Thursday, July 11, 2013 — DT 27155

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27155
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, April 18, 2013
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27155]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
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

I suspected that this might be a RayT puzzle, but I began to have doubts when Her Majesty failed to make her customary appearance. However, Big Dave confirms that RayT is, in fact, the setter.

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   Criminal, brutal say, thrashed coppers (12)

9a   Lackey's beginning to grovel after endless stress (9)

10a   Diet includes energy meal (5)

11a   Skill in order to follow British composer (6)

Béla Bartók^[5] (1881 – 1945) was a Hungarian composer. His work owes much to Hungarian folk music and includes six string quartets, three piano concertos, and the Concerto for Orchestra (1943).

12a   Here, there, all around heavenly (8)

13a   Create bother on hospital department (6)

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

15a   Swine, English, keeping others standing (8)

18a   Perform vocally, keeping in character, making film (8)

Hoot^[5] is an informal term for an amusing situation or person ⇒ your mum’s a real hoot.

19a   Cheated character in plot (6)

21a   Eager to get maiden at ground (8)

There is a double entendre in the surface reading of this clue. Readers familiar with cricket will see a reference to that sport. In cricket, a maiden^[5], also known as a maiden over, (abbreviation M)^[5] is an over in which no runs are scored. An over^[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. The area of land where cricket is played is known as a cricket ground.

23a   Through girl oddly, a performance enhancer (6)

26a   Sailor also called in foreign port (5)

Ordinary seaman^[5] (abbreviation OS^[5]) is the lowest rank of sailor in the Royal Navy, below able seaman.

Osaka^[5] is a port and commercial city in central Japan, on the island of Honshu, capital of Kinki region; population 2,510,459 (2007).

27a   Blatant over bust I fancy (9)

28a   Turning practically senile with hepatic disorder (12)

Down

1d   End of sonic boom's decay (7)

2d   Passed up holding girl's bottom (5)

Di maintains her place as the most popular girl in Crosswordland.

Ran (past participle of run^[5]) is used in the sense of passed or caused to pass quickly in a particular direction ⇒ (i) [no object, with adverbial of direction] the rumour ran through the pack of photographers; (ii) [with object and adverbial of direction] Helen ran her fingers through her hair.

3d   Radical mistake one's found in empty threat (9)

4d   Lure starts to bob and intrigue tench (4)

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

5d   Bandage for first person seen with gun in draw (8)

6d   Anger about fellow getting sack (5)

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

7d   Male state in charge of knight errant? (8)

In algebraic notation, the usual modern way of recording chess games, the letter N stands for the knight^[7] (K is reserved for the king); in descriptive chess notation, Kt is sometimes used instead, mainly in older literature. Nevertheless, The Chambers Dictionary does list K^[1] as an abbreviation for knight (without specifying the context).

8d   Battle ensued engulfing Prime Minister (6)

Clement Attlee^[5] (1883 – 1967) was a British Labour statesman who served as Prime Minister 1945–51. His term saw the creation of the modern welfare state and the nationalization of major industries.

14d   Hot current involves resistance (8)

16d   Religious sanctimonious practice following Sabbath (9)

Pi^[5] is an informal British short form for pious.

17d   Stake put on gallop for fast runner (8)

18d   Dog in poster appearing in Crufts, say (6)

Crufts^[7], a dog show held annually in Birmingham, England, has been declared by Guinness World Records to be the largest annual dog show in the world.

20d   Lingerie perhaps for parts of chest (7)

22d   Ace goes over net once more (5)

24d   Almost sick in stomach from conscience? (5)

25d   Superior Stetson raised in American state (4)

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective with respect to language or social behaviour meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners. The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956). In Crosswordland, it is frequently clued by words such as posh or superior.

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