Wednesday, July 17, 2013 — DT 27160

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27160
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27160]
Big Dave's Review Written By scchua
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 not overly difficult — but nonetheless enjoyable — diversion from Jay today.

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   Eats quickly in barracks (6)

Barrack^[5] is a British term meaning to jeer loudly at (someone performing or speaking in public) in order to express disapproval or to distract them ⇒ opponents barracked him when he addressed the opening parliamentary session.

Although Collins English Dictionary characterises the term scoff^[3,4,11] — in the sense of to eat (food) fast and greedily — as being chiefly British, the word is also found with this meaning in the two American dictionaries cited by TheFreeDictionary.com website.

5a   Spread left out of enchilada, possibly (8)

9a   Gunfight  that follows penalty? (5-3)

When confronted with this type of clue, I have observed that bloggers often seem to find it difficult to pinpoint precisely what constitutes the definition — and frequently provide differing interpretations. At Big Dave's Crossword Blog, scchua has indicated that the definition is "gunfight", presumably implying that he considers the remainder of the clue to be wordplay. From another perspective, I would hazard to say that the entire clue could likely be considered to be a cryptic definition — one that might further be decomposed into a double definition where the two definitions are "gunfight" and "[something] that follows penalty?".

In soccer, a penalty shoot-out^[5] (or shoot-out) is a tiebreaker decided by each side taking a specified number of penalty kicks. A similar approach is used in hockey to settle games that are tied after regulation time, but is known simply as a shoot-out.

10a   He beats the goalie, giving heart to disheartened star (6)

11a   Inexperienced eleven not finishing drink (5,3)

Eleven^[5] is the number of players on a cricket^[7] side or an Association football^[7] [soccer] team — and is often used as a metonym for such a team ⇒ at cricket I played in the first eleven.

12a   Family help couple to chase gold (2,4)

The symbol for the chemical element gold is Au^[5].

13a   Meet prisoner in front of border (8)

In Britain, a grass border along a road is known as a verge^[5] — thus explaining scchua's hint.

15a   Small yet volatile infection (4)

17a   Underhand and underfoot? (4)

Here the setter uses the question mark to imply that we are to change an adverb into a noun. We are expected to interpret "underfoot?" as [something that is] underfoot.

19a   Occasional dances for different people (8)

20a   New branch organising tours around Portugal (6)

P^[5] is the International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Portugal.

21a   Pastor to supply sources of nourishment (8)

Supply^[4,11]is to  be interpreted as an alternative spelling of supplely, meaning in a supple manner.

22a   Puts up with second-class, surrounded by assistants (6)

23a   Tendency to absorb right knowledge (8)

24a   Period that is welcomed by teams rowing (8)

Just as eleven can be a metonym for a soccer team, eight^[5] is a metonym for a rowing team.

25a   Follows and makes certain, with no resistance (6)

In physics, R^[5] is the symbol for (electrical) resistance.

Down

2d   Company present books making sense (8)

In Crosswordland, the word "books" often refers to either the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT).

3d   City left men inside barrier (8)

In the British armed forces, other ranks (abbreviation OR)^[5] refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

Florence^[5] is a city in west central Italy, the capital of Tuscany, on the River Arno; population 365,659 (2008). Florence was a leading centre of the Italian Renaissance from the 14th to the 16th century, especially under the rule of the Medici family during the 15th century.

4d   Poor rodent she cut down (9)

5d   Trouble with containers, they’ll keep you warm (3-5,7)

6d   Embrace one person wearing nothing accepting cult, oddly (7)

7d   One tells of Scottish island uprising to leader of rebels (8)

Arran^[5] is an island in the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland.

8d   Adjust picture for broadcast on skirmish (8)

14d   Apply a coating to good second-hand denture (4-5)

15d   Heads off after star gets cover (8)

16d   The old dear loses head, getting a horse (8)

17d   Investing time in a healthy son causes amazement (8)

18d   Go on do, mostly united in order (8)

In Britain, do^[5] is an informal term for swindle ⇒ a thousand pounds for one set of photos — Jacqui had been done.

19d   Rich university made advance after work (7)

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.

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