Wednesday, December 24, 2014 — DT 27548

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27548
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27548]
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

There is not much here to hold you up — leaving lots of time for that last minute Christmas shopping.

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 (//). Definitions presented in blue text are for terms that appear frequently.

Across

1a   Each tribunal formed /is/ severe in judging (12)

9a   Ten in a shop stirred by single // musical instrument (9)

10a   First of leopardesses in hollow // to give birth (5)

11a   Throw // a Parisian group when answer entered (6)

In French, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is un^[8].

12a   Servant returned don's crumpled // suit (8)

A don^[10] is a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.

13a   Failure // of French action (6)

In French, de^[8] is a preposition meaning 'of''.

15a   Greeting central character in romance -- what a fantastic // literary hero (8)

The Song of Hiawatha^[7] is an 1855 epic poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), featuring a Native American hero.

18a   Speak /in/ clubs about poetry (8)

C^[1] is the abbreviation for clubs, a suit in a deck of cards.

19a   'Hard hearted girl', // girl in hot hospital (6)

Hard Hearted Hannah, the Vamp of Savannah^[7] is a popular song published in 1924 which recounts in humorous fashion the story of a "vamp" or femme fatale from Savannah, Georgia "the meanest gal in town." Hannah is "a gal who loves to see men suffer."

21a   US political movement /from/ Pennsylvania breaching new treaty (3,5)

The US Postal Service abbreviation for the state of Pennsylvania^[7] is PA.

The Tea Party^[5] [in allusion to the Boston Tea Party] is a US political party that emerged from a movement of conservatives protesting against the federal government in 2009.

23a   Horrified // at hag's brew (6)

26a   Couple // smack child (5)

27a   Oxide, // thin on the ground (4,5)

In chemistry, rare earth^[5] (also rare earth element or rare earth metal) refers to any of a group of chemically similar metallic elements comprising the lanthanide series and (usually) scandium and yttrium. They are not especially rare, but they tend to occur together in nature and are difficult to separate from one another.

Many dictionaries define rare earth^[3,4,11] as the oxide of any of the rare-earth elements contained in various minerals.

28a   Overcome with anxiety, // wanted social reforms (2,1,4,5)

Down

1d   Flawed // United Nations measure (7)

2d   Apples /in/ crates -- 100 for bishop (5)

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

A Cox^[5] (in full Cox's orange pippin) is an English eating apple of a variety with a red-tinged green skin.

3d   Team leader, // Greek character with letters, reportedly (5,4)

Alpha^[5] is the first letter of the Greek alphabet (Α, α).

An alpha male^[5] is the dominant male animal in a particular group ⇒ two of them trotted over to greet the alpha male, a black wolf with a greying muzzle.

4d   Edible seaweed served up /in/ club (4)

Nori^[5] is an edible seaweed eaten either fresh or dried, especially by the Japanese.

5d   A suitable one, salesman sent over // drink before meal (8)

6d   One filling in /for/ actor Herbert, entertaining copper (5)

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

Herbert Lom^[7] (1917–2012) was a Czech-born film and television actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. In a career lasting more than 60 years,  he is best known for his roles in The Ladykillers and The Pink Panther film series.

Locum^[5] (short for locum tenens) is a British term for a person who stands in temporarily for someone else of the same profession, especially a cleric or doctor.

7d   Board not erected /offering/ food for fish (8)

8d   Female entertainer // his age? Possibly (6)

A geisha^[5] (also geisha girl) is a Japanese hostess trained to entertain men with conversation, dance, and song.

14d   Corresponds about familiar // paintings and poetry etc (4,4)

In Western European academic traditions, fine art^[7] is art developed primarily for aesthetics, distinguishing it from applied art that also has to serve some practical function.

Historically, the five main fine arts were painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry, with performing arts including theater and dance. Today, the fine arts commonly include additional forms, such as film, photography, conceptual art, and printmaking. However, in some institutes of learning or in museums, fine art and frequently the term fine arts (pl.) as well, are associated exclusively with visual art forms.

16d   American cowboys, // those in dispute (9)

17d   English boozer used by man // full of mystery (8)

18d   Hear end of shanty /that's/ easy to remember (6)

20d   VIP /in/ recently taken photograph (7)

22d   Article about female, // deathly pale (5)

24d   An environmentalist almost /gives/ consent (5)

25d   Examination /in/ ethics Ms fails to attend (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