Wednesday, August 6, 2014 — DT 27444

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27444
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, March 22, 2014
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27444 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27444 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (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

Although I managed to finish the puzzle without disturbing my electronic assistants, it did put up a bit more of a challenge than have many recent puzzles.

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   He enters garrison with meat likely to be cut (3,3,4)

The Chambers Dictionary was the only one in which I found the solution to this clue. For the chop^[1] is an informal [and likely British] expression meaning about to be dismissed or killed.

The Oxford Dictionaries Online English-Spanish Dictionary does define chop as a colloquial or familiar British English term meaning dismissal or cancellation and gives as an example ⇒ the show is for the chop with a Spanish translation that I read as "The show is going to be cancelled [literally 'dropped from the poster']".

6a   What teachers do for money no longer (4)

Until the introduction of the euro in 2002, the mark^[5] (also called Deutschmark^[5] or Deutsche Mark [from German deutsche Mark 'German mark']) was the basic monetary unit of Germany, equal to 100 pfennig ⇒ Germany spent billions of marks to save the French franc from speculators.

Also known as the mark^[5] was a former English and Scottish money of account, equal to thirteen shillings and four pence in the currency of the day ⇒ Sir William left 500 marks for repairing the road to Cambridge.

8a   Lords perhaps being led by mild boozer (8)

In the UK, the House of Lords^[5] (or, more informally, the Lords^[5]) is the higher chamber of Parliament, composed of peers and bishops.

In Britain, mild^[5] is a kind of dark beer not strongly flavoured with hops.

Alehouse^[5] is a dated term for an inn^[5] [in the sense of a pub, typically one in the country, in some cases providing accommodation] or public house^[5] [(British) formal term for pub].

Boozer^[5] is a British term for a pub or bar. 

Despite the missing apostrophe, some cricket mad Brits seen to have been misdirected to a different destination. Lord's Cricket Ground^[7], generally known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is widely referred to as the "home of cricket" and is home to the world's oldest sporting museum.

9a   Take stock of a new formula for Ulster (6)

Properly Ulster^[10] is an area that was a province and former kingdom of northern Ireland which passed to the English Crown in 1461. Following centuries of conflict, Ulster was partitioned in 1921, with six counties [Antrim, Down, Armagh, Londonderry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh] forming Northern Ireland (a region within the United Kingdom) and three counties [Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan] joining the Republic of Ireland. Despite this, Ulster is a widely-used (albeit inaccurate) name for Northern Ireland.

10a   Number of starting places on the links or on the wagon (8)

11a   Physical state, that of fellows often being drunk? (6)

This being drunk might be signified by the call "To your health, fellows!".

12a   Woman from Limerick, say, without husband (4)

Limerick^[5] is both the name of a county of the Republic of Ireland, in the west of the province of Munster as well as the county town of Limerick, on the River Shannon; population 52,539 (2006).

14a   Moan about Richard endlessly wandering (7)

No problem at all — once I remembered that there is more than one nickname for Richard.

18a   Upper limit's closing up for vocalist (7)

20a   Celebrity from Latin America (4)

23a   Architectural feature that could leave you cold, we hear (6)

24a   Letter that has one's address? (8)

One is required to interpret this clue as "Letter that has [i.e., owns] one's address [the place where one resides]?"

25a   Timid person takes care of district (6)

26a   Someone who presses a suit for favour (8)

An advocate^[10] is a a person who pleads his client's cause in a court of law. 

27a   Actual money (4)

The real^[5] is the basic monetary unit of Brazil since 1994, equal to 100 centavos. It is also the name of a former coin and monetary unit of various Spanish-speaking countries.

28a   Drug for soothing of French media worker (10)

In French, de^[8] is a preposition meaning 'of''.

Down

1d   French battle division (8)

Fr.^[10] is an abbreviation for France and fr^[10] is the internet domain name for France. However, it is not the International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for France (which is F^[5]).

2d   Apply to acquire eastern joint (6)

Reefer^[10] is slang for a a hand-rolled cigarette, especially one containing cannabis. The name was applied to the cigarette because of its resemblance to the rolled reef^[10] of a sail (the part gathered in when sail area is reduced, as in a high wind).

Among the synonyms for refer^[2] listed by Chambers Thesaurus are the following: apply, concern, be relevant, relate, belong; and (formal) pertain.

3d   Jinx is hard on daughter in love repeatedly (6)

One meaning of hoodoo^[5] is a person or thing that brings or causes bad luck.

4d   Volunteers in Corsica to travel in another country (5,4)

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

5d   Buy tea bag outside (8)

Cha and chai are alternative spellings of char^[5], an informal British name for tea.

6d   Rising total with kitty to go on the Spanish wine (8)

In Spanish, the masculine singular form of the definite article is el^[8].

Muscatel^[5] is wine made from muscatel grapes.

7d   Maybe brother Rex is on ecstasy (8)

Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

For a change, "ecstasy" does not refer to the drug Ecstasy, but merely to the original meaning of the word.

13d   Cleaner I'd recollected being a northern islander (9)

As an anagram indicator, the setter uses "recollected" in the whimsical sense of collected again. Perhaps the letters have fallen on the ground and when collected again end up in a different order.

15d   Fate of one who didn't take just what the doctor ordered (8)

16d   Without any followers nevertheless (5,3)

17d   Destined for the match (8)

19d   Treading to get change in bank (8)

How many ways can one clue the solution to this clue? Recently, the setters seem to have been in a competition to show us.

On July 16, Jay gave us:

• [DT 27429] 12a    Concede, about to pass on slope (8)

One day later, RayT countered with:

• [DT 27430] 18a    Bank in danger, it turned out (8)

21d   Arousing discredit, being in the red with promises to pay (6)

In banking, OD^[10] (or O/D) is an abbreviation for overdraft.

22d   One's played and lad's given a word of thanks (6)

Ta^[5] is an informal British exclamation signifying thank you ⇒‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully.

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