Introduction
Today's puzzle, unmistakably crafted by Jay, did not give me too much trouble — once I had sorted out a bit of an issue in the northwest quadrant.
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.
Across
1a Odd drink sent back causes uproar (6)
Rum[5] is dated British slang meaning odd or peculiar. As a verb,
sup[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to
take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒
(i) she supped up her soup delightedly
; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle
. As a noun, it means (1)
a sip of liquid ⇒
he took another sup of wine
or (2) in Northern England or Ireland, an
alcoholic drink ⇒
the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery
.
5a Undergo suspension during church
alteration (6)
Unlike in the following clue, here we need a very specific religious denomination. 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.
10a Expression of denial surrounding a
church's food from abroad (5)
11a Car from queue running over tailless
rodent on island (9)
12a Gets used to airs after a time (7)
13a Mostly natter about otherwise capital
area (7)
Chelsea[7] is an affluent area of central London,
England. It is an upmarket neighbourhood equivalent to that of New York's Upper East Side, Los Angeles' Beverly Hills or the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
14a A fog covering river, and the effect of
freezing means a ceasefire (9)
17a Cute working partnership without kids (5)
In Britain,
dinky[5] is an informal term that means
(with respect to an object or place) attractively small and neat ⇒
a dinky little restaurant
. In North America, on the other hand, the term denotes
disappointingly small or insignificant ⇒
I can’t believe the dinky salaries they pay here
.
Dinky[5] is also a slang term for
a partner in a well-off working couple with no children. It is formed from the acronym DINK (double income, no kids), on the pattern of
yuppy.
18a Makes money from sweets (5)
In Britain, a
sweet[5] can be
a small shaped piece of confectionery made with sugar ⇒
a bag of sweets
[known as
candy[5] in North America]
. Another British meaning for a sweet is a dessert.
19a Composure required, but drags on if
suffering (9)
21a Forbid access -- bit of hair not in place!
(4,3)
23a Disgusted with horse's accommodation
on ship (4,3)
25a Vessel from small island carrying post (9)
26a Trio working around new opening (5)
27a Put off cricketer's transport with runners
(6)
Sledge[5] is a chiefly British term for
a vehicle on runners for conveying loads or passengers over snow or ice, often pulled by draught animals ⇒
a dog sledge
; (ii) [as modifier] a sledge journey
. In North America, such a vehicle would be called a
sled[5].
Should you be puzzled by the former entry defining sledge as a toboggan, you should be aware that in Britain a
toboggan[5] is
a long, light, narrow vehicle, typically on runners, used for sliding downhill over snow or ice. You will find that the Brits apply the term toboggan to almost any type of sled used for sliding downhill. I suppose that the phrase "typically on runners" leaves enough wiggle room to allow a 'true toboggan' (which has no runners) to fit within the definition.
In the not so gentlemanly game of cricket,
sledge[5] means (for a fielder) to
make offensive remarks to (an opposing batsman) in order to break their concentration ⇒
(i) they will be remembered for their sledging as much as for their skill
; (ii) he had resorted to sledging Stewart
. In North America, one would use the term
trash talk[5], meaning to
make boastful or insulting remarks in order to demoralize or humiliate a sporting opponent ⇒
(i) Westering’s players do not swear or tussle or trash-talk
; (ii) [with object] people were going to trash-talk us until we started to win
; (iii) [as adjective trash-talking] trash-talking foreign junk-bond dealers
; (iv) [as noun] he heard more trash talk from the Giants before the game than during the game
.
The illustration in scchua's review is of
Sister Sledge[7], an American musical group from Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, formed in 1971 and consisting of four sisters: Kim, Debbie, Joni and Kathy Sledge. The group is likely best known for their hit song "We Are Family".
28a Batsman gets duck -- fellow takes name
(6)
In cricket, a
duck[5] is a batsman’s score of nought [
zero] ⇒
he was out for a duck
.
In cryptic crossword puzzles, duck is used to indicate the letter "O"
based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter.
Also in cricket, an
opener[5] is
a batsman who opens the batting. Since there are always two batsmen
on the field, the opener is (in scchua's words) "one of the two starting batsmen".
Fellow[5] is used in the sense of
a person in the same position, involved in the same activity, or otherwise associated with another ⇒
he was learning with a rapidity unique among his fellows
.
