Thursday, November 15, 2012 - DT 26959

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26959
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, August 31, 2012
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26959]
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 completed most of this puzzle early Thursday morning, then set it aside while I prepared the review of Wednesday's puzzle and attended to several other matters. When I finally managed to find time to pick it up again, the remaining clues — which had seemed so intractable earlier — suddenly fell into place with relative ease.

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   Bridge? It could be pontoon (4,4)

This clue is a double definition. However, I am not quite sure how to treat the phrase "it could be". This phrase could be appended to the word "bridge", it could be prefixed to the word "pontoon", or perhaps one might consider it to be merely a link phrase.

Pontoon^[5], in addition to meaning a flat-bottomed boat or hollow metal cylinder used with others to support a temporary bridge or floating landing stage, may also be the name of such a bridge or landing stage itself. Furthermore, in Britain, pontoon^[5] is (2) another name for the card game blackjack or vingt-et-un ⇒ he got me to go into his room for a hand of pontoon or (2) a hand of two cards totalling 21 in pontoon.

9a   Killed, as one may be in a dodgem car! (6,3)

In Britain, dodgem car^[5] is another name for bumper car^[5].

12a   New recruits in army only half eager (6)

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

13a   Barrier behind which is a river with two ducks and a wild beast (8)

A wallaroo^[5] is a large stocky kangaroo found in hilly country in Australia. In cricket, a duck^[5] is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] ⇒ he was out for a duck. In cryptic crossword puzzles, duck is used to indicate the letter "O" based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter.

23a   Astronaut will make Mars finally, given speed, right? (6)

A spacer^[5] is a person who travels in outer space. Spacers^[7] were the fictional first humans to emigrate to space in Isaac Asimov's Foundation and related Robot and Empire series.

26a   Yellow particle that may be seen in the night sky (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.

Orion^[5] is a conspicuous constellation (the Hunter), said to represent a hunter holding a club and shield. It lies on the celestial equator and contains many bright stars, including Rigel, Betelgeuse, and a line of three that form Orion’s Belt. In Greek mythology, Orion was a giant and hunter who was changed into a constellation at his death.

29a   One god joining the cricket side that has lots of gods (8)

A pantheon^[5] is (1) all the gods of a people or religion collectively ⇒ the deities of the Hindu pantheon or (2) especially in ancient Greece and Rome, a temple dedicated to all the gods. In Greek mythology, Pan^[5] is a god of flocks and herds, typically represented with the horns, ears, and legs of a goat on a man’s body.

In cricket, the on^[5] (also called the on side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. Another term for this side of the field is the leg side^[5] (also called just the leg). Thus the phrase "the cricket side" in the clue refers to "the on".

2d   Give up area of responsibility (5)

Used as a verb, remit^[5] may mean to cancel or refrain from exacting or inflicting (a debt or punishment) ⇒ the excess of the sentence over 12 months was remitted. Thus to give up or abandon a claim would be to remit it. As noun, remit is a chiefly British term meaning the task or area of activity officially assigned to an individual or organization ⇒ the committee was becoming caught up in issues that did not fall within its remit.

4d   Catastrophe coming up brings low spirits (4)

In his review, Gazza makes reference to Private James Frazer^[5], a fictional Home Guard platoon member and undertaker in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. He is noted for the phrase "we're doomed!" and "Rubbish!".

7d   About to join new church, always needing to join in respectful worship (9)

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.

8d   Grease rope to keep everything secure (6)

It may not be a usage that I am familiar with, but it obviously can't be a Briticism, since The American Heritage Dictionary lists one meaning of tow^[3] as a rope or cable used in towing. Most North Americans will probably recognize Gazza's reference to boot^[5] as meaning the trunk^[5] of a car.

14d   Maiden being dressed in coarse cloth as an abusive punishment? (8)

In cricket, a maiden^[5], also known as a maiden over, (abbreviation M)^[5] is an over in which no runs are scored. An over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

16d   Experimental spin in cricket match leading to attacking shot? (4,5)

More cricket terminology, in both the clue and Gazza's hint. In the solution, we get two cricket terms — test and drive. A Test (short for Test match)^[5] is an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries ⇒ the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies. In cricket, as in baseball and other ball games, a drive is a forceful stroke made with a free swing of the bat, racket, or foot against the ball ⇒ a hard drive to left field [interesting that Oxford chooses to use what appears to be baseball imagery in this usage example]. In the clue itself, we find spin^[5] which in cricket means (with reference to a ball) to move or cause to move through the air with a revolving motion ⇒ (i) [no object] the ball spun in viciously; (ii) [with object] they had to spin the ball wide. Finally, we have Gazza referring to the covers which is an area of the [cricket] field consisting of cover point and extra cover ⇒ deliveries pitching outside leg stump are pounded through the covers. Cover point^[5] is (1) a fielding position a little in front of the batsman on the off side and halfway to the boundary or (2) a fielder at cover point. Extra cover^[5] is (1) a fielding position between cover point and mid-off but further from the wicket or (2) a fielder at extra cover.

You will surely have noticed that these definitions have, in turn, introduced a whole slew of additional cricket terms (leg stump, batsman, off side, boundary, mid-off, and wicket). Finding definitions for those terms, dear readers, shall be your homework assignment, should you choose to accept it.

19d   A GB dog no longer needs this excess freedom (7)

In Great Britain, dog licensing was abolished in 1987. Prior to this dog licences^[7] were mandatory, but the requirement was widely ignored, with only about half of owners having one.

21d   Notice university lecturer's supplementary items (3-3)

A don^[10] is a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.

25d   Twelve people endlessly stuck on a Scottish island (4)

Jura^[5] is an island of the Inner Hebrides, north of Islay and south of Mull, separated from the west coast of Scotland by the Sound of Jura.

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