Monday, November 18, 2013 — DT 27249

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27249
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27249]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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

While I found this puzzle to be relatively easy, I'm not sure it was quite the walk in the park that Deep Threat's rating would seem to indicate.

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   Way, we hear, found by Fred's partner to get source of flavouring (4,6)

Fred Astaire (1899-1987) and Ginger Rogers (1911-1995) were iconic dance partners who made motion pictures together from 1933–1949.^[7]

Root ginger^[10] is the raw underground stem of the ginger plant used finely chopped or grated, especially in Chinese dishes.

6a   Undisturbed river fringing lake (4)

The Cam^[10] is a river in eastern England, in Cambridgeshire, flowing through Cambridge to the River Ouse. Length: about 64 km (40 miles).

9a   Not all escape traders in ancient city (5)

Petra^[5] is an ancient city of southwest Asia, in present-day Jordan. The city, which lies in a hollow surrounded by cliffs, is accessible only through narrow gorges. Its extensive ruins include temples and tombs hewn from the rose-red sandstone cliffs.

10a   Fellow wanting coffee and wine given servile attention (9)

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

12a   Base team near big house, reportedly -- it's needed by medics (7,6)

14a   Lean crab scurrying around? It could cling to rocks (8)

15a   Influence a paper put round fine city (6)

The Financial Times (FT)^[7] is a British international business newspaper [which — as Deep Threat alludes to in his review — is printed on characteristic salmon pink newsprint]. 

In this clue, "city" is a reference to The City^[5] which is short for the City of London. Note that the City of London^[5] is not the same thing as the city of London, but merely the part of London situated within the ancient boundaries and governed by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation^[5] (in Britain, a group of people elected to govern a city, town, or borough ⇒ the City of London Corporation).

In the clue, the setter uses "city" as a surrogate for for the EC postcode which serves the City of London (postcode being the British counterpart of the Canadian postal code or American zip code). The EC (Eastern Central) postcode area^[7] (also known as the London EC postcode area) is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes almost all of the City of London as well as parts of several other London boroughs.

17a   Soldiers attending Kent town for trial (6)

In the British armed forces, the term other ranks (abbreviation OR)^[5] refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

Deal^[7] is a town in Kent, England, UK situated on the English Channel eight miles north-east of Dover.

19a   Tom, say, in front of cold entrance area covering varied events? (5-3)

21a   Agitating got regal leaders quarrelling (2,11)

The comment made by Deep Threat in his review alludes to the British usage of head^[5]being short for for headmaster^[5] (a man who is the head teacher in a school), headmistress^[5] (ditto for a woman), or head teacher^[5] (the teacher in charge of a school).

24a   Mind Celt let in mistakenly (9)

25a   Man backsliding in Stoke redeployed (5)

The solution is hidden (in) and reversed (backsliding) in StoKE REDeployed.

Stoke^[5] (properly Stoke-on-Trent) is a city on the River Trent in Staffordshire, central England; population 248,300 (est. 2009). It has long been the centre of the Staffordshire pottery industries. The name Stoke^[7] comes from the Old English word stoc meaning 'place' and appears in a great many place names in the UK.

26a   Dunce lacking bit of culture misread artistic subject (4)

27a   First person in hearing with business acquaintance giving direct look (3,7)

Down

1d   Painter, perhaps, about to accept work (4)

A painter^[5] is a rope attached to the bow of a boat for tying it to a quay.

In music, Op. (also op.)^[5] is an abbreviation meaning opus (work). It is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication.

2d   Late period occupying doc to be reviewed (7)

3d   A lot of daring language troubled protective figure (8,5)

4d   Straightforward policy of unadventurous tailor? (2,6)

5d   Destroy section of dossier as evidence (5)

7d   Make plans for a manufacturer's products to be discussed (7)

A range^[5] being a set of different things of the same general type ⇒ the company’s new carpet range.

8d   Motel ready for renovation in reasonable form (10)

11d   Official patrolling bays? (7,6)

In Britain, a traffic warden^[5] is a uniformed official employed to locate and report on infringements of parking regulations.

13d   Cancelling a second-rate allowance? Go back to intervene (10)

16d   Contemptible way name is brought up (8)

18d   Performed with old instrument inside in a mixed state? (7)

20d   A Chinese gang nearly snatching American in country (7)

Triad^[5] refers to a secret society originating in China, typically involved in organized crime.

22d   Frenchman with head obscured by fancy rival (5)

In his review, Deep Threat makes reference to the fictional René Artois^[7], the main character in the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. Artois (usually referred to as René, but codenamed Nighthawk by the Resistance) is the owner of the Café René in the occupied French town of Nouvion during World War II. In the series, René is often caught in the arms of another woman by his wife, to whom he responds with the line "You stupid woman!" This would be followed by a convoluted explanation, which she would always believe.

Fancy^[10] (also fancy that!) is an exclamation of surprise or disbelief.

23d   Humorous performance from Bob and Christopher (4)

Bob^[2] is an informal term for a shilling (abbreviation s)^[2], a former monetary unit and coin of the UK, in use prior to the introduction of decimal currency in 1971, worth one twentieth of a pound or 12 old pence (12d).

Kit^[10] is an abbreviation of the given names Christopher or Katherine. For instance, American frontiersman Kit Carson.

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