Tuesday, April 19, 2016 — DT 27974

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27974
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27974]
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

Introduction

It is another gentle workout today from Jay. However, I got a bit lazy and failed to review my paper for completeness between handing it in.

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   A theatre emptied by prudish // church leader (7)

In the Christian Church, a primate^[5] is the chief bishop or archbishop of a province ⇒ the primate of Poland.

5a   Senior churchman accepts notice quietly, // with a straight face (7)

A dean^[7], in a religious context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Lutheran Church.

In the Church of England and elsewhere in the Anglican Communion, the dean is the chief resident cleric of a cathedral or other collegiate church and the head of the chapter of canons. If the cathedral or collegiate church has its own parish, the dean is usually also rector of the parish.

"quietly" = 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

9a   The French framing a note /in/ error (5)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

hide explanation

10a   Criminally obtained // title long challenged (3-6)

11a   Drunk chased by partner, initially with popular // item of kitchenalia (7,3)

Rolling^[2] is used in a colloquial sense meaning staggering with drunkenness.

12a   Give up, /as/ chef does on and off (4)

14a   Greece, in debt to Spain, possibly /having/ teething problems (7,5)

Gr.^[2] is the abbreviation for Greek.

18a   Quite attractive? // Maybe too twee (6-6)

Twee^[5] is a British term meaning excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental ⇒ although the film’s a bit twee, it’s watchable.

Pretty-pretty^[2,5] is a derogatory, colloquial [likely British] term that can be used as any of several parts of speech:

• adjective excessively, cloyingly, or affectedly pretty or sentimental.
• adverb in an excessively or cloyingly pretty manner or style.
• noun (the pretty-pretty) that which is excessively, cloyingly, or affectedly pretty or sentimental.

21a   Nothing to the west of European // river (4)

The Nile^[5] is a river in eastern Africa, the longest river in the world, which rises in east central Africa near Lake Victoria and flows 6,695 km (4,160 miles) generally northwards through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt to empty through a large delta into the Mediterranean.

22a   Troubled, as it is then // quite the contrary? (10)

25a   Something that attracts // many on the air — quality (9)

I had intended to go back and take another crack at the parsing before sitting down to write the review, but forgot to do so. When I set the clue aside, I was working on the premise that  "many" was filling its customary role of clueing L (a large Roman numeral). That left a rather large gap to be filled which I was unsuccessfully attempting to do by drawing some kind of connection between "odes" and "on the air".

26a   Stop // patient eating last of cheese (5)

27a   Admittedly // bound to change (2,5)

28a   Tea judges perhaps // set rats scurrying (7)

Down

1d   Miserable // friend -- Conservative losing love (6)

2d   Simple manoeuvres /for/ forces (6)

3d   Better // make a speech after running a mile (10)

4d   Looking at, // for example, embracing Chinese principle (5)

In Chinese philosophy, yin^[5] is the passive female principle of the universe, characterized as female and sustaining and associated with earth, dark, and cold. Contrasted with yang^[5], the active male principle of the universe, characterized as male and creative and associated with heaven, heat, and light.

5d   Brief affair /of/ union supporting Germany (9)

"Germany" = D (show explanation )

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Germany is D^[5] [from German Deutschland].

hide explanation

6d   Second to interrupt when /showing/ book (4)

"second" = MO (show explanation )

Mo^[5] (abbreviation for moment) is an informal, chiefly British term for a short period of time ⇒ hang on a mo!.

hide explanation

Amos^[5] is a book of the Bible — found in the Old Testament — containing the prophecies of Amos, a Hebrew minor prophet (circa 760 BC), a shepherd of Tekoa, near Jerusalem.

7d   Sorry, /seeing/ quote put up after course (8)

8d   Absence of touch, for example, /is/ baloney! (8)

13d   Places outside European-sounding // inspections (4,6)

15d   Getting rid of // branch employing Greek character abroad (6,3)

Pi^[5] is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Π, π).

16d   Launch scheme /for/ such an office (4-4)

17d   Secret // society avoided getting caught inside (8)

S^[10] is the symbol for Society.

"caught" = C (show explanation )

In cricket, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out^[5], that is for a player on the opposing team to catch a ball that has been hit by the batsman before it touches the ground.

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c.^[2,10] or c^[5] denotes caught (by).

hide explanation

19d   What might be left /by/ Eastern nation? (6)

20d   The girl's supporting American // guides (6)

... but are they not "scouts" in the US
The Girl Guides of America was founded in Savannah, Georgia in 1912 by Julliette Gordon Low. In 1913, the organization changed its name to the Girl Scouts of the United States of America[7].

23d   Incompetent // writer held up by it (5)

24d   Biblical character // taken in by apples -- a usurper? (4)

In the Bible, Esau^[10] is the son of Isaac and Rebecca and twin brother of Jacob, to whom he sold his birthright (Genesis 25).

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