Wednesday, June 28, 2017 — DT 28405

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28405
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wedmesday, April 19, 2017
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28405]
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

I would like to think that my solving skills are improving, but my success today is more likely due to the puzzle being a bit on the easier side.

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   Shortages // damage large towns (10)

6a   Stone // circle parking area east of Argyll (4)

Scratching the Surface
Argyll[5,11] (also Argyllshire) is a former county on the west coast of Scotland; since 1996 part of Argyll and Bute.

10a   Flower // girl finally out of bed and home (5)

11a   Is Columbus in a state with no black // R&B? (4,5)

12a   Lead actor set to return /for/ new business venture (5-2)

13a   Left to cover start of cricket, // energised (7)

14a   Physical outcome /for which/ runners perhaps pay? (8,4)

18a   The tar developed during cooking /is/ overwhelming (12)

What did they say?
In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis inform us that we are looking for the type of cooking we associate with Mary Berry. Mary Berry[7] is an English food writer and television presenter [host]. She has published more than 75 cookery books including her bestselling Baking Bible in 2009 as well as having hosted several television series for the BBC and Thames Television.

21a   Almost suggest poem /and/ go off (7)

23a   Tangoes wildly // in front of the audience (2-5)

24a   Protector ultimately failing a new supporter/'s/ pledge (9)

25a   Bury/'s/ at home -- they're missing regulars (5)

Scratching the Surface
Bury[7] [pronounced berry — although not by the locals according to Gazza in a review on Big Dave's blog] is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It is the home of the Bury Football Club[7], an association football [soccer] team that plays in League One (the third tier in the English football league system).

26a   Discard /from/ East, covered by spades, hearts and diamonds (4)

27a   Shuts short road after hospital/'s/ lucky escape (5,5)

Down

1d   Hack crossing Portugal /gets/ place on front page? (6)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Portugal is P^[5].

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

2d   Come onto the scene /in/ a contemporary broadcast (6)

3d   Walk // through the law (14)

4d   Sanctimonious bunch suppressed by international // high-flier (4,5)

Pi^[5] is an informal British short form for pious. 

International^[5] is a British term for a game or contest between teams representing different countries in a sport ⇒ the Murrayfield rugby international.

Test^[5] (short for Test match)^[5] denotes an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries ⇒ the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies.

5d   Leak /from/ former lover you heard? Desperate, showing no heart (5)

7d   Varied options must include one // job (8)

8d   Transparency /of/ woman hugging loveless idiot (8)

"love" = O (show explanation )

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).

hide explanation

9d   Fishing-boat's single mistake, foregoing Southern // relish (6,4,4)

Smack^[5] is a British term for a single-masted sailing boat used for coasting or fishing ⇒ the village still harbours a few fishing smacks.

Like the 2Kiwis, I thought that the wordplay should lead to "relishes" rather than "relish".

15d   Accept fans going topless /for/ such commercial putsches (9)

16d   A card game needing small // contracts (8)

17d   Look up drink in Japan /as/ memento (8)

Sake^[5] (or saki^[5]) is a Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice, traditionally drunk warm in small porcelain cups.

19d   Refrain /from/ mounting pictures in support of staff (6)

Originally in Hinduism and Buddhism, a mantra^[5] was a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation ⇒ a mantra is given to a trainee meditator when his teacher initiates him. The word has come to mean a statement or slogan repeated frequently ⇒ the environmental mantra that energy has for too long been too cheap.

20d   Reduce without a second // order (6)

22d   Old crowd rises // to offer praise (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)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon