Wednesday, December 18, 2013 — DT 27273

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27273
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27273]
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

I hope that my electronic assistants appreciated their day off today.

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   Alcohol obtained from market in Italy (7)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Italy is I^[5].

5a   Stroking head of dog coming from hiding (7)

9a   Women casually hugging Arab for money (7)

Collins English Dictionary shows Ar.^[10] as being the abbreviation for Arabia, Arabian, and Arabic. The Chambers Dictionary adds Arab to this list^[1].

10a   Concerned with odd characters in crew I have to take on board (7)

11a   Where bishop sits with queen, perhaps -- he's turning fat (9)

A queen^[5] is an adult female cat that has not been spayed.

12a   Sounds like rubbish food makes this bigger? (5)

I initially — though with some degree of uncertainty due to not being able to rationalize the wordplay to my satisfaction — entered AWFUL, which sounds like OFFAL (rubbish food). My suspicions concerning the solution proved to be well-founded, but the the misstep did significantly hamper my progress in the northeast quadrant.

13a   Books not right for shelf (5)

Books^[5] is used in the sense of a set of records or accounts ⇒ a bid to balance the books.

The Chambers Dictionary defines ledger^[1] as a document containing the principal financial records of a company, in which details of all transactions, assets and liabilities are kept, and in which the records in all the other books are entered. According to Chambers, the meaning of ledger as a register or account book is a US usage.

Thus, it would seem that the Brits think of a ledger as a collection of financial information more so than the physical entity in which this information is recorded.

15a   Turn circles around a friend? Of course (9)

17a   Peter out with pram initially as diaper exploded (9)

Pram^[3,4,11] (short for perambulator^[3,4,11]) is the British name for a baby carriage.

19a   With these one might see spots, we hear (5)

22a   Small bird's tail (5)

23a   Youth clubs kept secret about large hooligan (9)

C^[1] is an abbreviation for clubs, a suit in a deck of cards.

25a   Becoming good, British must abandon gambling (7)

26a   Feel slim? A GI needs sandwiches (7)

27a   Thin bit of rope held tight? On the contrary (7)

28a   Present's taken back -- seconds, undergarment (7)

In his review, I am certain that Deep Threat intended to write "present or prize" rather than "present of prize).

Down

1d   Beginning to cough during intermediate doctor's examination (7)

2d   Father and son are assessed about the Spanish (7)

In Spanish, el^[8] is the masculine singular form of the definite article.

3d   I deserve to get angry (5)

4d   At home, certain hosts can upset security (9)

5d   In the countryside, rook seen by Russian river (5)

R^[5] is an abbreviation for rook that is used in recording moves in chess.

The Ural River^[5] is a river, 1,575 miles (2,534 km) long, that rises at the southern end of the Ural Mountains in western Russia and flows through western Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea at Atyraū.

6d   Support areas in hospital getting into a worse state (9)

One meaning of backwards^[5] is towards or into a worse state ⇒ a step backwards for the economy.

7d   Milne's first? It's a start (7)

This is one of those clues that leaves me as a solver unsure whether I have fully understood it.

A. A. Milne^[5] (1882–1956) was an English writer for children; full name Alan Alexander Milne. He created the character of the toy bear Winnie-the-Pooh in stories written for his son Christopher Robin (1920–1996), published in Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928).

The wordplay, as I see it, is a definition by example for INITIAL — Milne's first being A [as is his second, for that matter]. Although it would seem to be poor English, I presume that the noun start could be used as a modifier in the sense of initial (thereby effectively making it an adjective). That is, the initial letter in a sequence might be called the start letter (although it should probably be properly referred to as the starting letter).

8d   Gary felt funny -- not fine or very well (7)

14d   Former lover criticises one on increase in size (9)

16d   Frightened to do something wrong if married outside (9)

17d   D. Lessing novel left out ideas (7)

Doris Lessing^[5] is a British novelist and short-story writer, brought up in Rhodesia. An active communist in her youth, she frequently deals with social and political conflicts in her fiction, especially as they affect women. Notable novels: The Grass is Singing (1950); The Golden Notebook (1962). Nobel Prize for Literature (2007).

Design^[3] is used in the sense of a reasoned purpose or an intent ⇒ It was her design to set up practice on her own as soon as she was qualified.

18d   Lieutenant in clear retreat (7)

20d   Electronic car test, then I have to get moving (7)

In the UK, MOT^[5] (also MOT test) refers a compulsory annual test for safety and exhaust emissions of motor vehicles of more than a specified age. It is an abbreviation of Ministry of Transport, which introduced the original test.

21d   Stands regularly on head, causing pain (7)

Usually found in place names, ness^[5] means a headland or promontory ⇒ Orford Ness.

23d   Secretive Hollywood great -- that's not new (5)

James Cagney^[5] (1899–1986) was an American actor. He is chiefly remembered for playing gangster roles in films such as The Public Enemy (1931), but he was also a skilled dancer and comedian who received an Oscar for his part in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).

24d   Little drink leads to a scene (5)

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