Wednesday, March 28, 2012 - DT 26760

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26760
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, January 12, 2012
Setter Unknown (but possibly Petitjean)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26760]
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 hope that my electronic assistants took full advantage of their day off yesterday to rest up well, because today their services were needed early and often. When I saw that Big Dave had awarded the puzzle four stars for difficulty, I was quite pleased to have finished the puzzle - even though I needed extensive help from my Tool Chest.

Meet the Setter

Some at Big Dave's Crossword Blog suspect that today's puzzle may have been compiled by Petitjean. If so, here is what Crossword Who's Who has to say about today's setter:

John Pidgeon, born in Carlisle on March 1st 1947, is a journalist, author, music historian, radio producer and comedy executive. He sets crosswords for the Telegraph, including Toughies as Petitjean.

John was brought up in a village in Buckinghamshire, where he attended the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, his time there overlapping with Ian Dury and Roger Scruton. He studied French at the University of Kent and postgraduate Film Studies at the Slade School. As a music journalist in the 1970s, John contributed to Let It Rock, New Musical Express, Melody Maker and Time Out, and wrote books about Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton.

After several years of making documentaries and special programmes for Capital Radio and BBC Radio 1, he was approached in 1999 by the BBC to run Radio Entertainment, which he did for six years, nurturing Dead Ringers, Flight of The Conchords, Little Britain and The Mighty Boosh during his time in charge. He was appointed a Fellow of the Radio Academy in 2003 and chaired the Perrier Panel in Edinburgh in 2005.

John's tongue-in-cheek Guardian article, Clued to the Past, lamenting the lack of up-to-date cultural reference in cryptic crosswords, caused a stir in some cruciverbalist quarters in 2009.

Wikipedia entry for John Pidgeon

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.

11a   Same three notes restricting Lemmy’s debut after Motörhead ruckus (5)

Motörhead are an English rock band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter Ian Fraser Kilmister, known mainly by his stage name Lemmy, who has remained the sole constant member. The band is often considered a precursor to or one of the earliest members of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The clue, as published in the National Post, includes the umlaut over the second 'o' in Motörhead which is missing from the clue on Big Dave's site (which I presume is because it was also missing on the DT website).

15a   Nan usually cooked in this tatty cap and back-to-front jumper (7)

In the surface reading, the Brits would likely see Nan^[5] as an informal term for one's grandmother. In the cryptic reading, nan^[5] is a term from Indian cookery, being a type of leavened bread, typically of teardrop shape and traditionally cooked in a clay oven. I initially failed to see this, likely because I always use the alternative spelling naan.

17a   Spiv putting the squeeze on uninhibited Irish sightseer (7)

In British slang, a spiv^[5] is a man, typically a flashy dresser, who makes a living by disreputable dealings. In the UK, a tout^[5] is a person who buys up tickets for an event to resell them at a profit - a scalper^[5] in North American parlance.

18a    Sartre novel about ordinary hot day (7)

An extremely hot day might be described colloquially as a roaster^[2].

20a   Dealer with six no trumps noting East’s reluctant leads (7)

Big Dave gives one explanation for the solution to this clue. It could also be explained as 'this dealer in wine is derived from the Roman numerals for six followed by the abbreviation for no trumps (from bridge) and the initial letters (leads) of three words in the clue'. Of course, in the end, it all amounts to the same result.

23a   Contrary characters caught in downpour — my concept of Wales (5)

Cymru^[5] is the Welsh name for Wales.

26a   Police retiree in honey-trap (5)

Sting^[7] (born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist, actor and philanthropist. Prior to starting his solo career, he was the principal songwriter, lead singer and bassist of the rock band The Police.

4d   You are said to support a fellow enthusiast (7)

Mate^[5] is an informal British term (1) for a friend or companion • my best mate Steve or (2) used as a friendly form of address between men or boys • ‘See you then, mate.’

5d   Not completely true batting partner once put on performance (7)

In cricket, in^[5] (used as a predicate adjective) means batting • which side is in?

6d   Capri for one is left- and right-hand drive (4)

The surface reading is surely intended to make us think of an automobile.

Ford Capri^[7] was a name used by the Ford Motor Company for three different automobile models. The Ford Consul Capri coupé was produced by Ford of Britain between 1961 and 1964. The Ford Capri coupé was produced by Ford of Europe from 1969 to 1986. The Ford/Mercury Capri convertible was produced by the Ford Motor Company of Australia from 1989 to 1994.

The Capri name was also used by Ford's Lincoln-Mercury Division on six different models which did not bear the Ford name. The Lincoln Cosmopolitan Capri from 1950 to 1951; the Lincoln Capri from 1952 to 1959; the Mercury Comet Capri in 1966-1967; and three different generations of Mercury Capris from 1970 to 1994.

8d   Should one go commando under these? (6,8)

Going commando^[7] is the practice of not wearing underwear under one's outer clothing. The term is theorized to be related to the much earlier term "going regimental", which refers to wearing the kilt military style, that is, without underwear.

Combat trousers^[5] (which I suspect may be a British expression) are loose trousers with large patch pockets halfway down each leg, typically made of hard-wearing cotton. They would seem to be very similar - if not identical - to cargo pants^[5]. The entry in Collins English Dictionary shows that the latter may be called either cargo pants or cargo trousers^[10]. The British dictionaries give no indication that the term cargo pants is not used in the UK. That is somewhat surprising to me as the word pants in Britain refers to underwear, and not to trousers as it does in North America.

16d   Narrow escape from ultimate heaven on earth in centre of Leamington Spa (4,5)

Royal Leamington Spa^[7], commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe around 1797.

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