Tuesday, December 27, 2016 — DT 28231

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28231
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28231]
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

Jay serves up a gentle but entertaining offering today.

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   Unexpected // second rebellion involving leader of rebels (10)

6a   Supply cash /for/ daughter chasing entertainment (4)

10a   What an accountant may do /with/ baby out of bed? (3,2)

11a   Inscription /for/ burial? (9)

A double definition with the second being whimsical. The setter imagines that "engraving" might mean to place a body in a grave.

12a   Update // end of chapter, altering free and quiet (7)

13a   Weed/'s/ value mainly seen by tabloid (7)

Ragwort^[5] is a yellow-flowered ragged-leaved European plant of the daisy family, which is a common weed of grazing land and is toxic to livestock.

14a   Spies // area in underground lavatory (6,6)

The gents^[5] is an informal British term for a men's public toilet.

Behind the Picture
The 2Kiwis illustrate their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog with a photo of Don Adams as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 from the American comedy television series Get Smart[7] which ran from 1965 to 1970.

18a   These parrots must suffer, /reaching/ such height (12)

21a   Left around 100 // emotional (7)

23a   Carpet // louse gone! (4,3)

The louse^[5] and the tick^[5] are both parasitic insects but I had my doubts concerning the terms being synonymous. However, tick^[5] is an informal term for a parasitic louse fly, especially the sheep ked.

Carpet^[5] is British slang meaning to reprimand severely ⇒ the Chancellor of the Exchequer carpeted the bank bosses. Although we do not use this expression in North America, we certainly use the presumably related expression to be called on the carpet^[5].

The term "tick off" has a different meaning on the other side of the pond. Whereas, in North America, to tick someone off^[5] means to make someone annoyed or angry ⇒ Jefferson was a little ticked off, but he’ll come around, in Britain it means to reprimand or rebuke someone ⇒ (i) he was ticked off by Angela; (ii) he got a ticking off from the magistrate.

24a   Lover/'s/ air to a man intoxicated? (9)

An inamorata^[5] is a person's female lover ⇒ his new inamorata is a twenty-two-year-old mannequin named Jennifer.

Behind the Picture
The 2Kiwis illustrate their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog with a photo of Heath Ledger in the title role from the 2005 film Casanova[7]. I believe the two lovelies to be Sienna Miller as Francesca Bruni and Lena Olin as Andrea Bruni (Francesca's mother).

25a   Conscious /of/ fighting in Accident and Emergency (5)

A & E^[5] (accident and emergency) is the British term for the Emergency Department in a hospital ⇒ (i) a nurse at work told me I should go to A & E; (ii) an A & E department.

26a   Thread from which one weaves // a tale (4)

27a   Nuisances surrounding one young lady repelled // those expecting the worst (10)

Down

1d   Modelled vessel /for/ orbiter (6)

2d   Confirm // suitable returns in fish (6)

3d   Complaint, /seeing/ quota including European here (14)

4d   Men often associated with crooks? (9)

5d   Republic // subsumed by Pakistani gerontocracy (5)

Niger^[5] is a landlocked country in West Africa, on the southern edge of the Sahara; population 15,306,300 (est. 2009): languages, French (official), Hausa, and other West African languages: capital, Niamey. Part of French West Africa from 1922, Niger became an autonomous republic within the French Community in 1958 and fully independent in 1960.

7d   Savage incursions -- wingless // creatures of legend (8)

8d   Understand Italian is easy at first // to convert into binary form (8)

"Italian" = IT (show explanation )

This cluing might be explained in a couple of ways:

• It.^[10] is an abbreviation for Italian or Italy.


• Italian^[10] is another name for Italian vermouth. It^[5] is an informal, dated British term for Italian vermouth ⇒ he poured a gin and it.

hide explanation

9d   Terminal cases must be taken here (7,7)

Suitcases that have reached their destination (the terminal point of their journey) are taken here while those in transit are loaded on another aircraft.

Baggage reclaim^[5] is this the British name for baggage claim, the area in an airport where arriving passengers collect luggage that has been transported in the hold of the aircraft.

15d   Bronzes found around Haiti worried // islanders (9)

16d   When the Queen, in sorrow, /shows/ such a harsh quality (8)

"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

17d   In which one settles // a marine professor's position (8)

The Royal Marines^[5] (abbreviation RM)^[5] is a British armed service (part of the Royal Navy) founded in 1664, trained for service at sea, or on land under specific circumstances.

19d   Dangerous situation /of/ men in service (6)

"men" = OR (show explanation )

In the British armed forces, the term other ranks^[5] (abbreviation OR^[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

hide explanation

20d   Gaffe the press regularly /may find/ sweet (6)

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

Afters^[5] is an informal British term for the sweet course following the main course of a meal ⇒ there was apple pie for afters.

22d   Primate supporting doctor/'s/ hanging (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