Wednesday, June 22, 2016 — DT 28045

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28045
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28045]
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

As always, Jay serves up a very well-crafted and thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. The 2Kiwis give it three stars for difficulty — which is fair enough — but I would definitely place it at the lower end of the three-star range.

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   Argue about details /of/ parish list to be circulated (5,5)

6a   Nibbled, accepting a // lure (4)

9a   Lack of sense /in/ position that's open (7)

10a   Plan // to reduce lighting around site of Taj Mahal (7)

The Taj Mahal^[5] is a mausoleum at Agra in northern India built by the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan (1592–1666) in memory of his favourite wife, completed circa 1649. Set in formal gardens, the domed building in white marble is reflected in a pool flanked by cypresses.

12a   Aunt Sally/'s/ cattle with a sense of humour (8,5)

Aunt Sally^[5] denotes:

1. a game played in some parts of Britain in which players throw sticks or balls at a wooden dummy;
2. a dummy used in the game of Aunt Sally; or
3. [presumably by extension] a person or thing set up as an easy target for criticism ⇒ today’s landowner is everyone’s Aunt Sally.

14a   Everything depend on this // quality attributed to openers (8)

"Quality attributed to openers" could otherwise be expressed as "openers' quality" which parses as KEYS (openers) + TONE (quality).

15a   Mother's back with father in France - // a physicist (6)

The French word for 'father' is père.

André-Marie Ampère^[5] (1775–1836) was a French physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, who analysed the relationship between magnetic force and electric current.

17a   Tabloid in credit (almost) - // how sad! (6)

Tick^[5] (used in the phrase on tick) is an informal British term meaning credit ⇒ the printer agreed to send the brochures out on tick. The term apparently originates as a short form for ticket in the phrase on the ticket, referring to an IOU or promise to pay.

19a   Perfect order for sweet? (5-3)

Sweet^[5] is a British term for a sweet dish forming a course of a meal; in other words, a pudding or dessert.

Contrary to what the 2Kiwis show in their review, I would say that this clue is a cryptic definition rather than a double definition. It cannot be a double definition as the numeration (5-3) is wrong for the dessert, which would be (5,3).

Furthermore, I would say that the definition as merely "perfect" rather than "perfect order". Phrasing the clue in the form of a question allows the setter to concisely express the idea "A type of order that would be perfect for a sweet".

Apple-pie order^[5] denotes perfect order or neatness ⇒ everything was in apple-pie order.

21a   Confront a challenge /of/ rotten teeth but be ill (4,3,6)

24a   Person much attracted to another // married drunk (7)

25a   Report /of/ rifles recently pinched (7)

26a   Reverse a touch /to get/ information (4)

27a   Corrupt // guide with a second bearer (4,6)

Down

1d   Unionist thrown out of sophisticated // bar (4)

A Unionist^[5] (abbreviation U^[10]) is:

1. A person, especially a member of a Northern Ireland political party, who is in favour of the union of Northern Ireland with Great Britain; or
2. Historically, a member of a British political party formed in 1886 which supported maintenance of the parliamentary union between Great Britain and Ireland.

2d   Money must keep accountant // in the neighbourhood (7)

Lolly^[5] is an informal British term for money ⇒ you’ve done brilliantly raising all that lovely lolly.

The official designation CA^[5] for Chartered Accountant is used in Scotland — and was formerly employed in Canada. However, as of January 2013, Canadian CAs — together with CGAs (Certified General Accounts) and CMAs (Certified Management Accountants) have adopted the CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) designation.

Delving Deeper

Outside Scotland, the term "chartered accountant" is used by members of the accounting profession in the UK who belong to certain professional bodies. In the UK (apart from Scotland) the designatory letters are ACA[10] (Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants) or FCA[10] (Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants). The designatory letters ACA and FCA are also employed in the Republic of Ireland although there I would presume that they stand for Associate of Chartered Accountants Ireland and Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland respectively — Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) being the Irish counterpart to the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales (ICAEW) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).[7] In addition to the organizations already mentioned there are a plethora of other bodies representing accountants in the UK. In fact, in the UK there are no licence requirements for individuals to describe themselves or to practise as accountants. However, those who use the description "chartered accountant" must be members of one of the organisations mentioned above or a recognised equivalent body in another Commonwealth country.

3d   Difficult words to say // ensure twit got confused (6-7)

4d   A night out across the city? // Whatever (8)

Here, "whatever" could be a non-specific response to a request to state a preference 'What would you like to drink?' 'Whatever' .

5d   Gas // attack planned by air (5)

The solution sounds like (by air) RAID ON (attack planned).

Radon^[5] (symbol Rn) is the chemical element of atomic number 86, a rare radioactive gas belonging to the noble gas series.

7d   First-class part needed to cover hospital // vent (7)

"first-class" = AI (show explanation )

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] (also A-1) meaning first-class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-class.

hide explanation

8d   Perhaps watch // the enemy and respect the Queen (10)

In cryptic crosswords, we often find that time is the enemy, expressed by Irish poet William Butler Yeats as "The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time" meaning that innocence and beauty are each subject to the ravages of time.

"the Queen" = ER (show explanation )

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

hide explanation

11d   Gathering tall stories about new // areas of production (8,5)

13d   Personal transport /needed to put/ fish on slab? (10)

16d   Scottish league, formerly encouraged, // spent extravagantly (8)

The Scottish Premier League^[7] (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football [soccer] clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when the SPL and SFL merged to form the new Scottish Professional Football League, with its top division being known as the Scottish Premiership.

18d   Endeavour /shown by/ office worker welcomed by a disheartened typist (7)

20d   Person who might throw // a large vessel (7)

22d   Bottom of the lake /is/ spooky (5)

23d   Check // answer in pen (4)

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