Wednesday, October 23, 2013 — DT 27231

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27231
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27231]
Big Dave's Review Written By Deep Threat
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 █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

I got a bit careless today and changed a perfectly good solution (which I didn't understand) into an incorrect solution (which I mistakenly thought I understood).

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. The underlined portion of the clue is the definition.

Across

5a   Shoots fare for the Christmas dinner table? (7)

Wikipedia informs us that brussels sprouts, parsnips, and carrots are particularly popular vegetables to be served with Christmas dinner^[7] in the UK. They are also often on the menu in Germany, Ireland, and the US.

7a   In a city that's ancient, I caught Goldfinger (5)

Auric Goldfinger^[7] is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film Goldfinger, based on Ian Fleming's novel of the same name. His first name, Auric, is an adjective meaning of gold.

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city that formerly existed on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC.

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c^[5] denotes caught (by).

9a   Friendly foreign correspondent? (3,3)

10a   Racket, fearful roar outside yard, is normal? (8)

11a   Test burger out where impoverished journalists used to meet (4,6)

Grub Street^[5] is a noun used in reference to a world or class of impoverished journalists and writers. It is the the name of a street (later Milton Street) in Moorgate, London, inhabited by such authors in the 17th century.

13a   Ma's toy boy, losing head, flipped twice (2-2)

Yo-Yo Ma^[7] is an American cellist. He was a child prodigy and was performing by age five.

Deep Threat's explanation ("Remove the initial B from boy, and reverse the result, twice.") strikes me as being a bit more elegant than what I managed to come up with. I had the definition as "Ma" and had assumed that "twice" meant that the instructions "losing head"and "flipped" operated on both "toy" and "boy" making the wordplay YO (toy losing head, flipped) + YO (boy losing head, flipped).

14a   As a result, coin minted -- new series (2,11)

16a   Self-satisfied hint of smile on face (4)

17a   Play with male office worker in trial (3,7)

The Tempest^[7] is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone.

In his review, Deep Threat alludes to a Test match between England and Australia played at Trent Bridge [cricket ground], Nottingham, England on July 10-14, 2013 [yes, the match lasted five days].

A Test (short for Test match)^[5] is an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries ⇒ the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies.

19a   Coin kept popping up (2,6)

In pocket^[5] is a British expression meaning, with respect to money, gained by someone from a transaction ⇒ for every £100 staked a regular better will end up with £88 in pocket. I am more familiar with the flip side of the coin, out of pocket^[5].

20a   Completely frustrated, I had returned before she had (6)

Frustrate^[5] is used in the sense of to prevent (a plan or attempted action) from progressing, succeeding, or being fulfilled ⇒ the rescue attempt was frustrated by bad weather.

Dish^[5] is a chiefly British term meaning to utterly destroy or defeat ⇒ the election interview dished Labour’s chances.

22a   Boredom detected in English nun, I suspect (5)

23a   Find ladder on the ground (3,4)

In Britain, a vertical strip of unravelled fabric in tights or stockings is called a ladder^[5] ⇒ one of Sally’s stockings developed a ladder.

Down

1d   Go over carriage (4)

Although I did have the correct solution initially, I changed it when I couldn't figure out the wordplay.

My "alternative" solution was TRIP which can mean "go down" (if someone sticks their foot out in front of you). Then I convinced myself that trip^[5] might conceivably be a synonym of carriage by glancing quickly at the usage example given for it in the archaic sense of a light, lively movement of a person’s feet ⇒ yonder comes Dalinda; I know her by her trip. Without carefully reading the definition, I thought that this could be equivalent to "I recognize her by how she carries herself". Note to self — in future, read the definition more carefully.

2d   Report of patient's progress round home (8)

I must admit that I connected bullet with round through its use in printing, rather than firearms.

3d   Bonded, initially, with Italian robber in gang (6)

I am sure that Deep Threat meant to write "initial letter of Bonded".

4d   Biscuit and alcoholic drink ahead of game (6,4)

Brandy snap^[5] is a British term for a crisp rolled gingerbread wafer, usually filled with cream.

The British use the term biscuit^[3,4,11] to refer to a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or a crackers in North America. A North American biscuit^[5] is similar to a British scone.

In his review, Deep Threat alludes to the following anecdote related by English author James Boswell (1740–1795) in Life of Samuel Johnson, a biography of English literary figure Samuel Johnson (1709–1784):

[Dr. Samuel] Johnson harangued upon the qualities of different liquors; and spoke with great contempt of claret, as so weak, that "a man would be drowned by it before it made him drunk." He was persuaded to drink one glass of it, that he might judge, not from recollection, which might be dim, but from immediate sensation. He shook his head, and said, "Poor stuff! No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero (smiling) must drink brandy. In the first place, brandy is most grateful to the palate; and then brandy will do soonest for a man what drinking can do for him. There are, indeed, few who are able to drink brandy. That is a power rather to be wished for than attained."

5d   Promise son clothes (5)

6d   Building stocked remote safety device (5,8)

8d   Chapter really upset Scottish historian (7)

Thomas Carlyle^[5] (1795–1881) was a Scottish historian and political philosopher. He established his reputation as a historian with his History of the French Revolution (1837). Influenced by German romanticism, many of his works, including Sartor Resartus (1833-4), celebrate the force of the ‘strong, just man’ as against the degraded masses.

12d   Second-floor family? (10)

14d   Huge mines exploded around me (7)

15d   Greatly affecting winning finish (8)

Upend^[1] can mean to affect or alter greatly.

17d   Accommodate  fool (4,2)

18d   Authoritarian Irish novelist? Sounds like him (5)

Laurence Sterne^[5] (1713–1768) was an Irish novelist. He is best known for his nine-volume work The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1759–67), which parodied the developing conventions of the novel form.

21d   Head of Smithsonian shown with recently stolen picture (4)

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)

Signing off for today — Falcon