Monday, July 6, 2015 — DT 27703 (Bonus Puzzle)

Prologue

Today the National Post resumes its usual summer practice of not publishing an edition on Monday. For the benefit of those who cannot forgo their daily fix of brain stimulation, here is DT 27703 — the puzzle that I had expected to appear had the presses run today. Of course, that forecast was made before I discovered that the National Post had skipped a couple of puzzles on Friday.

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27703
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27703]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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
This is one of two puzzles that the National Post skipped on Friday, July 3, 2015.

Introduction

Under pressure to get on with writing the blog, I threw in the towel with one clue remaining to be solved. As it was a very solvable clue, I might have eventually gotten it had I persevered long enough — at least, I'd like to imagine that would have been the case.

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

5a   Round of applause before dance /that's/ kind of foul (8)

In soccer (which Miffypops refers to as "association football" in his review), a handball^[5] is the touching of the ball with the hand or arm, constituting a foul ⇒ (i) a penalty for handball; (ii) a blatant handball.

8a   Keen to embrace that woman /in/ bright red (6)

10a   Little bit of dough adds about // middle (6)

11a   Bones /from/ Wounded Knee? Lots (8)

Scratching the Surface
The Battle of Wounded Knee[5] was the last major confrontation (1890) between the US Army and American Indians, at the village of Wounded Knee on a reservation in South Dakota. More than 300 largely unarmed Sioux men, women, and children were massacred. A civil rights protest at the site in 1973 led to clashes with the authorities.

12a   Public school // to plan residence welcoming the Queen (12)

"the Queen" = ER (show explanation )

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.

hide explanation

Charterhouse^[7], originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse is a collegiate independent boarding school (also referred to as a public school) situated at Godalming in the English county of Surrey.

Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charterhouse Square, Smithfield, it is one of the original eight English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 which derived from the Clarendon Commission of 1864. Today pupils at Charterhouse are still referred to as Carthusians, and ex-pupils as Old Carthusians or OCs.

Delving Deeper

In Britain, an independent school[10] is a school that is neither financed nor controlled by the government or local authorities; in other words, an independent school[2] is not paid for with public money and does not belong to the state school system. A private school[2,5] is a special case of independent school, being a school run independently by an individual or group, especially for profit and supported wholly by the payment of fees. A public school[2] is yet another class of independent school, a secondary school, especially a boarding school run independently of the state, financed by endowments and by pupils' fees. What we in North America would call a public school[2], is known in the UK as a state school.

15a   White wine -- // some bucellas tippled (4)

Asti^[7] (formerly known as Asti Spumante) is a sparkling white Italian wine that is produced throughout southeastern Piedmont but is particularly focused around the towns of Asti and Alba. Since 1993 the wine has been classified as a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) and as of 2004 was Italy's largest producing appellation.

Scratching the Surface
Bucellas[10] is a Portuguese white wine.

17a   Opinion /expressed by/ soldiers evicted from apartment building (5)

In Britain, the word tenement seems not to carry the negative connotation that it does in North America. In Britain, a tenement^[4] is merely a room or flat [apartment] for rent or (also called tenement building) a large building divided into separate flats [apartments], whereas in North America, a tenement^[3,11] is generally regarded as a rundown, low-rental apartment building — often overcrowded and located in a poor section of a large city — whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards.

Would any theologian agree that a tenet is merely an opinion? Perhaps — provided the question were in relation to a religion other than his own!

18a   Hear about old // system of weights (4)

Troy^[5] (in full troy weight) is a system of weights used mainly for precious metals and gems, with a pound of 12 ounces or 5,760 grains ⇒ (i) gold closed at $332.5 a troy ounce; (ii) pounds troy.

19a   Splits up // firm producing vehicle components? (5,7)

22a   Dance // enthusiast circling with energy (8)

The fandango^[5] is a lively Spanish dance for two people, typically accompanied by castanets or tambourine.

24a   Bishop with book /in/ bed (6)

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

hide explanation

Note to self: book can mean something other than reading material — and a bed is not necessarily meant for sleeping.

25a   Capital city, // captured by Cézanne, I viewed reflectively (6)

Vienna^[5] is the capital of Austria, situated in the north-east of the country on the River Danube; population 1,661,206 (2006).

Scratching the Surface
Paul Cézanne[5] (1839–1906) was a French painter. He is closely identified with post-impressionism and his later work had an important influence on cubism. Notable works: Bathers (sequence of paintings 1890–1905).

26a   Unnecessary // to sew fringes of skirts (8)

I was surprised to discover that needle^[2] can be a verb meaning to sew. Then again, if one can saw with a saw and hammer with a hammer, why not needle with a needle?

Down

1d   Journalist // cycled over carrying it (6)

2d   Power shown by champion dog, // race's early leader (4-6)

3d   Spots // name inside card (4)

4d   Strong // macho types kept in check (8)

6d   Devious mate's pocketing your old // gemstone (8)

7d   Lots terribly low after workers // suffered a heavy defeat (4,5,4)

9d   Fleece // man on board (4)

13d   Duel arranged -- relaxed Burton's kept // calm (10)

14d   Deliveries /for/ doormen (8)

In cricket, a bouncer^[5] is a ball bowled [delivered] fast and short so as to rise high after pitching.

16d   Disrespectful, // lacking foresight right away (8)

20d   Conditional release // initially playing a part (6)

21d   Duty on one // vehicle (4)

23d   Japanese drama about a // Hebrew patriarch (4)

Noh^[5] is traditional Japanese masked drama with dance and song, evolved from Shinto rites ⇒ a Noh play.

In the Bible, Noah^[5] was a Hebrew patriarch represented as tenth in descent from Adam. According to a story in Genesis he made the ark which saved his family and specimens of every animal from the Flood.

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