Monday, October 27, 2014 — DT 27506

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27506
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27506]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Gazza
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
The National Post has skipped DT 27504 and DT 27505 which were published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, May 31, 2014 and Monday, June 2, 2014 respectively.

Introduction

The National Post has skipped a couple of puzzles. This puzzle seems rather unremarkable, although the setter may well have introduced us to the most obscure village in England at 3d.

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   Any thug could become // wayward (7)

5a   Dedicated // diet regularly ticked the box for Cameron perhaps? (7)

David Cameron^[5] is a British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister since 2010 (in coalition with the Liberal Democrats).

9a   Snack item // crisis -- is going for peanuts initially (5)

I incorrectly supposed that the wordplay parsed as CR (crisis) + IS (from the clue) + (going for) P (peanuts initially). When I failed to find CR listed as an abbreviation for crisis in any of my dictionaries, I should have tried another approach.

Crisp^[5] (also known as potato crisp) is the British name for a potato chip^[5], a wafer-thin slice of potato fried or baked until crisp and eaten as a snack ⇒ cut down on fatty snacks such as crisps.

10a   Where one worships // domestic animal the man had? Really, on a regular basis! (9)

11a   Top actress excited // viewers (10)

12a   Splendid // religious instruction by church (4)

The abbreviation for religious instruction is RI^[10]. According to Wikipedia, "In secular usage, religious education^[7] is the teaching of a particular religion (although in England the term religious instruction would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with religious education referring to teaching about religions in general) and its varied aspects — its beliefs, doctrines, rituals, customs, rites, and personal roles."

14a   Broken tip? Repair's no // sweat (12)

18a   Right to go into mass meeting with hospital department's // demands (12)

In the Roman Catholic Church, a Requiem^[10] is a mass celebrated for the dead.

In my experience, the busiest section — by far — of the Crosswordland Hospital is the ear, nose and throat (ENT^[2]) department.

21a   Jack has trouble // having a stretch here? (4)

J^[5] is an abbreviation for Jack that is used in describing play in card games.

The definition is a rather cryptic way of saying "a place where one might have a stretch". A question mark is often used in a clue as a signal that the solver should expect to see something a bit out of the ordinary.

22a   Exaggerating // time spent in 21 in heart of Bangkok (10)

The numeral "21" in the clue is a cross reference indicator directing the solver to insert the solution to clue 21a in its place to complete the clue.

In his review, Gazza comments on the fact that the solution to 22a essentially appears in 21a — the very clue that it cross-references.

Bangkok^[5] is the capital and chief port of Thailand, on the Chao Phraya waterway, 40 km (25 miles) upstream from its outlet into the Gulf of Thailand; population 5,705,100 (est. 2007).

25a   Places for storing // trophies around table (9)

Board^[5,10] is an archaic term for a table, especially one used for eating at, and especially when laden with food ⇒ he looked at the banquet which was spread upon his board.

26a   Fool going round following the French // language (5)

Nit^[5] is an informal British term for a foolish person ⇒ you stupid nit!.

In French, the feminine singular form of the definite article is la^[8].

27a   Horse might be // stuck (7)

28a   Generally // slow, skipping round city in Cambridgeshire (7)

Largo^[5] is a musical direction meaning in a slow tempo and dignified in style.

Ely^[5] is a cathedral city in the fenland of Cambridgeshire, eastern England, on the River Ouse; population 15,600 (est. 2009).

A fen^[5] is a low and marshy or frequently flooded area of land. The Fens^[5] is a name applied to the flat low-lying areas of eastern England, mainly in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk, formerly marshland but largely drained for agriculture since the 17th century.

Down

1d   Best // city street (6)

Nice^[5] is a resort city on the French Riviera, near the border with Italy; population 348,721 (2007).

2d   Joined // college with Edward (6)

Uni^[5] is a [seemingly British] informal term for university ⇒ he planned to go to uni.

In Britain, college can refer to any of the independent institutions into which certain universities are separated, each having its own teaching staff, students, and buildings ⇒ the Oxford colleges.

3d   Is the shop opening in Yeominster? Fantastic // idea (10)

Yeominster must be the most obscure British community to ever appear in a puzzle. After extensive (largely fruitless) searching, I have concluded that it is likely a very tiny village in Dorset, England. It would appear that it may have been the birthplace of a fair number of early emigrants to Newfoundland.

4d   River rising with children trapped /in/ boat (5)

The Tay^[5] is the longest river in Scotland, flowing 192 km (120 miles) eastwards through Loch Tay, entering the North Sea through the Firth of Tay.

5d   Decide // to stop explosive device (9)

6d   Contend with women/'s/ opinion (4)

7d   Almost frighten one Conservative? // Splendid (8)

The Conservative Party^[5] (abbreviation C.^[10])  is a a major British political party that since the Second World War has been in power 1951–64, 1970-4, and 1979–97. It emerged from the old Tory Party under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s.

8d   Old ship at sea coming across new // sea creatures (8)

13d   Special // piano at a joint (10)

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.

Articular^[5] is an adjective meaning relating to a joint or the joints ⇒ articular cartilage.

15d   Secluded // trees held nuts (9)

16d   Launches // proposals (8)

17d   Joked after house finally /is/ furnished (8)

19d   Be leaving rubbish? /That's/ petty (6)

Rubbish^[5] (used as a verb) is an informal British term meaning to criticize severely and reject as worthless ⇒ he rubbished the idea of a European Community-wide carbon tax.

20d   Means // business (6)

23d   Sly person cutting wife/'s/ artistic aid (5)

24d   Black bird/'s/ food container (4)

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