Sunday, December 30, 2012 - ST 4514

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4514
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, December 2, 2012
Setter Jeff Pearce
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4514]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, December 22, 2012
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, December 29, 2012
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 █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Times for the Times
Notes This puzzle appears on the Sunday Puzzles pages in the Saturday, December 29, 2012 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

I would heartily concur with Dave Perry's assessment that this is "the easiest puzzle for a while".

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the full review at Times for the Times, to which a link is provided in the table above.

Across

1a   Feeling very self conscious in say, Arab country, returning first- class (8)

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] meaning first class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-class.

5a   Hold on — complaint’s not finished! (4)

8a   One leaves editor struggling with pressure put on tabloid (3- 3)

In British slang, a red-top^[4] is a tabloid newspaper characterized by sensationalism (the name coming from the colour of the masthead on these publications).

9a   Mammal meat — there’s a kilo out on balance (8)

10a   Doctor Who finally enters after international designer (4)

Doctor Who^[7] is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior appears as a blue police box. The show has had widespread distribution in North America and apparently is currently available in Canada on the SPACE specialty channel on cable and satellite.

11a   Presence of minister with bad acne (10)

12a   Being tortured heretics fled town (12)

Chesterfield^[7] is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England.

16a   Expose loft and cause a massive disturbance? (5,3,4)

18a   For a tower, draughtsman may use this (10)

Draughtsman^[3,4] is the British spelling of draftsman, a person who practises or is qualified in mechanical drawing, employed to prepare detailed scale drawings of machinery, buildings, devices, etc.

20a   Perhaps Rosemary’s in another bed (4)

21a   Conservative has to manage radical writer (8)

Raymond Chandler^[7] (1888 – 1959) was an American novelist and screenwriter who is considered to be one of the founders of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction.

22a   Damage caused by couple on motorway when on the way back (6)

The M1^[7] is a north–south motorway (multi-lane controlled access highway) in England connecting London to Leeds.

23a   A place to hide port (4)

Aden^[7] is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden).

24a   Being game Bolt put medal around Powell’s head (4- 4)

Gong^[5] is an informal British term for a medal or award.

Usain Bolt^[7] is a Jamaican sprinter widely regarded as the fastest person ever. He is the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder in the 100 metre and 200 metre sprint and (together with his Jamaican teammates) the 4×100 metres relay.

Asafa Powell^[7] is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres. He held the 100 m world record between June 2005 and May 2008. At the 2008 Olympics, Powell won a gold medal and set the world and Olympic records as part of the Jamaican 4×100 metres relay team. Powell was not able to compete for Jamaica in the men's 4×100 m relay at the 2012 Olympics due to an injury sustained earlier in the games during the 100 metre sprint event.

Down

1d   Sense approval amongst the crew (8)

Eight^[5] denotes an eight-oared rowing boat or its crew.

2d   Take power from wizard’s fur (5)

Harry Potter^[7] is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of a wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

3d   How KLM are organised? (14)

Not the airline, but a sequence of letters. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V., operating under the name KLM Royal Dutch Airlines^[7], is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands.

4d   Trendy set’s contribution (5)

5d   Duck and oranges do mix well together (9)

6d   Heartless vet’s a loathsome creature (6)

7d   Dishy bloke providing brief about new church before tea (6,8)

The British meaning of dishy^[5] is (in reference to a man) sexually attractive. In North America, the term means scandalous or gossipy ⇒ she’s the perfect candidate for a dishy biography.

13d   If it’s low you may get depression or tension when worried (9)

14d   Charge for iron’s expensive at first (3)

The symbol for the chemical element iron is Fe^[5].

15d   Saying rude things about old blood sport (8)

Coursing^[5] is the sport of hunting game animals such as hares with greyhounds using sight rather than scent ⇒ (i) [with modifier] hare coursing; (ii) [as modifier] coursing grounds.

17d   Bloomer made by silly 10 hugging companion (6)

The numeral "10" is a cross-reference indicator showing that the solution for clue 10a must be inserted in its place to complete the current clue.

19d   Bones starts to run as Spock is taken ill (5)

I didn't fully grasp the wordplay in this clue until I read Dave Perry's review. It is an anagram (ill) of the initial letters of (starts to) Run As Spock Is Taken.

The surface reading is an allusion to the American science fiction television series Star Trek^[7], where Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy^[7] is the Chief Medical Officer and Mister Spock^[7], a being of mixed human-Vulcan heritage, is the science officer and first officer on the starship Enterprise.

20d   Old doctor drops boxes — one’s very heavy! (5)

Hippocrates^[5] (circa 460–377 BC) was a Greek physician, traditionally regarded as the father of medicine. His name is associated with the medical profession’s Hippocratic oath from his attachment to a body of ancient Greek medical writings, probably none of which was written by him.

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)

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year — Falcon