Thursday, April 24, 2014 — DT 27370

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27370
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, December 26, 2013
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27370]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By crypticsue
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

This is a typical RayT puzzle — a bit of innuendo, a mention of Queen, and a whole lot of enjoyment.

New in Today's Review

Today, I am introducing an extension to the underlining practice that I started some time ago. I have been using dashed underlining to mark the subsidiary indication in semi-& lit. (semi-all-in-one) clues. Henceforth, I will apply the same practice to & lit. (all-in-one) clues. In this latter type of clue, the entire clue serves as both the primary indication (definition) as well as the subsidiary indication (wordplay). Therefore, in this type of clue, I will use dashed underlining for the entire clue.

Here is a rundown of my underlining practice:

• For clues that can be cleanly split into separate definition and wordplay, solid underlining will be used to mark the definition;
• For clues that are "pure" cryptic definitions (i.e., no subsidiary indication exists), solid underlining will be used to mark the entire clue;
• For cryptic definitions which contain some form of subsidiary indication, the portion of the clue providing the subsidiary indication will be marked with dashed underlining and the remainder of the clue with solid underlining;
• For semi-& lit. (semi-all-in-one) clues, the the portion of the clue providing the subsidiary indication (wordplay) will be marked with dashed underlining and the remainder of the clue with solid underlining;
• For & lit. (all-in-one) clues, the entire clue will be marked with dashed underlining.

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   Word for down and out but not finished (12)

8a   Ended topless intimacy, caught in streak (7)

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c^[5] denotes caught (by).

9a   Fixed, absorbing first of drugs, to get tranquillised (7)

11a   Man sleeping rough around island produces papers (7)

In Britain, dosser^[5] is an informal and derogatory term for a tramp or someone who 'sleeps rough'^[5] — a British expression meaning to sleep in uncomfortable conditions, typically out of doors ⇒ "he spent the night sleeping rough on the streets".

12a   Body concerned with electricity supply (7)

In Britain, the mains^[5] is the term used for the source of public water, gas, or electricity supply through pipes or cables ⇒ (i) the camcorder can be run directly off the mains; (ii) switch off the mains supply.

13a   Initially individual things, each making stories (5)

14a   Hollow found in grains in cereal (9)

16a   Revoltingly sickens at sleaze (9)

19a   Hoods for cold birds (5)

21a   Go abroad missing grand Dubai? (7)

23a   Following cool former wife, play loose (7)

24a   Greedy hawk almost approaching salmon, say (7)

25a   Sort of paint over in one second (7)

In the UK, mo^[5] (abbreviation for moment) is an informal term for a short period of time ⇒ hang on a mo!.

26a   Sublime rapture taking seconds, then new depression (12)

Down

1d   Girl embracing a tense European artist (7)

Henri Matisse^[5] (1869–1954) was a French painter and sculptor. His use of non-naturalistic colour led him to be regarded as a leader of the Fauvists.

2d   Spoils musical surrounded by nudes’ ends (7)

As a verb, nanny^[5] can mean to be overprotective towards ⇒ his well-intentioned nannying.

Annie^[7] is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie. The original Broadway production, which opened in 1977, ran for nearly six years and won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

3d   A stunner I fancy is moody (9)

4d   Queen after large, very large failure (5)

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

The sizes of clothing that North Americans would describe as plus-size^[7] (or often big and tall in the case of men's clothing) would be called outsize (OS^[5]) in Britain.

5d   Stomach sailor and crew holding party (7)

In the Royal Navy, able seaman^[5] (abbreviation AB^[5]), is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

6d   Where one may go in dodgy Reliant (7)

Reliant^[7] was a British car manufacturer which was founded in 1935 and became defunct in 2002. Among its products was the Robin^[7], a small three-wheeled car (which apparently was commonly known as the "Plastic Pig").

I did consider that the clue might be referring to a Chrysler K-car^[7] — the "nice Reliant automobile" that the Barenaked Ladies^[7] sang about in their song "If I Had $1000000"^[7]. However, that vehicle was a Plymouth rather than a Dodge (the Dodge version was known as the Aries).

7d   She aids with term’s reorganising (12)

Headmistress^[5] is a chiefly British term for a woman who is the head teacher in a school.

10d   Relief from pain in doses unfortunately taking time (12)

15d   Little doubt? (9)

17d   Horror film’s sick heartless evildoer beneath church (7)

18d   Foreign national stood with Scotsman supporting independence originally (7)

Politicians are so talented. They can stand and run at the same time.

Stand^[5] is a [not so] British term denoting to be a candidate in an election ⇒ he stood for parliament in 1968.

Run^[5] means to stand as a candidate in an election ⇒ he announced that he intended to run for President.

In Crosswordland, a Scotsman is almost invariably named Ian.

19d   Could start old car that is something economical (7)

20d   Nameless person seen in straw hat, sitting (7)

22d   Moral principles of English, largely broad (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