrongly delivered (7)

22a   In Spain a chorizo is a spicy snack (5)

A chorizo^[5] is a spicy Spanish pork sausage.

24a   Money gets nothing more than fine material (8)

27a   Half of our race between two peaks is cause of suffering (9)

28a   Spike Milligan's final letter revealed by the 'Thunderer' (5)

If you are looking for the quotation marks in the National Post, you won't find them. Once again they failed to survive the Atlantic crossing.

Spike Milligan^[5] (1918 – 2002) was an Irish comedian and writer, born in India; born Terence Alan Milligan. He came to prominence in the [British] cult radio programme The Goon Show (1951-9).

The Thunderer^[7] is a former nickname for the British newspaper The Times.

In Scandinavian mythology, Thor^[5] is the god of thunder, the weather, agriculture, and the home, the son of Odin and Freya (Frigga). Thursday is named after him.

29a   Retreat lacking approval? (4)

30a   Debase worship around Troy’s first queen (10)

In Homeric legend, Troy is the city of King Priam, besieged for ten years by the Greeks during the Trojan War. It was regarded as having been a purely legendary city until Heinrich Schliemann identified the mound of Hissarlik on the NE Aegean coast of Turkey as the site of Troy. The city was apparently sacked and destroyed by fire in the mid 13th century BC, a period coinciding with the Mycenaean civilization of Greece.

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. 

Down

1d   Jack and Iris  become tired (4)

I think gnomethang must have misspoken in his statement "Three definitions – the first two are synonyms for ensigns ..." The first (jack) is an ensign, but the second (iris) is — to the best of my knowledge — a flower.

2d   Bishop taken in by old maid perhaps following religion (9)

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

3d   Leading light in Fleet Street drank (5)

Fleet Street^[5] is a street in central London in which the offices of national newspapers were located until the mid 1980s (often used to refer to the British Press) ⇒ the hottest story in Fleet Street.

4d   European behind such as Chinese (7)

5d   Talk about person said to be mad (7)

7d   Clay when getting another name (5)

Muhammad Ali^[7] (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.) is an American former professional boxer, generally considered among the greatest heavyweights in the sport's history. Born Cassius Clay, at the age of 22 he won the world heavyweight championship in 1964 from Sonny Liston in a stunning upset. Shortly after that bout, Ali joined the Nation of Islam (often called the Black Muslims at the time) and changed his name.

8d   Fruit began to be arranged in transporter (10)

Lorry^[5] is the common British name for a truck.

9d   In terrible heat I work on island in African country (8)

In the field of music, Op. (also op.)^[5] is an abbreviation meaning opus (work). It is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication.

14d   Half accept phone signal cut off in Stanley's place (10)

Accrington Stanley Football Club^[7] (whose nickname is Stanley) is an English football [soccer] club based in Accrington, Lancashire. The club participates in Football League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system.

16d   What business makes  pie? (8)

Turnover^[3,11] is the amount of business transacted during a given period of time.

18d   Prove a sun explodes -- as this? (9)

20d   Hot former lover called (7)

21d   Walter's profligate good-for-nothing (7)

23d   Load carried initially by legendary ship (5)

In Greek mythology, the Argo^[7] was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It was named after its builder, Argus.

25d   Small child swallows slice of roast joint (5)

A mite^[2] is any small person or animal, especially a child that is pitied ⇒ poor little mite.

26d   Bet TV presenter takes drug (4)

In Britain, the anchor of a news broadcast or the host of a television or radio programme is known as a presenter^[5].

"Ant"^[7] is a diminutive of the given name "Anthony" or "Antony", popular in Britain, but less common elsewhere. Anthony "Ant" McPartlin^[7] is one half of the English comedy and television presenting duo Ant & Dec, with the other member being Declan Donnelly.

E^[5] is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒ (i) people have died after taking E; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties.

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