Friday, August 14, 2015 — DT 27739

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27739
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27739]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Gazza
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 27737 and DT 27738 which were published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, February 28, 2015 and Monday, March 2, 2015.

Introduction

I had a review all ready to post this morning, only to discover that the editors at the National Post are playing games again with the schedule. They have skipped a couple of puzzles. Oh well, all is not lost. The first of the skipped puzzles will appear Monday in this spot as the weekly Bonus Puzzle.

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

7a   Dahl book // one lad tossed on rug (7)

Matilda is a children's novel by British author Roald Dahl (1916–1990).

9a   Ring with right answer /for/ 'fabled monster' (7)

In Greek mythology, a chimera^[5] is a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.

10a   Forward // almost missing header (5)

While I don't quite see forward^[10] and early^[10] as being synonyms, the dictionary indicates that to be the case..

11a   Club official, // more confident following adjustment of rate (9)

12a   Popular chess opponents? // On paper (2,5,3,5)

13a   Advanced fortune /to make/ a musical (7)

Camelot^[7] is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music) that opened on Broadway in 1960. It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White novel The Once and Future King.

16a   Model // Spanish kingdom once after power (7)

Aragon^[5] is an autonomous region of northeastern Spain, bounded on the north by the Pyrenees and on the east by Catalonia and Valencia; capital, Saragossa. Formerly an independent kingdom, it was united with Catalonia in 1137 and with Castile in 1479.

"power" = P (show explanation )

In physics, P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power (among other things).

hide explanation

19a   The dance to give one pause for thought? (10,5)

In the 1910s, a waltz form called the "Hesitation Waltz"^[7] was introduced by Vernon and Irene Castle. It incorporated "hesitations" and was danced to fast music. A hesitation is basically a halt on the standing foot during the full waltz measure, with the moving foot suspended in the air or slowly dragged.

23a   In new term, admit particular type, // painter (9)

Rembrandt^[5] (1606–69) was a Dutch painter; full name Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn. He made his name as a portrait painter with the Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp (1632). With his most celebrated painting, The Night Watch (1642), he used chiaroscuro to give his subjects a more spiritual and introspective quality, a departure which was to transform the Dutch portrait tradition. Rembrandt is especially identified with the series of more than sixty self-portraits painted from 1629 to 1669.

24a   Proprietor /in/ state of depression having day off (5)

25a   As // is nacre, surprisingly (7)

The symbol for the chemical element arsenic is As^[5].

26a   Creature /in/ rolling vessel in dangerous frenzy (7)

Ark^[5] is an archaic name for a ship or boat. The best known example is undoubtedly Noah's ark^[5], the ship in which Noah, his family, and the animals were saved from the Flood, according to the biblical account (Gen. 6-8).

Must^[5] (also musth) is the frenzied state of certain male animals, especially elephants or camels, that is associated with the rutting season ⇒ a big old bull elephant in must.

The muskrat^[5] is a large semiaquatic North American rodent with a musky smell, valued for its fur.

Down

1d   I can't remember // names CIA put out (8)

2d   Oppose dance, /then/ go along (4,4)

3d   He wrote 'Oliver!', fine // composer (6)

Lionel Bart^[7] (1930–1999) was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for the musical Oliver!

4d   Talk at length about GI's cryptic // puzzle (6)

5d   Student paid /to get/ knowledge (8)

"student" = L (show explanation )

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

hide explanation

6d   Scottish dramatist /in/ Welsh port, reportedly (6)

Sir J. M. Barrie^[5] (1860–1937) was a Scottish dramatist and novelist; full name James Matthew Barrie. Barrie’s most famous play is Peter Pan (1904), a fantasy for children about a boy who did not grow up.

Barry^[7] is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. It is located along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel less than 7 miles (11 km) south-southwest of Cardiff (the capital city of Wales). Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and formerly Barry Island Pleasure Park. It grew significantly from the 1880s with the development of Barry Docks, which in 1913 was the largest coal port in the world.

8d   Scotch broth? // Pound (5)

I have virtually no idea why "scotch" should be considered an anagram indicator. The only possibility that occurs to me is that were one to drink enough of it, one would be likely to become mixed up.

9d   Played fairly, winning -- // make a big profit? (5,2)

14d   Fail to catch service, according to drunkard /in/ muddle? (8)

15d   Enormous // film (7)

Titanic^[7] is a 1997 American epic romantic disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by Canadian filmmaker James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage.

17d   Domestic residence? Yes, in the States (3,5)

This is a semi-&lit. (or semi-all-in-one) clue. The entire clue serves as the definition while the portion with the dashed underline doubles as wordplay.

Domestic^[5] is an informal British term for a violent quarrel between family members, especially a couple ⇒ they are often called to sort out a domestic.

Row house^[5] is the North American name for what is known in Britain as a terraced house.

18d   He, Tarzan, shot /in/ Israeli town (8)

Tarzan^[5] is a fictitious character created by American novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950). Tarzan (Lord Greystoke by birth) is orphaned in West Africa in his infancy and reared by apes in the jungle. The first book in the series, Tarzan of the Apes, appeared in 1914.

Nazareth^[5] is a historic town in lower Galilee, in present-day northern Israel; population 66,400 (est. 2008). Mentioned in the Gospels as the home of Mary and Joseph, it is closely associated with the childhood of Jesus and is a centre of Christian pilgrimage.

Scratching the Surface
I think we can safely presume that the clue is a take-off on the stereotypical Me Tarzan, you Jane statement associated with the character.

19d   Jazz musician, // that woman's husband? (6)

Woody Herman^[7] (1913–1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd", Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and 1940s bandleaders. His bands often played music that was experimental for its time.

20d   Host // runs wearing skimpy article of beachwear (6)

"runs" = R (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

hide explanation

21d   Sharp, // tiny chap in unit (2,4)

Timothy Cratchit, called "Tiny Tim"^[7], is a fictional character from the 1843 novel A Christmas Carol by English writer Charles Dickens (1812–1870). He is a minor character, the young son of Bob Cratchit, and is seen only briefly, but serves as an important symbol of the consequences of the protagonist's choices.

22d   Queue to get on river // vessel (5)

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