Thursday, July 18, 2013 — DT 27161

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27161
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, April 25, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27161]
Big Dave's Review Written By Falcon
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 was well into this puzzle before it dawned on me that I had reviewed it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog when it first appeared in the UK. The puzzle presented a good mental workout even on the second time around.

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   Utter old bag! (7)

5a   Slander in the air: rugby forwards getting cosmetic treatment (7)

In rugby, pack^[5] refers to a team’s forwards considered as a group ⇒ I had doubts about Swansea’s pack at the beginning of the season.

9a   Caught with an 18-year-old perhaps in restaurant (7)

The abbreviation c^[5], denoting caught (by), is to be found on cricket scorecards.

10a   Sitting in dustcart is 'ancillary skilled worker' (7)

Dustcart is a dated British term for the vehicle that we know in North America as a garbage truck^[10].

11a   A spring sauce for pasta -- second course or side dish maybe (9)

12a   Jamaican music revived without group initially keen (5)

13a   Support vegan's zeal off and on (5)

15a   Preserved quiet getting peeved with France losing out to Italy (9)

F^[5] and I^[5] are the International Vehicle Registration (IVR) codes for France and Italy, respectively.

17a   Complicated roots and ties for those who never 14 (9)

The number "14" in the clue is known as a cross reference indicator. To complete the present clue, insert the solution to clue 14a in place of it.

19a   Labour offering bribe (5)

In Britain graft^[5] may mean (as a noun) hard work ⇒ success came after years of hard graft and (as a verb) to work hard ⇒ I need people prepared to go out and graft.

22a   Royal Horse Guards' music? (5)

The Royal Horse Guards^[7] is a former cavalry regiment of the British Army which was nicknamed the Blues (from its blue uniform). The regiment was founded in 1650 and continued in existence until it was amalgamated with the Royal Dragoons in 1969.

23a   Floor cleaner contains iodine -- you might be comfortable with this (9)

In Britain, char^[5] is another name for a charwoman^[5], a dated term for a woman employed as a cleaner in a house or office. The hint in my review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog alludes to another Briticism, daily^[5] (also called daily help), a dated term for a woman who is employed to clean someone else’s house each day.

I^[5] is the symbol for the chemical element iodine.

25a   Tribe leader right to tuck into cooked ham pie (7)

In the Old Testament, Ephraim^[10] is (1) the younger son of Joseph, who received the principal blessing of his grandfather Jacob (Genesis 48:8–22); (2) the tribe descended from him; or (3) the territory of this tribe, west of the River Jordan.

26a   A liberal president losing Ohio at first but gaining a different state (7)

27a   Intellectually artist's retrospective is satisfactory (2,2,3)

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. 

28a   Delays restricting commercial mass publications (3,4)

Lad mag^[10] is a British term for a magazine aimed at or appealing to men, focusing on fashion, gadgets, and often featuring scantily dressed women.

In physics, m^[5] is the symbol for mass ⇒ E = mc².

Down

1d   Enrolled nurse with word of warning about Left tract (7)

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.

The exclamation cave^[5] is dated British school slang meaning look out! (from Latin, imperative of cavere 'beware').

2d   Nibbles about half banana before exercise on Sabbath (7)

PE^[5] is the abbreviation for physical education (or Phys Ed, as most school kids would refer to it).

3d   A paltry so-called Islamic prince (5)

4d   Object to athletics event's psychological warfare (4,5)

5d   Miserly so-and-so's first to make money (5)

6d   Dubious diet lacks European fish -- gutted (9)

7d   Like South Africa without for instance one indigenous weapon (7)

An assegai^[5] (also spelled assagai) is a slender, iron-tipped, hardwood spear used chiefly by southern African peoples.

8d   Socialist type takes precedence, being related (7)

I notice that I made a major faux pas in my review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog where I used part of the solution in my hint. I should have said "... a synonym for type or sort ...". I'm surprised that no one called me out on it.

14d   Man-eater caught tail first in noose -- pull your finger out! (4,5)

Get (or pull) one's finger out^[5] is British slang meaning to cease prevaricating and start to act. Look sharp^[5] is used in the sense of be quick ⇒ well, look sharp then, or else you’ll keep Jos waiting.

16d   Variety of cash I dissipated in Hebridean isle (5,4)

Music hall^[3,4,11] (also called variety) is the British name for vaudeville. The term music hall may also refer to a vaudeville theatre.

Mull^[5] is a large island of the Inner Hebrides; chief town, Tobermory. It is separated from the coast of Scotland near Oban by the Sound of Mull.

17d   Picture expert getting inside Greek character (7)

Tau^5] is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Τ, τ).

18d   Camp trio huge all over the place apart from East (5,2)

20d   Potboiler  epic? (3,4)

An Aga saga^[7] is a type of popular novel, set in middle England and populated by the middle classes of the sort that typically own Aga cookers. Agas are kitchen ranges, often very large and expensive, that are seen as epitomizing the prosperous and cosy middle-class English country lifestyle. [read more].

The entire clue can be interpreted as a cryptic definition of an Aga saga, a potboiler^[5] being a book, film, or other creative work produced solely to make the originator a living by catering to popular taste. The clue can also be seen as a double definition with an "Aga" being literally a potboiler (a cooking range) and "saga" being an epic.

21d   Clobber poor hardest (7)

Clobber^[5] is British slang for clothing, personal belongings, or equipment ⇒ I found all his clobber in the locker.

23d   Dissent of Parisian with spirit returning (5)

De^[8] is a French preposition meaning of.

24d   Vegetable burnt to a cinder by the sound of it (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)

Signing off for today — Falcon