Wednesday, December 10, 2014 — DT 27538

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27538
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, July 10, 2014
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27538]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By archy and mehitabel
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

The review at Big Dave's site is written by archy and mehitabel (otherwise known as pommers and Kath). The cockroach, archy, is a British expatriate living in Spain and mehitabel is an Oxford alleycat. If you are unfamiliar with the backstory on archy and mehitabel, see my blog from August 11, 2014.

Despite this being a RayT puzzle, Her Majesty fails to make her customary appearance or as archy and mehitabel put it, she "appears to have done a runner" — do a runner^[5] being an informal British expression meaning to leave or escape hastily or furtively ⇒ they both did a runner and they’ve been in hiding ever since.

As a reminder, definitions in blue are ones that seem to appear relatively frequently in puzzles.

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   Restricted, // criminal laid into criminal (11)

Some British readers thought that "everyone's favourite crosswordland criminal" must be AL [Capone] (who appears at the end of the solution). However, as Kath (aka mehitabel) explains "Al isn’t the usual criminal he’s the usual gangster".

To remove all doubt, the wordplay is CON ([first] criminal) + an anagram ([second] criminal) of LAID INTO.

9a   Reckons // hunt's returning between two points (7)

Meet^[5] is a British term for a gathering of riders and hounds before a hunt begins ⇒ she fell from her horse during a weekend meet.

There are a couple of approaches one may take to establish reckon and esteem as synonyms.

In the first approach, esteem could be used in the sense of to regard as or consider ⇒ esteemed it an honor to help them^[3] or to judge or consider; in other words, deem ⇒ to esteem an idea improper^[4].

However, although not identified as a British usage in the dictionary, reckon might also be used in the informal sense of to have a high opinion of   ⇒ she was sensitive to bad reviews, even from people she did not reckon

10a   Previous convictions /for/ religious leaders (6)

Despite being an Americanism, the first definition raised no hackles among the Brits who are usually quick to jump on such transgressions. Perhaps they have been watching too many American cop shows.

Prior^[5] is an informal North American term for a previous criminal conviction ⇒ he had no juvenile record, no priors.

A prior^[5] is the male head of a house or group of houses of certain religious orders, in particular the man next in rank below an abbot or the head of a house of friars.

12a   Bank // record contains case of error (7)

A terrace^[2] is each one of a series of raised level banks of earth, like large steps on the side of a hill, used for cultivation.

13a   In Munich a gallery /is showing/ modernist artist (7)

Marc Chagall^[5] (1887–1985) was a Russian-born French painter and graphic artist. His work was characterized by the use of rich emotive colour and dream imagery, and had a significant influence on surrealism.

14a   Torture admitted in alien // country (5)

Gyp^[5] (also gip) is an informal British term for pain or discomfort ⇒ one of her Achilles tendons had begun giving her gyp.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

15a   Sailor by end of ship heaving trimmed // sheet (9)

17a   Game // bird is all excited (9)

The illustration at Big Dave's blog is an allusion to bird^[5] being an informal British term for a young woman or a man’s girlfriend.

20a   Contend gripping second // wood (5)

22a   The French crazy about Southern girls (7)

In French, the plural form of the definite article is les^[8].

24a   National // issue (7)

25a   Reckless // sweetheart losing heart (6)

26a   Accuse // a right shower, including Government leader (7)

27a   Call for // one in condition after dodgy scene (11)

Down

2d   A can-opener cuts open // ham (7)

3d   Policemen start to swiftly take down // objector (9)

A detective inspector (DI)^[5] is a senior police officer in the UK. Within the British police, inspector^[7] is the second supervisory rank. It is senior to that of sergeant, but junior to that of chief inspector. Plain-clothes detective inspectors are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix 'detective' identifying them as having been trained in criminal investigation and being part of or attached to their force's Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

4d   Theme or point in consideration initially (5)

This is as an &lit.^[7] clue (or, as some prefer to call it, an all-in-one clue). The entire clue (when read one way) is the the definition, but under a different interpretation takes on the roll of wordplay.

5d   Island // protected by Bangkok, in a way (7)

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).

Okinawa^[5] is a region in southern Japan, in the southern Ryukyu Islands; capital, Naha.

6d   Excellent marines upset /getting/ post in the sky? (7)

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] meaning first class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-class. 

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. 

Post^[5] is the British term for mail^[5]. I have always thought it ironic that the Royal Mail delivers the post in Britain and Canada Post delivers the mail in Canada!

7d   He'd be faster changing // 'Pampers' (11)

In Britain, featherbed^[10] means to pamper or spoil (someone) whereas, in North America, the term means to limit production, duplicate work, or overman [overstaff], especially in accordance with a union contract, in order to prevent redundancies or create jobs.

8d   Tale about Eeyore's tail /for/ stage (6)

The original stuffed toys owned by

Christopher Robin Milne and featured

in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, with

Eeyore on the right

Eeyore^[7] is a character in the Winnie-the-Pooh books by English author A. A. Milne (1882–1956). He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-the-Pooh.

A stage^[5] is a a floor or level of a building or structure ⇒ the upper stage was added in the 17th century. This usage is seemingly not exclusively British as The American Heritage Dictionary defines stage^[3] as a level or story [US spelling of storey] of a building.

11d   Secret /of/ ancients led to rupture (11)

16d   Defiant /as/ train set's broken (9)

18d   Drink /with/ pork pie swallowing another drink (7)

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

19d   Catalogue // of infinite misery (7)

20d   About time to take in nude // show (7)

Compare the definitions for cabaret^[3,4,11] given by American and British dictionaries. In both American dictionaries, the primary meaning is a restaurant or nightclub providing live entertainment with the secondary meaning being the entertainment presented at such an establishment. In the British dictionary, the primary and secondary meanings are reversed.

21d   American author with beat, endlessly // metrical (6)

Edgar Allan Poe^[5] (1809–1849) was an American short-story writer, poet, and critic. His fiction and poetry are Gothic in style and characterized by their exploration of the macabre and the grotesque. Notable works: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (short story, 1840); ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (detective story, 1841); ‘The Raven’ (poem, 1845).

23d   Expressing mass // expressions of sadness (5)

The wordplay is sounds like (expressing) SIZE (mass).

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