Thursday, February 6, 2014 — DT 27311

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27311
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, October 17, 2013
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27311]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave
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 being able to fully parse the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

If this puzzle merits three stars for difficulty — as Big Dave has deemed — then I would think that it likely sits at the lower end of that range. Either that, or I did a remarkably good job of tuning into the setter's wavelength today.

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

1a   Horse has to strike, losing lead (7)

5a   Soaps following end of Scrubs including Hospital (7)

The surface reading might seem to refer to the American medical comedy-drama television series Scrubs^[7] which, I suppose, may possibly have aired in Britain.

However, I suspect that it more likely refers to Wormwood Scrubs^[7], known locally as The Scrubs, or simply just "Scrubs", an open space located in the  London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and one of the largest areas of common land in London. The southern edge of the Scrubs is the site of the Hammersmith Hospital campus, which includes the relocated Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital.

9a   More insignificant rubbish about Latin... (7)

10a   ...more relevant subsequent to Church Synod perhaps (7)

A synod^[10] is a local or special ecclesiastical council, especially of a diocese, formally convened to discuss ecclesiastical affairs.

A chapter^[10] is the collective body or a meeting of the canons of a cathedral or collegiate church or of the members of a monastic or knightly order.

11a   Plant seeds while ignoring hard ground (9)

H^[5] is the abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

As an anagram indicator, ground is the past participle (used as an adjective) of the verb grind^[5]. An anagram indicator is a word that denotes movement or transformation. Grind denotes transformation in the sense of wheat being ground into flour. Perhaps less compelling, grind can signify movement. It can mean to move move noisily and laboriously ⇒ the truck was grinding slowly up the hill. However, the more apt choice — given that today's puzzle was set by Ray T — may well be (in reference to a dancer) to gyrate the hips erotically ⇒ go-go girls grinding to blaring disco.

Edelweiss^[5] (Leontopodium alpinum) is a European mountain plant which has woolly white bracts around its small flowers and downy grey-green leaves.

12a   Accordingly American embraces American composer (5)

John Philip Sousa^[5] (1854–1932) was an American composer and conductor. His works include more than a hundred marches, for example The Stars and Stripes.

13a   Stand in position for painter? (5)

This is one of those clues where I was certain that the solution could not be as simple as it appeared to be. I was convinced that I must surely be overlooking some clever nuance in the wordplay. However, that would appear not to be the case. I guess that the setter intended us to be misdirected into thinking that the clue related to a model posing for an artist. The clue doesn't strike one as being half so clever when one fails to take the bait.

15a   Understanding unusually seen as comprising conflict (9)

The setter intends comprise^[5] to mean include^[5]. However, comprise and include are only synonyms in a specific context — and I don't believe that the context in this clue fits the bill.

Oxford Dictionaries Online says:

Include has a broader meaning than comprise. In the sentence the accommodation comprises 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and living room, the word comprise implies that there is no accommodation other than that listed. Include can be used in this way too, but it is also used in a non-restrictive way, implying that there may be other things not specifically mentioned that are part of the same category, as in the price includes a special welcome pack.

According to my interpretation, the clue would have worked perfectly well had it been phrased:

• Understanding unusually seen as including conflict (9)

but, as it stands, is incorrect.

17a   Clean scent if I'd showered? (9)

"Showered" is an interesting anagram indicator. I suppose it does indicate a transformation from one state (dirty) to another state (clean). And, then, there is the question mark, which setters use to cover a multitude of sins.

19a   Small crucifix over more than one entrance (5)

22a   Fondles female in front of slippery customers (5)

23a   Fan is 'matchless' without Liverpool, say... (9)

Liverpool^[5] is a city and seaport in northwest England, situated at the east side of the mouth of the River Mersey; population 454,700 (est. 2009). Liverpool developed as a port in the 17th century with the import of cotton from America and the export of textiles produced in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and in the 18th century became an important centre of shipbuilding and engineering.

The surface reading is likely a reference to Liverpool Football Club^[7], an English professional association football [soccer] club based in Liverpool that plays in the Premier League (the top level in the English football league system) ...

25a   ...Villa's excessive in enclosure (7)

... and, continuing in the same vein, the surface reading of this clue likely refers to the Aston Villa Football Club^[7] (also known as Villa), an English professional association football club based in Birmingham that also plays in the Premier League.

OTT^[5] is British slang for over the top ⇒ presenting him as a goalscoring Superman seems a bit OTT.

26a   Force to continue slowly round job centre (7)

27a   In discomfort or mental anguish (7)

I anguished over the wordplay in this clue — and needed a prod from Big Dave to find the hidden word.

28a   State drawn into secretive work in captivity (7)

Down

1d   French writer is longer penning story (7)

Molière ^[5] (1622–1673) was a French dramatist; pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. He wrote more than twenty comic plays about contemporary France, developing stock characters from Italian commedia dell’arte. Notable works: Tartuffe (1664), Le Misanthrope (1666), and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670).

2d   Hounds  me and others like me! (7)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as compiler, setter, author, writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue. Today, however, the tables are turned.

3d   Let everybody almost get into debt (5)

4d   Sprout fur around a time after midnight (9)

Here we encounter a not uncommon cryptic crossword device, in which "midnight" is used to clue G, the middle letter (mid) of niGht. Other examples of this construction are "sweetheart" for E, the middle letter (heart) of swEet, and "redhead" for R, the first letter (head) of Red.

5d   Misses reportedly loose (5)

6d   Excel scan modified in course (9)

7d   Ecstasy consequently found in endless modern rave (7)

E^[5] is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒ (i) people have died after taking E; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties.

8d   Better drink, consuming last of lager before idiot (7)

As a verb, sup^[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒ (i) she supped up her soup delightedly; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle. As a noun, it means (1) a sip of liquid ⇒ he took another sup of wine or (2) in Northern England or Ireland, an alcoholic drink ⇒ the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery.

14d   View Loch Ness catching also head of serpent (9)

Chiefly found on maps, L.^[5] is the abbreviation for Lake, Loch [Scottish word for lake], or Lough [Irish word for lake].

Usually found in place names, ness^[5] means a headland or promontory ⇒ Orford Ness.

16d   Range enclosing peak over in Australia perhaps (9)

In cricket, an over^[5] (abbreviation O^[5]) is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

The Antipodes^[5] is a term used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere to refer to Australia and New Zealand.

17d   Cryptic, if edited, shows up deficiency (7)

18d   Lust ends in transparent cover (7)

20d   Beaten due to no pants! (7)

Pants^[5] is British slang for rubbish or nonsense ⇒ he thought we were going to be absolute pants.

21d   Not spending money to catch Queen? Tough! (7)

Regina^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) — Latin for queen — denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

23d   Stickiness with exercise and training initially (5)

By not underlining the entire clue, I would infer that Big Dave considers this to be a semi & lit. (or, as some prefer to call it, semi-all-in-one) clue rather than a true & lit. (or all-in-one) clue. However, I would submit that the setter may well have intended it to be the latter — a clue in which the entire clue (according to one reading) is the definition as well as (under a different interpretation) the wordplay.

The fact that someone who is just starting out in an exercise program may sweat more easily than someone who has become accustomed to it could be the basis of including the word "initially" in the definition, as I have chosen to do.

24d   State of the old lady in a house turned upside-down (5)

As Big Dave points out, Omaha is not a state. Perhaps the clue might have been better phrased:

• Situation of the old lady in a house turned upside-down (5)

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