Monday, February 6, 2012 - DT 26713

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26713
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, November 18, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26713]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
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 managed to solve most of the puzzle before calling in my electronic assistants to help finish off the southwest quadrant. We have a rare occurrence at 19d where there seem to be two equally good explanations of the wordplay which both lead to the same solution.

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   Visit Corby? That’s right out for me! (4,2)

Corby Town^[7] is a town and borough located in the county of Northamptonshire. Figures released in March 2010 revealed that Corby has the fastest growing population in both Northamptonshire and the whole of England. The town was at one time known locally as "Little Scotland" due to the large number of Scottish migrant workers who came to Corby for its steelworks.

4a   Country view, not golden (6)

Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture. In heraldry, a tincture^[5] is any of the conventional colours (including the metals and stains, and often the furs) used in coats of arms.

8a   Be the lead singer in something Alice would wear? (8)

An Alice band^[2] (which would seem to be a British expression) is a wide hair-band of coloured ribbon or other material, worn flat round the head [as Alice wore in the illustrations by Tenniel to Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1872)].

10a   Recipe has famous cake-maker taking more risks (6)

Jane Asher^[7] is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.

12a   Instrument, one a bit rum when played (10)

Rum^[5] is a dated British term meaning odd or peculiar.

16a   Almost all the singing may come from birds (12)

Gazza points out that the puzzle which appeared on the Daily Telegraph website employed a different clue (but giving the same solution):

• 16a   They sing, having evening at home with good beers (12)

We have been presented with the clue that appeared in the printed edition of the Daily Telegraph.

20a   Times for new doctors to march in? (6,4)

A degree day^[5] is a day on which academic degrees are formally awarded. Whereas this definition showed up in most of the British dictionaries that I consulted, but in none of the American ones, I think it fairly safe to assume that it is a British usage. I am familiar with the other meaning for degree day, a unit used to determine the heating requirements of buildings, representing a fall of one degree below a specified average outdoor temperature for one day.

1d   Revolution fighter’s recruit from a corner of England (8)

Cheshire^[7] (also known as the County Palatine of Chester, and archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. Apart from the large towns along the River Mersey and the historic city of Chester, it is mostly rural, with a number of small towns and villages that support an agricultural industry. It is historically famous as a former principality and for the production of Cheshire cheese, salt, bulk chemicals, and woven silk.

2d   Electronic device, kind seen above motorway (5)

In Britain, a motorway (abbreviation M)^[5] is a dual-carriageway road^[5] (in North American parlance, a multi-lane divided highway) designed for fast traffic, with relatively few places for joining or leaving.

The Great Britain road numbering scheme^[7] is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, with a length of between 1 and 4 digits. Two schemes exist; one for roads of motorway standard (and classification), and another for non-motorway roads. Motorways are identified by the prefix M, and non-motorway roads by the prefixes A, B, C, D and U (unclassified).

The scheme applies only to England, Scotland and Wales. Alternative systems are used in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and Jersey, Channel Islands.

7d   Getting on a gee-gee, a German gets stuck (6)

Children in the UK - and bettors at British racetracks - commonly refer to a horse as a gee-gee^[5]. The term was originally a child's word, a reduplication of gee^[5], a command to a horse to go faster.

15d  Student has drink outside pub after end of swatting (8)

In the UK, swot or swat^[2] means to study hard and seriously (i.e., to cram). While Chambers and Collins both accept the latter spelling of this word, Oxford does not, cautioning in a rather pointed manner:

Do not confuse swat with swot. Swat means 'hit something with a flat object' ( he swatted some flies buzzing around him), whereas swot means 'study hard' ( kids swotting for GCSEs) or 'a person who studies hard'.

18d   Number starting a commotion — more ultimately joining in, more revolting (7)

Here is another case where the clue published in the National Post differs from the one that appeared on the Daily Telegraph website - albeit in a fairly trivial fashion. I would hazard a guess that the clue as we saw it also appeared in the printed edition of the Daily Telegraph, although no one on Big Dave's Blog makes mention of this. The clue, as it appeared on the DT website, began with the word "Large ...":

• 18d  Large number starting a commotion — more ultimately joining in, more revolting (7)

The only explanation that I can conjure up for the change would be a last minute decision on the part of the editor that "number" might call for 'NO' rather than 'N'.

19d   Overfussy schoolmaster perhaps putting boy into huff (6)

This clue seems to have two equally viable solutions. Gazza interpreted the wordplay as ED (boy) contained in PANT (huff) [where huff^[5] is a verb meaning to blow out air loudly on account of exertion]. Ed Balls^[7], mentioned by Gazza in his hint, is a British Labour politician.

I, on the other hand, found a different boy lurking in the solution with the wordplay being DAN (boy) contained in PET (huff) [where huff^[5] is a noun meaning a fit of petty annoyance]. From comments posted at Big Dave's site, I see that I am far from being alone in this interpretation.

21d   Music composition test ends with fine arrangement (5)

Although I found the correct solution, I was at a loss as to the wordplay. In the UK, an MOT^[5] (or MOT test) is a compulsory annual test for safety and exhaust emissions of motor vehicles of more than a specified age [the term originates from the abbreviation of Ministry of Transport, which introduced the original test].

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)

Signing off for today - Falcon