Thursday, August 29, 2013 — DT 27192

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27192
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, May 31, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27192]
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

My electronic assistants received another day of rest today.  This was a puzzle where progress was slow at first, but success was achieved by gradually building out from a few early-established beachheads.

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   Queen performed, getting terrible score (4)

In the Aeneid (an epic by the Roman poet Virgil), Dido^[5] is the queen and founder of Carthage, who fell in love with the shipwrecked Aeneas and killed herself when he deserted her.

A result of zero (which looks like the letter "O") would be a "terrible score" in most sports.

3a   Like very good allocation? That's what's hoped for (10)

Pi^[5] is an informal British short form for pious.

9a   River not healthy -- small flow of water (4)

10a   Biologist has burden and motion's tricky (10)

11a   Scotch -- drink team is into (5,2)

Scotch^[5] is used in the sense of to put an end to or crush ⇒ bad weather scotched our plans.

13a   Sort of design company backing trade abroad (3,4)

Art deco^[5] was the predominant decorative art style of the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes and strong colours and used most notably in household objects and in architecture. Although the style originated in the 1920s, the name (in its condensed form) only arose in the 1960s, being shortened from French art décoratif  (decorative art), from the 1925 Exposition des Arts décoratifs in Paris.

14a   Powerful international organisation that could make Premier moan (5,6)

Gazza's comment refers to British Prime Minister David Cameron. In Britain, the terms Premier and Prime Minister are used pretty much interchangeably — unlike in Canada, where Premier generally refers to the first minister of a province and Prime Minister to the first minister of the country.

18a   Pharaoh's word of disapproval, final word clutching symbol of life (11)

Tutankhamen^[5] (or Tutankhamun) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, who reigned from circa 1361 BC until his death circa 1352 BC. His tomb, containing a wealth of rich and varied contents, was discovered virtually intact by the English archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.

An ankh^[5] is an object or design resembling a cross but having a loop instead of the top arm, used in ancient Egypt as a symbol of life.

21a   Study a king on two classical coins (7)

Here my interpretation of the clue deviates slightly from that offered by Gazza. He has the definition as "classical coins" in his review — which certainly works. Nevertheless, I have limited the definition to merely "coins" supposing that "two classical" is an instruction telling us to use the Roman numeral for two.

Denarius^[5] (plural denarii) may refer to either of two ancient Roman coins: (1) a silver coin, originally worth ten asses [an as^[5] (plural asses) being an ancient Roman copper coin] or (2) a gold coin worth 25 silver denarii.

Gazza also alludes to the fact that the abbreviation for the penny in Britain prior to decimalisation of the currency in 1971 was derived from this Roman coin. 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).

22a   Give notice -- there's an object to be won, we hear (7)

23a   Politician held in derision, possibly as Archer was? (10)

Jeffrey Archer^[5], Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, is a British writer and Conservative politician. He resigned as an MP after being declared bankrupt, and embarked on a career as a bestselling novelist. He was deputy chairman of the Conservative Party 1985-6, but resigned after a libel case; in 2001 he was found to have committed perjury in that case and was jailed for four years.

24a   Very small home swamped by motorway (4)

The M1^[7] is a north–south motorway [controlled access, multi-lane divided highway] in England connecting London to Leeds.

25a   Runners may get sent out -- perhaps I've grown them from seed (10)

26a   Catch someone grumbling after end of Christmas (4)

Down

1d   Ridiculous not having booze? Old father is upset being kept in (8)

2d   Depression? At end of day get mature drinks! (8)

I suppose it is to be expected that a depressed individual might start drinking at the front end of the day.

4d   Start of symphony with instrument producing note (5)

5d   Liaison to break up, leading to loneliness (9)

6d   Church office Pat polishes after work (11)

Aside from the original twelve disciples chosen by Christ to preach his gospel, apostle^[5] can refer to any prominent Christian missionary, especially one who first converts a nation or people. In Mormonism, an apostle is a member of a council of twelve officials appointed to administer and preside over the Church.

7d   More than one flowering plant is covering upward slope (6)

8d   Any number fighting, about to leave country (6)

12d   Victory over brute whirling with din -- for Nimbys opposing it? (4,7)

15d   Clean-cut love? Lots will get that in marriage! (9)

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

16d   Drive? A doctor with it will get on, I admitted (8)

In Britain, the degree required to practice medicine is a Bachelor of Medicine^[7] (MB, from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus), which is equivalent to a North American Doctor of Medicine (MD, from Latin Medicinae Doctor). The degree of Doctor of Medicine also exists in Britain, but it is an advanced degree pursued by those who wish to go into medical research. Physicians in Britain are still addressed as Dr. despite not having a doctoral degree.

17d   Observe group around centre of Burnley showing contempt (8)

Burnley^[7] is a market town in Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It is located 21 miles (34 km) north of Manchester.

19d   One-time leader of 14, no hard man (6)

Hadrian^[5] (AD 76-138), Roman emperor 117–138; full name Publius Aelius Hadrianus. The adopted successor of Trajan, he toured the provinces of the Empire and secured the frontiers.

H^[5] is the abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

20d   Marksman gets bird on top of roof (6)

22d   Region encompassing northern battleground (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