Friday, March 6, 2015 — DT 27600

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27600
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, September 20, 2014
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27600 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27600 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) crypticsue (Review)
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
Notes
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

Today's puzzle is fun and not too taxing. Did you notice that the puzzle is a pangram — a puzzle whose solutions contain at least one instance of every letter of the alphabet? If so, you were more perceptive than was I.

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   Girl who went to Palace after church /for/ Cup (7)

I had supposed that Alice^[7] referred to the child protagonist of Lewis Carroll's children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). Much of those stories revolves around the interactions between Alice and the Red and White Queens which presumably must occur at a palace. However, crypticsue informs us that the reference is to a different Alice.

5a   Overweight // female seen with science centre times (6)

9a   Natural impulse // in street and in court (8)

11a   Almost /in/ Norway before the due time (6)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Norway is N^[7].  

12a   Bad luck /with/ Jack batting, needing ten (4)

J^[5] is an abbreviation for Jack that is used in describing play in card games.

In cricket, a player who is batting is said to be in^[5]. Conversely, a player who is fielding is said to be out^[5].

Delving Deeper

CRICKET: AS EXPLAINED TO A FOREIGNER... You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game. Simple!

13a   Made English // clean digs I refurbished (10)

14a   Sophisticated gent /needs/ servant around the place? (3-5-4)

17a   Drunken cows on the line? (7,5)

Rolling drunk^[5] denotes so drunk as to be swaying or staggering ⇒ two blokes coming out of a pub rolling drunk.

21a   Sheet anchor? (7-3)

Scratching the Surface
A sheet anchor[5] is (1) an additional anchor for use in emergencies or (2) a very dependable person or thing. Being unfamiliar with both the nautical term and its figurative usage, I was totally oblivious to the misdirection being attempted by the setter.

22a   Redesigned fuel // outlet (4)

23a   Famous birthplace /of/ one with endless support in the West (6)

Assisi^[5] is a town in the region of Umbria in central Italy; population 27,507 (2008). It is famous as the birthplace of St Francis, whose tomb is located there.

24a   'Waltzing Matilda' presented by Australian briefly in Adriatic region (8)

Dalmatia^[5] is an ancient region in what is now southwestern Croatia, comprising mountains and a narrow coastal plain along the Adriatic, together with offshore islands. It once formed part of the Roman province of Illyricum.

Scratching the Surface

"Waltzing Matilda"[7] is Australia's most widely known bush ballad, and has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia". The title is Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing, derived from the German auf der Walz) with one's belongings in a "Matilda" (swag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of tea at a bush camp and capturing a jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the sheep's owner arrives with three police officers to arrest the worker for the theft, the worker commits suicide by drowning himself in the nearby watering hole, after which his ghost haunts the site.

25a   Layered // item of clothing that's a bright colour (6)

The wordplay parses as TIE (item of clothing) + (that's; [contraction for] that has) RED (a bright colour)

26a   European expected to keep pet in // school (7)

Down

2d   Sounds convenient, international player /getting/ scoring adjustment (8)

Cap^[5] is a British term for (1) a cap awarded as a sign of membership of a particular sports team, especially a national team [a team representing a country in international competition] ⇒ he has won three caps for Scotland or (2) a player to whom a cap is awarded ⇒ a former naval officer and rugby cap.

Handicap^[5] denotes the number of strokes by which a golfer normally exceeds par for a course (used as a method of enabling players of unequal ability to compete with each other) ⇒ he plays off a handicap of 10.

3d   State supports the Parisian // that's in rubber (5)

In French, the feminine singular form of the definite article is la^[8].

In her review, crypticsue shows the definition as merely "rubber". However, I suspect that the definition may actually be "[something] that's in rubber". Although the dictionary definitions are a bit vague, latex would appear to be the raw material from which rubber is made, rather than a synonym for rubber. Latex^[5] is a milky fluid found in many plants, such as poppies and spurges, which exudes when the plant is cut and coagulates on exposure to the air. The latex of the rubber tree is the chief source of natural rubber. Latex is also the name of a synthetic product that has similar properties to those of rubber.

4d   Can veto remarkably // small amount of money (7)

The centavo^[5] is a monetary unit of Mexico, Brazil, and certain other countries (formerly including Portugal), equal to one hundredth of the basic unit.

6d   One is naturally spotted having this // long tie askew (7)

Lentigo^[10] is a technical name for a freckle.

7d   One's mad for Rio // fruit (6,3)

A double definition with the first being cryptic.

8d   You old learners will need education // expressed loudly (6)

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

10d   Mum, // tipsy, fell missing last of steps (5-6)

15d   Attack // when pilots are off work? (3,6)

16d   Inform // Bill Strange (8)

Scratching the Surface

Bill Strange is likely a name invented by the setter. I think it is unlikely to be a reference to Billy Strange[7] (1930–2012), an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor who was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum as a member of The Wrecking Crew in 2007. The Wrecking Crew[7] was a nickname coined by drummer Hal Blaine for a group of studio and session musicians that played anonymously on many records in Los Angeles, California during the 1960s. The crew backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history.

18d   Diesel spilled, quarter /in/ sheltered area (3,4)

19d   Watched with amazement // gold egg breaking open (7)

20d   Room /is/ not far, over kind of junction (6)

A closet^[5] is a small room, especially one used for storing things or for private study.

22d   Old Spanish leader abandoning old // currency, mainly obsolete (5)

Francisco Franco^[5] (1892–1975) was a Spanish general and dictator, head of state 1939–75. Leader of the Nationalists in the Civil War, in 1937 Franco became head of the Falange Party and proclaimed himself Caudillo (‘leader’) of Spain. With the defeat of the republic in 1939, he took control of the government and established a dictatorship that ruled Spain until his death.

The franc^[5] is the basic monetary unit of Switzerland and several other countries, equal to 100 centimes as well as being the former basic monetary unit of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg (replaced by the euro in 2002).

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