Monday, October 20, 2014 — DT 27499

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27499
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, May 26, 2014
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27499]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

The stars have once again aligned, and today's puzzle is actually a "Monday" puzzle — that is to say, it originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph on a Monday. That also means that it was created by Rufus, and thus you should find it to be on the gentle side. I did call out the electronic troops to help with one clue — and then kicked myself for having done so when I saw the answer they revealed.

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   Prison officer goes to club /for/ cocktail (11)

9a   Aid fliers being diverted /to find/ places to land (9)

10a   Intends /to get/ sufficient funds (5)

11a   Returning, I'd delayed // to explain more fully (6)

Dilate^[5,10] (often followed by on or upon) means to speak or write at length on (a subject); to expand or enlarge ⇒ the faithful could hear the minister dilate on the role religion could play.

12a   Admitting // whole sum is due (8)

13a   Fast, the Italian/'s/ pulse (6)

In the Christian Church, Lent^[5] is the period preceding Easter, which is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness.

 In Italian, the masculine singular form of the definite article is il^[8].

15a   Holding north, top fighter pilots attempt // descent (8)

Descent^[5] denotes the origin or background of a person in terms of family or nationality ⇒ the settlers were of Cornish descent.

18a   French port /or/ claret (8)

How I failed to get this one immediately, I will never know. I must have suffered a brain cramp.

Bordeaux^[5] is a port of southwestern France on the River Garonne, capital of Aquitaine; population 235,878 (2006). It is a centre of the wine trade.

Bordeaux^[5] is a red, white, or rosé wine from the district of Bordeaux.

Claret^[5] is a red wine from Bordeaux, or wine of a similar character made elsewhere.

The surface reading suggests port^[5] in the sense of a strong, sweet dark red (occasionally brown or white) fortified wine, originally from Portugal, typically drunk as a dessert wine.

19a   He had high-flying ambition but came unstuck (6)

In Greek mythology, Icarus^[5] was the son of Daedalus, who escaped from Crete using wings made by his father but was killed when he flew too near the sun and the wax attaching his wings melted.

21a   Sign's sensible /yet/ not in a straightforward way (8)

In astronomy, Cancer^[5] is a constellation (the Crab), said to represent a crab crushed under the foot of Hercules. In astrology, Cancer^[5] is the fourth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters at the northern summer solstice (about 21 June).

23a   Breaking up coal /for/ furnace (6)

A cupola^[5] (also known as a cupola furnace) is a cylindrical furnace for refining metals, with openings at the bottom for blowing in air and originally with a dome leading to a chimney above.

26a   I give a hand, /being/ perfect! (5)

27a   This pet may sleep indoors but its quarters are hardly spotless (9)

The Woodentops^[7] [mentioned by Miffypops in his review] is a children's television series first shown on BBC Television in 1955. The main characters in this puppet show are the members of a middle-class family living on a farm — Daddy and Mummy Woodentop and their three children — together with Spotty Dog.

28a   Chief follows priests out /for/ personal inspection (5-6)

Down

1d   Shock // subject for play school (7)

The School for Scandal^[7] is a play written by Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816). It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre in 1777.

2d   Two rivers // characteristic of the country (5)

The Ural River^[5] is a river, 1,575 miles (2,534 km) long, that rises at the southern end of the Ural Mountains in western Russia and flows through western Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea at Atyraū.

3d   Going crazy with a wine list may eventually affect this (9)

This is a semi-&lit. (or semi-all-in-one) clue. The entire clue is the the definition, while the portion marked with a dashed underline — but with a different interpretation — also serves as the wordplay.

4d   Drums sound // to start a revolution (4)

In his review, Miffypops shows the second definition as "revolution" which would make roll a noun. However, his explanation does not account for the phrase "to start a". I suppose one might try to argue that this is a link phrase, but I don't think it fits the bill.

My interpretation is that roll^[5] in the second instance is used in the sense of a verb meaning to turn over to face a different direction : she rolled on to her side. Having started by rolling onto her side, three more rolls would complete the revolution.

5d   Shipping company after vessel /for/ petroleum product (8)

The Onedin Line^[7] [mentioned by Miffypops in his review] is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series is set in Liverpool, England from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin.

6d   He was known for loving // capital, nothing more (5)

Rome^[5] is the capital of Italy and of the Lazio region, situated on the River Tiber about 25 km (16 miles) inland; population 2,724,347 (2008).

Romeo^[7], one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, serves as the play's male protagonist. His role as an idealistic lover has led the word "Romeo" to become a synonym for a passionate male lover in various languages.

7d   Organ bright /with/ flowers (7)

8d   Is jesting about /providing/ support on flight (8)

This is a case where one must introduce a bit of missing punctuation into the wordplay, thereby making it "is, jesting about". This instructs us to start with the word IS and then place a noun meaning "jesting" around it.

14d   Managed to raise local taxes /and/ provides an account (8)

Rates^[3] (often used in the plural) is a chiefly British term for a locally assessed property tax.

16d   No cure, sadly -- time /for/ support (9)

17d   Not the favourite in society? (8)

This would seem to be one of those "barely cryptic" definitions for which Rufus is so well-known. The overall clue relates to outsider^[5] meaning a person or thing excluded from or not a member of a set, group, etc. The portion of the clue that is underlined could also be seen as a reference to a contestant, especially a horse, thought unlikely to win in a race.

18d   Withdrawing // support? (7)

20d   Reliable /way to/ limit bloodshed (7)

The phrase "way to" is used as a link phrase and indicates an outcome; i.e., it is equivalent to the phrase "leads to".

22d   Women's group left -- street's hoisted // flags (5)

The Women's Institute (WI)^[5] is an organization of women, especially in rural areas, who meet regularly and participate in crafts, cultural activities, and social work. Now worldwide, it was first set up in Ontario, Canada, in 1897, and in Britain in 1915.

Jam & Jerusalem^[7] [mentioned by Miffypops in his review] is a British sit-com that aired on the BBC from 2006 to 2009. On BBC America the program aired as Clatterford. The show centres on a Women's Guild in a small, fictional, West Country town called Clatterford St. Mary. 

24d   Rosie's willowy form (5)

My interpretation of the clue differs a bit from that of Miffypops. I would say that the word "form" is more the anagram indicator than is the word "willowy". However, it is really the overall structure of the clue that implies that we need to put ROSIE into a new "form" (i.e., that we need to make an anagram of it). The setter could have indicted the anagram by simply saying "Rosie's new form" or "Rosie in a new form". The word "willowy" is a subsidiary indication telling us that this new "form" has something to do with willow trees.

25d   No success /keeping/ a girl quiet (4)

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

Florence Nightingale^[5,7] (1820–1910) [to whom Miffypops alludes in his review] was an English nurse and medical reformer who is regarded as the founder of modern nursing. In 1854, during the Crimean War, she improved sanitation and medical procedures at the army hospital at Scutari, achieving a dramatic reduction in the mortality rate. She was known as "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night.

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