Tuesday, December 31, 2013 — DT 27284

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27284
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, September 16, 2013
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27284]
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 █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

For New Year's Eve, we get a rather gentle puzzle that is unmistakably a Rufus creation.

Now should I tackle the New Year's Day puzzle or wait until tomorrow?

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   Would it take another like him to be of one mind? (7)

5a   Hire one to play the female lead (7)

9a   Fit girl given body-building exercises (5)

PT^[5] is the abbreviation [British, according to Oxford Dictionaries Online] for physical training^[5], the systematic use of exercises to promote bodily fitness and strength.

10a   Right to get outstanding performer on committee (9)

11a   Cleaners put off by public convenience (10)

In Britain, the Gents^[5] is a term for a men’s public toilet.

12a   Better the non-drinker leaves this (4)

This is an & lit.^[7] (all-in-one) clue. TT^[5] is the abbreviation for teetotaller.

14a   Spirit conjured up by other spirits? (5,7)

Dutch courage^[3,4,11] is false courage gained from drinking alcohol.

18a   They get passed on the road (7,5)

21a   Mail goes astray in country (4)

22a   New stars never cross (10)

25a   A whisker (3,6)

26a   Call of captain for ends? (5)

The definition might well be the entire clue (making this a semi & lit. clue). A captain of a sports team would call the toss of the coin at the start of a match to determine which end of the playing field his team will defend.

27a   Bound for Rouen, perhaps, with a note (2,5)

Te^[5] is the British spelling of ti which (in tonic sol-fa) is the seventh note of a major scale.

28a   Not interrupted  without purpose (7)

Two definitions — the second appearing to have been invented by the setter. Endless^[5] (with respect to a belt, chain, or tape) means having the ends joined to form a loop allowing continuous action ⇒ endless-loop cassette tapes.

Down

1d   Gathers crowds when speaking (6)

2d   Incline towards getting a simple building (4-2)

3d   Stream of notes by Handel? (5,5)

George Frideric Handel^[5] (1685–1759) was a German-born composer and organist, resident in England from 1712; born Georg Friedrich Händel. A prolific composer, he is chiefly remembered for his choral works, especially the oratorio Messiah (1742), and, for orchestra, his Water Music suite (circa 1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749).

4d   Try to have discrimination (5)

5d   Misery of a teacher working with horrible head (9)

The parsing of this clue would be an anagram (working) of {A + TEACHER + (with) H (first letter (head) of Horrible}.

In Britain, head^[5] is 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).

6d   Teases  wool in rows (4)

In knitting, a rib^[5] is a combination of alternate plain and purl stitches producing a ridged, slightly elastic fabric ⇒ (i) knit twenty rows of rib; (ii) knit a new rib.

7d   One's not afraid to speak -- probably! (1,4,3)

8d   Object about wrong-doers being supported (8)

13d   Farmed  in a civilised way (10)

15d   It may be tipped but not recommended by doctors (9)

16d   A bed made badly, George Eliot's work (4,4)

George Eliot^[5] (1819–1880) was an English novelist; pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans. Her novels of provincial life are characterized by their exploration of moral problems and their development of the psychological analysis that marks the modern novel. Notable works: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), and Middlemarch (1871-2).

17d   No townsperson having beer after 6.50 (8)

I think that 6.50 must be intended to indicate a time of day. If so, in North America, one would write it as 6:50. However, I could find no evidence that Brits write the time with a period, rather than a colon, as a separator.

19d   Reach a swirling river (6)

20d   It checks the growth of population (6)

23d   She tends to rush over certain points (5)

24d   University chaps, first that'll be ordered off (4)

To solve this clue, one must mentally rearrange a bit of punctuation in the wordplay making it "University, chaps first".

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)

Happy New Year's Eve — Falcon