Friday, March 14, 2014 — DT 27339

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27339
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27339]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Gazza
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

Introduction

Today I spent as much time on 5a as I did on the rest of the puzzle. After a considerable period of time bashing my head against a brick wall, the solution hit me like a bolt out of the blue.

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   Risk I'm running before short fling and tiff (8)

Shy^[5] is a dated term meaning, as a noun, an act of flinging or throwing something at a target and, as a verb, to fling or throw (something) at a target ⇒ he tore the spectacles off and shied them at her.

5a   Mass outlets rejecting English giving trouble and strife (6)

Trouble and strife^[5] is British rhyming slang for wife. As Gazza indicates, a Cockney would only use the first part of the phrase.

In Cockney rhyming slang, the slang word is obtained by replacing the target word (in this case, "wife") by a phrase with which it rhymes ("trouble and strife") and then dropping the rhyming word in the phrase. Through this process, "wife" becomes "trouble" to a Cockney.

Issue^[3] is used in the sense of a place of egress or an outlet ⇒ a lake with no issue to the sea.

8a   Colonial administrator restricted lottery (6)

Sir Stamford Raffles^[5] (1781–1826) was a British colonial administrator. As Lieutenant General of Sumatra he persuaded the East India Company to purchase the undeveloped island of Singapore (1819), undertaking much of the preliminary work for transforming it into an international port and centre of commerce.

9a   Joke about new secure haunt of criminals? (8)

10a   Formal boycott by Asian, we hear (5,3)

Black^[5] is a dated British expression meaning to refuse to handle (goods), undertake (work), or have dealings with (a person or business) as a way of taking industrial action ⇒ the printers blacked firms trying to employ women.

Although the dictionaries agree that black tie requires a dinner jacket worn with a black bow tie and white tie necessitates a tailcoat (tails) worn with a white bow tie, they seem to vary somewhat as to what constitutes formal. Oxford Dictionaries Online defines black tie^[5] as formal evening dress and white tie^[5] as full evening dress. Chambers 21st Century Dictionary makes the fine [and ambiguous] distinction that black tie^[2] indicates a formal function at which guests are expected to wear evening dress and white tie^[2] indicates guests are expected to wear formal evening dress. The American dictionaries, The American Heritage Dictionary and Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, both define black tie^[3,11] as semiformal and white tie^[3,11] as formal.

11a   Introduce gradually some plain Stilton (6)

Stilton^[5] (trademark) is a kind of strong rich cheese, often with blue veins, originally made at various places in Leicestershire.

12a   Dismal sort of tea sold around cafe's rear (8)

13a   Associate informally with rustic bigwig (6)

A hob^[1] is a rustic or a lout — although seemingly only when found in The Chambers Dictionary.

Nob^[5] is an informal British term for a person of wealth or high social position ⇒ it was quite a do—all the nobs were there.

15a   Curry favour in Greek island? Sure (4,2)

Kos^[7] or Cos is a Greek island of the Dodecanese with a population of 33,388. The island measures 40 by 8 kilometres (25 by 5 miles), and is 4 km (2 miles) from the coast of Turkey.

18a   Articles abroad trail outsider? (8)

The question mark may signify that "outsider" is being loosely defined as someone with only an outside chance of success.

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

In German, der^[8] is one of several variants of the definite article. 

20a   Undiminished area of diplomat's skill? (6)

21a   Primate put back suitable Irish drink (8)

Follow Gazza's recipe and you will concoct a drink that is more French than Irish.

23a   Fine hugs represented Chinese values (4,4)

In Chinese thought, feng shui^[5] is a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (chi), and whose favourable or unfavourable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings.

24a   Fearsome woman to be tedious? (6)

It would appear that the Brits more readily attribute the term dragon to a woman than is the case in North America. The American dictionaries, The American Heritage Dictionary and Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, define dragon^[3,11] as "a fiercely vigilant or intractable person" and "a fierce, combative person" respectively, although the latter dictionary adds as an additional definition, a very strict, protective woman. As for the British dictionaries, Collins English Dictionary defines dragon^[4] as a fierce or intractable person, especially a woman; Oxford Dictionaries Online says that dragon^[5] is a derogatory term for a fierce and intimidating woman ⇒ his wife is a real dragon; and Chambers 21st Century Dictionary has dragon^[2] as a colloquial term for a frighteningly domineering woman.

25a   Small cupboard, one with a key? (6)

The question mark could constitute an indication that the second definition is, as Gazza describes it, "semi-cryptic".

26a   Northern son seen after ordering rhubarb (8)

Down

1d   Get rid of stunted vegetation (5)

2d   Clipped retainer in minister's place for dining area (9)

A rectory^[2] is the house or residence of a rector. In the Church of England, a rector^[5] is the incumbent of a parish where all tithes formerly passed to the incumbent, whereas a vicar^[5] is an incumbent of a parish where tithes formerly passed to a chapter or religious house or layman. The terms rector and vicar are also used in the Roman Catholic Church, where they have different meanings.

3d   I retain woeful passivity (7)

4d   In which fellows can provide help to a degree? (6,9)

At Oxford and Cambridge universities, a fellow^[10] is a member of the governing body of a college who is usually a member of the teaching staff.

5d   Like a man of habit? (7)

6d   Austere section put in hospital (7)

San^[5] is an informal term for what is known in Britain as a sanatorium^[5] and in the US as a sanitarium^[5].

7d   Burden on graduate needing good cycling accessory? (9)

12d   Deft clue I composed to be misleading (9)

14d   Block pub food receiving promotion (9)

16d   Devilish appeal in cat at play (7)

SA^[5] is an informal, dated term for sex appeal.

17d   Large jug for US sportsman (7)

19d   Medic needs to be deployed in German city (7)

Dresden^[5] is a city in eastern Germany, the capital of Saxony, on the River Elbe; population 504,800 (est. 2006). Famous for its baroque architecture, it was almost totally destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945.

22d   Criminal feature in horse-racing? (5)

In addition to flat races^[5] over a course with no jumps, horse racing in Britain includes steeplechases and hurdle races. A steeplechase^[5] is a race run on a racecourse having ditches and hedges as jumps, while a hurdle^[5] is a race over a series of hurdles [fences]. Hurdle^[5] is a British term for a portable rectangular frame strengthened with withies (willow shoots) or wooden bars, used as a temporary fence.

The National Hunt^[5] (or National Hunt Committee) [mentioned by Gazza in his review] is the body controlling steeplechasing and hurdle racing in Great Britain.

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