Monday, February 24, 2014 — DT 27325

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27325
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, November 2, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27325- Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27325 - Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (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 parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword 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

I thought that the review of today's puzzle would be easy to write. However, I got sidetracked investigating model railway gauges and spent far more time than I expected.

While today's puzzle was not overly difficult, I initially had an incorrect solution for 23d. Since the only intersecting clue affected by this error was 26a, this did not have a major impact on my ability to solve the puzzle. Not knowing the British term at 26a meant that I would have had to use my electronic assistants on that clue in any event. When I failed to find anything to match the checking letters for 26a, I suspected that there must be an error somewhere — and there was really only one place it could be.

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   Final stage of house extension (4,7)

7a   Carts I'd overturned -- that's radical (7)

8a   Don't go on to break one's journey (4,3)

Surely, one need not look to cricket to justify "off" being the opposite of "on". However, for those who may be puzzled by the cricket-related comment in gnomethang's review, the following may be helpful.

In cricket, the on and the off are the two sides of a cricket field, as divided lengthways through the pitch. The on^[5] (also known as the on side), which is another name for the leg side^[5] (also called simply the leg), is the half of the field away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. Naturally, the other side of the field is called the off^[5] (also known as the off side).

10a   Peer is number five to start (8)

A peer^[5] is a member of the nobility in Britain or Ireland, comprising the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.

11a   I had to break up row, being smarter (6)

Smart^[4] is used in the sense of well-kept or neat.

13a   Some estaminet takings may be after tax (4)

An estaminet^[3,4,11] is a small café, bar, or bistro, especially a shabby one. The word — which comes from Walloon, a French dialect spoken in southern and eastern Belgium and neighbouring parts of France — is derived from a word meaning 'cowshed'.

Nett^[5] is an alternative British spelling of net.

14a   Primitive plants developed from a large gene (5,5)

16a   Making one more time for fun (10)

18a   Clear off, having mislaid right racket (4)

21a   Mark's kind of music? (6)

In the Bible, the Gospel According to Mark^[7] is the second book of the New Testament.

22a   Better fiddle gas meter! (8)

A gamester^[3,4,11] is a person who habitually plays games for money; in other words, a gambler.

24a   Person seeking fur -- salesman getting some returned (7)

25a   Shark needs to follow trawl (7)

The dogfish^[5] (Scyliorhinus canicula) is a small sand-coloured bottom-dwelling shark with a long tail, common on European coasts.

26a   Risk capital (6,5)

Danger money^[7] is the British name for danger pay.

Down

1d   Receiver's needed for dates he organised (7)

2d   Mongrel will get no flipping meat (6)

In British English, flipping^[5] is an informal term used for emphasis or to express mild annoyance ⇒ (i) are you out of your flipping mind?; (ii) it’s flipping cold today.

3d   Mediocre time comes with cost (6-4)

4d   Run  on the bank, that's growing (4)

The second definition is merely a convoluted way of saying "[something] that's growing on the bank".

5d   Current flowing across river near equator (8)

6d   Another thing about this gauge of model railway is sounding the horn (7)

The most popular model railway scale in the United Kingdom is OO gauge^[7] (or OO scale), in which 4 mm represents 1 foot (a scale ratio of 1:76.2). The most popular scale in North America is HO scale, in which 3.5 mm represents 1 foot (a scale ratio of 1:87).

A model built to the British OO scale is larger than one built to HO scale. This is actually the basis for the existence of the OO scale. British locomotives were generally smaller than those used in North America and models built to HO scale were not large enough to accommodate the clockwork drive mechanisms that were then available. Thus British modellers adopted a scale that would produce larger models. However, they retained HO gauge track — and, as a result, the tracks in OO model railways are not properly scaled.

7d   Deduce side from which kings took authority (6,5)

The divine right of kings^[5] is the doctrine that kings derive their authority from God not their subjects, from which it follows that rebellion is the worst of political crimes. It was enunciated in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries under the Stuarts and is also associated with the absolutism of Louis XIV of France.

9d   One has to take hurried steps in it (6,5)

A forced march^[5] is a fast march by soldiers, typically over a long distance.

12d   Brief note written out in full (10)

15d   Pantomime involved notepaper -- nothing was left out (5,3)

A pantomime^[5] is a traditional British theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas.

17d   Way amateur infuses part of milk to produce sauce (7)

The Chambers Dictionary includes amateur in a long list of words for which A^[1] can be the abbreviation.

19d   Hun cut short invading borders of Cathay, with a show of spite (7)

Attila^[5] (406–53) was king of the Huns 434–53. He ravaged vast areas between the Rhine and the Caspian Sea before being defeated by the joint forces of the Roman army and the Visigoths at Châlons in 451.

Cathay^[5] is the name by which China was known to medieval Europe.

20d   Ice in French or Norwegian port (6)

In French, en^[8] is a preposition meaning 'in'.

23d   Real torture at intervals (4)

I conjectured that the solution might be an anagram (torture) of REAL. The only conceivable word that I could construct was ERAL which I reasoned might be an adjective meaning related to eras. Since eras are periods of time, then eral — should it exist — might possibly denote "at intervals".

As I was to discover, there seems to be no such word as eral. [Such a pity!]

The phrase "at intervals" is actually an indicator that directs us to select a regular sequence of letters from "torture". Since there are many possible "regular sequences" that we could choose (odd letters, even letters, every third letter, etc.), we must keep trying various sequences until we find one that produces a valid result.

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