Monday, April 29, 2013 — DT 27102

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27102
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, February 15, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27102]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★★★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ 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

Seeing that Gazza awarded this puzzle four stars for difficulty, I feel pretty good about only needing to call in my electronic assistants to help on the last couple of clues — although I did need to look to his review for an explanation of the finer points of a couple of clues.

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   Company's head of marketing, in place, working, and toeing the line (10)

6a   Device that may use electricity (50A) (4)

Wow, drawing 50 amps — that's a 6000 watt light fixture!

9a   Wants to be anything but diligent, start to finish (5)

10a   Pleasant old jokes that may be dished up (9)

12a   Scottish location could get tribe rehoused after abandonment (5,8)

The Hebrides^[5] is a group of about 500 islands off the NW coast of Scotland. The Inner Hebrides include the islands of Skye, Mull, Jura, Islay, Iona, Coll, Eigg, Rhum, Staffa, and Tiree. A channel known as the Little Minch separates this group from the Outer Hebrides, which include the islands of Lewis and Harris, North and South Uist, Benbecula, Barra, and the isolated St Kilda group.

I suspect that the anagram indicator — "abandonment" — may be a whimsical cryptic crossword invention derived from abandon^[5] in the sense of complete lack of inhibition or restraint ⇒ she sings and sways with total abandon or, as The Chambers Dictionary defines it, careless freedom of action.

14a   Be in place with English man of the people (8)

15a   What was requested by Solomon or Norman? (6)

Sir Norman Wisdom^[7] (1915 – 2010) was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin. Some of his later appearances included roles in the British television series Last of the Summer Wine and Coronation Street. He retired from acting at the age of 90 after his health deteriorated.

As recorded in the Bible, Solomon^[7] was a king of Israel and the son of King David. One of the qualities most ascribed to Solomon is his wisdom. The book of 1 Kings recounts how Solomon prays for wisdom:

"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad".

"So God said to him, 'Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked...'"

17a   First indication of licentiousness, one having yearning to eat fruit (6)

19a   This resort's British? Absolutely correct! (8)

Brighton^[5] is a resort on the south coast of England, in East Sussex; population 127,700 (est. 2009). It was patronized by the Prince of Wales (later George IV) from circa 1780 to 1827, and is noted for its Regency architecture. It became a city (with Hove) in 2000.

21a   Thought and study at place of worship cut short at one -- no turning back (13)

Con^[5] is an archaic term meaning to study attentively or learn by heart (a piece of writing) ⇒ the girls conned their pages with a great show of industry.

24a   Drug that should be deeper in somehow hard to inject (9)

H^[5] is the abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

25a   Restraint that may pose problem for top man on board (5)

26a   Buss? She didn't want one! (4)

The solution seemed obvious — but certainly not the wordplay. I thought maybe the wordplay was intended to mean that "she" didn't want merely one kiss — she wanted more than one. This led me to a song which was a major hit near the end of World War II, "It's Been a Long, Long Time"^[7] which begins "Kiss me once, then kiss me twice / Then kiss me once again. / It's been a long, long time." However, the connection to "she" definitely seemed rather tenuous, to say the least.

As it turns out, the reference is to a British schoolmarm named Frances Buss who apparently disliked kissing. Frances Buss^[7] (1827 – 1894) was a headmistress and an English pioneer of women's education. A satirical rhyme referring to her and the headmistress of another English ladies college, Dorothea Beale^[7], comments on their unmarried state as follows:

Miss Buss and Miss Beale,

Cupid's darts do not feel.

How different from us,

Miss Beale and Miss Buss.

27a   Irritating notelets sent out by this writer (10)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as compiler, setter, author, or writer to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must usually substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used  in the clue.

Down

1d   Dead fish in lake? Quite the opposite (4)

2d   Bug to remain attached to top half of mike (7)

"Be" meaning remain as in the phrase "let it be".

3d   Get in difficulty with yarn, one way or another (4,3,6)

While it is true that the first part of the clue provides the definition, the second part tells us that we must interpret the first part in two different manners.

4d   European and American in a train slightly confused (8)

5d   Page in Indian paper (5)

7d   'Missed nothing' -- that's admitted by keen journalist (7)

8d   What could be provided by nine thumps? Six, classically! (10)

In this instance, I deciphered the wordplay but failed to understand the definition ("Six, classically!").
Six of the best^[5] is a chiefly historical or humorous British expression referring to a caning as a punishment, traditionally with six strokes of the cane ⇒ one prefect would hold you down and the other would give you six of the best.

11d   The smallest possible round trip (7,6)

13d   Computer facility offering some magic pattern of lines (10)

16d   Golden title put on books for decoration (8)

 Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture. In heraldry, a tincture^[5] is any of the conventional colours (including the metals and stains, and often the furs) used in coats of arms.

18d   Fish in ditches, not river (7)

The tench^[5] is a European freshwater fish (Tinca tinca) of the carp family, popular with anglers and widely introduced elsewhere.

20d   Brown jelly-like substance on round fruit (7)

22d   Personal dignity of 'catty' group (5)

23d   Island broadcaster audibly received (4)

Skye is a mountainous island of the Inner Hebrides (see 12a), now linked to the west coast of Scotland by a bridge; chief town, Portree. It is the largest and most northerly island of the group. Sky^[7] is the brand name for a digital satellite television and radio service provided in the UK and Republic of Ireland by British Sky Broadcasting Group plc.

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon