Tuesday, September 30, 2014 — DT 27485

Although posted on October 1, 2014, this entry has been backdated to maintain sequence.

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27485
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, May 9, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27485]
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

Introduction

Although I completed today's puzzle unaided, I had to look at Deep Threat's review for an explanation of the wordplay in 21a.

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   Human affairs // not entirely wonderful, I feel (4)

3a   Was soft stuff in chopped tree // recyclable material? (5,5)

9a   Nothing alive ultimately /in/ river (4)

he Nile^[5] is a river in eastern Africa, the longest river in the world, which rises in east central Africa near Lake Victoria and flows 6,695 km (4,160 miles) generally northwards through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt to empty through a large delta into the Mediterranean.

10a   Distressed /but/ unbowed, we hear? (10)

Straiten^[10] means to to embarrass or distress, especially financially.

11a   Little animal /in/ rubbish fire destroyed (7)

Rubbish^[3] is used in the sense of foolish discourse or nonsense.

A rotifer^[5] is a minute multicellular aquatic animal of the phylum Rotifera.

13a   Answer, after bit of hard work, /is found in/ persuasive words? (7)

14a   Popular company stars, /offering/ facilities for sick people (11)

In astronomy, Aries^[5] is a small constellation (the Ram), said to represent the ram whose Golden Fleece was sought by Jason and the Argonauts. In astrology, Aries^[5] is the first sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters at the vernal equinox (about 20 March).

18a   Member of extended family // could employ wiliness and art (6-2-3)

21a   State that sounds empty when it's been reduced! (7)

I tried reducing the state by chopping letters off the front, the back, or both ends. It never occurred to me that an abbreviation was required.

The US Postal Service abbreviation for the state of Montana^[7] is MT.

22a   Got one's teeth into some // minor role (3-4)

Deep Threat's hint might seem to suggest that this is a homophone clue — which it is not. It is a simple charade of BIT (got one's teeth into) + PART (some).

23a   Spectator // beginning to engage you with news -- it's awful! (10)

24a   Rider on horseback edges off /to get/ close (4)

25a   Row at home with new husband /making/ a mess? (6,4)

26a   Poor // area surrounded by soldiers (4)

Down

1d   Bird // to alight on bar (8)

Landrail^[5] is another term for corncrake^[5], a secretive Eurasian crake (Crex crex) inhabiting coarse grasslands, with mainly brown streaked plumage and a distinctive double rasping call. Due to changes in agricultural practices it is now much rarer in the British Isles than formerly. The crake^[5] is a bird of the rail family with a short bill, such as the corncrake.

2d   Endlessly deceptive over time, a very loud // character in plays (8)

Deep Threat has omitted one segment of the charade in his explanation. The solution is "made up of a word for deceptive with its final E removed, Time, A (from the clue), and the musical symbol for ‘very loud’."

Fortissimo^[5] (abbreviation ff^[5]) is a direction used in music to mean either (as an adjective) very loud  or (as an adverb) very loudly.

4d   Adjust // rope round 'orse's neck? (5)

5d   New partner is // to be revealed (9)

6d   Pastor at inn, unorthodox /as/ holy figurehead (6,5)

The gentlemen named by Deep Threat are the patron saints of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales respectively.

7d   Author // put in confinement on isle (6)

The Isle of Man^[5] is an island in the Irish Sea which is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system.

8d   Journalist turning up on street after game /is/ most ill-mannered (6)

Rugby union^[10] (abbreviation RU^[5]) is a form of rugby football played between teams of 15 players (in contrast to rugby league^[5], which is played in teams of thirteen).

12d   Where skilled operators may be told to go to blazes (4,7)

15d   Dotty eats in bar -- one having orange juice there? (9)

16d   Trifle /could make you/ feel a bit ill (4-4)

I would say that the anagram indicator is simply "ill" with "could make you" being a link phrase.

17d   Arouse // lad with introduction of fascinating female (6,2)

Switch on^[10] is a slang term meaning to arouse emotionally or sexually [although, personally, I would say turn on^[10]].

19d   Threaten // little devil with death (6)

20d   One after another said /to be/ a trainee (6)

22d   Singer /wants/ musical instrument? Not on! (5)

Basso^[5] denotes a bass voice or vocal part.

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