Monday, August 13, 2012 - DT 26878

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26878
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26878]
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
Notes This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, August 11, 2012 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

On my first read through, I was a bit disconcerted at being able to solve no more than two or three clues. However, I was able to gradually build out from those initial beachheads and, in the end, completed the puzzle without resorting to my electronic aids. I enjoyed this puzzle as it pushed me close to the limits of my solving ability without straying beyond.

Changes to the Chambers Website

I note that Chambers has revamped its website. As part of the change, the URL for all entries has changed. As a result, the multitude of links to the Chambers website contained in previous posts on my blog are now broken.

The main URL for the Chambers website , which used to be www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers, has been changed to www.chambers.co.uk. While the top-level URL www.chambersharrap.co.uk still works (seemingly taking one to the same page as www.chambers.co.uk), the URLs below it no longer work.

For those who are technically inclinded, the link (picked at random) to the entry defining the word overmatch used to be http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?query=overmatch&title=21st but has now become http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=overmatch&title=21st.

I have fixed the links appearing under the heading Tool Chest in the sidebar, as well as the link found under Key to Reference Sources at the end of the post. While the sidebar entries will now be correct even for older posts, any links to the Chambers website found within the text of older posts (including the link in Key to Reference Sources) will unfortunately be broken.

A hint as to the motive behind this change may be found at Wikipedia which says "Chambers purchased the formerly independent Harrap's in the early 1990s. ... Recently Chambers has started selling Harrap publications under the 'Chambers' imprint. It is not known whether the name 'Harrap's' will continue in use."^[7] I think we may well have the answer!!!

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   Incorporated is gold tooth (7)

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.

5a   Favourite Australian river (7)

The Darling River^[7] is the third longest river in Australia, measuring 1,472 kilometres (915 mi) from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales.

9a   Stupid duck in animated film (5)

Filling in DAFFY may not necessarily be considered stupid, but it certainly held up progress in the northwest quadrant until I twigged to the error.

In cricket, a duck^[5] is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] • he was out for a duck. In cryptic crossword puzzles, duck is used to indicate the letter "O" based on its resemblance to the number "0".

10a   George meets trendy friend at one gaudy bar (3,6)

A gin palace^[10] is an old-fashioned (seemingly British) term for a gaudy drinking house.

The only explanation that I can conjure up for using G as an abbreviation for George is that it comes from GR^[5] (Georgius Rex), the royal cipher for King George. It has always been my understanding that the use of initials for given names is permissible in cryptic crosswords only where there is some explanation for such use beyond it merely being an initial. Thus the substitutions O for Oscar and R for Romeo are permitted as Oscar^[5] and Romeo^[5] are code words representing these letters in radio communication. Also the substitution of H for Henry is based on the henry^[5] (having the abbreviation H) being a unit of inductance in physics. While, strictly speaking, henry should be written with a lower case h, the word often appears in clues with an upper case H — faulty capitalization generally being considered to be within the bounds of permissible misdirection in cryptic crosswords. Getting back to G for George, I am not aware of any explanation that would explain its use when not in combination with R.

12a   Article put in study for church dignitary (4)

A dean^[7], in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Lutheran Church. In the Church of England and elsewhere in the Anglican Communion, the dean is the chief resident cleric of a cathedral or other collegiate church and the head of the chapter of canons. If the cathedral or collegiate church has its own parish, the dean is usually also rector of the parish.

14a   German writer penning long horror story (5-7)

Friedrich Schiller (1759 – 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright.

18a   Part of magazine that could be recent? (6,6)

This clue contains a reverse anagram (i.e., the result of the anagram operation is found in the clue and the anagram indicator and fodder make up the solution to the clue, contrary to the more usual state of affairs). As a solution, we are looking for "part of magazine" (the definition) which is also something "that could be recent" (the wordplay). An anagram of CENTRE "could be RECENT" and this might be clued in a cryptic crossword as "centre spread" (which also happens to be the pair of two facing pages in the middle of a magazine)^[10].

Given that centre spread can also refer to a photograph of a nude or nearly nude woman (or man) in a magazine on such pages, I am surprised by the restraint Gazza has exercised in choosing not to illustrate this clue.

27a   Composer from Belarus met an arranger (7)

Bedřich Smetana (1824 – 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music.

28a   Once viewed old things differently (2,5)

"Once" is actually being used in the sense of 'as soon as' rather than (as the setter would try to misdirect us) 'formerly'.

3d   Misery caused by wrecks located by docks (10)

In Britain, a misery^[10] is a person who is habitually depressed • he is such a misery.

6d   Study religious education to get a degree (4)

Religious education (abbreviation RE)^[10] is a subject taught in schools in the UK which educates about the different religions of the world.

7d   A ring worn by one ‘It Girl’? (8)

In Britain, bell^[5] is used informally as a verb meaning to telephone (someone) • no problem, I’ll bell her tomorrow. SA^[5] is an abbreviation for sex appeal (deemed by Oxford to be an informal, dated usage). The expression "It" undoubtedly predates SA, but has probably aged more gracefully. "It"^[7] is a term that has come to mean sex appeal - although, in its earliest manifestation, it seems that the term pertained more to personality than to glamorous looks. Although the term had been used as early as 1904 by Rudyard Kipling, it was popularized  in the 1927 film It starring Clara Bow (who became known as the It Girl).

8d   Leaves with English novelist on railway (8)

Graham Greene^[7] (1904 – 1991) was an English author, playwright and literary critic.

16d   Companion has forty winks, we hear, following second strong drink (8)

As usual, companion indicates Companion of Honour (abbreviation CH), a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour^[7], an order of the Commonwealth realms^[7] founded by King George V in June 1917 as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion.

19d  Greedy guts putting away last of port and party food item (3,3)

Greedy guts^[10] is slang (British, I would hazard to guess) for a glutton.

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