Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - DT 26928

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26928
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, July 26, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26928]
Big Dave's Review Written By Digby
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

As you can see from the graph above, my electronic assistants got called into action early today and were used often and extensively. I was therefore relieved to see that Digby awarded this puzzle five stars for difficulty — a rating I do not recall having seen on any previous occasion. The Brits found this puzzle difficult, and I would say that it is doubly difficult for anyone on this side of the Atlantic given the large number of British terms which it contains.

I did eventually complete the puzzle, but I spent so much time in doing so that I had to leave the writing of the review to the morning — and it seems to have consumed even more time than did the original solving of the puzzle.

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.

7a   Blair finally dragged into his old school in chains (7)

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair^[7] attended Fettes College^[7], an independent [private, in North American terms] boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland.

8a   Judicial examiner getting gold returned — he may be happy to go on record (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.

11a   Dispute among characters in ‘Flaubert’s Parrot’ (4)

Flaubert's Parrot^[7] is a novel by Julian Barnes which recites amateur Flaubert expert Geoffrey Braithwaite's musings on his subject's life, and his own, as he tracks a stuffed parrot that once inspired the great author.

According to Collins English Dictionary, spar^[4] may mean (as a verb) to to dispute or argue or (as a noun) an argument or wrangle.

12a   Without her Olympic chief’s not in short articulate (8)

Without^[5] is used in the archaic or literary sense of outside ⇒ the barbarians without the gates. Sir Sebastian Coe^[7], Baron Coe, KBE, formally styled Rt. Hon. Lord Coe, is a British former middle-distance runner and politician. He headed the successful London bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and became chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

14a   Loathsome one of the Smiths less than tuneful (6)

Mel Smith^[7] is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.

15a   Peanuts that may get scattered around Dorking? (11)

Dorking^[7] is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately 21 miles (34 km) south of London, in Surrey, England. More to the point, the Dorking^[7] is a breed of chicken that is believed to have originated in Italy during the period of the Roman Empire and was introduced in Britain at the time of the Roman conquest making it one of the oldest English breeds.

19a   Succeeded with identical-sounding follow-up (6)

I must admit that I failed to fully understand the wordplay which is S (succeeded) + (with) EQUEL {sounds like (sounding) EQUAL (identical)}.

The S in the solution comes from succeeded^[2] (abbreviation s.^[10]) used in the sense of to have taken up a position, etc, following on from someone else ⇒ (i) The Queen succeeded her father; (ii) She succeeded to the throne.

20a   On reflection most of Etna is uneven and alien (8)

The solution is reversed (on reflection) and hidden (most of) in EtNA IS UNEVen.

23a   She’s picked on Conservative leader in articles in Germany, Spain and France (10)

Der^[8] is a form of the German definite article (used in any of several declensions), el^[8] is the masculine, singular form of the Spanish definite article, and le^[8] is the masculine singular form of the French definite article. Pantomime^[5], mentioned by Digby in his review, is a British theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas.

25a         Dicky reviles fawning (7)

Dicky^[10] is British slang meaning (1) in bad condition or (2) shaky, unsteady, or unreliable ⇒ I feel a bit dicky today.

26a         Uproar about student love affair (7)

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.

3d   A smallholder ultimately practised kind of farming (6)

In Britain, a smallholder^[10] is someone who owns or runs a smallholding^[10], a holding of agricultural land smaller than a small farm.

Arable farming^[10] is the growing of arable crops. As an adjective, arable means (1) with respect to land, being or capable of being tilled for the production of crops or (2) of, relating to, or using such land ⇒ arable farming. As a noun, arable^[10] means arable land or farming.

From the foregoing convoluted sequence of circular definitions, I conclude that arable farming must merely be the growing of crops as opposed to the raising of livestock.

4d           Disaster immediately on the news (5-3)

Both The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition^[1] and Collins English Dictionary^[10] show the spelling of the solution as right off (not hyphenated) with the meaning being given respectively as "without delay" and "immediately; right away".

While researching this phrase, I noticed that the Oxford Dictionary of English and Collins English Dictionary appear to disagree somewhat on the expression right off the bat. Each provides two senses for the term, with Oxford characterising both senses as North American and Collins characterising only one as North American. The former states that right off the bat^[5] is a North American expression meaning (1) at the very beginning or (2) straight away ⇒ I managed to have a disagreement with him right off the bat. On the other hand, the latter has right off the bat^[10] meaning (1) as the first in a series or to begin with [not characterising it as North American] or (2) a US or Canadian term meaning immediately or without hesitation.

5d           Belligerence stands out in uppity oaf (10)

The "uppity oaf" is a SLOB with uppity serving as a reversal indicator in this down clue. Bolshiness is British slang meaning an attitude that is deliberately combative or uncooperative (derived from the adjective bolshie) ⇒ policemen with bolshie attitudes.

6d   The Flying Horse’s soft sausage rolls lacking original character (7)

Here "original character" refers to the first letter of the alphabet and not to the first letter of a word in the clue.

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either soft or quiet (as an adjective) or softly or quietly (as an adverb).

The clue may refer to the Flying Horse Inn^[7], a former public house (pub) in Nottingham, England which was established around 1483. In Greek mythology, Pegasus^[7] is a winged divine horse that was captured by the Greek hero Bellerophon. Pegasus allows the hero to ride him to defeat a monster, the Chimera, before realizing many other exploits. His rider, however, falls off his back trying to reach Mount Olympus. Zeus transformed him into the constellation Pegasus and placed him up in the sky.

13d         Sweeping hit for six nothing short of vexatious, eh? (10)

The definition is "sweeping" and the wordplay is an anagram (hit for six) of {VEXATI[o]US EH with the O (nothing) deleted (short)}. To hit (or knock) someone for six^[5] is an informal British expression meaning to utterly surprise or overcome someone. It is an allusion to a forceful hit that scores six runs in cricket (a ball hit such that it carries beyond the boundary of the playing field in the air).

16d         Parky’s visit creating unexpected buzz (4,4)

In the surface reading, parky^[5] (or parkie) is British slang for a park keeper^[10] who, in Britain, is an official employed by a local authority to patrol and supervise a public park. In the cryptic reading, parky^[5] is British slang for chilly ⇒ it was parky on Bradfield Moors last week.

17d   Dense Romeo overwhelmed with uncontrolled desire (7)

Serried^[10] means in close or compact formation ⇒ serried ranks of troops. Romeo^[5] is a code word representing the letter R, used in radio communication.

24d   Alpha male with chronic fatigue syndrome turning up for work (4)

ME^[5] is the abbreviation for myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as myalgic encephalopathy), another term for chronic fatigue syndrome. Emma^[7] (first published in 1815) is a novel by Jane Austen.

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