Tuesday, August 20, 2013 — DT 27185

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27185
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, May 23, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27185]
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

I needed to call on my electronic reinforcements for a bit of assistance — primarily in the northwest quadrant.

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   Make light of drama not working (4,4)

5a   Wet independent unseating Nationalist could be dismal for Scots (6)

In the Scottish dialect, dreich^[5] is an adjective meaning (especially of weather) dreary or bleak ⇒ a cold, dreich early April day.

9a   Like James Bond's car? Wow! (8)

Throughout the James Bond series of films and novels, Q Branch has given Bond a wide variety of vehicles with which to battle his enemies. The most famous James Bond car^[7] is an Aston Martin DB5 featured in Goldfinger and several subsequent films.

10a   Crank letters part of chain? On the contrary (6)

12a   Off and on he has Rowling bug (6)

Turn the odd letters off and the even letters on in the phrase "hE hAs RoWlInG". Had the setter used the direction "on and off", then we would need to select the odd letters rather than the even letters.

J. K. Rowling^[5] is an English novelist; full name Joanne Kathleen Rowling. She created the highly successful Harry Potter children’s books, the first volume of which, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in 1997.

13a   Verdict that might appear heartless (8)

15a   Hardened hack tying up loose ends (7)

As Big Dave points out in his remarks, a hack bears only the faintest resemblance to a steed.

16a   Before long given a typical French response? (4)

Non^[10] is a French word meaning no.

20a   Pound to be repaid before fight (4)

To properly decipher this clue, one must mentally insert some punctuation in the wordplay to obtain "Pound, to be repaid before" which is interpreted as "Pound [with a word meaning] 'to be repaid' [placed] before".

The pound^[5] (also pound sterling) is the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence. While the symbol for pound is £, it is often written as L^[10].

21a   Assault of criminal (7)

25a   Phileas Fogg perhaps making choc bar -- we hear nothing's added (8)

Phileas Fogg^[7] is the main character in the 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days by French writer Jules Verne (1828 – 1905).

 Aero^[7] is a brand of chocolate bar manufactured by Rowntree's. Originating in Britain, it is widely marketed in Canada but apparently not in the United States.

The digit 0 is known as nought^[5] in Britain and naught^[5] in the North America.

26a   Turn up water pressure first (6)

Lough^[5] is the Irish spelling of loch^[5], the Scottish word for lake.

28a   Electric Light Orchestra admitting member's next to unknown recruit (6)

Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)^[7] are a British rock group from Birmingham, England, who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001.

In many Commonwealth countries (including Britain and Canada), a member of the House of Commons or similar legislative body is known as a Member of Parliament^[10] (or MP^[5] for short).

In mathematics (algebra, in particular), an unknown^[10] is a variable, or the quantity it represents, the value of which is to be discovered by solving an equation ⇒ 3y = 4x + 5 is an equation in two unknowns. [Unknowns are typically represented symbolically by the letters x, y and z.]

29a   Tricky clues he'd plan (8)

30a   Twosome Daisy declined? (6)

"Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)"^[7] is a popular song composed by Harry Dacre in 1892 with the well-known chorus:

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do,

I'm half crazy all for the love of you.

It won't be a stylish marriage,

I can't afford a carriage,

But you'd look sweet upon the seat

Of a bicycle built for two.

Although there is no response from Daisy in the song itself, various "answer-songs" have been composed, such as:

Harry, Harry, here is my answer true.

I'd be crazy if I were to marry you.

If you can't afford a carriage

You can't afford a marriage.

And I'll be damned if I'll be crammed

On a bicycle built for two.

31a   Caught skate then trawl perhaps for crustaceans (8)

The abbreviation c^[5], denoting caught (by), may be found on cricket scorecards.

Down

1d   Heavenly body clear to be seen after lap dancing (6)

2d   Circumstances taking no account of female players (6)

3d   These should be able to cap disastrous D in tests (8)

4d   Narrow strand in Western Isles by top of promenade (4)

Western Isles^[5] is another name for the Outer Hebrides^[5], a group of islands off the NW coast of Scotland.

6d   Outlaw's advertisement banned in default (6)

7d   I will survive in good or bad health (3-5)

8d   Hour before a ton batting partnership is where bowlers might be rested (8)

In cricket, stand^[5] (they shared a second-wicket stand of 135) is another term for partnership^[5], the number of runs added by a pair of batsmen before one of them is dismissed or the innings ends ⇒ their 176-run third-wicket partnership.

Bowler^[5] [known in North America as a derby^[5]] is a chiefly British name for a man’s hard felt hat with a round dome-shaped crown.

11d   Visibly shocked given 'umongous fly's close in bed (3-4)

14d   Understood change of fortune (3-4)

Ten-codes, also known as ten signals, are code words used to represent common phrases in voice communication, particularly by law enforcement and in Citizens' Band (CB) radio transmissions. The codes, developed in 1937 and expanded in 1974 by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO), allow for brevity and standardization of message traffic. They have historically been widely used by law enforcement officers in North America but due to the lack of standardization, in 2006 the U.S. federal government recommended they be discontinued in favor of everyday language.

The code ten-four is used to indicate that a message has been received and understood.

17d   A disc jockey's pronunciation not cultured originally -- or close (8)

18d   Reptile's paths originally penetrating countryside (8)

19d   Yell and curse endlessly about where washing up might be done (8)

22d   Sleep induced by small nitrogen leak (6)

The symbol for the chemical element nitrogen is N^[5].

23d   Clouds in mounds with front changing to cold (6)

24d   Trio cut short quiet beat (6)

27d   Cliff's contribution to Shadows' career (4)

A scar^[5] is a steep high cliff or rock outcrop, especially of limestone ⇒ high limestone scars bordered the road.

Cliff Richard^[7] (born Harry Rodger Webb) is a British pop singer who, with his backing group the Shadows, dominated the British popular music scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

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