Wednesday, September 13, 2017 — DT 28460

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28460
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, June 22, 2017
Setter Mister Ron (Chris Lancaster)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28460]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Falcon
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

Puzzles can often be quite enjoyable the second time around — this one certainly was.

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   Drink // quantity of beer, short and a soft drink, with Russian's agreement (4,6)

"Russian's agreement" = DA (show explanation )

In Cyrillic, the Russian word for yes^[8] is да which transliterates into English^[7] as da.

hide explanation

Scratching the Surface
Short[5] (noun) is a British term for a drink of spirits served in a small measure* or, as Collins English Dictionary puts it, a short[10] is a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer. * A measure[5] is a container of standard capacity used for taking fixed amounts of a substance.

6a   Fight // ancient city? No thanks (4)

Sparta^[2,5], a city in the southern Peloponnese in Greece, was a powerful city state in the 5th century BC, defeating its rival Athens in the Peloponnesian War to become the leading city of Greece. The city was noted for its austerity and its citizens were characterized by their courage and endurance in battle and by the simplicity and brevity of their speech.

Ta^[5] is an informal British exclamation signifying thank you ⇒‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully.

10a   Former partner joining group making comeback /gets/ praise (5)

11a   Infamous // rejection for Brazilian city by America (9)

Rio de Janeiro^[5] (commonly known as Rio) is a city in eastern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast. The chief port of Brazil, it was the country’s capital from 1763 until 1960, when it was replaced by Brasilia.

12a   Attempts // overturning iron citadels (7)

The symbol for the chemical element iron is Fe^[5] (from Latin ferrum).

13a   Criticise // résumé (7)

14a   Data's vague on rambling /being/ beneficial (12)

18a   Dissident // finally spent mint in Moscow? (12)

Rouble^[5] is the British spelling of ruble, the basic monetary unit of Russia and some other former republics of the USSR, equal to 100 kopeks.

21a   Allow to tuck into chops /as/ small pieces of meat (7)

23a   The setter's backed bet /in/ error (7)

"the setter's" = IM (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

Today, the setter has made the scenario slightly more complicated by combining "compiler" with the verb "to be" producing "compiler's" (a contraction of "compiler is") which must be replaced by "I'm" (a contraction of "I am").

hide explanation

24a   Tunnel man damaged, /causing/ cancellation (9)

25a   Give address /that's/ fancy, not new (5)

26a   Like two, say, /in/ uniform (4)

27a   March // for breakaway? Not Home Counties (10)

The Home Counties^[5] are the counties surrounding London in southeast (SE) England, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. (show more )

No exact definition of the term exists and the composition of the Home Counties remains a matter of debate. While Oxford Dictionaries restrictively lists them as being chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire, Wikipedia tells us that the Home Counties^[7] are generally considered to include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex (although Sussex does not border London).

Other counties more distant from London, such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Oxfordshire are also sometimes included in the list due to their close proximity to the capital and their connection to the London regional economy.

hide explanation

Down

1d   Umpire goes inside for a // favour (6)

2d   Advise haberdashery: fit one's clothes from the bottom up! (6)

3d   Perhaps King Edward's affliction /or/ state, maybe, worker let out (8,6)

King Edward^[5] is the name of an oval potato of a variety with a white skin mottled with red [named after King Edward VII].

4d   Painting // secures international recognition by European (9)

Cap^[5] is a British term for:

• a cap awarded as a sign of membership of a particular sports team, especially a national team [a team representing a country in international competition] ⇒ he has won three caps for Scotland; or
• a player to whom a cap is awarded ⇒ a former naval officer and rugby cap.

5d   Put off // opening of tent with animals outside (5)

7d   Passenger on vacation books train up /for/ convention (8)

The phrase "on vacation" is an indication to remove the contents (interior letters) from the word P(assenger)R right down to the exterior walls (outer letters). Vacation^[10] is used in the sense of the act of departing from or abandoning property, etc.Thus the setter seems to be suggesting that the interior letters get up and leave.

Scratching the Surface
The phrase "books train up" is a variation of the adjective booked up[5] denoting fully or mostly committed, reserved, etc.; busy, full.

8d   Run as hunter's regularly beginning to show // impetuosity (8)

"run" = R (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

In cricket, a run^[5] is a unit of scoring achieved by hitting the ball so that both batsmen are able to run between the wickets, or awarded in some other circumstances.

hide explanation

9d   Anger stirs sons developing // criminal acts (14)

15d   Tangle in new haircut after husband leaves /is/ upsetting (9)

16d   Stupidly dock at point under bottom of Thames // Barrier (8)

Scratching the Surface

The Thames Barrier[7] is a movable flood barrier in the River Thames east of Central London. It has been operational since 1984 and prevents the floodplain of all but the easternmost boroughs of Greater London from being flooded by exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. When needed, it is closed (raised) during high tide; at low tide it can be opened to restore the river's flow towards the sea. Thus it would seem to be physically impossible to dock "under bottom of" the Barrier (as it is closed by being raised, not lowered); it would, however, presumably be equally stupid to dock "over top of" the Barrier.

17d   Study can set up Brussels /and/ carry on (8)

"study"= CON (show explanation )

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.

hide explanation

Brussels^[5] (the capital of Belgium) is also considered the de facto capital of the European Union^[7], having a long history of hosting the institutions of the European Union within its European Quarter. The EU has no official capital, and no plans to declare one, but Brussels hosts the official seats of the European Commission, Council of the European Union, and European Council, as well as a seat (officially the second seat but de facto the most important one) of the European Parliament.

Just as Ottawa, Washington, and London are used as metonyms for the Canadian, US, and UK governments respectively, Brussels serves as a metonym for the EU.

19d   Hunt // a female wearing Indian dress (6)

A sari^[5] (also saree) is a garment consisting of a length of cotton or silk elaborately draped around the body, traditionally worn by women from South Asia.

20d   Cut north /to find/ river (6)

The Severn^[5] is a river of southwestern Britain. Rising in central Wales, it flows north-east then south in a broad curve for some 290 km (180 miles) to its mouth on the Bristol Channel.

22d   Singular cattle // drive (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