Thursday, August 22, 2013 — DT 27187

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27187
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, May 25, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27187 - Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27187 - Review]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (Review)
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 As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

Once again, a bit of "perservation" [a portmanteau word coined by Mary, a regular commenter on Big Dave's site, combining perseverance and perspiration] allowed me to complete the puzzle without calling out the electronic reinforcements.

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   Party near American university site (6)

5a   Circus performers in glasses (8)

9a   Old retirement place to take care of sheltering our pop finally (4-6)

10a   Curses celebrity making comeback (4)

11a   Biscuits with bananas (8)

The British use the term biscuit^[3,4,11] to refer to a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or a crackers in North American parlance. A North American biscuit^[5] is similar to a British scone.

12a   Greek character aboard vessel, one at home in the sea (6)

Chi^[5] is the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet (Χ, χ).

13a   Sounds like a quaint case (4)

The wordplay is sounds like (from the clue) {A (from the clue) + TWEE (quaint)}.

In British English, twee^[5] means excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental ⇒ although the film’s a bit twee, it’s watchable.

15a   See on vid horrific headlong plunge (8)

Vid^[5] is short for video  ⇒ I’ve got it on vid now.

18a   Prolific robber making insolent comment brought back alcoholic drink (8)

19a   Hit over the head because shortly hostility's beginning (4)

In Britain, a cosh^[3,4,11] is a weighted weapon similar to a blackjack. As a verb, it means to hit with such a weapon, especially on the head.

In Britain, the word "because" is pronounced be-KOZ. Thus, its slangy short form is "cos". In North America, where the pronunciation is be-KUZ, the short form would likely be written "cuz".

21a   Oddball in Rio wed in disguise (6)

23a   Don't happen to authenticate (8)

25a   Wedding vow left one adored (4)

26a   Sort of welcome giving heart to record (6-4)

As gnomethang says, "Your heart is a TICKER colloquially in the UK" — and far beyond the British Isles.

27a   Ancient Britons keeping radical forecasts (8)

The Picts^[5] were an ancient people inhabiting northern Scotland in Roman times.

28a   Cross about theologian's bewilderment (6)

Cross^[5] in the sense of an animal or plant resulting from cross-breeding; in other words, a hybrid ⇒ a Galloway and shorthorn cross.

A mule^[5] is the offspring of a donkey and a horse (strictly, a male donkey and a female horse), typically sterile and used as a beast of burden. The offspring of a female donkey and a male horse, on the other hand, is called a hinny^[5].

Down

2d   A keen endless love (5)

3d   Get bottle to hug a fabulous bird of limited scope (9)

The roc^[5] is a gigantic mythological bird described in the Arabian Nights.

4d   Exhibitor  scorned group (6)

In British slang, a shower^[5] is a group of people perceived as incompetent or worthless ⇒ look at this lot—what a shower!.

5d   The Bard's work makes unsound artistic play (5,10)

Titus Andronicus^[7] is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the sixteenth century.

The play is set during the latter days of the Roman Empire and tells the fictional story of Titus, a general in the Roman army, who is engaged in a cycle of revenge with Tamora, Queen of the Goths. It is Shakespeare's bloodiest and most violent work and traditionally was one of his least respected plays. Although it was extremely popular in its day, it fell out of favour during the Victorian era, primarily because of what was considered to be a distasteful use of graphic violence, but from around the middle of the twentieth century its reputation began to improve.

6d   Nobleman brands serf's head (8)

A marque^[5] is a make of car, as distinct from a specific model ⇒ marques such as Bentley, Ferrari, or Porsche.

A marquess^[5] is a British nobleman ranking above an earl and below a duke.

7d   Some really rich poetry (5)

8d   Breaking tie, server gets back (9)

14d   Minor batsman kind to harbour trouble (4-5)

In cricket, the end of the batting order, with the weakest batsmen, is known as the tail^[5] or tail end^[5] ⇒ McDermott worked his way through the tail, finishing with ten wickets. A player who bats in such a position is referred to as a tail-ender.

16d   Given honour, TV presenter made speech (9)

In Britain, a person who introduces and appears in a television or radio programme is called a presenter^[5] [in North America, such a person would be referred to as a host or, in the case of a newscast, an anchor].

Declan Donnelly^[7] is one half of the English acting and TV presenting duo Ant & Dec, with the other being Anthony McPartlin.

17d   Person who's not sure coasting out of control (8)

20d   Group of pupils with energy holding run (6)

In Britain, a stream^[5] is a group in which schoolchildren of the same age and ability are taught ⇒ children in the top streams.

22d   Had government regretted including Liberal? (5)

24d   Unfortunate lapse, a bit of a bloomer (5)

The surface reading is designed to make someone familiar with British slang think of bloomer^[5] in its dated sense of a serious or stupid mistake ⇒ he never committed a bloomer [equivalent to blooming error]. However, one really needs to recognize that a bloomer^[10] is a plant that flowers, especially in a specified way ⇒ a night bloomer.

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