Wednesday, November 23, 2016 — DT 28195

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28195
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28195]
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

You should not find today's offering from Jay to be overly taxing.

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   Delighted, /seeing/ left of centre damaged (7)

5a   Power failure across river /causing/ indignation (7)

9a   Passage /that's/ a scream when read the wrong way (5)

10a   Prison sentence and form /will give/ such an existence (9)

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, solvers from the UK will likely see form[5] as an informal British term for a criminal record ⇒ they both had form.

11a   Signal /given by/ fire on common (5,5)

Fire^[10] is used as a verb in the sense of to kindle or be kindled; to ignite.

12a   Opera video shows backing // singer (4)

14a   Any video game's ruined // this trip (6,6)

18a   Official announcement /from/ soldiers in urge to rent (5,7)

"soldiers" = 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

21a   Not at home, /in/ a fashion (4)

22a   Warning /of/ cigarette scare (5,5)

25a   What may raise the issue at table? (4-5)

Issue^[2] is a formal term for children or offspring.

26a   Reflective royal/'s/ drink (5)

27a   Pacified // state, outwardly old-fashioned (7)

28a   Worried at a slur // from the South (7)

Austral^[10] means of or coming from the south ⇒ austral winds.

Down

1d   Explosive // accusation? (6)

2d   Out // when bound to be broadcast (6)

3d   Asian with money laid out /for/ dressing (10)

4d   City // store stocking fish at last (5)

Delhi^[5] (also Old Delhi) is a walled city on the River Jumna in north central India, which was made the capital of the Mogul empire in 1638 by Shah Jahan (1592–1666). 
New Delhi^[5] is the capital of India, a city in north central India built 1912–29 to replace Calcutta (now Kolkata) as the capital of British India. With Delhi, it is part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Pop. (with Delhi) 12,259,200 (est. 2009).

5d   High break /must be/ a remote possibility (3-6)

Off^[10] (said of food or drink) means having gone bad, sour, etc ⇒ this milk is off.

Scratching the Surface
In cricket, break[5] is a change in the direction of a bowled ball on bouncing.

6d   Call for an answer after tense // undertaking (4)

"tense" = T (show explanation )

Grammatically speaking, t.^[10] is the abbreviation for tense^[10], a category of the verb or verbal inflections, such as present, past, and future, that expresses the temporal relations between what is reported in a sentence and the time of its utterance.

hide explanation

7d   A terrible pity state of America/'s/ not representative (8)

8d   Important // to be given a rise (8)

Scratching the Surface
Rise[5] is the British term for an increase in salary or wages ⇒ non-supervisory staff were given a 5 per cent rise — the equivalent term in North America being raise[5] ⇒ he wants a raise and some perks.

13d   Officers // study accommodation for horses (10)

Con^[5] is an archaic term meaning to study attentively or learn by heart (a piece of writing)  ⇒ the girls conned their pages with a great show of industry.

15d   Nod, /seeing/ chap cross line in fear (9)

The land of Nod^[5] is a humorous term for a state of sleep ⇒ the tape is guaranteed to send babies and toddlers to the land of Nod.

16d   Climbing mountains, the girl's /making/ headline stories in paper (8)

An alp^[5] is a high mountain, especially a snow-capped one. In Switzerland, alp can also mean an area of green pasture on a mountainside.

The Alps^[5] are a mountain system in Europe extending in a curve from the coast of southeastern France through northwestern Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, southern Germany, and Austria into Slovenia. The highest peak of the Alps, Mont Blanc, rises to a height of 4,807 m (15,771 ft).

Splash^[5] is an informal term for a prominent or sensational news feature or story ⇒ a front-page splash.

17d   Lunatic // called into action (8)

19d   Knife's good for new // threat (6)

20d   Unprincipled // Frenchman after a spoken test (6)

In French, monsieur^[8] (abbreviation M^[8]) means 'gentleman' or 'man'.

23d   In the case of Kafka, weapon's sealed // fate (5)

In Hinduism and Buddhism, karma^[5] (from the Sanskrit word for 'fate') is the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. Informally, the term has come to mean good or bad luck, viewed as resulting from one’s actions.

Scratching the Surface
Franz Kafka[5] (1883–1924) was a Czech novelist, who wrote in German. His work is characterized by its portrayal of an enigmatic and nightmarish reality where the individual is perceived as lonely, perplexed, and threatened. Notable works: The Metamorphosis (1917) and The Trial (1925).

24d   Could be Glaswegian // way to keep company? (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