Friday, April 25, 2014 — DT 27371

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27371
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, December 27, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27371]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers
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

While I finished without calling in the electronic reinforcements, I found parts of the puzzle rather tricky.

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.

Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (& lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions.

Across

1a   Dance with energy and desire (4)

3a   Government department’s feature that may suit self-employed writer? (4,6)

The Home Office^[5] (abbreviation HO or H.O.^[10]) is the British government department dealing with domestic affairs, including law and order, immigration, and broadcasting, in England and Wales.

9a   Reluctant to shed outer bits of clothes (4)

Loth is a variant spelling of loath^[5].

10a   Copper about to join worker in African country? That’s risky (5-3-2)

The symbol for the chemical element copper is Cu^[5] (from Latin cuprum).

11a   Saint and sailors wearing fuzz (7)

The Royal Navy^[5] (abbreviation RN) is the British navy. It was the most powerful navy in the world from the 17th century until the Second World War.

St Bernard^[5] (circa 996-circa 1081) was a French monk who founded two hospices for travellers in the Alps. The St Bernard passes, where the hospices were situated, and St Bernard dogs are named after him.

13a   A female with some pride? (7)

14a   One to crow as heretic, clan getting disturbed (11)

Chanticleer^[5] is a name given to a domestic cock, especially in fairy tales.

18a   Financial executive given wave by politician in bed (11)

In many Commonwealth countries (including Britain and Canada), a member of the House of Commons or similar legislative body is known as a Member of Parliament^[10] (or MP^[5] for short).

21a   Someone to emulate for instance (7)

22a   Sympathy and money needed by Heather (7)

Ling^[5] is another name for the common heather (Calluna vulgaris), a purple-flowered Eurasian heath that grows abundantly on moorland and heathland.

23a   What critical PhD examiner may be, showing opposition (10)

24a   A lass hasn’t left — is seen around port (4)

Riga^[5] is a port on the Baltic Sea, capital of Latvia; population 722,000 (est. 2007).

25a   Brief strain troubled politician (10)

A Tory^[4] is a member or supporter of the Conservative Party in Great Britain or Canada. Historically, a Tory was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679-80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.

26a   Remain idle (4)

There are a couple of possible interpretations for this clue. It could be a double definition since rest^[3] can mean to remain or linger as well as to idle^[5] in the sense of to spend time doing nothing.

A second possible explanation might relate to the expression to be resting^[5] which is used euphemistically by British actors to indicate that they are out of work ⇒ she was an actress but doing domestic work while she was resting. Thus rest might mean to remain idle (i.e., be unemployed).

Down

1d   Sufferer from lumbago may restrain from action (4,4)

2d   Father’s friend has caged a bird (8)

4d   Like an egg that’s old and useless (5)

5d   First-class old mini-dwelling ending with the National Trust (9)

In Britain, the National Trust^[5] (abbreviation NT) is a trust for the preservation of places of historic interest or natural beauty in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, founded in 1895 and supported by endowment and private subscription. The National Trust for Scotland^[7], a separate organization, was founded in 1931.

6d   Quartet outside small room full of zest? (11)

In Britain, lav^[10] is an informal short form for lavatory.

7d   Trendy action for sure (6)

8d   I get so nasty as self-centred person (6)

12d   Expects fun and games will be interrupted by one head (11)

15d   Able to take part, not having lost heart (9)

16d   New Lab. has one formal procedure deriving from its founder? (8)

The Labour Party^[5] (abbreviation Lab.^[5]) in Britain is a left-of-centre political party formed to represent the interests of ordinary working people that since the Second World War has been in power 1945–51, 1964–70, 1974-9, and 1997–2010. Arising from the trade union movement at the end of the 19th century, it replaced the Liberals as the country’s second party after the First World War.

New Labour^[10] was a rebranding of the British Labour Party and its policies undertaken by Tony Blair and his supporters in the run-up to the 1997 general election in Great Britain and maintained during the Labour Party's period of government under Blair's premiership. Never an official title, it denotes the more right-wing/social democratic trend in Labour thinking and policy intended to make the party electable after its electoral catastrophes of the 1980s.

A Blairite^[10] is a supporter of the modernizing policies of Tony Blair^[5], British Labour statesman who was Prime Minister 1997–2007.

17d   Sweet female opening charity event with tirade (8)

In Britain, rag^[5] (usually used as a modifier) refers to a programme of stunts, parades, and other entertainments organized by students to raise money for charity ⇒ rag week.

19d   Disown bombast that goes around the City (6)

The City^[5] is short for the City of London. Take note that the City of London^[5] is not the same thing as the city of London, but merely the part of London situated within the ancient boundaries and governed by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation^[5] [in Britain, a group of people elected to govern a city, town, or borough].

In the clue, the setter uses "the City" as a surrogate for for the EC postcode which serves the City of London [postcode being the British counterpart of the Canadian postal code or American zip code]. The EC (Eastern Central) postcode area^[7] (also known as the London EC postcode area) is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes almost all of the City of London as well as parts of several other London boroughs.

20d   Woman noted for work in market has closed early (6)

In the New Testament, Martha^[5] is the the sister of Lazarus and Mary and friend of Jesus (Luke 10:40). When Jesus visited them, Martha prepared and served the meal. After the meal, Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair. This story has given rise to a Martha being a term for a woman who keeps herself very busy with domestic affairs.

As a Canadian engineer, I had no difficulty recognizing the reference to Martha.

The Sons of Martha is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling. It is inspired by the biblical story of Mary and Martha as told in Luke 10:38–42. It celebrates the careful work done by workers and builders to provide for others' physical needs.

The Sons of Martha was written in 1907 and was adopted by the author in 1922 to be part of the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer^[7] performed by engineering graduates in Canada as they prepare to enter the profession.

In the bible story, Christ visits a home where two sisters, Mary and Martha, live; Mary sits at the visitor's feet to listen to him while Martha races about attending to the hospitality until her patience runs out, and she calls on Mary to help her. Martha is chided for her mundane concerns, and told that "Mary has chosen what is better".

22d   This monk is one who may deal with monkfish, we hear! (5)

The monkfish^[5] (Lophius piscatorius) is a bottom-dwelling anglerfish of European waters.

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