Thursday, August 28, 2014 — DT 27462

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27462
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, April 12, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27462 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27462 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Prolixic & 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

I needed just a bit a help from my electronic assistants today, so I would say that crypticsue's three star difficulty rating is sound.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

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   Person adored taking time in warm place with Roy perhaps (5-5)

Rob Roy^[5] (1671–1734) was a Scottish outlaw; born Robert Macgregor. His reputation as a Scottish Robin Hood was exaggerated in [Scottish writer] Sir Walter Scott’s novel of the same name (1817).

6a   Assemble for service (4)

10a   Perry introducing leader of backing group (5)

Perry Como^[7] (1912–2001) was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he sold millions of records and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show, which set the standards for the genre and proved to be one of the most successful in television history. His combined success on television and popular recordings was not matched by any other artist of the time.

11a   Fool guitar player, fussy type (3-6)

Nit^[5] is an informal British term for a foolish person ⇒ you stupid nit!.

12a   Weapon of wood, pine on front (7)

13a   Great man in resting place one turns to ashes (7)

14a   Putting strain on right girl engaged in kissing (5-7)

18a   Support a stranger picked up involved in drunken sprees (12)

21a   Craft needed to break through pack (7)

Iceboat^[3,5,10,11] is another name for icebreaker, a vessel with a reinforced bow for breaking up the ice in bodies of water to keep channels open for navigation.

23a   Beat for speed over university track (7)

In cricket, an over^[5] (abbreviation O^[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.

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O^[5] denotes over(s), an over^[5] being 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.

24a   Fruit bats entering holding area (9)

As an anagram indicator, bats^[5] is used as an informal, dated term meaning mad [crazy; very eccentric].

25a   Badly behaved child losing head, a mistake (5)

26a   Send cycling tips (4)

I had interpreted "cycling" as merely an anagram indicator, but — as crypticsue points out — it actually indicates a more restricted range of motion.

27a   Rick engrossed by money’s finer details (5,5)

Brass^[5] is an informal British term for money ⇒ they wanted to spend their newly acquired brass.

Down

1d   Mild oath the French abuse (6)

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

2d   Scottish Nationalist, not the first nut (6)

Alex Salmond^[7] is a Scottish politician who is the Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP)  and current First Minister of Scotland.

3d   Repair man makes brother lose out (14)

4d   Made by craft working down in harbour (4-5)

5d   Choose integrated circuit by sight (5)

7d   At risk of thrashing -- if one does this (3,3,2)

This is a semi-&lit. (semi-all-in-one) clue. The entire clue serves as the definition, while the portion with the dashed underline provides the wordplay.

8d   Long-term plan to go wrong, about to become upset (8)

9d   End tennis match broken showing loss of enthusiasm (14)

15d   Opportunities for big wins nearly part romantic couple (9)

Rollover^[5] is a British term denoting (in reference to a lottery) the accumulative carry-over of prize money to the following draw ⇒ the lottery jackpot rollover is close to £4 million.

16d   Spirit shown by Arabs in Thessaly (8)

Absinthe^[5,7,10] (also absinth) is a potent green aniseed-flavoured alcoholic drink, technically a gin, originally made with the shrub wormwood. For most of the twentieth century, absinthe was banned in the United States and much of Europe.

17d   Native Americans in uplifting studies shown on TV (8)

The Cree^[5] are an an American Indian people living in a vast area of central Canada [stretching from Labrador as far west as eastern British Columbia^[7]].

19d   Material that’s great, opulent mostly (6)

20d   Wreckage turned up by gentleman on bottom of sea (6)

As I read it, the way the clue is phrased would seem to associate the reversal indicator (turned up) with the definition (wreckage) rather than with the wordplay.Try as I might, I cannot construct an explanation for this clue that fully satisfies me.

22d   One game in German city (5)

Trier^[5] is a city on the River Mosel in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany; population 103,500 (est. 2006). Established by a Germanic tribe, the Treveri, circa 400 BC, Trier is one of the oldest cities in Europe. It was a powerful archbishopric from 815 until the 18th century, but fell into decline after the French occupation in 1797.

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