Down
2d Rough share given to international
organisation (5)
3d Go on press trips to get forecasts (9)
4d People with briefs -- kind found on board
ship (5)
In Crosswordland, a ship rarely fails to be a
steamship (
abbreviation SS[5]).
In British legal circles, a
brief[5] is
a summary of the facts and legal points in a case given to a barrister to argue in court. In Britain, silk[5] is an informal term for a Queen’s (or King’s) Counsel [so named because of the right accorded to wear a gown made of silk]. A
Queen's Counsel[5] (or, during the reign of a king, a
King's Counsel[5]) is
a senior barrister appointed on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor [the highest officer of the Crown, responsible
for the efficient functioning and independence of the courts].
Barristers and solicitors are two classes of lawyer. However, the
distinction between them varies in different jurisdictions around the
world. The following attempt to differentiate the two classes is likely
highly oversimplified.
The UK has a split legal profession in which barristers and solicitors
have separate and distinct roles. Solicitors are attorneys which means
they can act in the place of their client for legal purposes. However, a
solicitor is not a member of the bar and is therefore cannot speak on
behalf of a client in court. A barrister is not an attorney and is
usually forbidden, either by law
or professional rules or both, from "conducting" litigation. This means
that while the barrister speaks on the client's behalf in court, he or
she can do so only when instructed by a solicitor or certain other
qualified professional clients, such as patent agents.
In the US and Canada (with the exception of Quebec), there is generally
no legal or regulatory distinction between a barrister and a solicitor -
with any qualified lawyer being entitled to practice in either field.
In the US, most lawyers call themselves attorneys while in Canada,
lawyers will adopt different titles depending on the type of legal
practice on which they choose to concentrate (barrister, solicitor, or
barrister and solicitor). [read more]
Thus, in the UK, it would seem that the brief would be prepared by one lawyer (a solicitor) to be used by another lawyer (a barrister) to argue the case in court.
5d Arrive cold and thin, and admit error (4,5)
6d A delightful sort of accent (5)
7d Player's sliding scale? (9)
Depending on the instrument being used, certain aspects of the musical term
glissando[10] would seem to be almost diametrically opposite in meaning. On the harp or piano, it is a rapidly executed series of notes,
each note of which is discretely
audible. On the violin, viola, etc. it is another name for a portamento[10], a smooth slide from one note to another in which intervening notes are not separately
discernible.
8d Capital invested in bank? A racket! (6)
Ankara[5] is
the capital of Turkey since 1923; population
3,763,600 (est. 2007). Prominent in Roman times as Ancyra, it later
declined in importance until chosen by Kemal Atatürk in 1923 as his seat
of government. Its former name (until 1930) was Angora.
9d What's left by supporter? A country with
no heart (6)
15d 'City knocked out in Cup' -- Mail (9)
The clue is crafted to look like a headline from the sports pages of a British newspaper. The
Daily Mail[5] is a British daily middle-market
tabloid newspaper which is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after
The Sun.
Manchester City F. C.[7] (often referred to as simply
City), an English Premier League football [
soccer] club based in Manchester, England. In all likelihood, Cup refers to
The Football Association Challenge Cup[7], commonly known as the
FA Cup, a knockout cup competition in English football that is the oldest association football competition in the world.
16d Poor Titania's on Ecstasy and unable to
get enough (9)
Titania[5] is the name of the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
E[5] is an abbreviation for
the drug Ecstasy or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒
(i) people have died after taking E
; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties
.
17d Copper getting fellow in to replace loss of
temperature -- it's not working properly
(9)
F[2] is the abbreviation for Fellow (of a society, etc).
18d Hostility from African country clubs
witnessed by European (6)
Mali[5] (much in the news lately) is
a
landlocked country in West Africa, south of Algeria; population
13,443,200 (est. 2009); capital, Bamako. Its former name (until 1958) was French Sudan.Conquered
by the French in the late 19th century, Mali became part of French West
Africa. It became a partner with Senegal in the Federation of Mali in
1959 and achieved full independence a year later, on the withdrawal of
Senegal.
20d Right-wing turns up to support doctor
with housing problem (3,3)
22d Looked and searched the internet with
the first couple going missing (5)
23d Suppose son has love for authority! (3-2)
In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
love fifteen
.
The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O
leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used
to clue this letter.
24d Lost heat after start of brief swim (5)
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
