Monday, November 26, 2012 - DT26968

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26968
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26968]
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 would say that Pommers may have been overly liberal in dishing out the stars for difficulty on this puzzle. Either that, or my solving skills have undergone a marked improvement.

The sharp-eyed among you may have spotted the Nina (hidden feature) in the puzzle. If not, have a very careful look at the four colourful clues to be found along the outside edges 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.

1a   Man very curious about slogan sung in fleet (8,4)

The Merchant Navy^[7] is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign (as opposed to the White Ensign used by the Royal Navy) and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). King George V bestowed the title of "Merchant Navy" on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in the First World War; a number of other nations (including Canada) have since adopted the title (the US merchant fleet, on the other hand, goes by the name Merchant Marine).

8a   Animal watering hole in which smell's appalling at first (7)

In British Irish slang, hum can be a verb meaning to smell unpleasant ⇒ when the wind drops this stuff really hums^[5,10] or (2) a noun meaning a bad smell^[2] or an unpleasant odour^[10]. The wordplay is INN (watering hole) containing (in which) {HUM (smell) + (has; the 's being a contraction for has in the cryptic reading) A (appalling at first; i.e., first letter of Appalling)}.

12a   Saw king finished in lead (7)

R^[5] is the abbreviation for Regina or Rex (Latin for queen or king, respectively). The symbol for the chemical element lead is Pb^[5].

14a   Hindu text discovered in ark, a must for translation by head of academy (4,5)

The Kama Sutra^[5] is an ancient Sanskrit treatise on the art of love and sexual technique.

16a   Advance payments required to secure audio player? The direct opposite (9)

Here, the setter has created a clue containing a bit of devious misdirection. The clue appears to utilize a fairly common clue structure in which the setter states a proposition and then follows up with a statement (such as "the direct opposite") to indicate that the we must invert the instructions given in the (false) proposition. Thus, in this clue, it would appear that the definition is "advance" and that the false proposition is "payments" containing (required to secure) "audio player". After applying the inversion, we would get "audio player" containing "payments".

However, it eventually dawned on me that such is not the case at all. The definition happens to be "the direct opposite) and the wordplay is "advance payments" containing (required to secure) "audio player".

19a   Man's lost Wings hit of long ago? (5)

Wings^[7] (also known as Paul McCartney & Wings) were a British rock group formed in 1971 by Paul McCartney with his wife Linda McCartney, session drummer Denny Seiwell and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for frequent personnel changes as well as commercial success, going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. However, the core trio of the McCartneys and Laine remained intact throughout the group's tenure.

Steve Wright in the Afternoon [mentioned by Pommers in his review] is the name of the current afternoon show on BBC Radio 2, hosted by Steve Wright. The show is one of the most popular on the station, and is often referred to as The Big Show. The show is broadcast from 14:00 until 17:00 Monday to Friday.

21a   Theft: criminal nearly caught inside (7)

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

23a   Claptrap from detective was hard to follow (7)

Eye^[1] (also private eye) is an informal term for a private detective. H^[5] is the abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil. Eyewash^[3,4] is listed in British dictionaries as being an informal term for nonsense or rubbish whereas The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as actions or remarks intended to conceal the facts of a situation.

24a   Helena's here in Piedmont, a native (7)

Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana. Piedmont^[5] is either (1) a region of NW Italy, in the foothills of the Alps or (2) a hilly region of the eastern US, between the Appalachians and the coastal plain. Helena is located in neither the Alps nor the Appalachians, but in the Rockies.

25a   Trendy type touring hospital, briefly (2,5)

"Touring" becomes a containment indicator when interpreted (literally) as meaning 'going around'.

26a   Pitching on new lawn (7,5)

Pommers tries to explain this clue in baseball terms, but the term bowling certainly does not apply there. Although he does not appear to accept pitch as a cricket term, Oxford Dictionaries Online defines pitch^[5] (with reference to a bowler) to cause (the ball) to strike the ground at a particular point ⇒ all too often you pitch the ball short.

1d   Singer, a Jackson, in pop band in Mali, performing (7)

A-ha^[7] (stylized a-ha) was a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The group initially rose to fame during the mid-1980s and had continued global success in the 1990s and 2000s.

Mahalia Jackson^[7] (1911 – 1972) was an American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel". Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as "the single most powerful black woman in the United States". She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen "golds"—million-sellers.

3d   Browbeaten ambassador knight kissed quickly (9)

HE^[2] is the abbreviation for His or Her Excellency, where Excellency^[2] (usually His, Her or Your Excellency or Your or Their Excellencies) is a title of honour given to certain people of high rank, e.g. ambassadors.

4d   Don overturned tennis call (3,2)

In the surface reading, don^[10] might be meant to refer to a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge. On the other hand, it might merely be a man's given name as there is no particular reason why an Oxford don should be intervening in the refereeing of a tennis match.

In tennis, the call "not up" indicates that a ball has bounced twice before a player was able to hit it. The rule is self-policed as we learn from the website of the United States Tennis Association, "Players call 'not up' (2 bounces) on themselves. If they do not call it on themselves, or their doubles partner does not call it, no one else can make the call".

6d   Price e.g. of outlet incorporated therein (7)

The "e.g." clearly indicates the presence of a definition by example (DBE). Vincent Price^[7] (1911 – 1993) was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic performances in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.

Incorporation^[7] is the process of forming a new corporation (a corporation being a legal entity that is effectively recognised as a person under the law). In his review, Pommers alludes to the fact that the practices concerning the naming of corporations vary around the world. In the United States, most (but not all) corporations are identified by the term "incorporated" (often shortened to Inc.) added after the business name, such as "Texas Instruments, Incorporated", or by putting the word "corporation" (often shortened to Corp.) in the name of the company, as in "Netscape Communications Corporation". In the United Kingdom, with the exception of an unlimited company or corporation which requires no designation as part of its legal company name, the titles Ltd. (limited company) or plc (public limited company) are used for corporations. Incorporated Canadian companies can generally use either Limited (Ltd.), Incorporated (Inc.) or Corporation (Corp.) in their name, however this may vary province to province. A veritable alphabet soup of abbreviations is used in other jurisdictions around the world.

7d   Station in London being supplied with choice fruit (8,4)

Victoria Station^[7] is a major railway terminus and London Underground complex located in central London. In Britain, a Victoria plum^[5] is a plum of a large red dessert variety.

10d   Excitedly watch bee and a big butterfly (7-5)

Pommers comments that " I’m not always keen on split anagram fodder but I think this one works." I would say that everything is fine as long as the "split fodder" comprises a valid charade (as is the case in this clue) with the wordplay being an anagram (excitedly) of {WATCH + BEE + (and) A + BIG}. The charade contains one explicit charade indicator (and) as well as three implicit indicators.

20d   Cavalryman, a stupid person to support Democrat as well as Republican (7)

A dragoon^[3,4] is a member of a European military unit trained and armed to fight mounted or on foot (American Heritage Dictionary) or (1) a mounted infantryman armed with a carbine or (2) a type of cavalryman (Collins English Dictionary).

Harry Secombe (mentioned by Pommers) was a member of the cast of The Goon Show^[7], a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC from 1951 to 1960. The show's chief creator and main writer was Spike Milligan. The cast consisted of Milligan together with Michael Bentine (for the first two years of the series), Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers.

22d   Long story about Spain (5)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Spain is E^[5] (from Spanish España).

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