Friday, July 19, 2013 — DT 27162

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27162
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, April 26, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27162]
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

Aside from getting bogged down in the southeast corner, I was able to handle this one on my own. Giovanni gives us an enjoyable puzzle with a nod in his own direction thrown in.

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

5a   Idiot -- the man had to be dressed (7)

In British slang, a clot^[5] is a foolish or clumsy person ⇒ Watch where you’re going, you clot!.

7a   Toilets by back of store falling apart? (5)

Loo^[5] is an informal British term for a toilet.

9a   Attack male dog taken into home (6)

10a   Upcoming party to be given by men very close by (4-4)

In the British armed forces, other ranks (abbreviation OR)^[5] refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

11a   Plaything direly befouled with soot (3,7)

13a   Wartime general in his limousine (4)

Field Marshal William Slim^[7], 1st Viscount Slim (1891 – 1970) was a British military commander and the 13th Governor-General of Australia. He fought in both the First and Second world wars and was wounded in action three times. During World War II he led the 14th Army, the so-called "forgotten army" in the Burma campaign. From 1953 to 1959 he was Governor-General of Australia, regarded by many Australians as an authentic war hero who had fought with the Anzacs (the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) at Gallipoli (a peninsula in Turkey which was the site of a failed Allied offensive in 1915 in World War I ).

14a   US author as trendier guest abroad (8,5)

Gertrude Stein^[7] (1874 – 1946) was an American art collector of seminal modernist paintings and an experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays that eschewed the narrative, linear, and temporal conventions of 19th-century literature.

16a   Stream poet observed endlessly (4)

In Scottish and Northern English dialects, a burn^[5] is a small stream. Robert Burns^[5] (1759 – 1796) was a Scottish poet, best known for poems such as ‘The Jolly Beggars’ (1786) and ‘Tam o’ Shanter‘ (1791), and for old Scottish songs which he collected, including ’Auld Lang Syne'. Burns Night celebrations are held in Scotland and elsewhere on his birthday, 25 January.

17a   Bradman having failure with the bat seen as comic figure? (6,4)

Sir Donald Bradman^[7] (1908 – 2001), often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest Test batsman of all time. A Test^[5] (short for Test match^[5]) is an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries ⇒ the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies.

In cricket, a duck^[5] is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] ⇒ he was out for a duck. This is similar to the North American expression goose egg^[5] meaning a zero score in a game.. In British puzzles, duck is used to indicate the letter "O" based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter. Certainly, if a batsman has a duck, he has experienced "failure with the bat".

As Gazza points out in his review, Giovanni has worked a couple of his pseudonyms into the clue. Don Manley^[7], the setter of today's puzzle, supplies puzzles to a number of British publications under the pseudonyms Duck, Pasquale, Quixote,and Bradman in addition to Giovanni (all punningly connected with the name Don or Donald).

19a   Asian got confused in South American city (8)

20a   What can be pulled in body making fellow number at first (6)

In the surface reading, "number" is undoubtedly intended in the sense of more numb.

In addition to being the "abbreviated forename" of today's setter, a don^[10] is also a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge. 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.

22a   Hard border that may separate neighbours (5)

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

23a   You will have fantastic art in entertainment building (7)

Down

1d   Workers' organisation losing heart after upset disturbing the toffs? (3-1)

Toff^[5] is derogatory British slang for a rich or upper-class person.

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners. The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956). In Crosswordland, it is frequently clued by words such as posh or superior — but today it merely adopts its straightforward meaning.

Naturally, non-U^[5] means (in respect of language or social behaviour) not characteristic of the upper social classes or not socially acceptable to certain people ⇒ he’s always teasing her for her Cockney accent and her non-U turns of phrase.

2d   Raymond's name held in little credit (8)

Raymond Chandler^[7] (1888 – 1959) was an American writer of detective fiction who created private eye Philip Marlowe.

In light of 17a, where Giovanni introduces a couple of his alter egos into the clue, I wondered if he might be doffing his hat to one of his fellow compilers here. It just so happens that there is a British crossword compiler named Philip Marlow who sets crosswords for The Independent (as Hypnos), for the Financial Times (as Sleuth) and for The Daily Telegraph (as Shamus).

3d   Cure can be effected by this priest and team, right? (6)

In the Bible, Eli^[5] was a priest who acted as a teacher to the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1-3).

Eleven^[5] is the number of players on a cricket^[7] side or an Association football^[7] [soccer] team — and is often used as a metonym for such a team ⇒ at cricket I played in the first eleven.

4d   You see this as prisoner escapes down drainpipe? Speak haughtily! (10)

5d   Tiniest of roles? Happened to get nothing more (5)

6d   Sort of dog in demand I don't fancy (6,7)

Dandie Dinmont^[5] is a breed of terrier from the Scottish Borders, with short legs, a long body, and a rough coat. I pieced together the correct answer from the wordplay and checking letters and then looked it up to see if it truly exists.

8d   Going down without leader brings agitation of mind (7)

12d   Design trip roughly when the flowers come out (10)

Springtide^[5] is a literary term for springtime.

14d   Report of sticky stuff with batter being offered as food (7)

15d   Spelling a word for 'rubbish' can produce a terrible headache (8)

Splitter^[5] is an informal term for a severe headache. Many the time I have heard people speak of a "splitting headache" but I've yet to hear the term "splitter".

17d   Businessperson who loses heart several times? (6)

Being unable to fathom the wordplay here, I was expecting a "Doh!" moment when Gazza revealed the secret. However, it turned out to be a bit of a letdown.

18d   Maybe the bishop's home is here, not a hundred miles away (5)

In Britain, close^[5] can mean — among other things — the precinct surrounding a cathedral.

21d   Accountant's gross? No! (4)

Nett^[5] is an alternative British spelling of net in the sense (of an amount, value, or price) remaining after the deduction of tax or other contributions or (of a weight) excluding that of the packaging.

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