Monday, December 24, 2012 - DT 26992

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26992
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26992]
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 This puzzle appears on the Dec. 24 Diversions page in the Monday, December 24, 2012 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Perhaps I'm getting overly excited in anticipation of tonight's visit from Saint Nick, or maybe I was just trying to get some festive red into the blog. In any event, I got a bit careless and found myself with one incorrect entry and one uncompleted clue when I got to Big Dave's site today.

Today's setter is not identified. It occurred to me that it might be Petitjean (John Pidgeon), but no one on Big Dave's blog has suggested that possibility.

I hope that everyone noticed that the National Post published three pages of Diversions today, so you will have something to keep you occupied until the paper next appears on Thursday.

Here's wishing everyone a ...

Very Merry Christmas

The Centre Block of Parliament decorated for Christmas

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.

11a   Top complete/incomplete? (4)

Even though I arrived at the correct solution, I could probably colour this clue a pale shade of pink for not fully comprehending the wordplay. As seems to have been the case with Libellule, I had some initial misgivings about my answer here. I am more accustomed to seeing stark^[3] used as an adverb (stark naked), but clearly it can also be an adjective, meaning complete or sheer ⇒ he came running back in stark terror.

13a   Railway buff instructs one at the wheel? (12)

To elaborate on Libellule's hint, it would be more correct to say that the wordplay describes the act (6,6) of showing someone how to make plates, jugs, vases etc.

Trainspotter^[5] is a British term for a person who collects train or locomotive numbers as a hobby. It is also often used in a derogatory sense to refer to a person who obsessively studies the minutiae of any minority interest or specialized hobby ⇒ the idea is to make the music really really collectable so the trainspotters will buy it in their pathetic thousands. 

20a   Legendary female reportedly produced song from 'West Side Story', nervously at first (4,6)

Maid Marian^[7] is the love interest of the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood.

"Maria"^[7] is a song from the Broadway musical West Side Story, sung by the male lead Tony when he learns that the name of the girl he's fallen in love with is "Maria". The music was written by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The song was published in 1956.

21a   Taken initially from large amount in bag (4)

I was stymied here by having an incorrect entry at 21d. I would also think that the rather convoluted nature of the wordplay further contributed to my downfall. The clue tells us that the initial letter of Taken must be removed from STACK (large amount) to get (in; acting as a link word) SACK (bag).

22a   Closed trunk as well (2,4)

Until it was pointed out by Libellule, the fact had escaped me that — in addition to being a preposition — to^[5] could also be an adverb meaning so as to be closed or nearly closed ⇒ he pulled the door to behind him.

In Britain, the enclosed space at the back of a car for carrying luggage or other goods in called a boot^[5]. In North America, we know it as a trunk^[5].

2d   In the process of looting, with place being abandoned (5)

The definition is "in the process of", as in under intense cross examination, she broke down and confessed

3d   Cash in study is dipped into by European (7)

In Britain, to read^[5] means to study (an academic subject) at a university ⇒ (i) I’m reading English at Cambridge; (ii) he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics.

Readies^[5] (or the ready) is British slang for available money or cash.

5d   Former winner, it's believed, maintains pressure -- and that's not all (7)

The phrase "winner, it's believed" is used to clue CERT. Cert^[5] is an informal British expression meaning (1) an event regarded as inevitable ⇒ of course Mum would cry, it was a dead cert (2) a racehorse strongly tipped to win a race or (3) a person regarded as certain to do something ⇒ the Scottish [goal]keeper was a cert to play. Here, the clue uses the second meaning.

6d   See man in charge bagging runs (9)

A see^[5] is the place in which a cathedral church stands, identified as the seat of authority of a bishop or archbishop. The "man" here is a chess piece — although it he would seem to have found himself on a cricket pitch rather than a chessboard. On cricket scorecards, one would find R^[5] employed as an abbreviation for run(s).

7d   Secure a posh carriage (6)

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective with respect to language or social behaviour meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes (U manners). The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956). Posh is often used in cryptic crosswords as a stand-in for upper class.

14d   Batting team dismissed, comprehensively (6,3)

In cricket, the batting team is said to be 'in' — in contrast to baseball, where the batting team is described as being 'up'. However, in both sports, the batting team is 'out' when dismissed.

In case you are perplexed by the game of cricket, here is a brief (but comprehensive) explanation:

CRICKET: AS EXPLAINED TO A FOREIGNER...

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.

Simple!

17d   Clergyman's written about a source of nuclear energy (7)

A vicar and a rector are both members of the clergy. In the Church of England, a vicar^[5] is an incumbent of a parish where tithes formerly passed to a chapter or religious house or layman. This is in contrast to a rector^[5], who is the incumbent of a parish where all tithes formerly passed to the incumbent. These titles have somewhat different meanings in other religious denominations.

21d   Guy eating a Malaysian dish (5)

A bit of carelessness not only did me in here, but also handicapped me on 21a. Thinking that "guy" was maty^[5], I came up with MATAY for the Malaysian dish (and foolishly neglected to check it in the dictionary). As I was to discover too late, I had the wrong guy.

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