Thursday, December 25, 2014 — DT 27517 (Bonus Puzzle)

Prologue

As the National Post did not publish today, here is my Christmas gift to you — a little something to occupy your time should you find yourself at loose ends on Christmas Day between opening presents and stuffing yourself with turkey.

This is the puzzle that would have appeared on November 11, 2014 had the National Post published an edition on that date.

Merry Christmas

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27517
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, June 16, 2014
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27517]
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
Notes The National Post skipped this puzzle which would have appeared on Tuesday, November 11, 2014 had a paper been published on that date.

Introduction

Judging by my performance, this puzzle would seem worthy of at least a two star difficulty rating. Thus I was a bit disillusioned to see that Miffypops had awarded it merely a single star.

I made rapid progress through three quadrants but got horribly bogged down in the northwest sector (including 9a, which is one of the clues that Miffypops singles out for mention in his introduction). The other clue that he mentions as being troublesome is 21a, although I was able to crack that one quite a bit earlier in the solving process. The final clue to fall for me was 6a — for which I made a guess based on the checking letters but had no idea at the time what the term might mean. However, after seeing the definition, I do seem to have a vague recollection of running across the term in a puzzle sometime in the distant past.

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   Graduate cuts // amounts left in bank account (8)

6a   Signing for course (3-3)

In the UK, tic-tac^[5] (also tick-tack) is a kind of manual semaphore used by racecourse bookmakers to exchange information.

Ascot^[7], Goodwood^[7] and Cheltenham^[7] [mentioned by Miffypops in his review] are British horse racing courses.

I thought that "turf accountant" [also mentioned by Miffypops] would be British slang for a bookie. As it turns out, it is anything but slang. Turf accountant^[5,10] is a formal British name for a bookmaker.

9a   Cannon // ball? (6)

Pom-pom^[5] is a British term for an automatic quick-firing two-pounder cannon of the Second World War period, typically mounted on a ship and used against aircraft. The name is imitative of the sound of the discharge.

A bobble^[5] and a bobble hat^[5] [mentioned by Miffypops in his review] respectively are a small ball made of strands of wool used as a decoration on a hat or on furnishings and a close-fitting knitted hat with a pom-pom at the top. While Oxford Dictionaries Online characterises the term bobble hat as British, it does not similarly characterise the word bobble. One American dictionary, the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, defines bobble^[11] as a small ball of fabric, especially when set in rows and used as a trimming.

At least one British solver drew a link to the British comedy duo Cannon & Ball^[7] (Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball).

10a   Want no more, // it's unnecessary (8)

11a   Military call-up (8)

12a   Industry in which men are under- employed (6)

13a   Expert // carried out (12)

16a   Soldier intends /to acquire/ personal wealth (7,5)

Private means^[5] is a British term meaning income from investments, property, or inheritance, as opposed to earned income or state benefit ⇒ (i) old people with private means can choose such care; (ii) he is a man of private means.

19a   Standard // CND supporter? (6)

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament^[5] (abbreviation CND) is a British organization which campaigns for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide and calls for unilateral disarmament.

21a   Made the young go off their rockers? (8)

23a   Satisfied /when/ sausage mash is set before a number (8)

Terms such as "a number", "a large number", or "a great many" are often indicators that a Roman numeral is required.

Mash^[5] is an informal British term for mashed potato ⇒ for supper there was sausages and mash.

I was unable to find any instance of the use of the term "sausage mash", only "sausages and mash".

24a   Directions taken by clergymen? (6)

Holy orders^[5] is the sacrament or rite of ordination as a member of the clergy, especially in the grades of bishop, priest, or deacon. The phrase take holy orders^[5] means to become an ordained member of the clergy ⇒ his first ambition was to take holy orders.

25a   Acquiesce // when told to go (6)

26a   Revised // diet distributed in rush (2-6)

Down

2d   Fuss about daughter // having lover (6)

One having [a] lover is one adored.

3d   Liberal // politician gets in the beer (5)

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).

The Liberal Party^[5] in Britain emerged in the 1860s from the old Whig Party and until the First World War was one of the two major parties in Britain. In 1988 the party regrouped with elements of the Social Democratic Party to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, now known as the Liberal Democrats. However, a small Liberal Party still exists.

4d   Sharing guilt, // company member needs legal support (9)

The member from the clue above makes another appearance.

5d   Light coming down a shaft (7)

This is an &lit. (all-in-one) clue. The entire clue could describe a SUNBEAM (imagine that you are at the bottom of a well at high noon). The entire clue can also be interpreted as wordplay which parses as SUN (light coming down [from the sky]) + BEAM (a shaft). Since the phrase "sun coming up" could be used to clue a reversal of SUN in a down clue, one might also parse the wordplay here as SUN (light) unreversed (coming down; in a down clue) + BEAM (a shaft).

6d   Unit for heating // the small room (5)

The therm^[5] is a unit of heat, especially as the former statutory unit of gas supplied in the UK equivalent to 100,000 British thermal units or 1.055 × 10⁸ joules.

The term "small room" is used to clue an abbreviation for "room" — although in the surface reading it might well signify a loo^[5] [toilet].

7d   Coins lost, possibly, /but/ they settle (9)

8d   One missing // tea's been out (8)

13d   Coming to river -- // that may be exciting (9)

In Christian theology, Advent^[5] denotes the coming or second coming of Christ. Advent^[5] is also the name of the first season of the Church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.

The River Ure^[7] is a stream in North Yorkshire, England, approximately 74 miles (119 km) long from its source to the point where it changes name to the River Ouse.

14d   Nasty // hotel, so am moving (9)

15d   A right pursued by one US state /and/ another (8)

The implied definition is "another [US state]".

17d   His job is to cast // waste away (7)

18d   Vehicle provided for those who are late (6)

20d   Not left // straight (5)

Straight as in "directly".

22d   They spread out in all directions (5)

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)

Merry Christmas to all — Falcon