Wednesday, March 12, 2014 — DT 27337

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27337
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, November 16, 2013
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27337 - Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27337 - 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 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

At one point, I was about to throw in the towel and call in my electronic support. However, just at that moment the light bulb flashed on and I went on to complete the puzzled unaided.

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

3a   Troops slip over wet blanket (10)

The appearance of "over" as an anagram indicator did set off alarm bells in my mind. It is much more commonly seen as a reversal indicator.

I can only guess that over is being used in the sense of upset or turned over. For instance, consider a sportscaster calling an Olympic bobsleigh run ⇒ The sled entered the turn too high and the driver is fighting to regain control. Oh, no! Too late, he's over!. The implication would presumably be that going over would cause the letters in the words to become scrambled.

8a   Reason to go about half-time (6)

9a   Bird that's trapped fish behind bars (8)

Although both Big Dave and crypticsue considered the definition to be merely "bird", I would think that it would be "bird that's trapped".

A cageling^[10] is a bird kept in a cage.

The ling^[5] is any of a number of long-bodied edible marine fishes, in particular Molva molva, a large East Atlantic fish related to the cod.

10a   Noticed molar is serrated (8)

11a   Glue-on transfers waste time (6)

12a   In a trauma I will skip the country (10)

Even though there is no compelling reason to be so specific, I would say that the definition is "the country". Otherwise, the definite article serves no purpose in the clue — other than padding in the surface reading.

14a   Sort of diet that is less stiff (6-7)

After a slight bit of wavering, I'm going to call this a cryptic definition that has a primary indication ("sort of diet") that is a broad definition and a subsidiary indication, "that is less stiff" that adds precision.

Alternatively, I suppose that one might see it as a double definition:

• 14   Sort of diet that is less stiff (6-7)

where the second definition is somewhat cryptic. However, I do not favour this approach as I feel that the two parts of a double definition should independently lead one to the correct answer.

Note: I underline the entire clue to show that this is a cryptic definition. The primary indication (definition) has a solid underline and the subsidiary indication has a dashed underline.

20a   Beer wasted cooking offal (10)

22a   Smooth tongue (6)

23a   Record pile should be organised, one believes (8)

The phrase "one believes" is to be interpreted as one [who] believes.

24a   Good man, Leonard -- he's living within a distant island (2,6)

The clue parses as {ST (good man) + LEN (Leonard)} containing (is living within) HE (from the clue) + A (from the clue).

St Helena^[5] is a solitary island in the South Atlantic, a British overseas territory; population 7,600 (est. 2009); official language, English; capital, Jamestown. It was administered by the East India Company from 1659 until 1834, when it became a British colony. Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, and Gough Island are dependencies of St Helena. It is famous as the place of Napoleon’s exile (1815–21) and death.

25a   Sign worker's put inside shelter (4-2)

26a   Notwithstanding lacking in variety (3,3,4)

I thought about marking "lacking in variety" as a second definition. However, I concluded that it just happens to be a generic phrase that conveys the same meaning as "all the same" when the latter is used as a generic phrase.

Down

1d   Won over by commercial, say, that's to be wrapped up in the present (8)

Here we encounter another interesting anagram indicator, "wrapped up". This would more commonly be used as a containment indicator.

Perhaps, "wrapped up" denotes "folded over" and the S in SAY is folded over the following letters to produce AYS. [Just a wild guess!]

In this clue, note that "over" is back to its usual role as a reversal indicator after appearing in the part of an anagram indicator in 3a.

2d   Conqueror, one annexing a state (8)

Victoria^[5] is a state of southeastern Australia; population 5,313,823 (2008); capital, Melbourne. Originally a district of New South Wales, it became a separate colony in 1851 and was federated with the other states of Australia in 1901.

3d   Start display (3,3)

4d   When penny drops from pocket there's a shout of pain (4)

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] is a bronze coin [or, more correctly, a formerly bronze — now copper-plated steel — coin] and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound (and is abbreviated p).

5d   In case this help might be needed (5,3)

I tried for a long time to justify FIRST AID. Then I thought that there might be something in Britain known as LOCAL AID. Finally, the penny dropped. The shout of pain was me kicking myself.

6d   Stop lift rising and falling (4,2)

7d   Renounce Frenchman, say, on the way up (6)

I would have to say that crypticsue's comment is — unintentionally, no doubt — misleading. The purpose of the word "say" in the clue is not to indicate that RENE is an example of a Frenchman's name. Rather, the word "say" is being used to clue EG.

Thus the clue parses as RENE (Frenchman) + GE {reversal (on the way up) of EG (say)}.

13d   Old European making one or two points (5)

Keep in mind that "one or two points" means, in effect, "one [point] or two points".

15d   Wealth, nothing more than material? (8)

16d   Quartet appearing in sensual revelry (8)

17d   What prolific artist may do to make random selection (4,4)

18d   One entertaining the Spanish in residence (6)

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

19d   Go out of one's way to entertain (6)

21d   Doctor lets us scrap (6)

23d   Info turned up at short notice (4)

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