Friday, June 10, 2016 — DT 28033

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28033
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28033]
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

For me, the top half of this puzzle was virtually "read and write" and the bottom half was scarcely any more difficult.

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   Trees // start to topple after shouts of warning (6)

4a   Invariably // left road after a second (6)

8a   Good service, appropriate with one // style of artwork (8)

The Royal Air Force^[5] (abbreviation RAF) is the British air force, formed in 1918 by amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (founded 1912) and the Royal Naval Air Service (founded 1914).

10a   Rub shoulders /with/ vagrant pinching new book (6)

To hobnob (with) is to rub shoulders (with), so I don't consider the word "with" to be included in the definition.

11a   Assuming he expected to pack // butter (4)

Ghee^[5] is clarified butter made from the milk of a buffalo or cow, used in South Asian cooking ⇒ a delicious meal cooked in ghee.

12a   Getting better // engineers and providing insurance (10)

"engineers" = RE (show explanation )

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

hide explanation

13a   Nice word for a risker of capital (12)

Nice^[5] is a resort city on the French Riviera, near the border with Italy; population 348,721 (2007).

16a   Single-mindedness /of/ worried vet on insulin (6,6)

20a   Married constituent imbibing beer /is/ a villain (10)

21a   Quiet // university students after end of oral (4)

"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 jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

hide explanation

22a   Some minor Dickens characters // from Scandinavia (6)

23a   Casual // labourer at first needs help and support (4-4)

24a   Indian grub /from/ area on Greek island (6)

Samos^[5] is a Greek island in the Aegean, situated close to the coast of western Turkey.

In Indian cookery, a samosa^[5] is a triangular savoury pastry fried in ghee or oil, containing spiced vegetables or meat.

25a   Carry out survey going back /for/ a measure (6)

Down

1d   Money? // Penny needs this for a bike (8)

A farthing^[5] is a former monetary unit and coin of the UK, withdrawn in 1961, equal to a quarter of an old [pre-decimal] penny.

Penny-farthing^[5] is a historical term for an early type of bicycle, made in Britain, with a very large front wheel and a small rear wheel. [So called because a British penny was physically a very large coin while a farthing was a very small coin.]

2d   Search through // lost file under bottom of drawer (5)

3d   Agitate about right // sort of cup (7)

A stirrup cup^[1] (also stirrup dram) is:

1. a drink taken on horseback on departing or arriving; or
2. (rare) a container in the form of a fox's head from which a stirrup cup was drunk.

5d   Reveal changes around hotel /in/ port (2,5)

Hotel^[5] is a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication.

Le Havre^[5] is a port in northern France, on the English Channel at the mouth of the Seine; population 185,311 (2006).

6d   Warning light on rigs designed /to identify/ whale product (9)

Ambergris^[5] is a wax-like substance that originates as a secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale, found floating in tropical seas and used in perfume manufacture. The word comes from Old French ambre gris 'grey amber', as distinct from amber jaune 'yellow amber' (the resin).

7d   Pooh-poohs // ship with cargo of cereal (6)

In Crosswordland, you'll rarely go wrong in assuming that a ship is a steamship (abbreviation SS^[5]).

9d   Main lectern possibly // raised by degrees (11)

14d   Swine angry over // port (9)

Rotter^[5] is a informal, dated, chiefly British term for a cruel, mean, or unkind person ⇒Rosemary had decided that all men were rotters.

What did they say?
In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the two Kiwis refer to rotter as being another term for a swine or cad. Cad[5,10] is a dated informal British term for a man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards a woman ⇒ her adulterous cad of a husband.

Rotterdam^[5] is a city in the Netherlands, at the mouth of the River Meuse, 25 km (15 miles) inland from the North Sea; population 582,951 (2008). It is one of the world’s largest ports and a major oil refinery, with extensive shipbuilding and petrochemical industries.

15d   Idiots featuring on top // paper (8)

17d   Topless dance in exotic sun // shades (7)

18d   Funny feeling // that flipping blog, it reviews shows (7)

19d   Bans // volunteers with drink, reportedly (6)

"volunteers" = TA (show explanation )

In the UK, Territorial Army^[5] (abbreviation TA^[5]) was, at one time, the name of a volunteer force founded in 1908 to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined military personnel for use in an emergency. Since 2013, this organization has been called the Army Reserve.

hide explanation

21d   Tag / line on a sound measure (5)

The bel^[5] is a unit used in the comparison of power levels in electrical communication or of intensities of sound, corresponding to an intensity ratio of 10 to 1 [a logarithmic scale]. The unit most commonly used for this purpose is actually the decibel^[5], or one tenth of a bel.

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