Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - DT 26940

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26940
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, August 9, 2012
Setter Petitjean (John Pidgeon)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26940]
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

I was far more successful with today's three star degree of difficulty puzzle (as rated by Gazza) than I was with yesterday's two star puzzle (so rated by Big Dave).

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.

5a   Tears shed before Tevez finally makes substitute (6)

Carlos Tévez^[7] is an Argentine professional footballer [soccer player] who plays as a forward for English club Manchester City. The incident to which Gazza refers in his review is covered at some length in the afore referenced Wikipedia article. On 27 September 2011, Tévez was named as a substitute for City's game at Bayern Munich. City manager Roberto Mancini claims that Tévez refused to come on as a substitute in the second half, when City was 2–0 down to the German club, although Tévez denies this and calls it a misunderstanding. The incident led to suspensions, internal club investigations, fines, and attempts to trade Tévez. However, after failing to secure a transfer, Tévez eventually returned to Manchester City.

My interpretation is that the word shed^[5] is used in the British sense of to accidentally allow (something) to fall off or spill ⇒ a lorry [truck] shed its load of steel bars. Thus if the letters comprising the word TEARS were to fall off the back of a truck, they might land in such a way as to form the pattern ERSAT.

8a  Cheryl’s regulation salad (8)

Cheryl Cole^[7] is an English recording artist, songwriter, dancer and model. Unfortunately, I have never made her acquaintance.

10a  One of four players with some flair in golf (5)

Richard Starkey, known by his stage name Ringo Starr^[7], is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles.

13a  He’s left to invest independent capital (8)

While the 's is a contraction for is in the surface reading, it changes its function to become a contraction for has in the cryptic reading. In this altered role, it serves as a charade indicator. Thus, the wordplay is HE (from the clue) + (has) L (left) + SINK (to invest) + I (independent).

14a  Row with the French causing anger (6)

Le^[8] is the masculine singular form of the French definite article.

17a  After end of concert run out of time to get something to drink (3)

On cricket scorecards, R^[5] appears as an abbreviation for run(s).

20a  Wader at cove is floundering (6)

The avocet^[7] is not a bird with which I am familiar, likely due to it not being native to eastern North America. There are four species of this wading bird, which are native to Europe and parts of Asia, western North America, Australia, and South America respectively.

23a  In relating to vision artist is prophetic (8)

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[5]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

26a  Outline faintly in umber a tad carelessly (9)

The solution is a new word to me, although I did manage to decipher it from the anagram and some of the checking letters. Adumbrate^[5] means to represent in outline  ⇒ Hobhouse had already adumbrated the idea of a welfare state or indicate faintly  ⇒ the walls were only adumbrated by the meagre light.

28a  Personal magnetism low around outskirts of Plymouth (5)

Plymouth^[7] is a city on the south coast of Devon, England. It has long been a major seaport and naval base.

2d  Ignore extremes of lunacy without showing one’s feelings (7)

Even after concluding that BLANKLY was the the likely solution, uncertainty about the choice lingered in my mind. However, a bit of research showed that blank^[10] can mean to ignore or be unresponsive towards (someone) ⇒ the crowd blanked her for the first four numbers. I have to say that I am not familiar with this usage which is to be found at the Collins Dictionaries website but not at TheFreeDictionary.com which is based on an earlier edition of the Collins English Dictionary. Thus it may be a British expression that is of relatively recent vintage.

3d  Colleague having a small tossed lettuce. I scoffed (9)

Cos^[4] is the name by which romaine lettuce is known in Britain.

5d  He’s getting married in record time — they won’t last (8)

Unlike 13a, the 's does not change roles here. The wordplay is {HE (from the clue) + (is getting) M (married)} contained in (in) {EP (record) + ERA (time)}.

18d  Forever losing her head, Hetty cuddles short straight man (8)

Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise^[7], or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced".

27d  End up with expression of pain in response to spiteful remark (5)

Just as their masters and mistresses speak with accents that differ from those of us on this side of the Atlantic, so too do British cats. Whereas North American cats meow^[6] (Oxford American Dictionary; pronunciation: /mēˈou/), those in the UK miaow^[5] (Oxford English Dictionary; pronunciation: /mɪˈaʊ/).

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