Tuesday, September 26, 2017 — DT 28469

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28469
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, July 3, 2017
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28469]
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

Today's puzzle from Rufus is perhaps a bit more of a test than he usually provides.

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 semi-all-in-one (semi-&lit.) clues. All-in-one (&lit.) clues and cryptic definitions are marked with a dotted underline. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   Exercising, // thee and me in middle of night? (5)

4a   Moneylender's overtures? (8)

Although, in his review, Miffypops identifies this as a double definition, surely it is not. I would say that it is a cryptic definition.

8a   Furious ace fined /for/ open disobedience (8)

The definition here is "open disobedience" and not merely "disobedience" as Miffypops shows in his review.

9a   Room for investment? (8)

The sacristy^[5] is a room in a church where a priest prepares for a service, and where vestments and articles of worship are kept.

Invest^[1] is an archaic term meaning to put on, adorn, cloth or cover. Therefore, by inference, investment would denote the act of putting on, adorning, clothing or covering — precisely what a priest does in the sacristy.

11a   Trade // vehicles (7)

13a   Totaliser at odds /makes/ one philosophical (9)

Aristotle^[5] (384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and scientist. A pupil of Plato and tutor to Alexander the Great, he founded a school (the Lyceum) outside Athens. He is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western thought and his work was central to Islamic and Christian medieval philosophy. His surviving works cover a vast range of subjects, including logic, ethics, metaphysics, politics, natural science, and physics.

Here and There

Totaliser (an alternative spelling of totalizer) is another term for totalizator[10] (or totalisator) and can mean either: a system of betting on horse races in which the aggregate stake, less an administration charge and tax, is paid out to winners in proportion to their stake  the machine that records bets in this system and works out odds, pays out winnings, etc.  The equivalent US and Canadian term is pari-mutuel.

15a   Got back to front (8,3,4)

18a   Areas of study lacking in // followers (9)

21a   Effective // narration (7)

Telling^[5] means having a striking or revealing effect; significant ⇒ a telling argument against this theory.

22a   He favours dictation above all his subjects (8)

24a   After the raid it's heard // nobody found guilty (3,5)

25a   Yields // affected TV shares (8)

26a   Weary, // tried anyway (5)

Down

1d   Render duet badly /but/ not intimidated (10)

2d   It could be daring, if // demeaning (5,3)

Infra dig^[5] is an informal British term meaning beneath one or demeaning ⇒ she regarded playing for the Pony Club as deeply infra dig. The term is an abbreviation of Latin infra dignitatem 'beneath (one's) dignity'.

3d   You may read these at your convenience (8)

Convenience^[5] is a British — or, at least, chiefly British^[3] — term for a public toilet ⇒ the large council [municipal] car park next to the public conveniences.

4d   Purchases made at a local // jumble sale (4)

Local^[5] is an informal British term for a pub convenient to a person’s home ⇒ a pint in the local.

Here and There
Jumble sale[5] is the British term rummage sale, a sale of miscellaneous second-hand articles, typically held in order to raise money for a charity or a special event.

5d   A company that was floated to avoid liquidation ended up here (6)

Mount Ararat^[5] is a pair of volcanic peaks in eastern Turkey, near the borders with Armenia and Iran. The higher peak, which rises to 5,165 m (16,946 ft), is the traditional site of the resting place of Noah's ark after the Flood (Gen. 8:4).

6d   Stays /in/ my group (6)

Cor^[5] is an informal British exclamation expressing surprise, excitement, admiration, or alarm ⇒ Cor! That‘s a beautiful black eye you’ve got!.

7d   Erotic // reply to proposal put up, a case for a kiss (4)

10d   Exacting examination -- // the paper's marked in red (4,4)

An acid test^[5] is a conclusive test of the success or value of something^* ⇒ gritstone is the acid test of a climber's ability.

---

^* Figuratively, from the original use denoting a test for gold using nitric acid.

I have marked the second part as a cryptic definition, it being an allusion to the testing procedure for an acid — or, in other words, an 'acid test'.

Litmus paper^[5] is paper stained with litmus which is used to indicate the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. Blue litmus paper turns red under acid conditions, and red litmus paper turns blue under alkaline conditions.

12d   Order me a lilac -- /or/ another shrub (8)

The camellia^[5] is any of several species of evergreen East Asian shrub related to the tea plant, grown for its showy flowers and shiny leaves.

14d   Put in a difficult position /and/ finished full of rage (10)

16d   Frank // to leave, taking broken clip (8)

17d   Contact one where motor starts with hesitation (8)

I interpret the entire clue to be a cryptic definition with a portion of the clue (marked with a dashed underline) being wordplay.

Engineer^[10] is used in the sense of a mechanic, a person who repairs or services machines.

Behind the Picture

Miffypops illustrates his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog with a picture of  Isambard Kingdom Brunel[5] (1806–1859), an English engineer, son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel. He was chief engineer of the Great Western Railway. His achievements include designing the Clifton suspension bridge (1829–30), the first transatlantic steamship, the Great Western (1838), and the Great Eastern (1858), at the time the world's largest ship.

19d   It's me // dog! (6)

20d   Packed // as a precaution? (2,4)

The second definition is "as a precaution" and not merely "precaution" as Miffypops shows in his review.

22d   A way through on foot (4)

Miffypops called this a double definition — and it well may be — although I see the words "on foot" as being cryptic elaboration on the definition "a way through". For it to be a double definition, one would have to see the phrase "on foot" meaning "a part of the foot".

23d   Sends Morse /but/ intercepts call (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)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon