Wednesday, October 14, 2015 — DT 27794

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27794
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27794]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers
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 fully parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

I needed to call my electronic assistants into action today to help me complete the puzzle.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with 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.

Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (&lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-&lit.) clues and cryptic definitions. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//). Definitions presented in blue text are for terms that appear frequently.

Across

1a   Ship /of/ comparatively fit women must come first (6)

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, pommers describes the solution as a type of ship, the Pequod perhaps. The Pequod[7] is a fictitious 19th-century Nantucket whaling ship that appears in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by American author Herman Melville.

5a   Key employed by Rolling Stones right /for/ crooner? (8)

9a   Self-centred // new Conservative team enveloped by anger (13)

"Conservative" = CON (show explanation )

The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.^[10] or Con.^[10].

hide explanation

"team" = SIDE (show explanation )

Side^[5] is a British term for a sports team ⇒ there was a mixture of old and young players in their side. [note that a player is "in a side" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America]

In North America, the term side^[3] is used in a very general fashion that can denote one of two or more opposing individuals, groups, teams, or sets of opinions. While this same general usage would seem to exist as well in the UK, the term side^[5] is also used there in a much more specific sense to mean a sports team, as we can clearly see from the following usage examples ⇒ (i) Previous England rugby sides, and England teams in many other sports, would have crumbled under the weight of such errors.; (ii) They'll face better sides than this Monaco team, but you can only beat what's put in front of you..

hide explanation

As pommers points out in his review, IRATE means angry — not anger.

10a   Piece of music // on-line monitor cut short? (8)

Being musically-challenged, I missed the definition to begin with. Being an engineer, I got distracted by a search for some piece of electronic monitoring equipment at the end.

Moderato^[5] is a musical term that means:

1. adverb & adjective (especially as a direction) at a moderate pace ⇒ allegro moderato;
2. noun a passage marked to be performed at a moderate pace.

11a   Camp /needing/ a convict on the way? (6)

A stalag^[5] was a Second World War German prison camp, especially for non-commissioned officers and privates. The name comes from German, a contraction of Stammlager, from Stamm 'base, main stock' + Lager 'camp' (as you can see from the illustration in pommers' review).

12a   Grounds /given by/ judge dismissing firm regularly (6)

14a   Somehow rely on social behaviour, /for/ once (8)

16a   Story about international doctor and southern // dishes (8)

"doctor" = MB (show explanation )

In Britain, the degree required to practice medicine is a Bachelor of Medicine^[7] (MB, from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus), which is equivalent to a North American Doctor of Medicine (MD, from Latin Medicinae Doctor). The degree of Doctor of Medicine also exists in Britain, but it is an advanced degree pursued by those who wish to go into medical research. Physicians in Britain are still addressed as Dr. despite not having a doctoral degree. 

hide explanation

Timbale^[5] is a dish of finely minced meat or fish cooked with other ingredients in a pastry shell or in a mould ⇒ a chicken and avocado timbale.

19a   Experiences // discrimination, say, initially (6)

21a   The way things are // when one's cramming Italian (2,2,2)

"Italian" = IT (show explanation )

This clueing can be explained in a couple of ways:

• It.^[10] is an abbreviation for Italian or Italy.


• Italian^[10] is another name for Italian vermouth. It^[5] is an informal, dated British term for Italian vermouth ⇒ he poured a gin and it.

hide explanation

23a   Farmworker // cast in drama, sweeping up yard (8)

All the dictionaries I consulted — save one — define dairyman^[3,4,5,11] as the owner, manager, or employee of a dairy or someone who deals in dairy products. However, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary includes the additional — in fact, primary — meaning of someone who looks after the dairy cows on a farm^[2].

25a   She, say, needs to make firm // declaration (13)

26a   Long journeys -- // nobody miss me, guys? Just latterly! (8)

Even after I had the correct solution, it took a long time to figure out the wordplay which is the latter halves (just latterly) of nobODY miSS mE guYS.

27a   Entice // mandarin mostly held in regard (6)

What did he say?
In his review, pommers indicates that the word "mandarin" brought to mind Sir Humphrey. Sir Humphrey Appleby[7] (a senior member of the British Civil Service) is a fictional character from the British television series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.

Down

2d   Despicable // criminal in house (7)

3d   Cash /obtained from/ clubs in draw (5)

"clubs" = C (show explanation )

Clubs^[2]) (abbreviation C^[1]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

hide explanation

4d   What visitors do // sound familiar? (4,1,4)

5d   By-product /of/ political bias being absent? (4-3)

6d   Demands // nothing except energy, dedication and stamina at first (5)

7d   Perhaps Mediterranean ranchers losing millions /could become/ sailors (9)

Being characterized as farmers may not sit well with some ranchers.

8d   Look at // dance after a bit of needle (7)

13d   Burden // that golfer with a hole in one might register? (9)

In golf, albatross^[5] is another term for a double eagle^[5], a score of three strokes under par at a hole.

What did he say?
In his review, pommers says This burden is also three under par in golf so almost certainly a hole in one. I would think that a score of 2 on a par 5 would be more likely than a score of 1 on a par 4.

15d   Case of rare trouble during disturbed rest /for/ shopkeepers (9)

17d   Popular drink with endless kids /is/ lacking taste (7)

18d   Spurs going on-line? (7)

The surface reading suggests a British soccer team establishing a presence on the Internet. However — correctly interpreted — the phrase "going on-line" will get us back on track.

Scratching the Surface
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club[7] commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English professional football [soccer] club located in Tottenham, London, that plays in the Premier League (the top level in the English football league system).

20d   Material for bands such as these? (7)

I am not quite sure how to parse this clue. I have shown it as a double definition but it might also have been intended to be a cryptic definition.Whatever it is, it does not work at all well. The definition "material" would lead to the solution ELASTIC but "bands such as these" would presumably give us ELASTICS.

My attempts to analyze this clue make me understand why the clue was modified on the Telegraph Puzzles website to read:

• 20d   Material like this gives bands a chance to stretch out and play? (7)

which I think is not only a better clue than the one that appeared in the paper but a truly excellent clue.

I would say that this is not a double definition as pommers has identified it. To me, it is a cryptic definition that is in the form of a broad straight definition combined with some cryptic elaboration to direct the solver to the correct solution. Thus "material like this" tells us that we are looking for a kind of material with a particular property and the portion of the clue with the dashed underline tells us that this property allows bands to stretch out as well as to expand and contract (play).

22d   Second quality // diamond, say (5)

24d   Submit // return on capital (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