Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - DT 26783

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26783
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26783]
Big Dave's Review Written By Pommers
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ 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 Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

This is not a typical Jay puzzle. Five clues cross-reference clue 10a, with the solutions to those clues being particular genres of the solution to 10a. In these clues, the numeral "10" found in the clue must be replaced by the solution to 10a in order to obtain the complete clue. In cryptic crosswords, it is customary to omit the across or down designation where there is only one clue originating at a particular numbered cell in the grid. Thus clue 10a can be referred to simply as clue 10 due to there being no clue 10d in 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.

1a   Footwear worn by socially acceptable form of 10 (5)

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective with respect to language or social behaviour meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes (U manners). In today's puzzle, the setter clues it as "socially acceptable". The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

9a   Sickened by Auden capriciously adopting parliamentary constituency (9)

Wystan Hugh Auden^[7] (1907 – 1973), who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet, born in England, later an American citizen, regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

15a   Encroach upon resorts in very French surroundings (8)

Trés^[8] is the French word for "very".

18a   Greek’s old banger in call for help (8)

Oxford may consider it to be a British expression, but I believe that the term banger^[5] is also used on this side of the pond to refer to an old car in poor condition • they’ve only got an old banger.

23a   10′s light boat plies regularly (7)

While skiffle seems to be a somewhat similar in both the US and Britain, it appears to have achieved popularity in different eras in each country. According to Oxford Online (Oxford Dictionary of English), in Britain it is a kind of folk music with a blues or jazz flavour that was popular in the 1950s, played by a small group and often incorporating improvised instruments such as washboards while in the US it is a style of 1920s and 1930s jazz deriving from blues, ragtime, and folk music, using both improvised and conventional instruments.^[5]

27a   State student allocated to form 1 is sort of 10 (9)

In Britain, a form^[5] is a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number. Thus the fifth form would be the linguistic counterpart to the fifth grade in North America and Form 1 would be like saying Grade 1. 

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

3d   Choose right, love, and finish with silver! (7)

Electro^[5] is a shortened form for electroplate^[5] when used as a noun meaning electroplated articles. As I found this meaning only in British dictionaries, it would seem that this is a British usage.

The setter seems to have overlooked another opportunity for a cross-reference as electro is the name of a style of dance music with a fast beat and synthesized backing track.

4d   Mentioning mainly Liverpool, for example (popular with golf) (6)

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

5d   Top craftsmen perhaps netting theologian’s fish (8)

A tiler^[5] is a person who lays tiles • a roof tiler. Tiddler^[5] is British slang for a small fish, especially a stickleback or minnow.

7d   Foolishly, she can — accommodating idiot Englishman (9)

Sassenach^[5] is a derogatory Scottish and Irish term for an English person.

17d   Justifications from French receivers (8)

The French word for "from" is de^[8].

22d   Leave temporary accommodation to support lower socio-economic groups (6)

This clue is based on the NRS social grades^[7], a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. The categories were originally developed by the National Readership Survey to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider applications and have become a standard for market research. They were developed over 50 years ago and achieved widespread usage in 20th Century Britain. The classifications, which are based on the occupation of the head of the household, are shown in the following table.

Grade	Social class	Chief income earner's occupation
A	upper middle class	Higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	middle class	Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	lower middle class	Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2	skilled working class	Skilled manual workers
D	working class	Semi and unskilled manual workers
E	Those at the lowest levels of subsistence	Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on the welfare state for their income

25d   Old people finding source of coal in mines (5)

The Picts^[5] were an ancient people inhabiting northern Scotland in Roman times.

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)

Signing off for today - Falcon