Tuesday, July 21, 2015 — DT 27716

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27716
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27716]
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
The National Post has skipped DT 27715 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 and which appeared on this blog yesterday as a Bonus Puzzle.

Introduction

Although the 2Kiwis gave this puzzle three stars for difficulty, I found it a bit easier than that. Perhaps I just managed to tune into Jay's wavelength today. One clue, 21d, did cause me some problems. It took three shots to bring it down.

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   Head of state/'s/ opportunity with voting register from the East (10)

Chancellor^[5] is the title of the head of the government in some European countries, such as Germany.

Delving Deeper
Unfortunately, the definition in this clue is incorrect. Just as Canada separates the offices of head of state (The Queen represented by the Governor General) and head of government (the Prime Minister), so too does Germany. In Germany, the head of state is the President[5] (Joachim Gauck) and the head of government is the Chancellor[5] (Angela Merkel).

6a   Tax // whisky, not the Church (4)

Scot^[5] is an archaic term for a payment corresponding to a modern tax, rate, or other assessed contribution. [This may well be the origin of the expression 'scot free'.]

10a   Indian, for example, // once a drunk (5)

I suspect there are those who would take umbrage from the surface reading of this clue — especially on this side of the pond!

The Indian Ocean^[5] is the ocean to the south of India, extending from the east coast of Africa to the East Indies and Australia.

11a   Mostly peach -- and a soft fruit -- // go missing (9)

Peach^[1] is a colloquial term for anything regarded as a very choice example of its kind, especially a girl. The American Heritage Dictionary^[3], Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary^[11], Collins English Dictionary^[10] and Oxford Dictionaries Online^[5] all include only the former part of the definition ("a person or thing that is particularly admirable or especially pleasing, attractive, liked, or enjoyed") while Chambers 21st Century Dictionary^[2] provides only the latter part ("a lovely young woman").

"soft" = P (show explanation )

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

hide explanation

What did they say?

In their review, the 2Kiwis refer to a pear as a "pipfruit". Pipfruit would appear to be a New Zealand term for apples and pears. Every reference to "pipfruit" that I could find led me to the land of the kiwis. On its website, Pipfruit New Zealand states that the organization "promotes and represents the New Zealand pipfruit industry - growers, packers, and marketers of apples and pears - in domestic and export markets".

12a   Hesitates -- // daughter is crossing the river (7)

13a   Guarantees // European fix in Sevenoaks, disheartened (7)

Scratching the Surface
Sevenoaks[7] is a commuter town situated in western Kent, England, 21 miles (34 km) south-east of Charing Cross [considered to mark the centre of London], on a commuter main line from London.

14a   Criminal case turned on // deeply ingrained habit (6,6)

What a fine clue this is!

18a   Commercial advice /from/ chamber -- a temporary worker to get rise (6,6)

A tor^[7] is a large, free-standing rock outcrop that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest. In the South West of England, the term is commonly also used for the hills themselves – particularly the high points of Dartmoor in Devon and Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

Caveat emptor^[5] [Latin, 'let the buyer beware'] is the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made ⇒ caveat emptor still applies when you are buying your house.

21a   The repercussions of being fired? (7)

My first shot was UPSHOTS; my second shot was REPORTS; I nailed it on my third shot.

23a   A letter // in retinol is perfectly reversed (7)

Epsilon^[5] is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ε, ε).

24a   Problem identification // is doing as badly (9)

25a   External // computer device with no lead (5)

A router^[5] is a device which forwards data packets to the appropriate parts of a computer network.

Scratching the Surface
Lead[5] is a British term for a wire that conveys electric current from a source to an appliance, or that connects two points of a circuit together.

26a   Bound /to get/ clocked, with minutes deducted (4)

27a   Frenchman welcoming escort/'s/ bijou accommodation (4-1-5)

For a change, we get to meet a Frenchman who is not named René.

Bijou^[5] is a chiefly British term denoting (especially of a house or flat [apartment]) small and elegant ⇒ a bijou residence.

A pied-à-terre^[5] is a small flat, house, or room kept for occasional use.

Down

1d   Brags about depth, /and/ presses (6)

For some reason, the editors at The Daily Telegraph saw fit to change the clue on The Telegraph website to:

• 1d   Hosts, /and/ brags about diamonds (6)

The version of the clue appearing today in the National Post is the version that was published in the printed edition of The Daily Telegraph in the UK.

