Wednesday, January 15, 2014 — DT 27295

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27295
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, September 28, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27295 - Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27295 - Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) crypticsue (Review)
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
Notes As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

Although crypticsue characterized this as "a very slightly trickier puzzle than usual", she still deemed that it merited a mere two stars for difficulty. I definitely found it to be more difficult than that — as did several of the Brits commenting on Big Dave's blog. Aside from one raid into the northwest quadrant, I was unable to subdue that territory until I had called in my electronic assistants. A couple of British terms with which I was unfamiliar certainly contributed to my difficulties there.

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   Predict what are opening leads effectively in quarter of hands (10)

The forecastle^[5] is the forward part of a ship below the deck, traditionally used as the crew’s living quarters.

6a   Put back containers for biscuit (4)

The British use the term biscuit^[3,4,11] to refer to a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or a crackers in North America. The food item that we know as a biscuit^[5] in North America is similar to a British scone.

10a   Means of expressing identity on island in the Irish Sea (5)

Although I identified the correct island, it didn't occur to me to use its initials.

The Isle of Man (abbreviation IOM)^[5] is an island in the Irish Sea which is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system. The island was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes. 

11a   One getting a grip bugs team (4,5)

Grub screw^[4,5] is a British name for a small headless screw, having a slot cut for a screwdriver or a socket for a hexagon key [Allen key] and used to secure a sliding component in a determined position. In North America, this would be known as a headless (or blind) set screw.

While a grub may be the larval stage of a bug, I will leave it to the biologists among us to debate whether a grub can truly be considered to be a bug.

12a   Old fool embracing that woman -- it'll all turn to ashes (7)

In his review, Big Dave refers to "coot" as "an old-fashioned word for a fool". It may be old-fashioned, although I did not find it characterized as such in any of my reference sources. However the term coot^[3,4,11] is often applied to older people — to such an extent that one almost never sees it other than in the phrase "old coot".

13a   Gain a cold greeting from Adam? (7)

According to the story of The Creation, Adam originally shared the planet with but one other person. Thus, his greeting could hardly have been anything else.

14a   Derby's certainly not one for exotic cheese plates (12)

The Derby^[5] is an annual flat race for three-year-old horses, founded in 1780 by the 12th Earl of Derby and run on Epsom Downs in England in late May or early June.

A flat race^[5] is a horse race over a course with no jumps, as opposed to a steeplechase or hurdles.

A steeplechase^[5] is a horse race run on a racecourse having ditches and hedges as jumps.

18a   Consumed to get self-confidence, all right? That's nonsense (12)

In the UK, it would appear that gobbledygook is an alternative spelling of gobbledegook^[3,4]; whereas, in North America, the situation is reversed.

21a   Defunct passage from the Bible incorporated 'the first shall be last' (7)

From her review, it would appear to me that crypticsue does not perform the operations in the specified order. The first step is to form a charade of {TEXT (passage from the Bible) + INC (incorporated)} and then move the initial T to the end ('the first shall be last').

The passage in the clue is taken from Matthew 20:16, "So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen."

23a   Remove priest making a Continental congregation change hands (7)

It did not help my cause to initially enter DEFROCK here.

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

24a   Nothing fresh in stable block (9)

25a   Old South American tin, fashionable to the West (5)

The Incans^[5] were a South American Indian people living in the central Andes before the Spanish conquest.

26a   Pained as love rejected (4)

In Greek mythology, Eros^[5] was the god of love and the son of Aphrodite. The name is now used to represent sexual love or desire ⇒ Eros drives us to transcend ourselves through desire.

27a   Baseball fielders with two sorts of sportswear (10)

Down

1d   Bird around lake is quail (6)

2d   Horseman catching a bandit (6)

3d   Provider of security to search gangly alien besieging castle (7,7)

In Britain, comfort blanket^[5] is another name for security blanket.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

4d   Show sorrow and take steps to follow the score (5-4)

Unfortunately, I was not in a musical frame of mind as I examined at this clue.

5d   Girl left with mystique (5)

7d   Spray that kills butterflies around Georgia (5,3)

8d   Pulverised with a motor containing diesel initially (8)

9d   Welsh factories abandoned directly (2,3,4,5)

As an anagram indicator, abandon^[5] is used in the sense of complete lack of inhibition or restraint ⇒ she sings and sways with total abandon or, as The Chambers Dictionary defines abandon^[1], careless freedom of action.

15d   Practical joker's influence in classic race (no saint) (3-6)

I was familiar with the Derby, but I needed to consult my reference sources to confirm the existence of this race — which I mistakenly guessed might be a ski race held in the Swiss Alps. St Leger^[5] is an annual flat horse race at Doncaster^[5] [an industrial town in South Yorkshire, northern England] for three-year-olds, held in September. The race is named after Colonel Anthony St Leger (1731–1786), who instituted the race in 1776.

16d   See gross deformed monsters (8)

17d   A club mounting wild revelry -- it makes a killing (8)

19d   American boss has repeated laugh about North Carolina (6)

It seems that honcho is a North American term. I had always presumed it to be of Spanish American origin but it actually comes from Japanese and was brought back to the US by servicemen stationed in Japan during the occupation following the Second World War.

20d   Lizards showing small quirks (6)

22d   Refuse time spots (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