Thursday, December 8, 2011 - DT 26658

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26658
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, September 15, 2011
Setter Unknown (suspected by some to be Petitjean)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26658]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
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

I think that this is certainly one of the toughest DT Cryptics that I have seen - and am pleased to see that Big Dave's verdict appears to support this opinion. I was able - admittedly with a great deal of effort and plenty of assistance from my Tool Chest - to complete the puzzle without resorting to the hints at Big Dave's site. However, in a few cases - despite having the correct solutions - I was still in the dark regarding some finer points of the wordplay.

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.

1a   Navel-piercing in decline? (8)

I had to smile when the solution finally dawned on me. Judging by the dictionaries in which I found the word tum^[4] (an informal or childish word for stomach), it would appear to be mainly a British expression (I think North Americans would be more apt to say tummy).

9a   Goalscorer does defender’s job (8)

A marksman^[5]  is a footballer (soccer player) skilled in scoring goals. This is not unlike a hockey player being called a sniper. A defender^[5] is a player whose task it is to protect their own side’s goal. All the foregoing seems pretty obvious. What may not be so evident is that mark^[5] is a British expression meaning (in reference to a player in a team game) to stay close to an opponent in order to prevent them getting or passing the ball.

10a   Weak pound twice paid out (6)

Although I had the same interpretation of the wordplay as Big Dave, I think one would have somewhat of an case to argue that it might also be an anagram (out) of {LL + PAID}. However, this would not be a very eloquent bit of wordplay as the order of the letters is scarcely touched.

L (usually written £) is an abbreviation for pound sterling, the standard unit of currency in the UK (Ref.: The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition).

12a   Characters making a comeback in Blake’s Seven won erroneous fame (6)

Blake's 7^[7] is a science fiction series which was broadcast on the British television service BBC1 between 1978 and 1981.

Note: The answer is reversed (making a comeback) and hidden in (in) "Blake's SeveN WON ERroneous". Some of those who commented at Big Dave's site thought that the word "Blake's" was extraneous, but it was pointed out there that one must treat "Blake's Seven" as a single unit. This should have been less of an issue when the clue first appeared in the UK as the clue was printed in the Daily Telegraph with Blake's Seven in italics and appeared on the DT website with ‘Blake’s Seven’ in single quotation marks. However, no such distinguishing punctuation was used in the National Post..

13a   Wretch has bad first spill (8)

A spill^[4] (not a British term, but nevertheless a word that was unknown to me) is a splinter of wood or strip of twisted paper with which pipes, fires, etc., are lit. On the other hand, blighter^[5] is a British term (that I did happen to know) meaning a person who is regarded with contempt, irritation, or pity.

15a & 16a   Nothing confused Dora after tribal dance that has everyone going round in circles (7,4)

Although the meaning of the solution is quite obvious, the search for an actual source for the definition had me going around in circles. Oxford Online gave orbital road as one meaning for orbital, but did not define orbital road. Searches in other potential online sources led to entries for synonyms without any actual mention of the term that I was looking for. Finally, I found it in the big red book (The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition). An orbital road is a road which goes round the outside of a town. According to Wikipedia, it is a European term^[7]. In Britain (as well as Canada), it might also be called a ring road, while in the US it might be known as a beltway or loop.

20a   Geek endeared off and on (4)

My interpretation is that one turns the odd letters off and the even letters on in the second word of the clue to get eNdEaReD.

21a   About time records reflected feature on churches (7)

It took me for ever to see the wordplay despite having found the correct solution. The records are LPs which must be spelled out as EL PEES. Wrap this about T (time) and reverse the whole lot (reflected) produces STEEPLE, a feature on churches.

Note: Chambers (The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition) sometimes lists words that seem to appear in no other dictionary, or if they do, to include meanings which are found nowhere else. Such is the case with the following entry:

elpee /el-pē'/ (inf) n a long-playing record, a phonetic representation of LP.

