Monday, August 19, 2013 — DT 27184

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27184
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27184]
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
Notes This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, August 17, 2013 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Freshly returned from my travels, I am attempting to get back into my blogging routine. I was pleased — and somewhat surprised — to see that the National Post maintained my forecast publication schedule throughout my absence. Consequently, all of the blog entries that I prepared in advance turned out to be correct.

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   Tiger, say, having a fit of bad temper -- he's a disaster! (11)

Strop^[5] is British slang for a bad mood or a temper^[5] (in the sense of an angry state of mind) ⇒ Nathalie gets in a strop and makes to leave.

9a   What may stop you shooting in exotic places around pole (4,3)

10a   Runs home, disheartened with South American primate (6)

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation R^[5] indicates run(s).

12a   Praise new ideologies dismissing ego (7)

13a   Brief description of unfashionable occupation (7)

14a   Look around back of hall and put a film on (5)

15a   Prison sentence given to precocious chorus singer? (5,4)

In British slang, do (one's) bird^[5] means to serve a prison sentence [bird from rhyming slang birdlime 'time'].

17a   Measure applied to sensitive area in dance (9)

The quickstep^[5] is a dance similar to a fast foxtrot.

20a   One who's left the country as a result of Old Father Time (5)

22a   Fill post -- a quiet position in field (7)

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

 In cricket, point^[5] is (1) a fielding position on the off side near the batsman or (2) a fielder at the point position. The off^[5]  (also off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The other side of the field is known either as the leg^[5] (also leg side) or on (also on side).

24a   Expression of sorrow mainly enveloping Scotsman (7)

25a   Mischief-makers from team tucking into pastries (6)

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.

26a   Broadcaster exposed by comedian ten named (7)

27a   Party worker lets out insects (4,7)

Down

2d   Record area -- oddly rich source of honey (7)

3d   A time to give? Now! (2,7)

4d   More or less below belt, ultimately? No, above it (5)

5d   Organising revolt, why broadcast in public? (7)

6d   Harry? Bound to get out! (7)

Harry Houdini^[5] (1874 – 1926) was a Hungarian-born American magician and escape artist; born Erik Weisz. In the early 1900s he became famous for his ability to escape from all kinds of bonds and containers, from prison cells to aerially suspended straitjackets.

7d   In the jet set, maybe, with second one of four children in police force (6,5)

In Britain, a flying squad^[5] is a division of a police force or other organization which is capable of reaching an incident quickly ⇒ (i) the gang were caught by the Flying Squad; (ii) a medical flying squad.

8d   Article left in Indian state or country (6)

11d   Pioneers in heavy metal and rock covering article (5,3,3)

16d   Obscene ruling covering half of pubs (9)

18d   One married type's distinctive influence (7)

19d   Cutting jack leaves hazard for articulated lorry (7)

Lorry^[5] is the common British name for a truck.

20d   Palestine ordered to release an apostle's letter (7)

21d   Flat areas east of Israel surrounded by troubles (6)

23d   Army volunteers set off to get experience (5)

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

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