Monday, November 19, 2012 - DT 26962

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26962
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26962]
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

The challenge today was figuring out how much of the clue was part of the definition. There were several instances in which the definition was rather verbose and I found myself trying to utilize too much of the clue as wordplay, rather than as part of the definition. Once I sorted that out, the solution was pretty straightforward.

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   Caught girl with 2/3 of diamonds -- great work (7)

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c^[5] indicates caught (by) • ME Waugh c Lara b Walsh 19.

5a   Rats on plants with long, narrow leaves (7)

In the UK, grass^[5] is used informally as a noun to denote a police informer and as a verb meaning to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ (i) [no object] someone had grassed on the thieves); (ii) [with object] she threatened to grass me up. This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper ⇒ 'copper').

13a   Pen -- the French kind (5)

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

17a   Quietly said he drew ship at sea: not hard (9)

H^[5] is the abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

19a   Newspaper absorbed by American soldier's talents (5)

The Financial Times (FT)^[7] is a British international business newspaper [which happens to be conspicuously published on pink newsprint].

22a   Pork pie eaten by an extraterrestrial (5)

More rhyming slang. Pork pie^[7] (or Porkie pie, often shortened to porkie) is Cockney rhyming slang for 'lie'.

25a   Head holds sanctimonious belief (7)

Onion^[1] is a slang term for the head (although I could find this meaning nowhere but in The Chambers Dictionary). Pi^[5] is an informal British short form for pious.

26a   Think of wise men in inn going by east and northern deserts (7)

Here "deserts" (in the cryptic reading) does not refer to regions of barren sand but is a verb meaning abandons.

27a   Mum turning less nice after leaving son (7)

Mum^[10] can be either (1) an adjective meaning silent or (2) a noun meaning silence ⇒ mum's the word.

I would infer that "leaving" is used more in the sense of abandoning rather than departing.

1d   Ring company with millions to spend (7)

Some archaic meanings of compass^[5] are (1) to go round (something) in a circular course ⇒ the ship wherein Magellan compassed the world or (2) to surround or hem in on all sides ⇒ we were compassed round by a thick fog.

5d   Shoots Europeans after article is censored (5)

Germ^[5] is used in the sense of the embryo in a cereal grain or other plant seed. In this sense, Collins English Dictionary lists sprout as a synonym for germ^[10].

6d   What bowler might be doing is attractive (9)

In the sport of cricket, an appeal^[7] is the act of a player on the fielding team asking an umpire for a decision regarding whether a batsman is out or not.

According to the Laws of Cricket, an umpire may not rule a batsman out unless the fielding side appeals. There have been occasions when a batsman has otherwise technically been out, but the fielding team neglected to appeal so the umpire did not declare them out. An appeal may be made at any point before the bowler starts his run-up for the next ball.

According to the Laws of Cricket, an appeal is a verbal query, usually in the form of, "How's that?" to an umpire. Since the taking of a wicket is an important event in the game, members of the fielding team often shout this phrase with great enthusiasm, and it has transmuted into the slightly abbreviated form, "Howzat?", often with a greatly extended final syllable. Sometimes the second syllable is omitted entirely, the player emitting an elongated cry of simply "How?"

Most players also raise their arms or point at the umpire as part of the appeal. Some players have established their own trademark appeals as well.

Although technically an appeal is required for the umpire to make a decision, in practice it is often obvious to all that a batsman is out, and the batsman may walk off the field without waiting for the decision of the umpire. This is invariably the case when a batsman is out bowled or to an obvious catch. However, the batsman is always entitled to stand his ground and wait for a decision from the umpire. In cases where he considers he might not be out, such as a catch taken low near the grass or where it is not clear if the ball hit the bat, batsmen will not take the walking option. It is then up to the fielding team to appeal for a decision. Sometimes a batsman will walk even when it is not clear to others that he is out, if in his own mind he is certain he was out; this is considered to be the epitome of sportsmanlike behaviour.

7d   Locks cleaner in Lewisham poolroom (7)

Lewisham^[7] is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated 5.9 miles (9.5 km) south-east of Charing Cross (which is considered to mark the centre of London).

17d   We will need kitchen items -- run out to get knives, maybe (7)

On cricket scorecards, one would find R^[5] employed as an abbreviation for run(s). Although it is also a baseball term, that fact was likely not a consideration for the setter.

23d   Church after evil past (5)

The Church of England (CE)^[10] is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

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