Tuesday, February 5, 2013 — DT 27027

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27027
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, November 19, 2012
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27027]
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

Introduction

It is the usual gentle — but fun — offering from Rufus today. I note that we now seem to be receiving the complete cycle of Daily Telegraph puzzles (six per week). However, since the National Post serves them up at a rate of only five puzzles per week, we no longer have a consistent setter each day. For a long time, Rufus' "Monday" puzzle appeared in the Friday edition of the National Post. However, this week it shows up on a Tuesday and next week we can likely expect it on a Wednesday.

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   One providing better information from starting price (6,7)

This clue has a horse racing theme, with "better" referring to someone who puts money on the results of a race. While I can't be sure, I suspect that starting price (abbreviation SP)^[10] may be a British term (as I found it only in my British dictionaries). In horse racing, it means the latest odds offered by bookmakers at the start of a race. In his hint, Libellule uses form^[5] in the sense of the details of previous performances by a racehorse or greyhound ⇒ an interested bystander studying the form.

10a   He has main control of his craft (7)

In this clue, you must set your sights high — as a solution, CAPTAIN doesn't cut it. Keep in mind that the word craft may refer either to one ship or many ships. If it were the former, then captain would suffice. However, here craft is used to indicate a fleet. The main^[5] is an archaic or literary term referring to the open ocean.

11a   A learner, say, backing female support in maths subject (7)

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.

In Britain, the short form for mathematics is maths^[5] ⇒ [as modifier] her mother was a maths teacher), rather than math^[5] as it is in North America ⇒ she teaches math and science.

12a   Meet  a famous mountaineer (4)

I thought a moment that I had a brainwave here — but the idea turned out to be not terribly inspired after all. I recalled that meet^[5] has an archaic meaning of suitable or proper ⇒ it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour; and, thus, tried vainly to work that meaning into the solution.

In Britain, a hunt^[2] is a group of people meeting together on horses to hunt animals, especially foxes.

Brigadier John Hunt^[7] (1910 – 1998) was a British army officer who is best known as the leader of the successful 1953 British Expedition to Mount Everest.

The 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition^[7] was the ninth British mountaineering expedition to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and the first to succeed. Led by Colonel John Hunt [later to rise to the rank Brigadier], it was organized and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee. News of the expedition's success on 29 May 1953 reached London in time to be released on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, 2 June 1953.

18a   There's no performance of 'The Peacock' (4-3)

'The Peacock' would seem to be a mythical work that exists only in Crosswordland. I do note that (as usual) the quotation marks perished during the ocean crossing.

19a   Game -- and how to score in it (7)

Netball^[7] is a ball sport played by two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. The sport is most popular in Commonwealth nations, specifically in schools, and is predominantly played by women. You can find additional information about this sport in my review of DT 26994 which appeared on December 26, 2012.

25a   Such law presumably implies a suspended sentence (5)

The Chambers Dictionary defines lynch-law (or lynch mob)^[1] as a group of incensed or angry people who are intent on lynching someone. Only the later version appears in Chambers 21st Century Dictionary^[2] and at Oxford Dictionaries Online^[5]. Lynch law^[2] is defined by Collins English Dictionary as the practice of condemning and punishing a person by mob action without a proper trial and by The American Heritage Dictionary as the practice of lynching ⇒ the injustices suffered by black citizens — disfranchisement, lynch law and mob rule (Scot French).

2d   Girl able to set up a whole lot of dates (7)

If (like me) you derive little assistance from Libellule's hint, it would help to know that Alma Cogan^[1] (1932 – 1966) was an English singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Throughout the mid-1950s, she was the most consistently successful female singer in the UK.

7d   Stop English doctor going on Greek ship (7)

In Britain, the degree required to practice medicine is a Bachelor of Medicine^[7] (MB, from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus), which is equivalent to a North American Doctor of Medicine (MD, from Latin Medicinae Doctor). The degree of Doctor of Medicine also exists in Britain, but it is an advanced degree pursued by those who wish to go into medical research. Physicians in Britain are still addressed as Dr. despite not having a doctoral degree.

In Greek mythology, the Argo^[7] was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It was named after its builder, Argus.

8d   Prince, a rather unusual royal spouse (9,4)

Catherine Parr^[7] (1512 – 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England.

9d   Simple game for relatively well-adjusted groups (5,8)

Happy Families^[7] is a traditional card game played in the UK, usually with a specially made set of picture cards, featuring illustrations of fictional families of four, most often based on occupation types. The object of the game is to collect complete families. An adaptation of the game for use with an ordinary set of playing cards is known as Go Fish^[7].

15d   Sand possibly holds uranium in this Arab country (5)

The symbol for the chemical element uranium is U^[5].

16d   Such acclaim as Oval erupts about century (5)

The Oval^[7], referred to as the Kia Oval due to a commercial sponsorship deal, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club, and also traditionally hosts the final Test match^[5] [an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries] of each English summer season in late August or early September.

In cricket, a century^[5] is a batsman’s score of a hundred runs. In cricket, each player on a team gets to bat once during an innings (unless the innings is declared to be over early) and a batsman remains batting until put out. During the time the batsman is batting, he may score a hundred runs or more. That explains why it may take a week to complete a game!

20d   Steam-whistle stop? (7)

In Britain, teatime^[5] is the time in the afternoon when tea is traditionally served.

22d   Give way and die (7)

I had a similar thought to Libellule on this one.

28d   She produces articles in Spanish and French (4)

In Spanish, the masculine singular form of the definite article is el^[8] while la^[8] is the feminine singular form of the definite article in French.

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