Tuesday, April 11, 2017 — DT 28349

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28349
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, February 13, 2017
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28349]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

Judging from his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, I found this puzzle to be a bit more of a mental exercise than did Miffypops. For myself, I would say it was certainly at the top end of two-star difficulty — if not nudging into 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   They make up a meal /from/ different sources (7)

It took me quite some time to realize that this is not a cryptic definition of CATERERS.

5a   You're in a sound position within this (7)

9a   Excel /with/ striking trick (5)

Do^[5] is an informal British term meaning to swindle ⇒ a thousand pounds for one set of photos — Jacqui had been done.

10a   I'm in a state, /showing/ high spirits (9)

11a   Persisting /in/ flirtation (8-2)

12a   An addition adjoining eastern // part of church (4)

An apse^[5] is a large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof and typically at the church's eastern end.

14a   Translation I altered slightly /in/ passing (12)

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops shortchanges the anagram indicator which is actually "altered slightly" rather than simply "altered". Furthermore, I believe the definition to be merely "passing", rather than "in passing".

18a   The good fortune to score a boundary? (6,2,4)

In cricket, the term boundary^[10] can refer to:

• the marked limit of the playing area;
• a stroke that hits the ball beyond this limit; or
• the four or six runs scored with such a stroke.

If the ball touches the ground before crossing the boundary (similar to a ground rule double in baseball), four runs are scored. However, if the ball crosses the boundary without touching the ground (similar to a home run in baseball), six runs are scored.

21a   Heroic tale // expressed in simple pictures (4)

22a   Skilled craftsman? (10)

25a   Takes // to the Spanish, overturning charges (9)

"the Spanish" = EL (show explanation )

In Spanish, the masculine singular form of the definite article is el^[8].

hide explanation

26a   Coming from Lake Nyasa, // land further north (5)

Lake Nyasa^[5] (also called Lake Malawi) is a lake in east central Africa, the third-largest lake in Africa. About 580 km (360 miles) long, it forms most of the eastern border of Malawi with Mozambique and Tanzania. As the word nyasa literally means 'lake', the name is essentially the tautology Lake Lake.

Kenya^[5] is an equatorial country in East Africa, on the Indian Ocean; population 46,400,000 (estimated 2015); languages, Swahili (official), English (official), Kikuyu; capital, Nairobi.

Lake Nyasa lies along the southwestern border of of Tanzania, while Kenya adjoins the northern border of Tanzania.

27a   They have absolute control // of the French vessels (7)

In French, when the preposition de (meaning 'of') would otherwise be followed by the plural form of the definite article (les), the combination is replaced by des (meaning 'of the').

28a   Attempted // to replant seed outside for instance (7)

Down

1d   Selection // of superior quality (6)

The second definition could be either "of superior quality" (as shown above) or merely "superior quality" (as Miffypops shows in his review) depending on whether this modifier is used postpositively (a wine of superior quality) or prepositively (a superior quality wine) respectively.

In Miffypops' version, the clue would parse as:

• Selection /of/ superior quality (6)

with the word "of" functioning as a link word between the two definitions.

2d   Put out vessel /for/ recovery (6)

3d   Big Apple supports good man with nothing, shattered /and/ destitute (5-5)

Stony broke^[5 is an informal British expression meaning entirely without money ⇒ (i) all his friends were stony broke; (ii) friends of stony-broke Sir Charles Maugham are giving him bags of supermarket food.

4d   Car trip round a // / place in S Europe (5)

5d   Leader in a column? (9)

Leader^[10] (also called leading article) is a mainly British term for the leading editorial in a newspaper.

6d   Managed to shelter old // horse (4)

7d   They're used for gripping // turns in the road (8)

8d   With nurse, rely on changing // in a sensitive way (8)

13d   Do they stop cars in record time? (4,6)

The cryptic elaboration in this cryptic definition is a play on "disc" also being a storage medium for music.

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops writes that [in addition to disc brakes, we] we also have a system that uses drums and another that uses callipers (sic). In fact, calipers are a component of a disc brake system. They are the devices (not shown in the drawing used by Miffypops to illustrate his review) that press the brake pads against the rotors (disks).

15d   Untethered the Pony Express's first and last // recruits (9)

Scratching the Surface

A term that is surely familiar to fans of Westerns, the Pony Express[5] was a system of mail delivery operated in the US from 1860 to 1861* between St Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California, using continuous relays of horse riders. * at which time it was superseded by the telegraph It is interesting to note that a service that operated for such a brief period of time has become so ingrained in our consciousness thanks to Hollywood.

16d   Agreed // sea tends to be rough (8)

17d   Objects /as/ claret is shaken up (8)

It took a while here to realize that the anagram fodder is CLARET IS rather than AS CLARET.

19d   A representative business (6)

20d   Half street and all // beach (6)

Use half of the letters from the word "street" followed by all of the letters from the word "and".

Strand^[5] is an Irish literary term for the shore of a sea, lake, or large river ⇒ a heron glided to rest on a pebbly strand.

23d   Outdated // permit to go over East (5)

24d   Old ship // loses top of freight (4)

In Greek mythology, the Argo^[10] was the ship in which Jason sailed in search of the Golden Fleece.

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)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon