Thursday, January 16, 2014 — DT 27296

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27296
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, September 30, 2013
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27296]
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 █ - solved but without fully understanding the wordplay or definition █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

Rufus can be counted on to deliver a fairly gentle, but nonetheless enjoyable puzzle — and today he certainly does not disappoint.

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   One lacking a blooming partner? (10)

Blooming^[5] is an informal British expression used to express annoyance or for emphasis ⇒ (i) of all the blooming cheek!; (ii) a blooming good read.

9a   She composes a reflective article (4)

I would interpret the phrase "a reflective article" to indicate that we need both an article (in this case, AN) and its reflection (NA), as would be seen in a mirror.

10a   Prison tour rearranged -- get the hump (10)

In Britain, to get (or have or give someone) the hump^[5] is an informal expression meaning to become, be, or make someone annoyed or moody ⇒ fans get the hump when they lose.

11a   Nice cake? (6)

Nice^[5] is a resort city on the French Riviera, near the border with Italy; population 348,721 (2007).

In French, the word for cake is gateau^[5].

12a   Swindle company and acknowledge it (7)

15a   Sole aid for a climber (7)

16a   They have their ups and downs at playtime (2-3)

17a   Split  lease? (4)

In his review, Libellule indicates that the solution means "a payment made by a tenant". While this meaning does get us to the correct answer, it does not correspond to the usage in the clue. For "lease" and "rent" to be synonyms, I believe they must be verbs, rather than nouns.

18a   Page badly needing medicine (4)

In Northern English dialects, badly^[5] can be used as an adjective meaning ill or poorly.

19a   Emblem of the brave (5)

21a   Not one of two or three in shambles (7)

The anagram here could be explained in either of two ways. If one supposes that "shambles" is a verb, then we have an anagram (shambles; moves awkwardly) of THREE IN. If, on the other hand, one takes "shambles" to be a noun, then a "THREE IN shambles" is a shambles (state of total disorder) constructed from THREE IN (just as a "metal table" is a table constructed from metal).

22a   Fine stuff for a Welsh banker before tea breaks (7)

According to cryptic crossword convention, banker is defined whimsically as something which has banks, namely a river.

The River Taff^[7] is a large river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Taf Fechan (Little Taff) and the Taf Fawr (Big Taff) — before joining to form the Taff north of Merthyr Tydfil.

24a   Bedding for the young (6)

27a   Limit parliamentary debate for capital punishment? (10)

In the British parliament, a guillotine^[5] is a procedure used to prevent delay in the discussion of a legislative bill by fixing times at which various parts of it must be voted on ⇒ Discussion on the measure was severely curtailed, after the government set a 10 pm deadline, or guillotine, for voting on the legislation. A similar procedure used in the Canadian parliament is known as closure.

28a   Operatic prince to leave embraced by one king (4)

Prince Igor^[7] is an opera composed by Russian composer Alexander Borodin (1833–1887). The opera was left unfinished upon the composer's death in 1887 and was edited and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. It was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1890.

Rex^[5] (Latin for king, abbreviation R^[5]) denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

29a   Doesn't care about being poor (6-4)

Down

2d   Gives voice to  songs (4)

3d   Released -- or shot (3,3)

4d   Where they wash and air French articles first (7)

In French, la^[8] is the feminine singular form of the definite article and un^[8] is the masculine singular form of the indefinite article.

5d   Intelligence required to get round a delay (4)

6d   Footballing scouts? (7)

The clue could refer to a couple of British football [soccer] clubs.

Rangers Football Club^[7] is a Scottish football  club based in Glasgow that plays in Scottish League One – the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Founded in 1872, Rangers were one of the ten founder members of the original Scottish Football League, remaining in Scotland's top division until the end of the 2011–12 season. In 2012, the team dropped out the top division, not through relegation, but due to insolvency. The team was relaunched under new ownership in the Scottish Football League's Third Division at the start of season 2012–13.

Queens Park Rangers Football Club^[7] (usually referred to as QPR) is an English professional association football club based in London, England that plays in the Football League Championship (the second tier in the English football league system), having been relegated from the Premier League (the top tier of English football) following the 2012-13 season.

7d   Business  initiative (10)

8d   Dreadful Australian orgy (10)

A saturnalia^[5] is an an occasion of wild revelry or indulgence. The name comes from Saturnalia, the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December, a period of general merrymaking and the predecessor of Christmas.

12d   It's instrumental in calor gas getting distribution (3,7)

Calor gas^[5] is a British trademark for liquefied butane stored under pressure in portable containers, used domestically as a substitute for mains gas [gas delivered via pipe] and in camping as a portable fuel.

A cor anglais^[5] (also called English horn) is an alto woodwind instrument of the oboe family, having a bulbous bell and sounding a fifth lower than the oboe.

13d   No fancy work? (3-7)

14d   Drive from tee in open country (5)

Moor^[5] is a chiefly British term for a tract of open uncultivated upland, typically covered with heather.

15d   Old plane  that has a long tail? (5)

The de Havilland DH 106 Comet^[7] was the first production commercial jetliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at its Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, the Comet 1 prototype first flew on 27 July 1949.

19d   It's possibly great when it's used for riot control (4-3)

20d   Weeping girl takes nothing up (7)

23d   An unexpected trifle -- a riddle, perhaps (6)

A riddle^[5] is a large coarse sieve, especially one used for separating ashes from cinders or sand from gravel.

25d   Record appearance of full moon (4)

26d   Complication that naturally goes against the grain (4)

Knot^[5] is used in the figurative sense ⇒ a complicated knot of racial politics and pride.

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