Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - DT 26976

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26976
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, September 20, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26976]
Big Dave's Review Written By Pommers
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

Today's setter employs a rarely seen grid, one with only 26 entries — which, in my experience, is the smallest number of entries that ever appears in a puzzle. As for my experience with the puzzle, I certainly seemed to have been tuned to the right wavelength today as I managed to finish unaided.

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.

7a   Key impression made around motorway north (7)

The M1^[7] is a north–south motorway (multi-lane controlled access highway) in England connecting London to Leeds.

8a   Old Chancellor with very regal character at all events (7)

Geoffrey Howe^[7] served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (a post roughly equivalent to our Minister of Finance) from 1979 to 1983 in the Conservative government of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

By tradition, the ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs use initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus the cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

At all events^[5] is a variant of the expression in any event (the latter being the version with which I am familiar).

14a   A dope clearly disheartened in business (6)

Gen^[5] is British slang for information ⇒ you’ve got more gen on him than we have.

19a   Beam and bloody equipment having to be put back (6)

In his review, Pommers makes mention of Irn-Bru^[7] (originally named Iron Brew) which is a Scottish carbonated soft drink produced by A.G. Barr of Glasgow. In addition to being sold throughout the United Kingdom, Barr's Irn-Bru is available throughout the world and can usually be purchased where there is a significant community of people from Scotland. Innovative and sometimes controversial marketing campaigns have kept it as the number one selling soft drink in Scotland — and the third best selling soft drink in the UK, after Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Irn-Bru was first produced in 1901 under the name Iron Brew. In 1946, a change in laws required that the word brew be removed from the name, as the drink is not brewed. The chairman of the company came up with the idea of changing the spelling of both halves of the name, giving the Irn-Bru brand.

Irn-Bru's advertising slogans used to be 'Scotland's other National Drink', referring to whisky, and 'Made in Scotland from girders', a reference to the rusty colour of the drink.

In November 2012, A.G. Barr and Britvic (the British franchisee of PepsiCo, Inc.) announced that they will merge to create Barr Britvic Soft Drinks which will be one of Europe's largest soft drinks companies.

20a   Criminal is a sort to possess naphtha initially (8)

This is a true all-in-one (or & lit.) clue, a type of clue in which the entire clue serves both as the definition (when read one way) and as the wordplay (when interpreted in a different fashion).

22a   Student gripped by selfishness retracted amorous glance (4)

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

23a   Fair woman getting measure of horse in end possibly (4-6)

Hand^[5] is a unit of measurement of a horse’s height, equal to 4 inches (10.16 cm) [denoting the breadth of a hand, formerly used as a more general lineal measure and taken to equal three inches].

25a   Mental image of fellow worker when by yard (7)

F^[2] is the abbreviation for Fellow (of a society, etc).

26a   Lower figure in field getting plant (7)

In cricket, slip^[5] is (1) a fielding position (often one of two or more in an arc) close behind the batsman on the off side [of the field], for catching balls edged by the batsman ⇒ (i) he was caught in the slips for 32; (ii) King is at first slip or (2) a fielder at slip. In cricket, the off side^[5]  (also called simply the off) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The other side of the field is known either as the leg^[5] (also leg side) or on (also on side). Note that the slip is positioned behind the batsman. Unlike baseball, which has a 90 degree field of play, cricket has a 360 degree field of play. Thus there are fielders completely encircling the batsman.

In Britain, a cowslip^[5] would undoubtedly be seen to be a European primula (Primula veris) with clusters of drooping fragrant yellow flowers in spring, growing on dry grassy banks and in pasture. On this side of the Atlantic, readers might think of the Virginia cowslip (Mertensia virginica), a plant with blue flowers.

For some bizarre reason, Oxford Dictionaries Online (in the entry for cowslip^[5]) claims that marsh marigold is another name for the above mentioned Virginia cowslip (a blue flower). One would think that the name marigold would be sufficient to immediately suggest that it is not a blue flower. At least, Oxford gets it right in its main entry for marsh marigold^[5] where it is defined as a plant of the buttercup family which has large yellow flowers and grows in damp ground and shallow water, native to north temperate regions.

The lesson seems to be that one can't believe everything that one reads in the dictionary — even one as renowned as Oxford.

5d   Fish, perhaps? Then raw meat cooked with time running out (10)

Fortunately, the anagram was easily resolved as I had never heard of the British television personality who is the subject of the clue.

Michael Fish^[7] is a semi-retired British weather forecaster, best known for his BBC Weather television presentations, although he was actually employed by the Met Office ( the United Kingdom's national weather service).

He became infamous in the wake of the Great Storm of 1987; a few hours before the storm broke, on 15 October 1987, he said during a forecast: "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way... well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!". That evening, the worst storm to hit South East England since 1703 caused record damage and killed 18 people.

6d   Backs element in legal case (7)

As was the case for Pommers, this was also my last in. I kept pursuing wild geese, like the suspected presence of LL, from "L(ega)L case". Even after spotting the first definition, I continued my efforts to work FE (from the symbol for the chemical element iron) into the solution. I presume that the solution is one of two elements in a legal case, the other being the prosecution.

9d   On which a cross may be exhibited for those standing? (6,5)

In Britain, a slip of paper used to register a vote may be referred to as a ballot paper^[5]. In North America, more often than not, this would simply be called a ballot (which would appear to be a term commonly used in the UK as well).

13d   High street concern as a French doctor with little energy tucked into coffee (10)

In Britain, high street^[5] refers to (1) the main street of a town, especially as the traditional site for most shops, banks, and other businesses ⇒ (i) the approaching festive season boosted the high street; (ii) [in place names] Kensington High Street or (2) [as modifier] (of retail goods) catering to the needs of the ordinary public ⇒ high-street fashion. Thus, as main street is to North America, high street is to the UK.

Un^[8] is the masculine singular form of the French indefinite article.

17d   Indian tourist site appears in dull plan (7)

Agra^[7], the former capital of Hindustan, is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is undoubtedly best known as the site of the Taj Mahal.

18d   Austere figure from church stopping wine clubs (7)

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.

Asti^[7] (formerly known as Asti Spumante) is a sparkling white Italian wine that is produced throughout southeastern Piedmont but is particularly focused around the towns of Asti and Alba. Since 1993 the wine has been classified as a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) and as of 2004 was Italy's largest producing appellation.

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