Tuesday, October 29, 2013 — DT 27235

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27235
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, July 20, 2013
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)*
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27235 - Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27235 -  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. *While gazza identifies the setter as Cephas, he does so in a rather tentative manner ("I thought that this was a Cephas production upon review but may be wrong").

Introduction

I managed to complete this without help from my electronic aids, despite the presence of some British personalities of whom I had never heard.

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

1a   Possible murder weapon is hot clue at first (4,6)

Most dictionaries list piping (in the sense in which it is used in the wordplay) only in the idiom piping hot^[5] which denotes, with respect to food or water, very hot ⇒ (i) the crust was piping hot; (ii) it is served warm, not piping hot . The term piping comes from the whistling sound made by very hot liquid or food. Nevertheless, The Chambers Dictionary — never fearing to stand alone — defines piping^[1] as hissing hot or very hot — which certainly makes the expression "piping hot" appear to be rather redundant.

The weapons used in the board game Clue^[7] (known as Cluedo in the UK) are candlestick, knife (dagger in the UK), lead pipe, revolver, rope, and wrench (spanner in the UK).

In earlier UK editions of the game, the lead pipe was called lead piping. Apparently, the early tokens were made out of actual lead and therefore pose a risk of lead poisoning.

6a   Gamble pawn in short time (4)

In chess, P^[10] is the symbol for pawn.

9a   Group bent on dominating the old woman’s street (6,4)

10a   Aquatic creature in ocean and lake (4)

12a   Feel longing when away from  girl (4)

Unlike gnomethang, I thought that this was a fairly straight-forward double definition.

13a   Fanatic keeping slim having space for healthy food (9)

In printing, an en^[5] is a unit of measurement equal to half an em and approximately the average width of typeset characters, used especially for estimating the total amount of space a text will require.

15a   Clergymen with afterthought about group helping couples (8)

Prelate^[5] is a formal or historical term for a bishop or other high ecclesiastical dignitary.

Relate^[7] is a charity providing relationship support throughout the United Kingdom. Services include counselling for couples, families, young people and individuals, sex therapy, mediation and training courses.

16a   Fool to make sarcastic remarks about saint (6)

18a   Mischievous creature in the style of an antelope (6)

In cooking, à la^[5] denotes (with respect to a dish) cooked or prepared in a specified way ⇒ fish cooked à la meunière. The term is also used informally to mean in the style or manner of ⇒ afternoon talk shows à la Oprah.

20a   Prosperous time round New Hampshire that is creating good will (8)

23a   It has the makings of a scariest flight (9)

Gazza finishes his flight one step short of completion. The solution is an anagram (has the makings of) A SCARIEST.

24a   Breathe with difficulty when restrained by doctor (4)

26a   Could be evens? Yes and no (4)

Evens^[5] is a British term meaning even money^[5], viz. odds offering an equal chance of winning or losing, with the amount won being the same as the stake.

Thus the odds (on a racehorse, for instance) could be evens (as indicated by "yes"). On the other hand, odds (1^st, 3^rd, 5^th], ...) cannot be evens (2^nd, 4^th, 6^th, ...) as indicated by "no".

27a   Mother or father restricting Irish boy's diet (10)

A diet^[5] is a legislative assembly in certain countries.

28a   Rubbish displayed by European art gallery (4)

Tat^[5] is an informal British expression meaning tasteless or shoddy clothes, jewellery, or ornaments ⇒ the place was decorated with all manner of gaudy tat.

The Tate Gallery^[5] (commonly known simply as the Tate) is a national museum of art in London, England founded in 1897 by the sugar manufacturer Sir Henry Tate (1819–1899) to house his collection of modern British paintings, as a nucleus for a permanent national collection of modern art. It was renamed Tate Britain in 2000, when the new Tate Modern gallery opened.

29a   China to top local competition (5,5)

Crown Derby^[5] is a kind of soft-paste porcelain made at Derby (a city in the Midlands of England) and often marked with a crown above the letter ‘D’ ⇒ [as modifier] displays of Crown Derby china.

In Britain, a derby^[5] (also known as a local derby) is a sports match between two rival teams from the same area.

Down

1d   Member in political party branch (4)

M^[10] is used in titles as the abbreviation for Member. For instance, it is found in professional designations such as MRAIC (Member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada).

The Liberal Party^[5] (abbreviation Lib.^[5]) in Britain emerged in the 1860s from the old Whig Party and until the First World War was one of the two major parties in Britain. In 1988 the party regrouped with elements of the Social Democratic Party to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, now known as the Liberal Democrats; a small Liberal Party still exists.

2d   Gold mace perhaps an omen (7)

The symbol for the chemical element gold is Au^[5] (from Latin aurum).

3d   Iron ship propelled by oars includes right place for reporters (5,7)

4d   Cremation facility observed when climbing mountains (8)

The Pyrenees^[5] is a range of mountains extending along the border between France and Spain from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean. Its highest peak is the Pico de Aneto in northern Spain, which rises to a height of 3,404 m (11,168 ft).

5d   Subtle point in Hellenic etymology (6)

7d   The Now  Show (7)

The Now Show^[7] is a British radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, which satirises the week's news.

From my experience, we speak about "the past" and "the future", but would be more likely to say "the present" rather than "the now" — except in the phrase "the here and now".

8d   Withdrawal symptoms make lord cut out what's essential (4,6)

In Britain, cold turkey^[5] (as a noun) refers not only to the abrupt and complete cessation of taking a drug to which one is addicted, but also to the the unpleasant symptoms this causes ⇒ stopping the drug may result in cold turkey. Apparently, it is a chiefly North American usage to employ the term as an adverb meaning in a sudden and abrupt manner ⇒ I had to quit drinking cold turkey.

11d   She's author drawn to follow horseman (5,7)

She^[7], subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by English writer Henry Rider Haggard (1856–1925), first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887. She is one of the classics of imaginative literature, and as of 1965 with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages, one of the best-selling books of all time. Extraordinarily popular upon its release, She has never been out of print.

14d   Killjoy takes booty to harbour (10)

17d   Ashley or Cheryl's regulation salad (8)

The wordplay is COLE (Ashley or Cheryl) + S ('s) + LAW (regulation).

Ashley Cole^[7] is an English footballer [soccer player], who plays for Chelsea and the England national team. According to this Wikipedia article, Cole is considered by many critics and fellow professional players as one of the best defenders of his generation, and by some to be the best left back in the world.

Cheryl Cole^[7] is an English recording artist, songwriter, dancer and television personality who rose to fame in late 2002 when she competed in the British reality television show Popstars: The Rivals.

Oh, one more thing — the pair were once married. They began a relationship when they were living in the same block of flats in London and married in 2006. In January 2008, the couple almost separated after allegations were made that he had had affairs with three other women. He, however, disputed the allegations and the couple stayed together. In February 2010, the couple separated following four new allegations of adultery. She then filed for divorce which was granted in September 2010.

19d   Orchestra's place is to receive praise, praise for performance (7)

21d   Sums are wrong -- get a rubber (7)

22d   Unknown group of problem drinkers in pub will provide a market (6)

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.]

25d   Guy is last (4)

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