Friday, August 3, 2012 - DT 26871

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26871
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, May 21, 2012
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26871]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26870 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, May 19, 2012.

Introduction

I certainly must have been tuned to the right wavelength today, as I sped fairly quickly through this puzzle. My favourite clue was 21a (which happens to be Libellule's choice as well). The misdirection is outstanding as the nature of the "warning" is totally unexpected when juxtaposed with the word "earthquake". Also the anagram indicator and fodder are so well-concealed that one would hardly suspect that the clue even contains an anagram. I had the correct solution to 5d but did not understand the wordplay as I am not familiar with the expression used there — even though it is seemingly not a particularly British one.

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.

9a   Detectives in US agency, retired but sharp (6)

Here, a group of British detectives is embedded in a US spy agency that is clearly going backwards. In Britain, the the detective division of a police force is known as the Criminal Investigation Department (or CID)^[10]. The Central Intelligence Agency (or CIA)^[10] is a federal US bureau created in 1947 to coordinate and conduct espionage and intelligence activities.

10a   How a bright idea may come to you? (2,1,5)

The answer just popped into my head the moment I read the clue.

19a   Iron man? More deadly, Kipling said (6)

"The Female of the Species" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling originally published in 1911. The allusion in the clue is to a statement found in the final stanza of the poem.

And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.

24a   Agent gets upset with point in dispute (6)

I questioned whether "dispute" means negate. Perhaps the word negate^[3,4] has a different range of meaning in the UK than it does in North America. Collins English Dictionary says that it can mean to deny or contradict^[4] — which seems to suggest that it means to raise an objection to (i.e., dispute) some statement or decision, and thus would satisfy the clue. However, the meaning given in the American Heritage Dictionary is to rule out or deny^[3] — which seems to suggest the idea of actually reversing a decision or course of action, rather than merely raising an objection.

2d   Did some stealing — arrested (6)

Here we have a double definition that uses two different British slang meanings to clue the answer. Nick^[5] can mean to steal • she nicked fivers from the till or it can mean to arrest (someone) • Stuart and Dan got nicked for burglary. Nick can also mean a police station • he was being fingerprinted in the nick or a prison • he’ll end up in the nick for the rest of his life.

Thus if you nick fivers in Britain, you might get nicked by a bobby (police officer) and hauled off to the nick. A judge might then sentence you to do time in the nick (unless a last minute intervention by your attorney gets you off in the nick of time).

5d   Forgot production lines (5,2)

I wasn't familiar with the expression dry up^[3,4] meaning to stop talking or speaking, although it is found in both British and American dictionaries. However, DRIED UP was the only thing I could think of that fit the checking letters. Thus the setter is observing that if an actor in a stage production were to forget his lines, he would dry up.

6d   Instinct for money in the market (5)

The money needed here is the pound^[5] (also pound sterling) which is the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence.

8d   Enthusiastic, still supporting City (8)

The surface reading of the clue suggests a fan of Manchester City F. C.^[7], an English Premier League football [soccer] club based in Manchester. However, "City" is actually a reference to The City (defined below) and the setter uses it as a surrogate for the EC postcode area (postcode being the British equivalent of the Canadian postal code or American zip code).

The City^[5] is (1) short for the City of London or (2) the financial and commercial institutions located in the City of London • (i) the Budget got a stony reception from the City; (ii) [as modifier] a City analyst. Note that the City of London^[5] is not the city of London, but merely the part of London situated within the ancient boundaries and governed by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation^[5] (which, in Britain, is a group of people elected to govern a city, town, or borough • the City of London Corporation).

The EC (Eastern Central) postcode area^[7] (also known as the London EC postcode area) is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes almost all of the City of London as well as parts of several other London Boroughs.

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