Monday, March 2, 2015 — DT 27596

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27596
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27596]
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

Today we have a puzzle from the mystery "Tuesday" setter. In the past, there have been suggestions from British commenters that this setter may be an American. There is certainly a minimal dosage of Britishisms in this puzzle — and one or two Americanisms do creep in.

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   Cared madly about a // place of amusement (6)

4a   Slow progress by son -- // untidy writing results (6)

8a   Speak about a king, leader of Abyssinians /for/ so long (8)

Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

Sayonara^[5] is an informal, chiefly US exclamation [of Japanese origin] meaning goodbye ⇒ the beautiful Diana was twenty-one when she said sayonara.

Scratching the Surface
Abyssinia[5] is a former name for Ethiopia.

Delving Deeper

As mentioned by Beaver in Comment #1 on Big Dave's blog, Sayonara[7] is a 1957 American film starring Marlon Brando. The picture tells the story of an American Air Force flier who was an ace fighter pilot during the Korean War. Sayonara won four Academy Awards, including acting honors for co-stars Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki. The film's screenplay was adapted from the novel of the same name by James Michener. Unlike most 1950s romantic dramas, Sayonara deals squarely with racism and prejudice.

10a   Entirely // at home, small child given love (2,4)

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   Persistent pain? // One must ring hospital (4)

12a   Flush, getting Oscar for one? // Correct (2,3,5)

Oscar^[5] is a code word representing the letter O, used in radio communication.

On the money is a North American expression meaning accurate or correct ⇒ every criticism she made was right on the money. [Cue howls of protest!]

In addition to a few howls of protest on Big Dave's blog (but, surprisingly, none from Brian), there were multiple expressions of confusion with regard to this phrase.

13a   Kowtow, // as the novice violinist might? (3,3,6)

16a   Dread // detention (12)

20a   Happen // to finish first, as opposed to second (4,2,4)

I failed to see the wordplay here, instead thinking that the clue must have been intended to be a double definition. Although I did not find my analysis to be overly compelling, I reasoned that "come to pass" was somehow an allusion to the fact that in order to finish first, one must pass the person who finishes second.

The wordplay is actually COME TOP (to finish first) + AS (from the clue) + (opposed to; up against) S (second).

21a   Run over // a pack animal (4)

This was my last one in.

22a   Trim // conifer (6)

23a   High-up // therefore losing head crossing pit (8)

An eminence^[3] is a person of high station or great achievements. In the Roman Catholic Church, Eminence (used with Your or His [but never Her]) is a title and form of address for a cardinal.

24a   Small number endeavour to engage a // public official (6)

25a   Rise to the surface // clearly ahead (4,2)

Down

1d   An oil carrier reportedly // held in place (2,6)

Sounds like (reportedly) A TANKER (an oil carrier).

2d   Job // centre -- husband has to go in (5)

3d   Servant turned up on date /bringing/ rock (7)

5d   That man put in care, possibly // a monster (7)

In Greek mythology, a chimera^[5] is a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.

6d   Writer // shares out bubbly (9)

7d   Modern // type of coffee, right? (6)

9d   Diplomatic bag? (7-4)

An attaché^[5] is a person on the staff of an ambassador having a specialized area of responsibility ⇒ naval and air attachés.

As Gazza notes in his review, this cryptic definition seems more than a bit weak. I would guess that the name for this briefcase came from the very fact that it was typically carried by attachés.

14d   Consequently, // atlas user misled (2,1,6)

15d   Takes in better // paper (8)

17d   Hebridean island almost rounded by fellow // explorer (7)

Iona^[5] is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Mull. It is the site of a monastery founded by St Columba in about 563.

18d   Forming a unit // -- see unit formed (2,5)

Oxford Dictionaries Online claims en suite^[5] to be a British expression. This may well be the case as, although the term en suite^[3,11] is to be found in the American Heritage Dictionary and Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, it is with somewhat different meanings. Nevertheless, the term en suite is certainly used in Canada in the British sense.

19d   Speak in a soft murmur holding up new // voucher (6)

21d   Disc // wife put on list (5)

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