Tuesday, September 23, 2014 — DT 27480

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27480
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, May 3, 2014
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27480 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27480 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By 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

Today we get a fairly gentle challenge. It is also a puzzle which contains possibly the fewest Briticisms of any Daily Telegraph puzzle that I can recall having seen — or am I just becoming so inured to them that I fail to recognise them.

You will also notice a new feature in today's blog. For quite some time now, it has been my practice to underline the definition in the clues. Today, I have have taken another step and marked the link between the definition and wordplay. In cases (such as 1a) where the link is implicit, it is marked by double forward slashes (//). Where there is an explicit link (such as in 20a), the link word or phrase is enclosed in forward slashes (e.g., /for/).

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   Not easy to trace // printout (4,4)

5a   A waterway // in another country (6)

A broad^[10] can be (1), in British dialects, a river spreading over a lowland or (2), in the East Anglia dialect specifically, a shallow lake. 

10a   Lacrosse quartet playing // a short distance away (2,5,8)

11a   Peace/,/ as occupied by the French (7)

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

12a   Regular visitor /needs/ a short time in shade (7)

13a   Fail to notice I have // a letter (7)

15a   In Japan I mustn't find // hostility (6)

19a   Get back // in gear after changing (6)

20a   One provides accompaniment /for/ fish first (7)

23a   Pugilist/'s/ rib sure to be injured (7)

25a   Woman grabbing doctor/'s/ instrument (7)

In Britain, the degree required to practice medicine is a Bachelor of Medicine^[7] (MB, from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus), which is equivalent to a North American Doctor of Medicine (MD, from Latin Medicinae Doctor). The degree of Doctor of Medicine also exists in Britain, but it is an advanced degree pursued by those who wish to go into medical research. Physicians in Britain are still addressed as Dr. despite not having a doctoral degree.

27a   Bar need rolling pins /for/ idle pleasure (4,3,8)

Beer and skittles^[5] (often used with a negative) is a British expression meaning amusement or enjoyment ⇒ life isn’t all beer and skittles.

Skittles^[5] is (1) a game [commonly found in pubs] played with wooden pins, typically nine in number, set up at the end of an alley to be bowled down with a wooden ball or disc or (2) a pin used in the game of skittles.

28a   Twisted // journalist faded away (6)

29a   Caution /shown by/ girl (8)

Down

1d   Transport running late to the end of the line (6)

"Late" referring to a deceased person.

2d   Remembering // engineers' vocation (9)

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

3d   Bird's put on new // hat for ceremony (5)

It took me a very long time to see the correct parsing of this clue. For the longest time, I tried to parse it as:

• Bird's put on new hat /for/ ceremony (5)

in which I was looking for five-letter word for bird which, when the first letter was changed (put on new hat [first letter of a word in a down clue]), would give a five-letter word meaning ceremony.

4d   Keep // page on top of book (8)

6d   Basic essentials /for/ a stripped-down figure? (4,5)

I am afraid that I really do not follow crypticsue's explanation. To me this is a double definition in which the second definition is cryptic.

7d   Finished on tee /in/ Open? (5)

As is often the case, the British see no need to qualify things as being British. They seem to assume that things are British unless specified otherwise. Thus their golf championship is called simply The Open.

The Open Championship^[7], or simply The Open (often referred to [especially outside the UK] as the British Open), is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only major held outside the United States and is administered by the R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the U.S. and Mexico.

8d   What chemists and faith healers do with drugs (8)

9d   South American welcome // dish (5)

14d   Orderly /needs/ craft and influence (9)

Here "influence" is used as a verb.

16d   Monk's mule spilled // fruit (4,5)

17d   Expected // expert with small child to get left inside (8)

18d   Parliamentarian // Liberal and manufacturer going round centre of Delaware (8)

The Liberal Party^[5] in Britain emerged in the 1860s from the old Whig Party and until the First World War was one of the two major parties in Britain. In 1988 the party regrouped with elements of the Social Democratic Party to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, now known as the Liberal Democrats. However, a small Liberal Party still exists. Although Lib.^[5] may be the more common abbreviation for the party, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary indicates that L^[2] may also be used.

21d   One who may have had a prior engagement (5)

22d   Girl/'s/ story about donkey (6)

Lassie^[5] is a chiefly Scottish and Northern English term for a lass ⇒ I’m going to see a wee lassie tonight.

24d   Characters taking part in stupendous // overthrow (5)

26d   Estimated // speed that's dangerous initially (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