Monday, May 27, 2013 — DT 27122

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27122
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, March 11, 2013
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27122]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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

The planets have aligned and we get to enjoy a "Monday" puzzle from Rufus on a Monday.

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   Shattering?  Correct! (10,3)

As the bloggers on Big Dave's site often provide hints to solutions rather than full-fledged explanations, it is sometimes difficult to know exactly what they had in mind. I find such to be the case with Libellule's discussion of this clue. I believe he may be suggesting that if one were to perform an anagram operation (with "correct" serving as the anagram indicator) with the input (fodder) being SHATTERING and the output being STRAIGHTEN, then one might say that in performing the operation that they started with SHATTERING and got STRAIGHTEN OUT. The solution is certainly more than a simple anagram (correct) of SHATTERING.

I have taken a bit of a different approach to explain the clue. I see the definition as being "correct" (as a verb) with  the solution being STRAIGHTEN OUT. The wordplay is an inverse anagram (indicated by the question mark) of SHATTERING which is also STRAIGHTEN OUT. In an inverse anagram, the solution consists of the anagram fodder (STRAIGHTEN, in this case) and anagram indicator (OUT, in this case) that would produce the result found in the clue (i.e., SHATTERING).

10a   Leaps in, surprising the dog (7)

11a   Put out in unusual transport (7)

12a   In fine fettle, yet initially unsure (4)

13a   A biology class (5)

14a   Have some sense, charge pounds (4)

The pound^[5] (also pound sterling) is the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence. While the symbol for pound is £, it is often written as L^[10].

17a   Married in a fit of lunacy? That's slander (7)

18a   Trite adage, but it has a cutting edge (7)

19a   I call round on pressing business (7)

22a   Reduce the numbers allowed to go in deep when swimming (7)

24a   Head put off awkward argument (4)

25a   Fast  living (5)

The quick^[5] (as a noun) is an archaic term meaning those who are living ⇒ the quick and the dead.

26a   Fit  source of water for consumption (4)

29a   Feline that earns a detailed description? (4,3)

A Manx cat^[5] is a cat of a breed having no tail or an extremely short one.

30a   Refrain from giving sailor dirty look (7)

In the Royal Navy, able seaman^[5] (abbreviation AB^[5]), is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

31a   Virus leads to a development of lameness producing complaint (6,7)

Down

2d   Crying, having finally got reprimand (7)

3d   Song with a tune that's uplifting (4)

4d   A showplace for paintings largely restored (7)

5d   Having finished a boring job? (7)

6d   Pinches  drinks (4)

7d   Loan sharks supply drug addicts around the city (7)

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city that formerly existed on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC.

8d   The proverbial labour saver (1,6,2,4)

9d   Don's touching sympathy (6,7)

I am not familiar with the expression fellow feeling, and — having worked it out from the wordplay — supposed it to be a Briticism. However, a quick glance at some American dictionaries would appear to refute that supposition. Fellow feeling^[5] is sympathy and fellowship existing between people based on shared experiences or feelings ⇒ (i) a common culture could help unite the classes and promote fellow feeling; (ii) he had a shy manner which evoked a fellow feeling in me.

At Oxford and Cambridge universities, a fellow^[10] is a member of the governing body of a college who is usually a member of the teaching staff. A don^[10] is a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.

15d   Chess ploy's no good -- it shows limits (5)

16d   Room  that gives a better view? (5)

20d   Transgression produces resentment (7)

21d   Excess weight? It's his danger (7)

This is a semi all-in-one clue in which the entire clue provides the definition and the first portion constitutes the wordplay. My fellow blogger scchua would say that this is a WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.

22d   Get cleared in order to follow the Customs Officer's advice (7)

23d   Raise tax held in European shelter (7)

VAT^[5] (value added tax) is a tax on the amount by which the value of an article has been increased at each stage of its production or distribution. This system of taxation is used in Europe, where it is known as the VAT (or, more fully, the EU VAT) and in Canada, where it is called the GST (Goods and Services Tax) or, in provinces where the federal and provincial sales tax systems have been integrated, the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax). This system of taxation is not currently used in the United States.^[7]

27d   Put up rainwear in a swindle (4)

Mackintosh^[5] (also macintosh) is a British name for a full-length waterproof coat. Since this item of apparel was named after Scottish inventor Charles Macintosh, it does seem rather strange to observe that all the dictionaries that I consulted list it under mackintosh (with macintosh as an alternate spelling).^[2,3,4,5,10]  However, this incongruity does not seem to extend to the shortened form which is mac^[5] (also mack).

28d   Oxford rowing crew is encored (4)

The Isis^[7] is the name given to the part of the River Thames above Iffley Lock which flows through the city of Oxford, England. The name is especially used in the context of rowing at the University of Oxford. The name Isis is also used for the second rowing crew of Oxford University Boat Club, who race against the second crew of the Cambridge University Boat Club, Goldie, before the annual Boat Race on the Thames in London.

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