Thursday, October 11, 2012 - DT 26929

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26929
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, July 27, 2012
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26929]
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

Today's puzzle didn't seem to be too difficult. However, judging by Gazza's difficulty rating, it may only appear to be relatively easy in comparison to yesterday's Herculean effort. While I finished without needing a great deal of electronic help, I was puzzled by the wordplay in several clues.

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.

10a   Sailor in journey coming to northern country (5)

In the Royal Navy, able seaman (abbreviation AB)^[5], is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

13a   Subject dull and hard — son comes last (5)

In Britain, the short form for mathematics is maths^[5] ([as modifier] her mother was a maths teacher), rather than math^[5] as it is in North America (she teaches math and science).

15a   Charitable effort that would patch over the hurt? (4,3)

A plaster^[5] (or sticking plaster), as mentioned by Gazza in his review, is the British name for an adhesive strip of material for covering cuts and wounds (known in North America as a band-aid^[5]).

24a  Upper-class learner beginning to bash into jolly tree (8)

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective with respect to language or social behaviour meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes (U manners). The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

28a   Cross-dresser’s instrument (5)

I failed to recognize the allusion to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in which one of the principal characters, Viola^[7], disguises herself as a man.

29a  Old lovers — they may be associated with financial claims (4)

Exes^[1] is slang for expenses — although you would probably only know that should you happen to be fortunate enough to possess a copy of the Big Red Book (The Chambers Dictionary).

4d   Complained, watercourse having flooded part of garden (7)

I hesitated to enter the solution until I verified that leat is actually a word. Leat^[5] is a British term for

an open watercourse conducting water to a mill ⇒ the Little Avon was used to feed the millpond via a half mile long leat.

In Britain, a garden^[5] is defined as a piece of ground adjoining a house, typically cultivated to provide a lawn and flowerbeds. Thus a British garden is equivalent to a North American yard, and encompasses the lawn as well as the flower beds.

7d   Attribute of disloyal type nicking gold (5)

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. Nick^[2]  is likely used in the sense of to snip (something). The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition elaborates by giving the additional meaning (not found in the online Chambers 21st Century Dictionary) of to cut off^[1].

8d   What would have two wheels with two radiuses wobbling? (10)

Upon reading Gazza's review, I discovered that what I had originally thought was some rather tenuous wordplay was, in fact, rather clever. A boneshaker is a type of old-fashioned bicycle (which "would have two wheels"). The radius^[5] is the thicker and shorter of the two bones in the human forearm. It is also a straight line from the centre to the circumference of a circle or sphere (in which case it can be abbreviated as r^[5]). Finally, "wobbling" is to be interpreted as 'having a wobble'. Thus, the wordplay is {BONE (radius) + R (radius)} containing (having a) SHAKE (wobble).

16d  A king as head of one state or another (8)

R^[5] is an abbreviation for King (from the Latin Rex).

20d   Little boy given a toss into the air is 5 (7)

In Britain, tombola^[5] is a game in which people pick tickets out of a revolving drum and certain tickets win immediate prizes, typically played at a fete or fair ⇒ (i) entrance includes a tombola and raffle; (ii) traditional games such as tombola or bingo. In the UK, a fete^[5] is a public function, typically held outdoors and organized to raise funds for a charity, including entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments ⇒ a church fete.

23d   Pipe’s narrowest part it sounds like (5)

One definition for waste^[1] given by The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition is waste pipe.

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