Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - DT 27017

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27017
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27017]
Big Dave's Review Written By scchua
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 puzzle appeared in the UK on a Wednesday, so that alone would indicate that the setter is Jay. However, although a couple of clues clearly point in his direction (3d, 16d), the puzzle — for some reason — seems to lack a bit of his usual sparkle.

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.

10a   Feature origin of African country (5)

The setter of a cryptic crossword puzzle strives to misdirect the solver without being inaccurate. In this clue, the setter needed a continent starting with the letter A (of which there is no shortage). Rather than choose the actual location of the country which is the solution to the clue, he opts for Africa. By so doing, he succeeds in his goal of providing misdirection — with the juxtaposition of the words "Africa" and "country" directing our attention to the wrong part of the world.

11a   Sailor leaves idler to spend (3,3)

In the Royal Navy, able seaman (abbreviation AB)^[5], is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

18a   Black sticky stuff from a ship inside breakwaters (8)

When one puts out to sea in Crosswordland, it is most often on a steamship (abbreviation SS^[5]).

21a   Tried hard, however, welcoming upper-class investor (4,1,3)

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. 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).

In British investment circles, a stag^[5] is a person who applies for shares in a new issue with a view to selling at once for a profit ⇒ stags made an average profit of £60 each.

To my ear, the phrase "bust a gut" certainly sounds like the present tense whereas the clue indicates the past tense ("tried hard"). Even though Oxford Dictionaries Online tells me that the past tense of bust^[5] may be either busted or bust, I cannot convince myself that the latter sounds right. I would be much more content had the clue read "Try hard, however, ...".

23a   Heap fury on bishop (6)

Banger^[3,4] is an informal and chiefly British term for an old decrepit car. The word heap may apply to a wider range of things in Britain than in North America. The American Heritage Dictionary defines heap^[3,4] quite specifically as an old or run-down car, whereas Collins English Dictionary has it more broadly as a place or thing that is very old, untidy, unreliable, etc.

 The abbreviation B^[7] is used for bishop when recording moves in the game of chess. Thus, using algebraic chess notation^[7], Be5 indicates that the bishop is moved to the square on the chessboard designated as e5 .

18d   Bishop with saint in Rome worried mafia type (7)

The bishop would appear to have a heavy schedule today, having already made an appearance at 23a.

20d   Level of society putting up 'Loose Women' with show of hesitation (7)

Once again, the quotation marks in the clue failed to survive the journey across the Atlantic — although I have elected to resuscitate them.

Loose Women^[7] is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. Similar in concept to the American programme, The View^[7] (which predates it), the show consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip.

In his clue, scchua refers to tarts as "sweets". In Britain, sweet^[5] can mean either a candy or (as used by scchua) a dessert.

22d   Leading area hotel has regulars in demand (5)

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

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