Friday, November 29, 2013 — DT 27260

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27260
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, August 19, 2013
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27260]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Libellule
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

As always, Rufus delivers a very enjoyable puzzle with several clues to give one's brain a strenuous workout.

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   A dour bent shown by American tough (7)

5a   Kind of crossing made by Drake's ship (7)

Once all the checking letters were in place, the solution seemed fairly obvious. However, I had to do a bit of research to explain both definitions.

In the UK, a pelican crossing^[5] is a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights operated by pedestrians. The name is derived from pe(destrian) li(ght) con(trolled), altered to conform with the bird's name.

The Golden Hind^[7] or Hinde was an English galleon best known for its circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by English explorer Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540–1596). She was originally known as the Pelican, but was renamed by Drake mid-voyage in 1578, as he prepared to enter the Strait of Magellan, calling it the Golden Hind to compliment his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose armorial crest was a golden 'hind' (a female deer). Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drake's world voyage.

9a   About five get better in turn (5)

10a   Idle girl that goes round giving choice to consumers (4,5)

Read the definition as "that [which] goes round giving choice to consumers" or "[something] that goes round giving choice to consumers".

11a   Plant in peat, so it develops (10)

12a   Brand new  money-making concern (4)

14a   Isn't it particular what it sells? (7,5)

I think the phrasing of the clue is intended to be cryptically ironic — or, perhaps, ironically cryptic.

18a   Company offer definitive vote for union? (4,8)

21a   The sound of a pig at home in agreeable surroundings (4)

22a   Shared secret  belief (10)

25a   Defiant beast, rising (9)

26a   Come up with more money (5)

In Britain, an increase in salary or wages is called a rise^[5] — rather than a raise^[5], as it would be in North America.

27a   Peak time before break (7)

Mount Everest^[5] is a mountain in the Himalayas, on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Rising to 8,848 m (29,028 ft), it is the highest mountain in the world; it was first climbed in 1953 by New Zealand mountaineer and explorer Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay (1914–1986).

28a   Level betting includes the French teams (7)

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.

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

Eleven^[5] is the number of players on a cricket^[7] side or an Association football^[7] [soccer] team — and is often used as a metonym for such a team ⇒ at cricket I played in the first eleven.

Down

1d   Believe  one wouldn't say no to this (6)

I had some difficulty getting my head around this clue. Libellule indicates that it is a double definition, so I will go along with him on that assessment. In the second definition, the word "that" stands in for the solution, so the sense of it is "one wouldn't say no to accept". That is, one could accept either by saying yes (an active acceptance) or by saying nothing (a tacit acceptance).

2d   Draw in new capital (6)

Darwin^[5] is the capital of Northern Territory, Australia; population 120,652 (2008).

3d   Fails to turn out as intended (10)

4d   Share  the port (5)

Split^[5] is a seaport on the coast of southern Croatia; population 177,500 (est. 2009). Founded as a Roman colony in 78 BC, it contains the ruins of the palace of the emperor Diocletian, built in about AD 300.

5d   Plucky action taken by some of the players (9)

In music, pizzicato^[5] can be used (1) as an adverb to mean (often as a direction) plucking the strings of a violin or other stringed instrument with one’s finger, (2) as an adjective to denote playing pizzicato, and (3) as as noun for the technique of playing pizzicato or a a note or passage played pizzicato.

6d   It makes a pass into a path (4)

... or a snake into a thnake!

7d   Car is not damaged, being strong (4-4)

8d   Score but one (8)

13d   The British  TT? (6,4)

The Tourist Trophy^[5] (TT^[5]) is a motorcycle-racing competition held annually on roads in the Isle of Man since 1907.

15d   Financial expert comes into new organisation (9)

16d   It's to do with pursuit of game, naturally (2,6)

Course^[5] (used as a noun) is a pursuit of game (especially hares) with greyhounds by sight rather than scent. As a verb, course means to pursue (game, especially hares) with greyhounds using sight rather than scent ⇒ (i) many of the hares coursed escaped unharmed; (ii) she would course for hares with her greyhounds.

17d   Note about illustrious French city (8)

Grenoble^[5] is an industrial city in SE France; population 158,746 (2006).

19d   Lure damaged net on the rocks (6)

20d   Numbers playing in Rugby competitions, perhaps (6)

Rugby sevens^[7], also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is now recognised as an Olympic sport and will make its debut in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Rugby league sevens^[7] (or simply sevens) is a seven-a-side derivative of rugby league football, which is usually a thirteen-a-side sport. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some rule changes and shorter games.

23d   Foil ... for trespassers? (5)

A cursory reading of this clue suggests that it may involve a reference to swordplay. However, on more careful analysis that idea does not appear to hold up.

Despite what Libellule indicates in his review, I am unable to parse the clue in such a way as to substantiate the swordplay reference. I say this because foil (a type of sword) is a noun and fence (to fight with swords) is a verb. I did suspect that foil might possibly also be a verb (in the sense of to fight with swords), but I can find no evidence to support that theory.

I therefore must conclude that foil^[10] has to be interpreted as meaning to baffle or frustrate (a person, attempt, etc) or, perhaps, in the archaic sense of a setback or defeat. Thus a fence would foil a trespasser's intention to enter a property enclosed by such a barrier.

Even though the direct substitution of fence for foil is not supported, I suspect that the setter may well have had the swordplay connection in the back of his mind.

24d   Be a shade over-extravagant? (4)

Blue^[10] is a [seemingly British] slang term meaning to to spend extravagantly or wastefully; in other words, to squander.

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