2d   Experts // change dates to absorb pressure (6)

"pressure" = P (show explanation )

In physics, the symbol p^[5] is used to represent pressure.

hide explanation

3d   Organisations // distributing food in centres across area (14)

4d   Lake poems with quality /must be/ a magnet (9)

A lodestone^[5] (also loadstone) is a piece of magnetite or other naturally magnetized mineral, able to be used as a magnet.

5d   Houses // where cooks go hatless? (5)

An oast^[2] is (1) a kiln for drying hops or, formerly, malt or (2) (also oast house) a building, usually with a conical roof, containing such kilns.

7d   Obvious // snub includes King Charles, initially (5-3)

Cut^[5] is an informal [possibly British] term meaning to ignore or refuse to recognize (someone) ⇒ they cut her in public.

Lear^[5] was a legendary early king of Britain, the central figure in Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear. He is mentioned by the 12th century Welsh chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (circa 1139; first printed in 1508), an account of the kings of Britain.

Scratching the Surface

Charles[5] is the name of two kings of England, Scotland, and Ireland: Charles I (1600–1649), son of James I, reigned 1625–49. His reign was dominated by the deepening religious and constitutional crisis that resulted in the English Civil War 1642-9. After the battle of Naseby, Charles tried to regain power in alliance with the Scots, but his forces were defeated in 1648 and he was tried by a special Parliamentary court and beheaded. Charles II (1630–1685), son of Charles I, reigned 1660–85. Charles was restored to the throne after the collapse of Cromwell’s regime and displayed considerable adroitness in handling the difficult constitutional situation, although continuing religious and political strife dogged his reign.

8d   Heart broken, with no energy, discarded /and/ beaten (8)

9d   Sun's taken on Left supporting magazine -- /there's/ something to watch (9,5)

The Spectator^[7] is a conservative-leaning weekly British magazine, first published in 1828, currently owned by the Barclay Brothers — the same people who own The Daily Telegraph^[7].

Scratching the Surface
The Sun[7] is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland by a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

15d   Downhearted // lower socioeconomic groups campaigned (9)

This clue refers to the NRS social grades^[7], a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. The categories were originally developed by the National Readership Survey to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider applications and have become a standard for market research. They were developed over 50 years ago and achieved widespread usage in 20th Century Britain. The classifications, which are based on the occupation of the head of the household, are shown in the following table.

Grade	Social class	Chief income earner's occupation
A	upper middle class	Higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	middle class	Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	lower middle class	Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2	skilled working class	Skilled manual workers
D	working class	Semi and unskilled manual workers
E	Those at the lowest levels of subsistence	Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on the welfare state for their income

16d   Officially recognise // deferred payment after bill (8)

17d   Completely empty, /but/ gave a cute play with no end of acting (8)

19d   Craftsman /getting/ delayed in Southern Region (6)

Historically in the UK, SR was the abbreviation for Southern Region and, before that, Southern Railway.

Delving Deeper

The Southern Region[7] (abbreviation SR[1]) was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex and Surrey. The region was largely based upon the former Southern Railway (abbreviation SR[5]) area. The Southern Railway[7] (abbreviation SR) was a British railway company established in 1923 under the Railways Act 1921. The railway was formed by the amalgamation of several smaller railway companies. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent. Given its strategic location, the Southern Railway played a prominent role in the Second World War. This came at a cost, as the Southern Railway's location around London and the Channel ports meant that it was subjected to heavy bombing, whilst permanent way, locomotive, carriage and wagon maintenance was deferred until peacetime. After a period of slow recovery in the late 1940s, the war-devastated company was nationalised along with the rest of the railway network in 1948 and incorporated into British Railways. The Southern Railway retained a separate identity as the Southern Region of British Railways.

A slater^[5] is a person who slates roofs for a living.

20d   Bus not regularly on the way in Paris. /That's/ not right! (6)

The wordplay is a regular sequence of letters from bUs NoT preceding (on, in a down clue) RUE (the way in Paris).

The French word for street is rue^[8].

22d   Vessel mostly loaded with American // food for Japan (5)

Sushi^[5] is a Japanese dish consisting of small balls or rolls of vinegar-flavoured cold rice served with a garnish of vegetables, egg, or raw seafood.

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