Friday, March 20, 2015 — DT 27610

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27610
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, October 2, 2014
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27610]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Kath
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

Kath seems to have found this puzzle to be a bit more difficult than I did. However, that is understandable as the pressure of a looming blog deadline can often up the ante.

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   Shock // vote for way to trap Conservative (11)

What did she say?

In her review on Big Dave's blog, Kath describes ROUTE as a way or something a satnav might sort out for your journey. Satnav[5] is navigation dependent on information received from satellites. In North America, we would refer to such a system as GPS. However, GPS is merely one of several global or regional satnav systems.[7] Currently, there are only two global satellite navigation systems operational — the US NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLONASS. Two other systems — the Chinese Compass navigation system and the European Union's Galileo positioning system — are scheduled to be fully operational by 2020. Besides these global systems, there are a number of regional systems. The British term is more generic than the North American term. GPS is like kleenex or xerox (or hoover in the UK) — a brand name that has become a generic term. The Brits no doubt would also avoid using the term GPS merely because of its US origins.

10a   Tender // chest, topless (5)

11a   Quiz show preceding 'The Ascent of Man'? (9)

Cryptically, the name of a documentary television series is used by the setter as a standin for "blasting someone into space" (as Kath puts it in her review).

Countdown^[7] is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. With over 6,000 episodes having been broadcast since its debut in 1982, Countdown is one of the longest-running game shows in the world, along with the original French version, Des chiffres et des lettres, which has been running on French television continuously since 1965.

Scratching the Surface

The Ascent of Man[7] is a thirteen-part documentary television series produced by the BBC and Time-Life Films first transmitted in 1973, written and presented by Jacob Bronowski. Intended as a series of "personal view" documentaries in the manner of Kenneth Clark's 1969 series Civilisation, the series received acclaim for Bronowski's highly informed but eloquently simple analysis, his long unscripted monologues and its extensive location shoots.

12a   Struggle on // exercise about to cover cut (9)

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

13a   Avoid a homicide around // American state (5)

14a   One periodical with endless bare // pictures (6)

Bare^[5] is used not in the usual sense of unclothed or uncovered but rather in the sense of without the appropriate or usual contents ⇒ a bare cell with just a mattress. Think of Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. Thus "endless bare" is used to clue ES (EndlesS without its contents).

16a   Runs batter over // vegetables (8)

18a   Guts // involves embracing redhead (8)

The setter employs a not uncommon cryptic crossword construct, in which the word "redhead" is used to clue R, the initial letter (head) of Red.

You may recall the discussion of "lift and separate" from my review of Tuesday's puzzle. In the present clue, a single conceptual unit (redhead) must be separated into two parts, an indicator (head) and its fodder (red).

20a   High // sound quality obtained by Sabbath died (6)

S.^[11] us the abbreviation for Sabbath.

23a   Start to tour America taking in large // city (5)

What did she say?
In her review, Kath describes Tulsa as the city that Gene Pitney was so close to when he was rather side-tracked by a floozy in a motel!. "Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa"[7] is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David which was a hit for Gene Pitney. Its success in the UK enabled Pitney to become an international star.

24a   One touring // time before composer left Queen (9)

Maurice Ravel^[5] (1875–1937) was a French composer. His works are somewhat impressionistic in style, employing colourful orchestration and unresolved dissonances. Notable works: the ballets Daphnis and Chloë (1912) and Boléro (1928) and the orchestral work La Valse (1920).

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

26a   Top up // Pilsner -- he is drunk (9)

Scratching the Surface
Pilsner[5] is a lager beer with a strong hop flavour, originally brewed at Pilsen in the Czech Republic.

27a   Hawk eating head of raw // fish (5)

28a   Mundane // temporary head blunders penning English test (11)

Down

2d   Man with inexhaustible bird? (5)

Bird^[10] is British slang for prison or a term in prison, especially in the phrase do (one's) bird. This is an instance of Cockney rhyming slang. Bird is shortened from birdlime, rhyming slang for time (as in a prison sentence). Birdlime^[5] is a sticky substance spread on to twigs to trap small birds.

Scratching the Surface
Bird[5] is an informal British term for a young woman or a man’s girlfriend.

3d   Acquire backing in centre /for/ procession (7)

4d   Possibly metal case of Exocet // missile (6)

I think rock could possibly be metal in either the musical or geological sense.

Scratching the Surface
Exocet[5] (trademark) is the name of a French-made guided anti-ship missile.

5d   Caught out catching exhaust /in/ raised road (8)

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c.^[2,10] or c^[5] denotes caught or caught by.

6d   Scraps // bird pecked on top of sill (7)

The tits, chickadees, and titmice^[7] constitute Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur in the northern hemisphere and Africa. These birds are called either "chickadees" or "titmice" in North America, and just "tits" in the rest of the English-speaking world.

North American dictionaries define titbit^[3,11] is an alternative, chiefly British spelling of tidbit. British dictionaries, on the other hand, define tidbit^[2,5,10] as a US or North American term for titbit.

Collins English Dictionary intriguingly defines titbit^[10] as a pleasing scrap of anything, such as scandal.

7d   Free // permit only came about without sweetheart once (13)

Here we encounter another example of "lift and separate" with "sweetheart" being used to clue the middle letter (heart) of swEet. Note that the setter carefully indicates that only one of the two instances of E is to be removed from the fodder (without sweetheart once).

8d   Party with people // present (8)

9d   Cretins with no idea turning // rude (13)

Politically Incorrect?

Cretin[3] is an offensive term for a person considered to be foolish or unintelligent. It would appear that — as with similar terms derived from medical conditions — this term is no longer considered to be politically correct when used with non-medical connotations. In medical terms, a cretin[3] is a person afflicted with cretinism[3], a congenital condition caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormone during prenatal development and characterized in childhood by dwarfed stature, mental retardation, dystrophy of the bones, and a low basal metabolism.

15d   Bound to have stake put on // African runner (8)

17d   Fool the woman employing one // who makes dresses? (8)

Clot^[5] is an informal British term for a foolish or clumsy person ⇒ Watch where you’re going, you clot!.

19d   Seemed a campus holds back // university life (7)

21d   Social networker/'s/ precious phrase cut short (7)

Twee^[5] is a British term meaning excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental ⇒ although the film’s a bit twee, it’s watchable.

22d   Way to surmount enormous // sadness (6)

The sizes of clothing that North Americans would describe as plus-size^[7] (or often big and tall in the case of men's clothing) would be called outsize (abbreviation OS^[5]) in Britain.

25d   Sponge /in/ a dessert rising (5)

Fool^[5] is a chiefly British name for a cold dessert made of pureed fruit mixed or served with cream or custard ⇒ raspberry fool with cream.

Loofa is an alternative (mainly US) spelling of loofah^[10], the fibrous interior of the fruit of the dishcloth gourd, which is dried, bleached, and used as a bath sponge or for scrubbing.

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