Thursday, July 16, 2015 — DT 27713

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27713
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, January 31, 2015
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27713 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27713 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Tilsit & Digby (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

The string of gentle puzzles continues for another day.

On the day that this puzzle appeared in the UK, a party was being held in London to celebrate the sixth anniversary of Big Dave's Crossword Blog. While Big Dave is away at the party, Tilsit and Digby hold down the fort. If you would like to put a face to some of the names you see regularly at Big Dave's blog, check out the photo gallery from the event.

The reports of the celebrations in the UK remind me that the sixth anniversary of my own blog slipped by unnoticed a couple of months ago.

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   Put an end to // hard drink (6)

5a   Bond villain's not half one to take tips from Smersh -- // he may go round in a tank (8)

Auric Goldfinger^[7] is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film Goldfinger, based on the novel of the same name by English author Ian Fleming (1908–1964).

Scratching the Surface

SMERSH is a fictional Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels as agent 007's nemesis. The fictional SMERSH is an acronym of a Russian name meaning "Special Methods of Spy Detection". Fleming's version of SMERSH supposedly was modelled upon the real SMERSH organisation, which existed 1943-1946 (the real name is a portmanteau of two Russian words meaning "Death to Spies"). However, the novels portray SMERSH as a massive Soviet counterintelligence organisation, much more resembling the real-life KGB, which aims its operatives abroad in subversion of the West, with the additional goal of killing Western spies, particularly James Bond. In the Bond film series, SMERSH is usually replaced with SPECTRE - a global terrorist organisation. The real SMERSH[7] was an umbrella name for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) who was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death.. The main reason for its creation was to subvert the attempts by German forces to infiltrate the Red Army.

9a   Primitive weapon /for/ lord hosting an event on grouse moor (10)

A lord^[10] is a male member of the nobility, especially in Britain.

A  peer^[5] is a member of the nobility in Britain or Ireland, comprising the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.

A grouse moor^[5] is an area of managed moorland (show explanation ) for the shooting of red grouse.

Moor^[5] is a chiefly British term for a tract of open uncultivated upland, typically covered with heather.

hide explanation

A shoot^[5] is an occasion when a group of people hunt and shoot game for sport ⇒ a grouse shoot.

10a   Stern // parent (4)

11a   Old king's regulation // side dish (8)

"Old King Cole"^[7] is a British nursery rhyme most likely deriving from ancient Welsh. The poem describes a merry king who called for his pipe, his bowl, and his three fiddlers.

12a   Take // seconds -- that's more than enough (6)

The parsing of the wordplay is S (seconds) + (that's; contraction for that has) AMPLE (more than enough)

13a   Honour embracing old // music producer (4)

OBE^[5] is the abbreviation for Officer of the Order of the British Empire (show explanation ).

The Order of the British Empire^[5] is an order of knighthood instituted in 1917 and divided into five classes, each with military and civilian divisions. The classes are: Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight or Dame Commander (KBE/DBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE). The two highest classes entail the awarding of a knighthood.

hide explanation

15a   Healthy fare /served up by/ crone in make-up (8)

18a   Unnatural voice // of latest hit (8)

19a   Annoyed expression /as/ celebrity makes a comeback (4)

21a   Time to publish // paper (6)

23a   It's eaten? Not normally -- // it's drunk (8)

Anisette^[5] is a liqueur flavoured with aniseed, the liquorice-flavoured seeds of the anise plant.

25a   Youngster -- a // developing creature (4)

26a   It's smoked /and/ cured each summer (10)

27a   Overtake // a golfer getting shot across top of pin (8)

28a   Leader /in/ rock broadcast (6)

A sheikh^[5] is an Arab leader, in particular the chief or head of an Arab tribe, family, or village.

Down

2d   Company holding left-wing // set of beliefs (5)

3d   Vulgar // criminal steals set (9)

4d   Bear climbing on the French // fairground stall (4-2)

Winnie-the-Pooh^[5], also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne (1882–1956). The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse book When We Were Very Young (1924) and many more in Now We Are Six (1927).

"the French" = LA (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

In Britain, hoop-la^[2] is a fairground game in which small rings are thrown at objects, with the thrower winning any objects hooked by the rings.

5d   What Faberge often did /for/ classic advertising slogan (2,2,4,2,2,3)

Peter Carl Fabergé^[5] (1846–1920) was a Russian goldsmith and jeweller, of French descent. He is famous for the intricate Easter eggs that he made for Tsar Alexander III and other royal households.

"Go to work on an egg"^[7] was an advertising slogan used by the United Kingdom's Egg Marketing Board during the 1950s and 1960s. The proposition was that having an egg for breakfast was the best way to start the working day. In 2007, plans to rebroadcast the original television advertisements were rejected by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre, which observed that the ads did not suggest a varied diet.

6d   Has fun cutting back lily-white // flower (8)

It would appear that in correcting her hint, crypticsue neglected one element. The hint should read LARKS (has fun) followed by almost all of (cutting back) PURE (lily-white).

7d   Place for discussion // class about university (5)

In Britain, a form^[5] is a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number. Thus the fifth form would be the British linguistic counterpart (although not the academic equivalent) of the fifth grade in North America and Form One would be akin to saying Grade One.

8d   Sailor seen in faint // nocturnal illumination (9)

14d   Get lost with cuddles regularly /for/ great happiness (9)

16d   Clothes-drier's to work in garden -- // it may be lucky (9)

17d   Ship carrying right // flag (8)

20d   The old lady // to feel nostalgia for America (6)

22d   Swindle gains little money /for/ villain (5)

"little money" = P (show explanation )

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] (plural pennies [for separate coins] or pence [for a sum of money]) is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p^[5].

hide explanation

24d   Queen getting into food // trade (5)

"Queen" = R (show explanation )

Regina^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for queen] denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

hide explanation

Tuck^[5] is an informal British term for food eaten by children at school as a snack ⇒ The projects being piloted in 500 schools across the country include a crackdown on unhealthy foods in school tuck shops and vending machines.

Truck is an archaic term meaning barter.

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