Monday, April 6, 2015 — DT 27621 (Bonus Puzzle)

Prologue

It being Easter Monday, the National Post did not publish a print edition today. Here is DT 27621, the puzzle that would have appeared had there been a paper.

Once again, I found the puzzle to be rather on the gentler side.

Enjoy the puzzle and the remainder of your long weekend.

As always, I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27621
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27621]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By 2Kiwis
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
I am expecting the National Post to skip this puzzle which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, October 15, 2014.

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   A rep's new role /as/ potential replacement (5,4)

6a   Fifty per cent of cost doubled with a // drink (5)

9a   Low points /for/ the elk? (5)

In Britain, elk^[5] is another name moose. The animal known to North Americans as an elk^[5] is called a wapiti in the UK.

10a   Source of crude pictures? (3,6)

Presumably ones painted with crude oils.

11a   Gets very angry about expensive car // crushers (5-7)

Roller^[5] is an informal British term for a car made by Rolls-Royce.

14a   Counters // which are found in chemistry lab? (7)

This is a double definition, with the first being a riposte or comeback. Mentally augment the second definition, reading it as though it were written "[things] which are found in chemistry lab".

16a   Perfect state /of/ vehicle found in revolutionary Iran (7)

17a   Very nearly returned /for/ a coat (3)

Another way of saying "returned" would be 'came back'. Substitute this in the clue and you get:

• Very nearly came back /for/ a coat (3)

The wordplay is a reversal (back) of CAM[E] with the final letter removed (very nearly).

Mac^[5] is an informal name for a mackintosh^[5], a British term for a full-length waterproof coat.

18a   Two-faced drunk, dismissing women // actually (2,5)

20a   Save to cover river // passage (7)

22a   Watch /kept on/ potential nuclear evils? (12)

26a   Decoration /for/ navy chaps after trouble west of Taiwan (9)

The Royal Navy^[5] (abbreviation RN) is the British navy. It was the most powerful navy in the world from the 17th century until the Second World War.

27a   Ring area /supplying/ gas (5)

28a   Given medicine, does drunk do without love? (5)

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.

29a   Heir/'s/ triumph, with York defenceless (9)

Scratching the Surface
York[5] is a city in North Yorkshire, northern England, on the River Ouse; population 136,900 (est. 2009). The Romans occupied the site, known as Eboracum, from AD 71 until about AD 400; in AD 867 it was taken by the Vikings. It is the seat of the Archbishop of York and is noted for its magnificent cathedral, York Minster.

Down

1d   Total paid initially /for/ oil deposit (4)

A sump^[3] is the crankcase or oil reservoir of an internal-combustion engine.

2d   Looking amazed /by/ a good turn around (4)

The abbreviation G^[10] for good likely relates to its use in grading school assignments or tests.

3d   English go in to support victory /for/ this horse! (7)

The wordplay parses as E (English) + {ENTER (go in) following (to support [in a down clue]) V (victory)}

Eventer^[5] is a British term for a horse or rider that takes part in eventing^[5], an equestrian sport in which competitors must take part in each of several contests, usually cross-country, dressage, and showjumping ⇒ he will begin his eventing career in March.

4d   Two answers about memory // evoking smell (5)

One could, as the 2Kiwis have done, treat the word "evoking" as a link word and limit the definition to merely "smell".

However, I have chose to present an alternative interpretation in which AROMA is an "evoking smell". The American Heritage Roget's Thesaurus defines aroma as a distinctive yet intangible quality deemed typical of a given thing — which sounds evocative to me.

In computing, ROM^[5] stands for Read-only memory.

5d   Forbearance // to messy cleaner? (9)

6d   Creep // caught fishing boat losing time (7)

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

A creep^[5] is a person who behaves obsequiously in the hope of advancement.

Crawler^[5] is an informal British term for a person who behaves obsequiously in the hope of gaining favour ⇒ her pleading tone surprised herself, she was no crawler.

7d   Bearers of light // are able to read freely about party (10)

The Labour Party^[5] (abbreviation Lab.^[5]) in Britain is a left-of-centre political party formed to represent the interests of ordinary working people that since the Second World War has been in power 1945–51, 1964–70, 1974-9, and 1997–2010. Arising from the trade union movement at the end of the 19th century, it replaced the Liberals as the country’s second party after the First World War.

8d   Idiot workers must accept first // people who help (10)

12d   Girl holding up train? (10)

13d   Stick jumper and manuscript /in/ teachers' quarters (10)

Roo^[5] is an informal Australian term for a kangaroo.

15d   Burns // rot on board ship (9)

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 a way to clue 'contained in SS'.

19d   Polished /and/ inclined to support Conservative (7)

Scratching the Surface
The Conservative Party[5] (abbreviation C.[10])  is a a major British political party that emerged from the old Tory Party under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s. Since the Second World War, it has been in power 1951–64, 1970-4, and 1979–97. Since 2010, it has governed in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

21d   Revolution covering working /with/ meteorological phenomenon (7)

23d   A heartless tyrant in charge // of Greece! (5)

The abbreviation i/c^[5] (especially in military contexts) is short for in charge of ⇒ the Quartermaster General is i/c rations.

Attic^[5] is an adjective meaning relating to ancient Athens or Attica, or the dialect of Greek spoken there. Attica^[5] is a triangular promontory of eastern Greece. With the islands in the Saronic Gulf it forms a department of Greece, of which Athens is the capital.

24d   Weapons // which are put in violin cases? (4)

This is another double definition that follows the same pattern as 14a. Read the second definition as "[things] which are put in violin cases".

25d   Energy required in pitch /and/ run (4)

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