Thursday, November 20, 2014 — DT 27524

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27524
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27524]
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

Introduction

Today's puzzle was solved with a great deal of guesswork — some educated, some lucky.

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

7a   Jumble /taken from/ charitable event held in Portuguese resort (7)

In Britain, rag^[5] (usually used as a modifier) refers to a programme of stunts, parades, and other entertainments organized by students to raise money for charity ⇒ rag week.

Faro^[7] is the capital of the Algarve region, in southern Portugal. It is the southernmost city in Continental Portugal. Tourism and related activities are extensive, with the Algarve^[7] being the most popular tourist destination in Portugal, and one of the most popular in Europe.

A farrago^[5] is a confused mixture ⇒ a farrago of fact and myth about Abraham Lincoln.

9a   Small // company representative, put on (7)

In many Commonwealth countries (including Britain and Canada), a member of the House of Commons or similar legislative body is known as a Member of Parliament^[10] (or MP^[5] for short).

10a   Vitality // shown by The Bedroom Philosopher (5)

The Bedroom Philosopher^[7] aka Justin Heazlewood is an Australian songwriter, author, actor and humourist.

11a   When childish tricks are played /in/ college, one we wrecked (9)

Hall^[1] can mean the main building of a college or, in some cases, the college itself.

12a   Arts venue /in/ Soho area, purely built to entertain Londoners, essentially? (5,5,5)

The Royal Opera House^[7] is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London.

Covent Garden^[5] is a district in central London, originally the convent garden of the Abbey of Westminster. It was the site for 300 years of London’s chief fruit and vegetable market, which in 1974 was moved to Nine Elms, Battersea. The first Covent Garden Theatre was opened in 1732; since 1946 it has been the home of the national opera and ballet companies, based at the Royal Opera House (built 1888).

Soho^[7] is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable transformation. It now is predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues.

13a   Almost board ship prior to travel // ban (7)

16a   Become more involved /in/ kitchen refurbishment (7)

19a   Master of talk // broadcast, this teacher preps a king out of a sight (6,9)

Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

23a   Ditch // all the players on a team (4,5)

In North America, the term side^[3] is used in a very general fashion that can denote one of two or more opposing individuals, groups, teams, or sets of opinions. While this same general usage would seem to exist as well in the UK, the term side^[5] is also used there in a much more specific sense to mean a sports team ⇒ (i) Previous England rugby sides, and England teams in many other sports, would have crumbled under the weight of such errors.; (ii) They'll face better sides than this Monaco team, but you can only beat what's put in front of you..

In his review, Gazza comments "The setter is possibly offering advice to Roy Hodgson". Roy Hodgson^[7] is an English former footballer who is the manager of the England national football team — which, at time this puzzle appeared in the UK, had recently been eliminated from the World Cup in the first round of the tournament in Brazil.

24a   Striking effect /of/ chapter in contrary story (5)

25a   Eating place // row -- better not to take sides (7)

26a   Examine pulse, /finding/ a skeleton in the cupboard? (7)

A pulse^[5] is the edible seed of a leguminous plant, for example a chickpea, lentil, or bean ⇒ use pulses such as peas and lentils to eke out meat dishes.
In Indian cookery, dal^[5] (also dhal) is a name for split pulses, in particular lentils.

Down

1d   Love fine voyage, // naturally (2,6)

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.

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

2d   One yet to meet his match? (8)

3d   Small number, quiet at college // feast (4-2)

In Britain, up^[5] means at or to a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge ⇒ they were up at Cambridge about the same time.

Nosh-up^[5] is an informal British term for a large meal ⇒ the grand nosh-up after the ceremony.

In Britain, nosh^[5] is an informal term for food ⇒ filling the freezer with all kinds of nosh whereas in North America it denotes a snack or small item of food ⇒ have plenty of noshes and nibbles conveniently placed.

4d   Classy // plane (6)

5d   Ineffectual type // made out, coming into fortune (4,4)

6d   Immediately // make amends, bagging century (2,4)

A century^[5] is a score of a hundred in a sporting event, especially a batsman’s score of a hundred runs in cricket ⇒ he scored the only century of the tour. This usage may not be entirely British as the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary defines century^[11] as any group or collection of 100.

8d   Drink over money one lost /in/ card game (5)

9d   Copper, on lake trip abroad, /finds/ criminal (7)

The symbol for the chemical element copper is Cu^[5] (from Latin cuprum).

14d   Prayer /in/ book by Nobel Prize-winning author (8)

Doris Lessing^[5] (1919–2013) was a British novelist and short-story writer, brought up in Rhodesia. An active communist in her youth, she frequently deals with social and political conflicts in her fiction, especially as they affect women. Notable novels: The Grass is Singing (1950); The Golden Notebook (1962). Nobel Prize for Literature (2007).

15d   Plan // revealed railway track (7)

17d   A ride arranged on express? // That's quite possible (1,4,3)

18d   Short memo must be written about volunteers -- every single one? // Forget it (3,2,3)

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency. [As Gazza informs us, this is the former name of the force. It is now known as the Army Reserve.]

19d   Withdraw // notice involving church close to Oxford (6)

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

Oxford^[5] is a city in central England, on the River Thames, the county town of Oxfordshire; population 146,100 (est. 2009). Oxford University is located there.

20d   First in history, sitting in class, // modest (6)

A caste^[5] is each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status ⇒ (i) members of the lower castes; (ii)  a man of high caste.

21d   Still // considered almost odds-on, leader in Oaks? (4,2)

Evens^[5] is a British term meaning even money^[5], viz. odds offering an equal chance of winning or losing, with the amount won being the same as the stake ⇒ the colt was 4-6 favourite after opening at evens.

Oxford Dictionaries Online defines odds-on^[5] as (especially of a horse) rated as more likely than evens to win. On the other hand, Collins English Dictionary has odds-on^[10] meaning (of a chance, horse, etc) rated at even money or less to win while Chambers 21st Century Dictionary says odds-on^[2] means, said of a chance, the likelihood of a horse winning a race, etc: rated at even or better. At first glance, the latter two definitions might appear contradictory. However, the definition from Collins is stated in terms of the money returned on the bet rather than in terms of the chances of winning (as is the case with Chambers). Thus if a horse is an odds-on favourite, its chances of winning the race are better than even (as Chambers says) which also means that the payout, should it win, will be less than had it been rated at even money (as Collins says).

Using the definition from Oxford, evens would be the closest possible odds to odds-on without actually being odds-on.

The Oaks^[5] is an annual flat horse race [i.e., a race in which there are no jumps] for three-year-old fillies run on Epsom Downs in England, over the same course as the Derby. It was first run in 1779. The race is named after a nearby estate.

The Derby^[5] is an annual flat race for three-year-old horses, founded in 1780 by the 12th Earl of Derby and run on Epsom Downs in England in late May or early June.

22d   Current duke was in charge, and did nothing (5)

It may be an electric current but it is not an electrical charge.

In physics, I^[5] is the symbol for electric current.

A duke^[5] (abbreviation D.^[10]) is a male holding the highest hereditary title in the British and certain other peerages.

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