Friday, December 7, 2012 - DT 26979

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26979
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, September 24, 2012
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26979]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26978 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, September 22, 2012.

Introduction

Today, the bottom half of the puzzle succumbed to my efforts without much resistance but the top half mounted a much more significant challenge which forced me to call my electronic assistants into action. As usual, Rufus treats us to some lovely cryptic definitions — and, today, he has been very liberal with them as I counted nine in 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.

14a   Well-known bowler in scarf, perhaps, gets a duck (7,5)

Plymouth Hoe^[7] (referred to locally as the Hoe) [mentioned by Libellule in his review] is  a large south facing open public space in the English coastal city of Plymouth. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon word Hoe, a sloping ridge shaped like an inverted foot and heel. Plymouth Hoe is perhaps best known for the probably apocryphal story that Sir Francis Drake played his famous game of [lawn] bowls here in 1588 while waiting for the tide to change before sailing out with the English fleet to engage with the Spanish Armada.

18a   Strange thing, gin and bitters, for celebrated singers (12)

In Britain, bitter^[5] is beer that is strongly flavoured with hops and has a bitter taste ⇒ a pint of bitter.

21a   Women's Aid initially provided for homeless child (4)

Women's Aid^[7] is a group of feminist charities across the United Kingdom. There are four main Women's Aid Federations, one for each country. Its aim is to end domestic violence against women and children. The charity works at both local and national levels to ensure women's safety from domestic violence and promotes policies and practices to prevent domestic violence against women from occurring.

25a   There's not much to say for having it (9)

I was speechless when laryngitis did not fit.

27a   Spouse  to join  a bridge player (7)

I thought that this might be a triple definition rather than the double definition as Libellule indicates. The three definitions would be "spouse" (a noun), "to join" (a verb) and "a bridge player" (another noun).

5d   One hoping to become a winner on points (9)

In boxing, to win on points^[5] is to win by scoring more points than one’s opponent (as awarded by the judges and/or the referee) rather than by a knockout. Of course, we mustn't be taken in by that bit of misdirection.

15d   Haricot bean, for example,  not for a starter (3-6)

Both parts of this double definition (if, in fact, that is actually what this clue is intended to be) seem a bit "iffy" to me. But then, we often find at least one such clue in a Rufus puzzle.

Haricot^[5] (also haricot bean) is a chiefly British name for (1) a French bean of a variety with small white seeds or (2) the dried seed of haricot bean plants used as a vegetable (haricot^[8] also being the French word for bean).

Runner bean^[5] is a British name for what I know as the scarlet runner bean. According to Wikipedia, "In the UK, the flowers are often ignored, or treated as an attractive bonus to cultivating the plant for the beans, whereas in the US the scarlet runner is widely grown for its attractive flowers by people who would never think of eating it."^[7] In my experience, Canadians are closer to the Yanks than the Brits in their use of this plant.

I didn't find the term non-runner (as it applies to horse racing) defined in any of my dictionaries, but I did find non-runner mentioned in this context on the website of the British-based gaming company Ladbrokes.

In all horse races where a runner is withdrawn, or adjudged not to have started - and therefore been declared a Non-Runner by the starter - stakes on that selection will be refunded. (The exception to this being Ante Post bets) 

Thus, in the first part of the clue, an haricot bean is an example of a bean that is not a runner bean (i.e., a non-runner). If the second part of the clue were merely "not a starter" then I would say that would describe a "non-runner". However, the clue reads "not for a starter", so I presume that the word "starter" refers to a race official and not to the horse with the implication that a "horse not for a starter" would be one that does not "come under Starter's Orders" (or, in other words, is withdrawn prior to the start of the race) which would make it a non-runner.

On a final point, in the surface reading, I would guess that starter^[5] may be used in the chiefly British sense (but one also encountered in Canada) of the first course of a meal.

16d   Second doctor takes in present to work -- a plant (8)

An opus (abbreviation op.)^[10] is a an artistic composition, especially a musical work.

17d   Silver on recent issue, sparkling (8)

The symbol for the chemical element silver is Ag^[5]. I initially wondered whether the word "recent" was really necessary, but after a bit of thought concluded that we usually think of a litter as a number of newborn baby animals that are still nursing.

23d   Fish seems to be right in the light (5)

The bream^[5] is a greenish-bronze deep-bodied freshwater fish (Abramis brama) native to Europe.

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