25a   Go without sleeveless jumpers which may amount to gaudy tat (8)

Here sleeveless indicates to remove the outside letters of JUMPERS. It helps to think of a sleeve as a case into which an object or device fits, rather than as a part of a garment. In Britain, a jumper^[5] is a knitted garment typically with long sleeves, worn over the upper body (in North American terms, a sweater). What we would call a jumper, the Brits would call a pinafore (a collarless sleeveless dress worn over a blouse or jumper [i.e., sweater]). Thus if a British lass wore a pinafore over her jumper and a North American girl wore a jumper over her sweater, they would be dressed identically. Tat^[5] is British slang for tasteless or shoddy clothes, jewellery, or ornaments while trumpery^[5] is an archaic word meaning attractive articles of little value or use.

29a   Counterpart of grotesque abridged Gorey tale (5,3)

The clue may be a reference to Edward Gorey^[7] (1925 – 2000) who was an American writer and artist noted for his macabre illustrated books. Of possible interest to crossword fans might be:

The Curious Sofa^[7]  is a classic 1961 book by Edward Gorey, published under the pen name Ogdred Weary (an anagram). The book is a "pornographic illustrated story about furniture" (according to the cover). According to reviews, there is nothing overtly sexual in the illustrations, although innuendos (and strategically deployed urns and tree branches) abound. The New York Times Book Review described it as "Gorey’s naughty, hilarious travesty of lust". Gorey has stated that he intended to satirise Story of O.

31a   One who has lost faith in a Post Office propped up by government (8)

Again today, we have a clue that was born to be a down clue but is trying to masquerade as an across clue. "Propped up by" can serve as a charade indicator in a down clue because the first three letters (APO) sit on top of the last five (STATE). However, this construct does not work in an across clue.

4d   Elegant Angus? (4)

Neat^[5] is an archaic word meaning either a bovine animal or cattle.

11d   Less labyrinthine Le Carré novel (7)

John Le Carré^[4]  is the pen name of David John Moore Cornwell, a British author of espionage novels, whose best known work is the novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963).

14d   Rare bird — don’t mention it in Hamburg in front of sailors (7)

The Royal Navy^[5] (abbreviation: RN) is the British navy. A quick search did not turn up any evidence that the bittern is especially rare, but perhaps it is.

17d   A tinker around with broken-down Polo perhaps (8)

The Volkswagen Polo^[7]  is a supermini car (subcompact) manufactured by Volkswagen. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon [sedan], coupé and estate [station wagon] variants. To the best of my knowledge this model is not marketed in North America.

18d & 27d   Clement and La Frenais’s impudence producing inadvertent bloomer (8,4)

Somehow I managed to find the correct solution despite never having heard of either gentleman mentioned in the clue. Sir Clement Freud^[7] (1924 – 2009) was an English broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. Ian La Frenais^[7] is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement.Together the two have produced the screenplays for a number of well known British television series as well as several  films. The misdirection in the clue is that British readers will recognize the association of the names Clement and La Frenais (in the same way that Rodgers and Hammerstein would be linked). Unfortunately, the clue would undoubtedly be meaningless to most readers in North America. Bloomer^[5] is dated British slang for a serious or stupid mistake.

19d   Stupid! (8)

Well the above isn't entirely clueless, as the definition part of the clue is present! Based on Big Dave's review, the question mark (Stupid?) that appeared in Britain transformed into an exclamation point during the Atlantic crossing.

23d   Beer bores nursing last of ale — this might be a reflex (6)

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)^[7]  is an independent voluntary consumer organisation based in St Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub. It is now the largest single-issue consumer group in the UK.

Real ale^[7]  is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1973 for a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide". The heart of the definition is the maturation requirements. If the beer is unfiltered, unpasteurised and still active on the yeast, it is a real beer; it is irrelevant whether the container is a cask or a bottle. If the yeast is still alive and still conditioning the beer, it is "real".

24d   Seem appropriate to live somewhere near Brighton (6)

Hove^[7]  is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove.

References: 
^[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)

Signing off for today - Falcon