Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Wednesday, September 14, 2016 — DT 28123

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 28123
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28123]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
2Kiwis
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

Jay provides us with his usual enjoyable offering today. The last one in for me was the English legal term at 9d which I pondered over for an incredibly long period of time before the solution finally occurred to me.

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   Tripe, // fish and chips, finally beer (10)

Wallop[5] is an informal British term for alcoholic drink, especially beer ⇒ an endless supply of free wallop.

Codswallop[5] is an informal British term meaning nonsense ⇒ I think that’s a right load of old codswallop.

6a   How one might cook /for/ brood? (4)

Contrary to what the 2Kiwis show in their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, I would call this a double definition.

10a   Answer supplied to previous // Italian course (5)

11a   Cold interior renovated /as/ standard (9)

12a   Window // when set in mortar (8)

13a   Skilful student having been accepted /for/ pottery (5)

"learner" = L (show explanation )

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 jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

hide explanation

Delft[5] is English or Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, typically decorated by hand in blue on a white background ⇒ walls covered with delft tiles.

15a   Works out, // seeing others mostly surrounding a lad (7)

17a   Declines home // visits (5,2)

19a   Type // that is wearing glasses (7)

21a   Heat /produced by/ converting coal runs island energy (7)

"runs" = R (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R[5] denotes run(s).

In cricket, a run[5] is a unit of scoring achieved by hitting the ball so that both batsmen are able to run between the wickets, or awarded in some other circumstances.

hide explanation

"energy" = E (show explanation )

In physics, E[5] is a symbol used to represent energy in mathematical formulae.

hide explanation

22a   Everybody playing // trusts this, oddly (5)

In music, tutti[5] is a direction indicating that a passage is to be performed with all voices or instruments together.

24a   Paper // put on record (8)

27a   Sorry // to repeat visit (4,5)

28a   Taking offence (5)

29a   Drive off, /with/ film finishing early (4)

30a   Carol hoards stuff, // just a few scraps (10)

Down

1d   Garment that's a source of penance in church (4)

"church" = CE (show explanation )

The Church of England[10] (abbreviation CE[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

hide explanation

2d   Slight // gasp aired in uproar (9)

3d   Surge catching east // wind (5)

As a definition, "wind" is a verb.

4d   Servants /need/ yen to be restricted by directions (7)

"yen" = Y (show explanation )

The yen[5] (abbreviation Y[5])  is the basic monetary unit of Japan.

hide explanation

A lackey[5] is a servant, especially a liveried footman or manservant ⇒ lackeys were waiting to help them from the carriage.

5d   Neglected // poor two-timed wife going off (7)

7d   Material /requiring/ time and determination (5)

Twill[5] is a fabric so woven as to have a surface of diagonal parallel ridges.

8d   Testing area /of/ curve on subway? (4,6)

In British English, a subway[5] is a tunnel under a road for use by pedestrians.

9d   Act on vote /for/ mechanism legalising new handle (4,4)

Sometimes I amaze myself. Having never before encountered this term, I managed to decipher it from the wordplay.

In English law, a deed poll[5] is a legal deed made and executed by one party only, especially to formalize a change of a person’s name ⇒ he changed his name by deed poll.

14d   Basic principles /of/ supporters with piles (5,5)

16d   Genuine // refined oil in rag (8)

18d   Plain // this person is depressed by green set recycling (9)

"this person" = I (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (this) author, (this) 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.

hide explanation

The Serengeti[5] is a vast plain in Tanzania, to the west of the Great Rift Valley. In 1951 the Serengeti National Park was created to protect the area’s large numbers of wildebeest, zebra, and Thomson’s gazelle.

20d   Frenchman is up bearing cherished // weapon (7)

In French, monsieur[8] (abbreviation M[8]) means 'gentleman' or 'man'.

21d   Fruit // firms supported by eccentric (7)

23d   Those guys should avoid hard Post Office // beat (5)

"hard" = H (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

25d   Home treatment offers // this measure (5)

26d   Party // animal (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

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