Monday, October 7, 2013 — DT 27219

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27219
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27219]
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

The pattern continues of falling two or three clues short of completing the puzzle without the intervention of my electronic helpers.

In case you missed it, I have posted a delayed review of Friday's puzzle. Although the review was not actually posted until Sunday, I backdated it in order to maintain the correct sequence of puzzles.

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. The underlined portion of the clue is the definition.

Across

5a   Against the current new look of tempuras (8)

8a   Wholly entertained by wicked song (6)

10a   Is concerned about one getting tooth decay (6)

11a   US lawyer wisely involved Irish actor (3-5)

Daniel Day-Lewis^[5] is an English actor. His films include The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), My Left Foot (1989), Gangs of New York (2002), and Lincoln (2012).

12a   I'm career chef, originally a product of France (5,7)

Crème fraîche^[10] is thickened and slightly fermented cream.

The setter uses originally^[5] to mean in a novel and inventive way  ⇒ the suggestions so originally and persuasively outlined.

15a   Drove that woman daft, initially (4)

17a   First of riders in a lease causes alarm (5)

18a   Top copy plus ten (4)

19a   Second, athletes who surprisingly get everyone's praise in event (5,3,4)

22a   Film cancelled -- hurry away (5,3)

24a   Priest's team getting recipe for magic potion (6)

In the Bible, Eli^[5] was a priest who acted as a teacher to the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1-3).

Sports groups are often informally referred to by the number of players forming a team. Thus four^[5] or eight^[5] for a rowing crew, nine^[3,11] for a baseball team, eleven^[5] for a cricket or soccer side. 

The Chambers Dictionary indicates that r (or r.)^[1] is the abbreviation for recipe (Latin). I suspect that this may relate to an archaic usage of recipe^[5] to mean a medical prescription ⇒ it would be useless to enumerate all the drugs and recipes for their application which have been tried. This is also, as I recall, where the Rx symbol on prescriptions comes from.

25a   23 looked at in broadcast (6)

The number "23" is a cross-reference to clue 23d whose solution must be substituted for the cross-reference indicator to complete the clue.

Starting price (abbreviation SP)^[10] would appear to be a British term (as I have only been able to find it in British dictionaries). In horse racing, it means the latest odds offered by bookmakers at the start of a race.

26a   Guys in principle responsible for block of apartments (8)

In Britain, the word tenement does not appear to carry the negative connotation that it does in North America. A tenement^[4] (also called tenement building) is, especially in Scotland, a large building divided into separate flats [apartments, in North American parlance]. In North America, a tenement^[4] would be envisaged to be a rundown, low-rental apartment building whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards.

Down

1d   Awful trauma, with one adult displaced by international court (6)

The A (Adult) certificate is a former film certificate^[7] issued by the British Board of Film Classification. This certificate existed in various forms from 1912 to 1985, when it was replaced by the PG (Parental Guidance) certificate.

2d   Banter, as such, going over head of inmate, fellow prisoner (10)

F^[2] is the abbreviation for Fellow (of a society, etc).

In British slang, a lag^[5] is a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison ⇒ both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

3d   Take orders from old boy you once sent up (4)

In Britain, an old boy^[5] (abbreviation OB^[2])  is (1) a former male student of a school or college ⇒an old boy of Banbury County School or (2) a former male member of a sports team or company ⇒the White Hart Lane old boy squared the ball to present an easy chance from 12 yards. It is also a chiefly British affectionate form of address to a boy or man ⇒ ‘Look here, old boy,’ he said.

4d   A reportedly depressed woman in plant (4,4)

I mistakenly opted for "blue" (depressed) as the first word. Although this had no affect on the intersecting clues, it certainly delayed me in finding the solution to this clue.

6d   Colour of English silver received by groom (3-5)

The symbol for the chemical element silver is Ag^[5].

7d   Took longer than was necessary? Perhaps chef did, with what he was given (4,1,4,2,2)

Make a meal of (it)^[5] is British slang meaning to carry out (a task or action) with unnecessary effort or thoroughness, especially for effect ⇒ he made a meal of it by falling dramatically to the ground clutching his face.

9d   A boundary that's upset alliance (4)

In cricket, a boundary^[10] is (1) the marked limit of the playing area; (2) a stroke that hits the ball beyond this limit; or (3) the four runs scored with such a stroke [if the ball crosses the boundary after touching the ground], or the six runs if the ball crosses the boundary without touching the ground. 

In cricket, a six (also called a sixer)^[10] is (1) a stroke in which the ball crosses the boundary without bouncing or (2) the six runs scored for such a stroke.

An axis^[5] is an agreement or alliance between two or more countries that forms a centre for an eventual larger grouping of nations ⇒ the Anglo-American axis. The Axis^[5] was the alliance of Germany and Italy formed before and during the Second World War, later extended to include Japan and other countries ⇒ [as modifier] the Axis Powers.

13d   Arrest by copper with appeal of reduced charge (10)

A copper^[3] is a coin, usually of small denomination, made of copper or a copper alloy. In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] is a coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound. In the system formerly used, a penny was equal to one twelfth of a shilling or 240th of a pound.

In his review, Big Dave notes that the penny "used to be made of copper". In fact, the old penny was made of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) as was the new penny prior to 1992. Since 1992, the penny has been minted in copper-plated steel.

As an aside, the abbreviation for the new penny is p while the old penny was abbreviated d, for denarius)  The abbreviations apply equally to the plural, pence, as to the singular, penny.

New to me — but a word that apparently dates from the middle of the 18th century — catchpenny^[3,4,11] is an adjective that means designed to have instant appeal, especially in order to sell quickly and easily without regard for quality ⇒ catchpenny ornaments.

14d   Video not working, love? (8)

16d   Find out about record surplus (8)

20d   Greek character, across sole of foot, finds scar (6)

Sigma^[5] is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Σ, σ).

21d   Leader of clog dance gets cut (4)

A clog dance^[5] is a dance performed in clogs with rhythmic beating of the feet, especially as a traditional dance in Ireland, Scotland, and the North of England.

23d   Price offered not even by head of Smithsonian (4)

As Big Dave shows in his review, I had initially thought that the definition must be "price offered", but I failed to find that term in any of my dictionaries. However, under price^[1], The Chambers Dictionary lists betting odds as one definition. I did notice a subtle difference between this and the entry in The Chambers 21st Century Dictionary which is betting odds (with the first word italicized, indicating that the definition is odds in the context of betting).

If "offered" is not part of the definition, then it must be serving as a link word between the definition and the wordplay.

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