Thursday, July 4, 2013 — DT 27150

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27150
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, April 12, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27150]
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

Introduction

A hitherto unknown vegetable and a spelling nuance between the names of two British colleges were the obstacles that prevented me from completing this puzzle unaided.

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   Smiles, having old pennies hidden inside jars (6)

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound (and is abbreviated p). In the system formerly used, a penny was equal to one twelfth of a shilling or 240th of a pound (and was abbreviated d, for denarius).

4a   Disease in record supplied by one new medic (8)

An extended play^[7] (or "EP" in common speech) is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play (SP) records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length compact discs and music downloads as well. ... In the United Kingdom, the Official Chart Company defines a boundary between EP and album classification at 25 minutes of length or four tracks (not counting alternative versions of featured songs, if present).

9a   Extremely keen to have e.g. paintings displayed around studio? (6)

Personally, I question whether a studio and a den are synonymous. Collins English Dictionary does not list studio as a synonym for den^[10], nor den as a synonym for studio^[10]. On the other hand, studio and den are each listed as a synonym for study^[10]. However, just because two words may each happen to be synonyms of a third word, does not necessarily make them synonyms of each other.

10a   Take no notice of  sales ploy? (8)

11a   Fellow needing to produce vegetable (9)

This is a vegetable that I had never heard of and I also had difficulty wrapping my head around the wordplay once I had identified the vegetable.

A mangetout^[10] is a British name for a pea of a variety with an edible pod, eaten when the pod is young and flat. In French, the phrase mange tout literally means 'eat all'.

After thinking about it, I can see that get out means to produce in the sense of, for instance, to get out an edition of a newspaper.

13a   Looking ill in rash endeavour (5)

14a   Trojan 'gems' are disciplined -- one bawls at the soldiers! (8-5)

17a   You want to see flower -- so go on rambles possibly (6,7)

The phrase "you want to see" is equivalent to saying "the solution to the clue is a synonym for".

21a   Obsession in Philippines capital putting learner off (5)

Manila^[5] is the capital and chief port of the Philippines, on the island of Luzon.

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

23a   Word from 14 offered with care (9)

To complete the present clue, insert the solution to clue 14a in place of the number "14" (which is a cross reference indicator).

24a   Community has hospital -- dump seen on the outside (8)

In Britain, a tip^[5] is (1) a place where rubbish is left ⇒ (i) a rubbish tip; (ii) we’ll have to take it to the tip or (2) an informal term for a dirty or untidy place ⇒ your room’s an absolute tip!. While preparing to pay for my meal at a restaurant during my recent trip to England, I happened to inquire of our tour guide about tipping customs in Britain. She cheekily replied — all the while keeping a straight face — with a discourse on recycling and waste management practices in the UK. A vestige of the term survives in North America, where a tipping fee may be imposed by a dump.

25a   End component of Cambridge college lacking in its Oxford counterpart (6)

Magdalene College^[7] is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. Magdalen College^[7] is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.

26a   Transmission from broadcaster -- in panic all's ignored (4,4)

27a   In first two bits of translation language is more succinct (6)

Erse^[5] is a dated term for the Scottish or Irish Gaelic language ⇒ (i) we found her chatting happily to an Irish monk in Erse; (ii) [as modifier] Erse songs and tales.

Down

1d   It's good joining group of stars with my entertainment award (6)

The Ram^[5] is the zodiacal sign or constellation Aries.

2d   Individuals entering one Asian country from another (9)

3d   Man's beginning to entertain old city as a stage performer (7)

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city that formerly existed on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC.

5d   Indicating  an error with the way the psalm is being sung? (8,3)

Pointing^[10] is (1) the insertion of marks to indicate the chanting of a psalm or the vowels in a Hebrew text or (2) the sequence of marks so inserted.

6d   Lecture lad with mice being mistreated (7)

7d   Opening about four weeks -- there's been a change of heart (5)

8d   Trace any random curve (8)

A catenary^[5] is curve formed by a wire, rope, or chain hanging freely from two points that are not in the same vertical line.

12d   Authoritarian maiden perhaps leading course (11)

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.

15d   Islanders preserve excellent metal containers (9)

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] meaning first class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-class.

16d   Opinionated beast -- dull and in charge (8)

According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, mat^[5] is the US spelling of matt (or matte)^[5], an adjective used to describe a surface or colour which is dull and flat or without a shine ⇒ (i) prints are available on matt or glossy paper; (ii) a matt black. I am familiar with the spelling matte.

18d   What may be handed over by barmaids (good girls) (7)

19d   Dawn is nurse misbehaving (7)

20d   One with terrible anger prepared to move? (2,4)

22d   English lecturer's first to go after recently instituted post (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