Thursday, May 14, 2015 — DT 27660

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27660
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, November 29, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27660 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27660 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (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

This is a fairly gentle puzzle that should give you little reason for not getting on with the rest of your day.

Was anyone observant enough to notice that the puzzle is a pangram (every letter of the alphabet appears at least once in the solutions)? I admit that I was oblivious to the fact until it was pointed out by crypticsue in Comment #6 on Big Dave's blog.

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   Prior, // clergyman that's outwardly sanctimonious (8)

6a   Fawn // overturned cooking pot -- drag! (6)

How keen are your powers of observation? Did you detect the typo in gnomethang's review?

9a   Loophole /gives/ viewer permit (6)

Historically, a loophole^[5] is an arrow slit in a wall.

An eyelet^[5] is a small hole or slit in a wall for looking through.

10a   Fabric /taken from/ room without hesitation by Illingworth? (8)

Ray Illingworth^[7] is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. As of 2015, he is one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first class cricket. He played for Yorkshire (1951–68 and 1982–83), Leicestershire (1969–78) and England (1958–73) and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.

Cambray Chambray^[5] is a cloth with a white weft and a coloured warp. [Thanks due to Richard for spotting the error.]

11a   Charlie Champion anxious to disregard final part /as/ Native American (8)

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

The Cherokee^[5] are an American Indian people formerly inhabiting much of the southern US, now living on reservations in Oklahoma and North Carolina.

12a   Stream from outside // home repelled beast (6)

13a   Indications chap will have craft /and/ skill in shooting (12)

16a   Novel with moving statement, // part of good book (3,9)

19a   Tough // street, sinful it's said (6)

21a   With Jack collected, dismiss // car (8)

The entry for jack in The Chambers Dictionary would fill a page if it were not spread over parts of two pages. Among the definitions, one finds jack^[1] defined as (often with capital) a sailor.

In the Royal Navy, according to Oxford Dictionaries Online, able seaman^[5] (abbreviation AB^[5]), is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman. On the other hand, Collins English Dictionary tells us that an able seaman^[10] (also called able-bodied seaman) is an ordinary seaman, especially one in the merchant navy, who has been trained in certain skills. 

In cricket, run out^[7] denotes the dismissal of a batsman by hitting a wicket with the ball while the batsman is out of his ground^[10] (the area from the popping crease back past the stumps, in which a batsman may legally stand).

23a   Ache before spring // field event (4,4)

24a   Monster // I sense swimming around? (6)

Nessie^[5] is an informal name for the Loch Ness monster^[5], a large creature alleged to live in the deep waters of Loch Ness, Scotland. Reports of its existence date from the time of St Columba (6th century); despite recent scientific expeditions, there is still no proof of its existence.

25a   Squirm /as/ explosive document's advanced (6)

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

26a   You initially see Tom travelling round one // national park (8)

In his review, gnomethang has overlooked a bit of the wordplay. In full, it is Y (you initially; initial letter of You) + an anagram (travelling) of SEE TOM containing (round) I ([Roman numeral for] one).

Yosemite National Park^[5] is a national park in the Sierra Nevada in central California. It includes Yosemite Valley, with its sheer granite cliffs and Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in the US.

Down

2d   Section of band // that may have blues accompaniment? (6)

I am opting to call this a double definition.

The rhythm section^[5] is the part of a pop or jazz group supplying the rhythm, generally regarded as consisting of bass and drums and sometimes piano or guitar.

Where a definition takes the form of a subordinate clause beginning with a relative pronoun (as is the case with the second definition here), one must mentally insert a word such as "something" or "someone" to complete the definition. Thus "[something] that may have blues accompaniment" would clue RHYTHM, which is accompanied by "blues" in the phrase "rhythm and blues".

3d   Some devil erupts, /getting/ more unpleasant (5)

4d   Unfashionable clothes /seen in/ suburbia (9)

5d   I have withdrawn from repeated // achievement (7)

6d   Cloth that's uniformly used (5)

7d   Method of printing // internet from TV (3,6)

Web offset^[5] is offset printing on continuous paper fed from a reel.

8d   Speaker I love // that's set to music (8)

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.

As we saw at 2d, one must mentally convert the definition to "[something] that's set to music".

13d   It seemed to me // Middle English needs to include common elements of 'thee' and 'thou' (9)

ME^[5] is the abbreviation for Middle English^[5], the English language from circa 1150 to circa 1470.

14d   A chain found in Italy (9)

The Apennines^[5] are a mountain range running 1,400 km (880 miles) down the length of Italy, from the north-west to the southern tip of the peninsula.

15d   Ten going in to clear entrance /in/ the nearest house (4,4)

17d   A memorial of victory // wasting away (7)

18d   Queen isn't commonly // charming! (6)

20d   Look, going round the bend, /for/ dressing (5)

I was slow to get this one — spending too much time looking for a dressing for my salad. I'm afraid the dressing that I eventually came up with turned out to be rather unpalatable.

Yes, there is another typo in gnomethang's review.

22d   Bust /of/ old boy set up -- some but not all present (5)

In Britain, an old boy^[5] (abbreviation OB^[2])  is (1) a former male student of a school or college ⇒an old boy of Banbury County School or (2) a former male member of a sports team or company ⇒the White Hart Lane old boy squared the ball to present an easy chance from 12 yards. It is also a chiefly British affectionate form of address to a boy or man ⇒ ‘Look here, old boy,’ he said.

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