Monday, October 16, 2017 — DT 28483 (Published Saturday, October 14, 2017)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28483
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28483]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By ShropshireLad
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
Notes
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, October 14, 2017 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Today's puzzle is an extremely gentle workout from Jay.

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   Actor's application // as agent ripe for review (11)

9a   Such a vegetable // sweetens sleep! (5,4)

In this style of clue, one interprets "such a ..." to mean "a type of ...".

Sugar snap^[5] is short for sugar snap pea.

10a   Address // a chap with energy (5)

Bod^[5] is an informal British term for a person ⇒ some clever bod wrote a song about them.

"energy" = E (show explanation )

In physics, E^[5] is a symbol used to represent energy in mathematical formulae.

hide explanation

11a   Stout // barrel pinched by staff (6)

12a   Treatment /needed/ if dart is misdirected? (5,3)

13a   Menswear item /may be/ a tax on credit (6)

A value added tax^[5] (abbreviation VAT) is a tax on the amount by which the value of an article has been increased at each stage of its production or distribution.

Delving Deeper

The European Union value added tax[7] (or EU VAT) is a value added tax on goods and services within the European Union (EU). The EU's institutions do not collect the tax, but EU member states (including the UK for the time being) are each required to adopt a value added tax that complies with the EU VAT code. Different rates of VAT apply in different EU member states, ranging from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. In the UK, the rate is 20%. Canada's Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) are each instances of a value added tax.[7]

15a   Exhibit signs of exertion // seeing column on exercise runs (8)

"exercise | gym [class]" = PE (show explanation )

PE^[5] is the abbreviation for physical education [or Phys Ed, as it was known in my school days]. 

hide explanation

"runs" = 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

18a   Singing style/'s/ artificial with exaggerated backing (8)

"exaggerated" = OTT (show explanation )

OTT^[5] (short for over the top) is an informal British expression denoting excessive or exaggerated ⇒ presenting him as a goalscoring Superman seems a bit OTT.

hide explanation

19a   Cost protecting new // member of royal dynasty (6)

21a   Conduct // diplomacy including managed source of secrecy (8)

23a   Designed // pen given by the French centre in Cadiz (6)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

hide explanation

Scratching the Surface
Cadiz[5] is a city and port on the coast of southwestern Spain; population 127,200 (2008).

26a   NATO's last // award? (5)

Oscar^[5] is a code word representing the letter O, used in radio communication — in particular, in the NATO phonetic alphabet^[7].

Oscar^[5] (trademark in the US) is the nickname for a gold statuette given as an award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, presented annually since 1928 for achievement in the film industry in various categories.

27a   Fuse // molten granite alien's turned over (9)

"alien" = ET (show explanation )

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

hide explanation

28a   Battles /to make/ dates (11)

Down

1d   A bit of beluga -- strictly // for the stomach! (7)

2d   First hotel lacking in stature /for/ boat crew (5)

The word "first" does not denote the first letter of Hotel; rather it tells us that it is the first occurrence of the letter "H" which is lacking from a synonym for stature.

Hotel^[5] is a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication.

An eight^[5] is an eight-oared rowing boat or its crew.

3d   Stock lost /from/ time under psychiatrist (9)

4d   Factory dropping line /is/ blow (4)

5d   Spoilt // broadcast supporting independent politician (8)

"independent" = I (show explanation )

I^[1] is the abbreviation for independent, in all likelihood in the context of a politician with no party affiliation.

hide explanation

"politician" = MP (show explanation )

In Britain (as in Canada), a politician elected to the House of Commons is known as a Member of Parliament^[10] (abbreviation MP^[5]) or, informally, as a member^[5].

hide explanation

6d   Pitfalls /of/ role set up with son (5)

7d   Completed short composition for two // later than expected (7)

8d   Incitement without professional // calling (8)

14d   Union /giving/ everybody a nice woolly (8)

Scratching the Surface
In Britain, woolly[5] is an informal term for a garment made of wool, especially a pullover. On the other hand, in Australia, New Zealand and the western US, a woolly[3,4,5,11] is a sheep.

16d   Plan /to make/ great pastry dishes rise (9)

I suspect that the word mega may be used more prevalently — and in more contexts — in the UK than in North America. Mega^[5] is an informal term which can be used either as an adjective or adverb. As the former it can mean (1) very large or huge ⇒ he has signed a mega deal to make five movies or (2) excellent ⇒ it will be a mega film, while as the latter it denotes extremely ⇒ they are mega rich.

17d   Holding supplies of // raised beds with family arriving at last (8)

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, ShropshireLad describes the beds in the clue as being ones for babies. In Britain, a small bed with high barred sides for a baby or very young child is called a cot[5] rather than a crib[5] as it is known in North America.

18d   Heat regularly seen in sheep /or/ horse's joint (7)

The word "regularly" indicates a regular sequence of letters. In this case, we need the even letters but the term could just as easily be used to indicate the odd letters as they also form a regular sequence.

20d   Showing no sign of finishing, // tip not so much (7)

It may be because I am at the end of a long day, but I do not get ShropshireLad's drift. The wordplay is simply END (tip) + LESS (not so much). I fail to see how that equates to "shortened" or how "shortened" has anything to do with the definition.

22d   Be of use /and/ dish up (5)

24d   Find out // Labour's beginning to work for money (5)

Scratching the Surface
The Labour Party[5] in Britain is a left-of-centre political party formed to represent the interests of ordinary working people that since the Second World War has been in power 1945–51, 1964–70, 1974-9, and 1997–2010. Arising from the trade union movement at the end of the 19th century, it replaced the Liberals as the country’s second party after the First World War.

25d   Good man needing a good // party (4)

"good" = G (show explanation )

The abbreviation G^[10] for good likely relates to its use in grading school assignments or tests.

hide explanation

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