Wednesday, January 28, 2015 — DT 27573

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27573
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27573]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By scchua
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

Jay gives us a fairly gentle workout today. The last one in was 10a which was a true penny-drop moment and generated a bit of a chuckle.

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   Conflict /as/ industrial action sees king replaced by female (6)

K^[5] is an abbreviation for king that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

5a   Examines // power possessed by bugs (8)

In physics, P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power (among other things).

9a   Style of comedian facing the drop? (7,6)

I was slow to twig to the solution to this clue as I as looking for a adjective that might be applied to a comedian, such as "stand-up" comedian. However, we must interpret the clue as if it were phrased "Style of [humour displayed by] comedian ..." which results in the solution being a noun.

10a   Poor hearing? (8)

11a   One abandons caution flying // this exotic bird (6)

A toucan^[5] is any of several species of tropical American fruit-eating bird with a massive bill and typically brightly coloured plumage.

12a   Old boy returns after exercises /in/ pleasure craft (6)

PE^[5] is the abbreviation for physical education (or Phys Ed, as it was known in my school days). 

Pedalo^[5] is a British term for a small pedal-operated pleasure boat.

A Trap for the Unwary

I stumbled into the trap of thinking that "old boy" is being used — as is customarily the case — to clue OB. It took me quite a while to see the error of my ways. In Britain, an old boy[5] (abbreviation OB[2])  is (1) a former male student of a school or college ⇒an old boy of Banbury County School or (2) a former male member of a sports team or company ⇒the White Hart Lane old boy squared the ball to present an easy chance from 12 yards. It is also a chiefly British affectionate form of address to a boy or man ⇒ ‘Look here, old boy,’ he said.

14a   Endured // socialist going over state of America (8)

16a   Bad press about European motorway // building (8)

The M1^[7] is a north–south motorway [controlled access, multi-lane divided highway] in England connecting London to Leeds.

19a   Hang around, // boxed in by several in Germany (6)

21a   Unfortunately, drinking rum oddly /causes/ scares (6)

23a   Newly-developed yet cheap // protection for the injured viewer (8)

... where "viewer" refers to an organ of sight.

25a   Works in progress here? (6,7)

Mobile library^[4] is the British name for a bookmobile.

26a   Relaxed after a couple of pages, // satisfied (8)

27a   What's left /by/ right of choice, say? (6)

Down

2d   This'll make you laugh -- // Moroccan dish containing camel's tail! (3,4)

Tagine^[5] (from a Moroccan Arabic word meaning 'frying pan') denotes (1) a North African stew of spiced meat and vegetables prepared by slow cooking in a shallow earthenware cooking dish with a tall, conical lid or (2) the dish used for cooking tagines.

Tag line^[4] is another name for punch line.

3d   Home rented out /for/ opening (5)

Let^[5] is a chiefly British term meaning to allow someone to have the use of (a room or property) in return for regular payments ⇒ (i) she let the flat to a tenant; (ii) they’ve let out their house. [I would think that this is one of those British terms that is familiar enough to most North Americans that they would readily understand it even though they likely wouldn't use it.]

4d   Sitcom -- one developed /for/ faces on screen (9)

5d   Keeping to oneself /due to/ slight cut on a run (7)

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

6d   Closed around noon briefly, due to car crash (5)

Shunt^[5] is an informal British term for a motor accident, especially a collision of vehicles travelling one close behind the other ⇒ a lorry [truck] shed [spilled] its load, causing an eight-vehicle shunt.

7d   Reduction in planning of one oil // delivery (9)

8d   Paved area /in/ row of houses (7)

In Britain, pave^[5] means to cover (a piece of ground) with flat stones or bricks — not asphalt..

Terrace^[5] is a British term for (1) a row of houses built in one block in a uniform style ⇒ an attractive Regency terrace or (2) an individual house in a terrace ⇒ modern furniture looks out of place in your Victorian terrace.

13d   Pleasing // new barmaid left without newspaper (9)

The Financial Times (FT)^[7] is a British international business newspaper [that is printed on conspicuous salmon pink newsprint].

15d   Flexible // label designed to be worn by man (9)

17d   Turn and clean // fish that's been pickled (7)

A rollmop^[4] (from German Rollmops, from rollen to roll + Mops pug dog) is a herring fillet rolled, usually around onion slices, and pickled in spiced vinegar.

18d   Son fine -- journalist // filled with pride (7)

20d   Unprotected gent in front of vault // put in code (7)

22d   Opportunities for buying cheap // beer on board ship? (5)

In Crosswordland, you will find that a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[10]. Thus "on board ship" is code for 'contained in SS'.

24d   Order to stop // a container with a cargo of sulphur (5)

The symbol for the chemical element sulphur is S^[5].

Avast^[5] is a nautical exclamation directing (someone) to stop or cease ⇒ a sailor is expected to keep hauling until the mate hollers ‘Avast!.

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