Friday, September 26, 2014 — DT 27483

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27483
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27483]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By scchua
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

Aside from failing to recognize the homophone at 11d, this puzzle posed no real problems for me.

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. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   An ancient tax, son, is // quite the contrary! (10)

6a   Trip curtailed over female // vegan's food (4)

9a   Manx call /for/ reversal of objective that hurt! (5)

The Manx cat^[10] is a short-haired tailless variety of cat, believed to originate on the Isle of Man^[5], a British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea.

10a   A foreign tourist attraction expected to lose heart // without a view (9)

"To lose heart" is putting it mildly. One might say that "expected" is disemboweled.

In French, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is un^[8].

12a   One trapped in frantic rat race ruins // precursor to main event (7-6)

14a   Work of side is // rigidly set in ways (8)

15a   Oily // butters making a comeback, by Jove! (6)

By Jove^[5] is a dated exclamation indicating surprise or used for emphasis ⇒ by Jove, yes, it’s been warm all right. Jove^[5] is another name for Jupiter. The exclamation by Jove dates from the late 16th century.

17a   Presenter /of/ a new group of singers missing one (6)

Presenter^[5] is a British term for a person who introduces and appears in a television or radio programme. In North America, terms such as host, announcer or anchor might be used for such a person.

19a   Farm hands // locking nonchalant male in study (8)

All the dictionaries that I consulted — save one — define dairyman^[3,4,5,11] as someone who works in a dairy or deals in dairy products. However, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary includes the additional meaning of someone who looks after the dairy cows on a farm^[2].

21a   Model reflects as stud, lacking answer/,/ goes to pieces (4-9)

As an anagram indicator, model^[5] is used in the sense of to fashion or shape (a three-dimensional figure or object) in a malleable material such as clay or wax ⇒ use the icing to model a house.

24a   Runs into spy in a // part of the Americas (9)

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

25a   Took a picture, capturing // an example of African wildlife (5)

The okapi^[5] is a large browsing mammal (Okapia johnstoni) of the giraffe family that lives in the rainforests of northern Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). It has a dark chestnut coat with stripes on the hindquarters and upper legs.

26a   Positive response given to Germany/'s/ colours (4)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Germany is D^[5] [from German Deutschland].

27a   Common predicament, going topless /gets/ the go-ahead (5,5)

Down

1d   Mother up before doctor/'s/ round (4)

2d   Suggestions must include name /for/ such states of mind (7)

3d   Pull of the capital/'s/ museum? (5,2,6)

The Tower of London^[5] (also known as simply The Tower) is a fortress by the River Thames just east of the City of London. The oldest part, the White Tower, was begun in 1078. It was later used as a state prison, and is now open to the public as a repository of ancient armour and weapons, and of the Crown Jewels.

4d   Big birds seen eating dead // parrots (8)

5d   Playwright/'s/ single book despatched unfinished (5)

Henrik Ibsen^[5] (1828–1906) was a Norwegian dramatist. He is credited with being the first major dramatist to write tragedy about ordinary people in prose. Ibsen’s later works, such as The Master Builder (1892), deal increasingly with the forces of the unconscious and were admired by Sigmund Freud. Other notable works: Peer Gynt (1867), A Doll’s House (1879), Ghosts (1881).

7d   You bet regularly on employer /being/ slower (7)

I would say that the word "being" is a link word, not part of the definition. I think one would be far more likely to say "more obtuse" rather than "obtuser".

8d   Assistant to worker accepting year /is/ fundamental (10)

11d   Where one may learn // syntax is fashionable, they say? (7,6)

I missed the "grammar's cool" homophone as I parsed the clue as:

• Where one may learn syntax /is/ fashionable, they say?

mistakenly thinking that "grammar school" might be used in Britain as an adjective denoting fashionable, akin to the way "finishing school" is used as an adjective ⇒ her haughty finishing school airs.

In the UK, a grammar school^[5] is a state secondary school to which pupils are admitted on the basis of ability. Since 1965 most have been absorbed into the comprehensive school system. Historically, a grammar school was a school founded in or before the 16th century for teaching Latin, later becoming a secondary school teaching academic subjects. In the US (and I would think that this applies to Canada also), grammar school is another term for elementary school.

13d   A dangerous place for a matriarchy? (2-4-4)

The first portion of the clue (with the solid underlining) is a straight definition. With the addition of the later part (with the dashed underlining), the clue becomes a cryptic definition.

16d   A legitimate target /for/ blonde with grouse, say (4,4)

18d   Record held by once ruined // city on the continent (7)

Cologne^[5] is an industrial and university city in western Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia; population 989,800 (est. 2006). Founded by the Romans and situated on the River Rhine, Cologne is notable for its medieval cathedral.

During the bombing of Cologne in World War II^[7], Cologne endured 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and almost completely wiped out the centre of the city. During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the target of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosives, approximately two-thirds of which were incendiary. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres (243 ha) of built-up area, killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. By the end of the war, the population of Cologne had been reduced by 95 percent. This loss was mainly caused by a massive evacuation of the people to more rural areas.

20d   Sucker pinching small brown // horse (7)

Mug^[3] is chiefly British slang for a victim or dupe.

22d   Winter sportsman/'s/ captain very quietly disappearing (5)

Pianissimo (abbreviation pp)^[5] is a direction used in music to mean either (as an adjective) very soft or very quiet or (as an adverb) very softly or very quietly.

23d   Thirty seconds? Time /for/ a sweetie! (4)

Remember that "thirty seconds" is half a minute — in this case, the first half.

Sweet^[5] is the British term for a piece of candy^[5] ⇒ a bag of sweets.

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