Thursday, January 17, 2013 - DT 27013

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27013
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, November 2, 2012
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27013]
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

Today, I put out the call to action to my electronic reinforcements a bit earlier in the game than I would have wished. However, I did feel somewhat less uneasy about my efforts when I discovered that Gazza had rated the puzzle as meriting four stars for difficulty. I kicked myself especially hard for failing to solve 6d on my own but I certainly needed some extra help with 21a — having no previous knowledge of the 19^th century English educator who is the solution to the clue.

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.

10a   No performance in church for this piece of music (8)

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. In music, a nocturne^[5] is a short composition of a romantic nature, typically for piano.

13a   Thanks repeated and so long (2-2)

Ta^[5] is an informal British exclamation signifying thank you ⇒‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully. Ta-ta^[5] is a British way to say goodbye ⇒ well, I’ll say ta-ta, love.

21a   A service provided by ancient headmaster of yesteryear (6)

The Royal Navy (abbreviation RN)^[5] is the British navy. Dr Thomas Arnold^[7] (1795 – 1842) was a British educator and historian who served as headmaster of Rugby School from 1828 to 1841. My first suspect was his son, British poet Matthew Arnold^[7], who worked as an inspector of schools. Fortunately, the latter led me straight to the right person.

22a   Green crop either side of river is stuff that's wasted (8)

The Po^[5] is a river in northern Italy. Italy’s longest river, it rises in the Alps near the border with France and flows 652 km (405 miles) eastwards to the Adriatic.

26a   They may make brief drops, ending with 'takeaway' (5,2,4)

In Britain, takeaway^[5] can mean either (1) a restaurant or shop selling cooked food to be eaten elsewhere ⇒ (i) a fast-food takeaway; (ii) [as modifier] a takeaway pizza or (2) a meal or dish bought from a shop or restaurant to be eaten elsewhere ⇒ (i) he phoned for a takeaway; (ii) he is happy to eat Chinese takeaway. The equivalent North American term is takeout^[5].

1d   Unofficial act we might deduce? (7)

This is a fairly rare type of clue — one which employs what I like to call 'inverse wordplay'. In most clues, the wordplay is found in the clue itself and consists of an indicator (instructions specifying some operation to perform) and fodder (the material on which to perform the specified operation). The outcome of this operation forms either all or a part of the solution to the clue.

On the other hand, in a clue involving inverse wordplay, the outcome of a bit of wordplay is found in the clue itself — usually together with some indication that the clue involves the use of inverse wordplay (although such indication may sometimes be as minimal as a question mark). The solution to the clue will consist of (in whole or in part) a bit of wordplay (indicator plus fodder) that produces the outcome found in the clue.

In the present clue, the type of wordplay employed is an anagram. While Gazza calls it a 'reverse anagram', I prefer to use the term 'inverse anagram' (I guess that my background in mathematics is showing). First, note that the setter alerts us to the fact that the clue is somewhat out of the ordinary through the use of a question mark at the end. The word "act" is the outcome of a wordplay operation (i.e., something that we can deduce). Wordplay that might lead to the outcome ACT is "wild cat", an anagram (wild) of CAT. Thus the solution to the clue is WILDCAT, which is also an adjective meaning "unofficial" as in a 'wildcat strike'.

3d   Jealous person in political organisation (5,5)

There is an error — though very minor — in the clue as printed in the National Post.

• 3d   Jealous person in political or ganisation (5,5)

There is no hyphen to indicate that the word "organisation" has been split over two lines.

The UK, like Canada, has a Green Party — or actually, three of them. The Green Party of England and Wales^[7] (GPEW) is a political party in England and Wales. It was created in 1990 when the former UK Green Party, which itself had grown out of the 1970s’ PEOPLE party, devolved into separate parties for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales.

5d   Food shop that's odd has one in a state of agitation (8)

Rum^[5] is dated British slang meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

9d   Mad man tries to shoot -- weapon removal is the answer (11)

The clue makes a very timely statement, in light of recent developments south of the border!

Gazza explains "to shoot" being employed as an anagram indicator as "to shoot presumably in the sense of to sprout". Not really convinced by that meaning, I concluded that shoot^[5] might have been intended in the sense of to move or cause to move suddenly and rapidly in a particular direction.

15d   One that's enormous as a hit-maker (8)

In Northern English dialect, a walloper^[5] is a strikingly large person or thing.

17d   Motorway arrest with one having top speed in that vehicle (7)

The M1^[7] is a north–south motorway [controlled access, multilane divided highway] in England connecting London to Leeds.

The letter c^[5] is the symbol for the speed of light in a vacuum ⇒ E = mc².

19d   Mr Cooper has managed to get locked in storehouse (7)

Gary Cooper^[7], born Frank James Cooper, (1901 – 1961) was an American film actor who received five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning twice for Sergeant York and High Noon.

20d   Dupe  the childminder? (6)

In colloquial use, a sitter^[2] is an easy target for crime or deception.

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