Friday, March 13, 2015 — DT 27605

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27605
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, September 26, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27605]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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

Although this is not one of Giovanni's more difficult puzzles, I did stumble over a British abbreviation that I had not previously encountered.

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

8a   Peril not problematical /for/ group seeking criminals (8)

Interpol^[10] (acronym for International Criminal Police Organization) is an association of over 100 national police forces, devoted chiefly to fighting international crime.

9a   Characters enthralled by worker ranting, // deviating from the norm (6)

10a   Girl // soon losing love (3)

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.

11a   Basic principle // this person's found in harsh holy books (8)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the) compiler, (the) setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue. Today, the setter has made the scenario slightly more complicated by combining "this person" with the verb "to be" producing "this person's" (contraction for "this person is") which must be replaced by "I'm" (I am). 

12a   Theologian into drink, delivery initially // confused (6)

Doctor of Divinity^[7] (abbreviation D.D. or DD, Divinitatis Doctor in Latin) is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects. In the United Kingdom, Doctor of Divinity has traditionally been the highest doctorate granted by universities, usually conferred upon a religious scholar of standing and distinction. In the United States, the Doctor of Divinity is usually awarded as an honorary degree.

13a   Something A-level maths student does /to achieve/ distinction (15)

In mathematics, differentiation^[10] is an operation used in calculus in which the derivative of a function or variable is determined; the inverse of integration.

Delving Deeper

In the UK (with the exception of Scotland), A level[5] (advanced level[5]) is a qualification in a specific subject typically taken by school students aged 16-18, at a level above GCSE[5] (General Certificate of Secondary Education). In the UK (with the exception of Scotland), O level[5] (ordinary level)[5] is a qualification in a specific subject formerly taken by school students aged 14-16, at a level below A level. It was replaced in 1988 by the  GCSE[5] (General Certificate of Secondary Education).

15a   Work is not bad, /offering/ possibilities (7)

In music, Op.^[5] (also op.) is an abbreviation meaning opus (work). It is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication.

18a   Venus de Milo is so // defenceless (7)

Although Deep Threat does not mark this clue as a double definition, his comment would seem to indicate that it is in fact one.

The Venus de Milo^[5] is a classical sculpture of Aphrodite dated to circa 100 BC. It was discovered on the Greek island of Melos in 1820 and is now in the Louvre in Paris.

21a   Volume set aside for drinker? (6-5,4)

The entire clue is a cryptic definition. The primary indication is "volume" while the remainder of the clue provides additional cryptic elaboration.

24a   Quickly // flip over the page about little man (6)

PTO^[5] is a British abbreviation for please turn over (written at the foot of a page to indicate that the text continues on the reverse).

My Imaginative Solution
Not knowing this British acronym, I erroneously tried to parse the wordplay as a reversal (flip) of {O (over; cricket term) + TP (the page; a British euphemism fabricated in my mind for 'toilet paper')} containing (about) RON (little man). How imaginative was that!

25a   Kept away, /being/ dispatched into a place of rest (8)

26a   Writer /producing/ letters of note I collected (3)

27a   Blast /from/ explosive -- get away before that! (6)

HE^[5] is the abbreviation for high explosive.

28a   Frenchman to straggle alongside English // deserter (8)

What did he say?

In his review, Deep Threat describes the Frenchman as "A French name – think of the character played by Gorden Kaye in ‘Allo ‘Allo". 'Allo 'Allo! is a BBC television sitcom broadcast from 1982 to 1992. Set in a small town in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, 'Allo 'Allo! tells the story of café owner René Artois (played by English comic Gordon Kaye). Réné, whilst trying to remain impartial, has been dragged into the war by both sides. The Germans are threatening to shoot him if he does not secretly hide stolen valuables; the Résistance is using his café as a safe-house for shot-down British airmen; and on top of that, he is trying to keep his passionate love affairs with the café waitresses secret from his wife. Whenever his wife Edith catches him in the arms of another woman, René invariably responds with the phrase "You stupid woman! Can you not see that..." followed by a convoluted explanation, which Edith always believes, leading to an apology from her.

Down

1d   Rings // one's seen beyond void (6)

2d   Misrepresent female // intuition (6)

3d   Cash someone will come to get (10,5)

4d   Criticising // materials used by roofer (7)

Slate^[5] is an informal British term meaning to criticize severely ⇒ his work was slated by the critics.

A slate^[5] is a flat plate of slate used as roofing material. Slating^[10] refers to slates collectively, or material for making slates.

5d   Privatising // brings sale with indignation erupting (15)

6d   Order apt to be blasted out /by/ wolfish type (8)

7d   The answer here probably has only one letter! (8)

14d   Parent not half // thick (3)

16d   Extend // professional area (8)

17d   Home if tiny unlikely /to convey/ vastness (8)

19d   Revolutionary order intercepted by a // Communist leader (3)

The Order of Merit^[7] (abbreviation OM^[5]) is a dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by King Edward VII, admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, and is limited to 24 living recipients at one time from these countries plus a limited number of honorary members. The current membership includes one Canadian (former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien).

Mao Zedong^[5] (also Mao Tse-tung and commonly referred to as simply Mao) (1893–1976) was a Chinese statesman; chairman of the Communist Party of the Chinese People’s Republic 1949–76; head of state 1949–59. A cofounder of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 and its effective leader from the time of the Long March (1934–35), he eventually defeated both the occupying Japanese and rival Kuomintang nationalist forces to create the People’s Republic of China in 1949, becoming its first head of state.

20d   Taxi runs into horse -- /it's/ ghastly (7)

22d   Friendly // government initially installed in African country (6)

Benin^[5] is a country of West Africa, immediately west of Nigeria; population 8,791,800 (est. 2009); languages, French (official), West African languages; capital, Porto Novo. The country was conquered by the French in 1893 and became part of French West Africa. In 1960 it became fully independent. Former name (until 1975) Dahomey.

23d   Ham // finished? Then daughter must have egg (6)

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