Wednesday, July 3, 2013 — DT 27149

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27149
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, April 11, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27149]
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

In reading through the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, I discovered that my solution contained a couple of mistakes.

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   Cellar barrels' opening gets troops in a fix (8)

The wordplay is B (barrel's opening; first letter [opening] of Barrel) + (gets) MEN (troops) contained in (in) {A (from the clue) + SET (fix)}.

5a & 10a   Showbiz columnist's worst gripes erupting about paparazzi ultimately (6)

I found the solution to this clue only in The Chambers Dictionary, which defines gossip-writer^[1] (which it spells with a hyphen) as a journalist who writes articles about the lives and loves of well-known people. By inference, it is another term for a gossip columnist^[1] (spelled without a hyphen).

9a   Fitfully regarding a new shed (2,3,3)

10a   See 5a (6)

12a   Decorate half of them rather like Big Ben? (9)

Big Ben^[10] can refer to either (1) the bell in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, London; (2) the clock in this tower; or (3) the tower.

13a   Stuff  Frenchman! (5)

Stuff^[5] is a dated British term for woollen fabric, especially as distinct from silk, cotton, and linen ⇒ [as modifier] her dark stuff gown.

14a   Fellow in dock reportedly (4)

Fellow^[5] is used in the sense of a person in the same position, involved in the same activity, or otherwise associated with another ⇒ he was learning with a rapidity unique among his fellows. A peer^[5] is a person of the same age, status, or ability as another specified person ⇒ he has incurred much criticism from his academic peers.

16a   'Narcotics'? It's a Poe novel (7)

While this novel may be found in Crosswordland, it seemingly does not exist in the real world. Edgar Allan Poe^[5] (1809 – 1849) was an American short-story writer, poet, and critic. His fiction and poetry are Gothic in style and characterized by their exploration of the macabre and the grotesque. Notable works: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (short story, 1840); ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (detective story, 1841); ‘The Raven’ (poem, 1845).

As is virtually always the case, the quotation marks did not appear in the National Post.

19a   'Howards End' is not broadly speaking extremely literary or very good (7)

And yet another set of missing quotation marks.

Howards End^[7] is a novel by English author E. M. Forster (1879 – 1970), first published in 1910, which tells a story of social and familial relations in turn-of-the-century England. The setter would seem to be out of step with most critics in his assessment of the novel. Wikipedia says "Howards End is considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Howards End 38th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century."

21a   Pasta sauce and portion of extra guacamole (4)

In Italian cookery, ragu^[1] is a meat and tomato sauce. Ragú^[7] is also a brand of Italian-style sauces and condiments owned by the Anglo-Dutch multinational consumer goods company Unilever except in the United Kingdom, where Unilever sold the rights to the Ragú brand to Symington's, a private label food manufacturer in Leeds in 2011.

24a   Relish report of 10 (5)

Raita^[5] is an Indian side dish of yogurt containing chopped cucumber or other vegetables, and spices.

The number "10" in the clue is a cross reference to clue 10a. To complete the present clue, insert the solution to the cross-referenced clue in place of the cross-reference indicator.

Remember that the Brits would pronounce the word "writer" to sound somewhat like RIGHT-AH.

25a   Banter from spectator either side of half-time (9)

27a   Unpopular time for power cut (6)

28a   Look mean and impenetrable (8)

29a   Walk out of direst mess (6)

30a   Stranglers perform hits with this instrument (8)

Down

1d   Escape in the Old Railway Inn (6)

British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail^[7], was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages between 1994 and 1997.

Boozer^[5] is a British name for a pub or bar.

I presume that the "xxx" in Big Dave's hint may merely be a placeholder that he neglected to replace.

2d   Quiet upset baby that's dirty (6)

3d   Daughter breaks dinner gong (5)

Gong^[5] is an informal British term for a medal or award.

4d   More stylish Northern Ireland newspaper? That's right (7)

Northern Ireland^[5] (abbreviation NI^[5]) is a province of the United Kingdom occupying the NE part of Ireland; population 1,775,000 (est. 2008); capital, Belfast. Judging by entries in Oxford Dictionaries Online, Northern Ireland is the only major division of the United Kingdom to hold the status of province, with England and Scotland being considered countries, and Wales a principality.

The Financial Times (FT)^[7] is a British international business newspaper [that is printed on conspicuous salmon pink newsprint].

6d   Rowdy using horn approaching at speed (9)

7d   Settled university fee -- it's steep (8)

8d   Bloody-minded, intrinsically entertaining reverend retired (8)

11d   Oxford perhaps in need of articulation? Get away! (4)

15d   Disaffected journalist giving unusual coverage (9)

17d   Greedy American banks in uproar over promissory notes (8)

18d   Nurse's round in dark (8)

I had written in MINISTER (which can be a synonym for "nurse") despite not being able to justify the wordplay.

In Britain, a senior female nurse, typically in charge of a ward, would be called a sister^[5] (often Sister).

20d   Wail of unknown instrument (4)

I considered and rejected YAWL as an answer, but it turns out to be the correct solution. In British dialect, yawl^[10] means to to howl, weep, or scream harshly; in other words, to yowl.

Unfortunately, I had opted to go with YOWL, largely on the basis that The Chambers Dictionary defines owl (among other meanings) as a dullard which is a dull and stupid person or a dunce [so much for the owl's reputation for being wise!].  I reasoned that "instrument" could be referring to someone who is easily used or taken advantage of — a description which might also fit a dunce. It turns out that I was the dunce.

21d   Greek plonk in container without cap tipped over (7)

Retsina^[5] is a Greek white or rosé wine flavoured with resin.

22d   Women's crew making impact (6)

23d   Set out twice resolving to fly (6)

26d   Italian football club trainee has name taken (5)

Football Club Internazionale Milano S.p.A., commonly referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan^[7] outside of Italy, is a professional Italian football [soccer] club based in Milan, Lombardy.

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