Thursday, June 26, 2014 — DT 27415

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27415
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, February 17, 2014
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27415]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

A typically fun — but not overly taxing — puzzle from Rufus.

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   Talent shown by a number in entertainment (5)

Terms such as "a number", "a large number", or "a great many" are often indicators that a Roman numeral is required.

4a   French beard and pigtail, say, put on for party (8)

In French, barbe^[8] means beard.

8a   Winning, making bad move and lose (8)

Lovesome^[5] is a literary term meaning lovely or lovable.

9a   As Roy rides out it's laughable (8)

11a   Sing in French first to delight (7)

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

13a   Get leader moved and demoted (9)

15a   Propellers of jumbo jets? (9,6)

18a   Work of a forger, bent but possibly lucky (9)

In Britain, the word bent^[5] has the same connotation (dishonest or corrupt) as does the word crooked^[5] in North America. [It would appear that the British use both bent and crooked in this sense].

21a   Possibly pressed to make one go down (7)

I would say that the definition encompasses a bit more of the clue than Miffypops has chosen to include. If the definition were simply "go down", then I think that the solution would have to be an intransitive verb (which depress^[10] is not). Therefore, the definition must be "to make one go down" (to lower in spirits, make gloomy, or deject) which would make the solution a transitive verb.

22a   It strengthens the wall -- still needs a lock (8)

24a   Sulky demeanour (8)

25a   Chinese official in loose jacket (8)

Although, like Miffypops, I parsed this as a double definition, it could equally well be interpreted as a triple definition:

• 25a   Chinese official in loose jacket (8)

where the first definition is a form of Chinese (language), the second is a term that has come to be applied to any powerful official or senior bureaucrat, and the third being the loose jacket.

26a   In a way quite small, but totally delightful (5)

Wee^[5] is a chiefly Scottish adjective meaning little ⇒ (i) when I was just a wee bairn; (ii) the lyrics are a wee bit too sweet and sentimental. The word may be of Scottish origin but, like the Scots themselves, it has migrated around the world.

Down

1d   They have no real bite (5,5)

2d   He should know how to press a suit (8)

An advocate^[5] is a person who pleads his client's cause in a court of law.

3d   Here cars will be involved in scientific inquiry (8)

4d   Brought up with money, by the sound of it (4)

5d   Revealing report about Rhode Island (6)

The US Postal Service abbreviation for the state of Rhode Island^[7] is RI. 

Rhode Island^[5] is a state in the north-eastern US, on the Atlantic coast; population 1,050,788 (est. 2008); capital, Providence. Settled from England in the 17th century, it was one of the original thirteen states of the Union (1776) and is the smallest and one of the most densely populated.


Rhode Island^[7], despite being the smallest state by area, has the longest official name of all the US states — State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The name of the state comes from an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay which Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, in a letter written in 1524, likened to the Island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean.

6d   Company show displeasure with failure to accept responsibility (3-3)

Miffypops should have said "split (2-4)" rather than "split (4-2)".

7d   Discover theories Pythagoras penned (4)

Pythagoras^[5] (circa 580–500 BC) was a Greek philosopher; known as Pythagoras of Samos. Pythagoras sought to interpret the entire physical world in terms of numbers, and founded their systematic and mystical study; he is best known for the theorem of the right-angled triangle. His analysis of the courses of the sun, moon, and stars into circular motions was not set aside until the 17th century.

10d   Came into force (8)

The solution might also have been ENROLLED. I didn't fill in the middle part of the answer until the correct choice was revealed by solving 13a.

12d   Defence cuts (8)

14d   Press cited for spreading contempt (10)

16d   Racket skills which are used defensively (8)

I solved the clue without understanding the connection between ramp and racket. A bit of research revealed that there is indeed a connection — just not the one I anticipated.

Ramp^[5] is an informal British term for a swindle, especially one involving a fraudulent increase of the price of a share ⇒ the Stock Exchange is investigating two blatant share ramps.

17d   One having the same calling (8)

19d   Give back profit (6)

20d   Mistakes are holding sailor up (6)

22d   Ray gives us a big smile (4)

Perhaps this is a tip of the hat to fellow setter RayT (Ray Terrell) who also sets puzzles under the pseudonym Beam.

23d   Caught cutting Sun article to copy electronically (4)

It is interesting to observe that the word "Sun" is italicized in the National Post — which it was not in the UK (at least, not in the online version of the puzzle).

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

The Sun^[7] is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland by a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

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