Monday, October 6, 2014 — DT 27489

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27489
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27489]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave
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

Jay provides a rather gentle workout today without much in the way of Briticisms.

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   Devious boy (no model) /gets/ investment to make a killing (5,5)

6a   Cheerful after company/'s/ success (4)

9a   Sat on work /being/ challenged (7)

In music, Op.^[5] (also op.) is an abbreviation meaning opus (work). It is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication.

10a   Examine // honour (in replacing soldiers) (7)

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.

12a   In case of problems, popular monarchs try // these for cutting material (7,6)

The grammar in the definition may be a bit poor, but the idea comes across.

14a   Supplied // half clean, changing every day (8)

15a   Doctor got up // in a dark mood (6)

17a   Proposed // putting daughter on board (6)

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.

19a   A spit designed to hold sheep /or/ beef (8)

Pastrami^[5] is highly seasoned smoked beef, typically served in thin slices.

21a   Piano duet regularly finish // uncertain (13)

24a   Cuts // affairs after hotel broadcast (7)

25a   Be left // rebuilding their following at home (7)

26a   Try to find /and/ understand source of knowledge (4)

27a   Rocker attached to musical // game played with string (4-6)

CATS^[7] is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. The show premiered in London in 1981 and on Broadway in 1983.

Cat's cradle^[3] is a game in which a string is looped on the fingers to form an intricate pattern between a player's hands that can be successively varied or transferred to another player's hands.

Down

1d   Black and blue /from/ knock (4)

2d   Thesis supporting working /--/ in theory (2,5)

3d   Fair // start to day -- is most of Bury relaxed? (13)

The setter misleadingly capitalizes Bury so as to suggest a British town. Bury^[7] is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, 7.9 miles (12.7 km) north-northwest of the city of Manchester.

4d   Veteran/'s/ second-hand watch? (3-5)

5d   Looking at/,/ for example, incorporating Chinese principle (5)

In Chinese philosophy, yin^[5] is the passive female principle of the universe, characterized as female and sustaining and associated with earth, dark, and cold. Contrasted with yang^[5], the active male principle of the universe, characterized as male and creative and associated with heaven, heat, and light.

7d   Herb/'s/ terrible anger, wearing glasses (7)

This is known as a 'visual' or 'looks like' clue. The word "glasses" (or often specs or spectacles) is used to clue OO because these letters look like a pair of glasses.

8d   Are its pies cooked in France? (10)

This is a cryptic definition which has a bit of wordplay embedded within it.

A patisserie^[5] is a shop where pastries and cakes are sold ⇒ the patisserie also specializes in cheesecakes and tortes.

11d   In-form professional? (13)

In Britain, a form^[5] is a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number. Thus the fifth form would be the British counterpart to the fifth grade in North America and Form One would be like saying Grade One.

13d   Focuses on // insults about belly (10)

16d   Approves/,/ provided one is included in charges (8)

18d   Type of story /found in/ part of garden magazine? (7)

Time^[7] (often written in all-caps as TIME) is an American weekly news magazine that was founded in 1923. A European edition (Time Europe, formerly known as Time Atlantic) is published in London and also covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition (Time Asia) is based in Hong Kong. The South Pacific edition, which covers Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, is based in Sydney, Australia. In December 2008, Time discontinued publishing a Canadian advertiser edition.

20d   Maintained // the Bible was wrong (7)

A chiefly British term, the Authorized Version^[5] (abbreviation AV)^[5] is an English translation of the Bible made in 1611 at the order of James I and still widely used, though never formally ‘authorized’. It is also called the King James Bible — a name by which it is undoubtedly far better known in North America.

22d   Perhaps Jamaican // artist comes across a way (5)

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[5]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

 Rasta^[5] (short for Rastafarian^[5]) is a member of the Rastafarian religious movement. Rastafarians have distinctive codes of behaviour and dress, including the wearing of dreadlocks and the smoking of cannabis, and they follow a diet that excludes pork, shellfish, and milk. This originally Jamaican religion regards Ras Tafari (the former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie) as God.^[10]

23d   Last year's // problem affecting viewer (4)

Here, "viewer" refers to an organ of sight.

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