Wednesday, July 2, 2014 — DT 27419

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27419
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, February 21, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27419]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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
The National Post has skipped DT 27418 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Thursday, February 20, 2014.

Introduction

Had the National Post not skipped the puzzle that would normally have appeared yesterday, we would have had a "Thursday" puzzle today. In fact, when I saw the appearance of Her Majesty at 22d — together with the suggestiveness of 5d and the possible self-parody at 9d — I thought that this might well be a creation of RayT (one of the regular Thursday setters). However, it turns out to be a Giovanni "Friday" puzzle — and a quite enjoyable one.

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   I have dessert with dram being brought round plane (4-6)

Dram^[5] is another term for drachm^[5] (abbreviation dr.), a unit of weight formerly used by apothecaries, equivalent to 60 grains or one eighth of an ounce.

6a   A hundred in English house? It makes for increased sound (4)

C^[5] is the Roman numeral for 100 [abbreviation of Latin centum 'hundred'].

Although not found in many dictionaries, ho.^[10] is the abbreviation for house.

10a   A sign of something missing? Trouble with that hat going astray (5)

11a   Adhesive stuff — a lot peels off (9)

Sellotape^[5] (trademark) is a British term for transparent adhesive tape. The British use this term in a generic fashion in the same way that North Americans use the term Scotch tape^[5] (trademark).

12a   Maiden starts song, having caught the French disease (7)

In cricket, a maiden^[5], also known as a maiden over, (abbreviation M)^[5] is an over in which no runs are scored. An over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

In French, the feminine singular form of the definite article is la^[8]. 

13a   Like a cloud far away or close — farm animal briefly takes shelter (7)

14a   Deigned to provide account of last bit of prisoner’s escape over wall (12)

I was eventually able to solve this clue — once I had cleaned my eyeglasses and come to the realization that the first word was not "designed".

Of course, the first bit of the escape involved ascending the wall.

18a   Moving faster, manoeuvring around edge of town, runs into gang (12)

I tried — unsuccessfully, of course — to justify TRANSPORTING. My efforts were further hampered by focusing on the wrong edge of town.

On cricket scorecards [or baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

21a   Area only half visible? Fix a light (3-4)

In most dictionaries, the solution appears as two words. However, The Chambers Dictionary — alone among the several that I consulted — spells it as a hyphenated word.

23a   Dare to start again, quietly at first (7)

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

24a   Outlandish request — go mad (9)

25a   Giant-killer is dead keen (5)

David^[5] (died circa 962 BC) was king of Judah and Israel circa 1000-circa 962 BC. In the biblical account he was the youngest son of Jesse and killed the Philistine Goliath; on Saul’s death, he became king, making Jerusalem his capital. He is traditionally regarded as the author of the Psalms, though this has been disputed.

26a   Archbishop calling for union repeatedly (4)

TU^[3,4,11] is the abbreviation for Trade Union.

Desmond Tutu^[5] is a South African clergyman As General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (1979–84) he became a leading voice in the struggle against apartheid. He was Archbishop of Cape Town 1986–96. Nobel Peace Prize (1984).

27a   River shifting at speed well below the surface (4-6)

The Dee^[5] is a river in northeastern Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen. Another river of the same name rises in North Wales and flows past Chester and on into the Irish Sea.

Down

1d   Run off, making departure across river (6)

According to several dictionaries that I consulted, dep.^[1,2,10] can be the abbreviation for either departs or departure.

The Cam^[10] is a river in eastern England, in Cambridgeshire, flowing through Cambridge to the Great Ouse. Length: about 64 km (40 miles). The Great Ouse (which flows through East Anglia) is not to be confused with the River Ouse in Yorkshire or the River Ouse in Sussex — and certainly not with the Little Ouse, a river of East Anglia, which forms a tributary of the Great Ouse.

2d   Potent anger with one very upset at the outset (6)

3d   A chamber’s stool rickety? Such may be stood upon with trepidation! (8,6)

4d   Grieve for the loss of composer reportedly in ruin (9)

George Frideric Handel^[5] (1685–1759) was a German-born composer and organist, resident in England from 1712; born Georg Friedrich Händel. A prolific composer, he is chiefly remembered for his choral works, especially the oratorio Messiah (1742), and, for orchestra, his Water Music suite (circa 1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749).

5d   Woman ‘well-endowed’ must shed several bits (5)

While I can't see that it necessarily applies in the context of this clue, bits^[5] is an informal British term for a person’s genitals ⇒ You could see everything! All her bits!. What the Monty Python gang would often refer to as "the naughty bits".

7d   Cleaner is cautious when boy interrupts (8)

Charlady^[5] (or charwoman^[5]) is a dated British term for a woman employed as a cleaner in a house or office.

8d   Control where plane above IOW may be heard (8)

Ryde^[7] is a British seaside resort and the most populous town on the Isle of Wight, with a population of about 27,000.

The Isle of Wight^[5] (abbreviation IOW^[5]) is an island off the south coast of England, a county since 1974; population 131,700 (est. 2009); administrative centre, Newport. It lies at the entrance to Southampton Water and is separated from the mainland by the Solent and Spithead.

9d   Ambiguous words with rude tone led Ben astray (6,8)

15d   Fight obsequious humbug, did you say? Refuse to go there (9)

I must confess that, even after finding the correct solution, I totally failed to parse the "obsequious humbug, did you say" portion of the clue. I have Deep Threat to thank for throwing light on that bit of wordplay.

A humbug^{[2, 3,4,5,11]} is a hypocrite, impostor or fraud.

Uriah Heep^[7] is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his novel David Copperfield. The character is notable for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own "'humbleness". His name has become synonymous with being a yes man.

16d   Someone saintly and correct penning article that’s plainly expressed (8)

Never one to shy away from plain speaking, I did think it a bit lazy to use the phrase "someone saintly" to clue ST when an alternative term such as "someone holy" could well have been used.

17d   Timepiece inaccurate? Be careful! (5,3)

19d   Dog must go to its doctor on account of horsy leap (6)

A curvet^[5] is a graceful or energetic leap ⇒ he sprang from the ice in a swift, frisky curvet.

In classical riding, to curvet^[5] (said of a horse) means to perform a courbette^[5], a movement in which the horse performs a series of jumps on the hind legs without the forelegs touching the ground.

20d   Was No. 1 person of commercial given attention outside? (6)

22d   Irritation shown by Queen when food is brought round (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