Monday, November 24, 2014 — DT 27526

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27526
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, June 26, 2014
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27526]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Falcon
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

I reviewed this puzzle on Big Dave's Crossword Blog when it first appeared in the UK in June. Nevertheless, it still proved to be a bit of a challenge on the second time around.

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   Help // because one is after second position (10)

6a   For example, very big // personalities (4)

The sizes of clothing that North Americans would describe as plus-size^[7] (or often big and tall in the case of men's clothing) would be called outsize (OS^[5]) in Britain.

9a   Queen record, i.e. retro remix, /for/ collection (10)

Regina^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for queen] denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

An EP^[5] (abbreviation for extended-play) is a record or CD that contains more than a single track (per side in the case of a record) but fewer than would be found on an LP^[5] (abbreviation for long-playing).

10a   A marine force's // weaponry (4)

The Royal Marines^[5] (abbreviation RM)^[5] is a British armed service (part of the Royal Navy) founded in 1664, trained for service at sea, or on land under specific circumstances.

12a   Pretty good // place for entertainment (4)

13a   Native // American carried round single spirit (9)

15a   Setting where volume can be turned up? (8)

16a   Misery // created by 'snip' at hospital (6)

18a   Toilet commonly /found in/ shed, we hear (6)

Throw light on^[5] (or cast light on or shed light on) means to help to explain (something) by providing further information about it ⇒ no one could shed any light on the mysterious car accident.

20a   Criminal clears off losing tail // outside (8)

The mob in Crosswordland is often represented by Al Capone — but not today.

23a   Tease // bird I left behind (9)

A tit^{[Britannica Concise Encyclopedia]} is any of several songbirds closely related to the chickadee, including the great tit (Parus major), found in Europe, North Africa, and Asia and the tufted titmouse (Parus bicolor), native to North America. These birds are called either "chickadees" or "titmice" in North America, and just "tits" in the rest of the English-speaking world.^[7]

24a   Glimpse // end of eternity by sixth sense (4)

The Y from "end of eternity" follows ESP (sixth sense) because in order to place the Y "by" ESP, one must have first placed ESP.

26a   Work-shy // indulged, oddly (4)

The meaning of work-shy^[5] (or workshy^[2,10]) would seem to be self-evident. Although not specifically identified as a British term, it does appear only in my British dictionaries.

27a   Team with spare over taking runs, // boundaries (10)

Parameter^[5] means a limit or boundary which defines the scope of a particular process or activity ⇒ the parameters within which the media work.

Note: The surface reading of this clue is about cricket.

In cricket, an over^[5] (abbreviation O^[5]) is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

I am not sure what significance — if any — there may be to the term "spare over".

In cricket, the term boundary^[10] refers to (1) the marked limit of the playing area, (2) a stroke that hits the ball beyond this limit, or (3) the four or six runs scored with such a stroke. If the ball touches the ground before crossing the boundary (similar to a ground rule double in baseball), four runs are scored. However, if the ball crosses the boundary without touching the ground (similar to a home run in baseball), six runs are scored.

28a   Small boat /leading to/ island (4)

Ark^[5] is an archaic name for a ship or boat. The best known example of the use of this term is undoubtedly Noah's ark^[5], the ship in which Noah, his family, and the animals were saved from the Flood, according to the biblical account (Genesis 6-8).

Sark^[5] is one of the Channel Islands, a small island lying to the east of Guernsey. The Channel Islands^[5] are a group of islands in the English Channel off the northwestern coast of France, of which the largest are Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. Formerly part of the dukedom of Normandy, they have owed allegiance to England since the Norman Conquest in 1066, and are now classed as Crown dependencies. 

29a   Catching // fine cut is fantastic taking over (10)

F^[5] is an abbreviation for fine, as used in describing grades of pencil lead [a usage that Oxford surprisingly characterises as British].

See comment at 27a for a definition of over.

As in 27a, the surface reading is about cricket.

As noted already, over makes another appearance.

Cut^[5] means to hit (the ball) to the off side with the bat held almost horizontally.

The off^[5]  (also known as off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The other half of the field is known as either the leg^[5] (also called leg side) or on (also called on side).

Down

1d   A fine line cut /for/ hairstyle (4)

See comment at 29a for an explanation of the origin of the abbreviation F for fine.

2d   Singer/'s/ singular work performed with love (7)

In grammar, the abbreviation for singular is s^[5].

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.

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

3d   Strangely // uncivil around start of Peasants' Revolt (12)

The Peasants' Revolt^[5] was an uprising in 1381 among the peasant and artisan classes in England, particularly in Kent and Essex. The rebels marched on London, occupying the city and executing unpopular ministers, but after the death of their leader, Wat Tyler, they were persuaded to disperse by Richard II.

4d   Fizzy drink flips containing most of said // fruit (8)

Remember that "fruit" can be either singular or plural.

5d   Mutt set on angry tailless // pointer (6)

7d   Musician finally wearing vulgar // decoration (7)

8d   Endless row raised about American prison's // hanging (10)

The term penitentiary (meaning prison) is a North American usage. Thus when I saw the phrase "American prison" (when I first review the puzzle in June), I immediately thought that the setter was using it to clue PEN (as a shortened form of penitentiary). That is how I came to explain, in my review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, PEN as being "a short North American term for a prison".

However the phrase "American prison" is not being used in this way. "American" is being used to clue US and "prison" is being used to clue PEN.

In hindsight, I expect that the Brits would likely merely equate PEN (in the sense of an enclosure for confining animals — or people) with "prison".

11d   Beef, // meat and greens I'd cooked (12)

I questioned beef and disagreement being synonyms. However, Chambers Thesaurus lists disagree as a synonym of beef (as a verb).

14d   Ultimate in care among poorly tots /and/ cribs? (10)

The surface reading will likely seem bizarre to most North Americans. While we might use the word poorly^[5] to mean 'in poor health', we would only do so in a statement such as I am feeling poorly today. On the other hand, Oxford Dictionaries Online provides the following examples of British usage: (i) I didn't manage too many lengths today but I haven't been for 2 weeks since being poorly sick.; (ii) Zoe Bird, 26, was forced to walk for an hour to reach her home with poorly toddler son Ryan after they were forced to leave the car.; (iii) Jakey on the other hand is poorly due to having an injection.

I was surprised to see the word cribs^[5] in the clue, it being a North American usage. To the Brits, a young child's bed is a cot^[5].

17d   Cut // a pork pie consumed around North (8)

Pork pie^[10] (or porky) is British rhyming slang for a lie.

Cut^[5] is used in the sense of to ignore or refuse to recognize (someone) ⇒ they cut her in public.

19d   Rodent exterminator catching large // snake (7)

21d   'Game's up!', remorsefully admits // leader (7)

Supremo^[5] is an informal British term for a person in overall charge of an organization or activity.

22d   A jester somersaulting over popular // knight (6)

In Arthurian legend, Gawain^[5] was one of the knights of the Round Table who quested after the Holy Grail. He is the hero of the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

25d   Idiot frames thousand // questions (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