Thursday, January 2, 2014 — DT 27286

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27286
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27286]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers
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 █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

Today's offering from Jay — though on the less difficult side — is, nevertheless, thoroughly enjoyable.

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. The underlined portion of the clue is the definition.

Across

1a   Impetus given by financial set-up covering hotel (6)

Hotel^[5] is a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication.

4a   Especially lovable possibly after answer (5,3)

10a   Urgent note given to press and TV after one married (9)

Te^[5] is the British spelling of ti which (in tonic sol-fa) is the seventh note of a major scale.

11a   Genuine male domain (5)

12a   Mother is French and runs international experts (7)

In French, est^[8] is the third person singular in the present indicative of the verb être (to be).

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

13a   Does without love -- and small fortune (7)

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.

14a   Entertainer needing a plant (5)

A hosta^[5] is an East Asian plant of the genus Hosta cultivated in the West for its shade-tolerant foliage and loose clusters of tubular mauve or white flowers. The plant is named after Nicolaus T. Host (1761–1834), an Austrian physician.

15a   More than eight draws gets you a naughty time (8)

The naughty nineties^[5] refers to the 1890s, regarded as a time of liberalism and permissiveness, especially in Britain and France.

I must say that the naughty nineties is a term that is new to me, having only heard this decade referred to as the Gay Nineties^[7] which, according to Wikipedia, is an American nostalgic term that refers to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the United Kingdom as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedly decadent art by Aubrey Beardsley, the witty plays and trial of Oscar Wilde, society scandals and the beginning of the suffragette movement.

18a   Society that might make Spooner's chef weep? (4,4)

20a   Tag left on the first person to be killed (5)

As pommers alludes to in his review, this clue violates a quasi-convention that "A on B" in an across clue means BA. The rationale for this is that in order to place A on B, B must already exist (and therefore have been written first). Since we write from left to right, the result of "A on B" is BA. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in practice, one may sometimes encounter (as in this clue) "A on B" meaning AB in an across clue.

I see no reason why this same construction should not also be employed in a down clue (though I have seen people argue against it). In addition, in a down clue, one may interpret "on" to mean "on top of", with the result of  "A on B" being AB. Thus, in a down clue, "A on B" can mean either BA (if one accepts the use of the former construction in a down clue) or AB (under the latter construction).

23a   White gold plating pound pieces (7)

The symbol for the chemical element gold is Au^[5] (from Latin aurum).

25a   Area outside house for caterer to cook (7)

26a   Coach tour in chaos around west of Torquay (5)

Torquay^[5] is a resort town in SW England, in Devon, administratively part of Torbay since 1968; population 67,400 (est. 2009).

27a   The chase that's on for handy cure to be developed? (3,3,3)

I would say that the definition here is "the chase that's on", an allusion to the phrase "the chase is on". While I could find no dictionary reference for this phrase, it is one that I have often heard — and one that is easily found in a Google search (seemingly commonly associated with fox hunts). I think it may refer to the point in the hunt when the hounds first pick up the scent of the fox.

Hue and cry^[5] is a loud clamour or public outcry. Historically, the term refers to a loud cry calling for the pursuit and capture of a criminal. In former English law, the cry had to be raised by the inhabitants of a hundred^[5] [an historical British term meaning a subdivision of a county or shire, having its own court] in which a robbery had been committed, if they were not to become liable for the damages suffered by the victim.

28a   Leave before final whistle, for example, not fully committed (4-4)

Time^[5] is short for full time^[5], a British expression meaning the end of a game, especially a football [soccer] match ⇒ he scored the third five minutes from time.

In his review, pommers mentions an alternative British meaning for time^[5], the moment at which the opening hours of a pub end ⇒ the landlord [a man who keeps a pub] called time.

29a   Top bunk occupied by the man third in class (6)

Down

1d   Wins one in ruff with hearts voided (8)

2d   There's no interest initially in new primrose onesies (7)

It is unclear whether this clue refers to clothing for babies or adults.

In the UK, a onesie^[5] would seem to be a loose-fitting one-piece leisure garment for adults, covering the torso and legs ⇒ I’d had a bath and was in my onesie ready to settle down for yet another reality TV marathon. In North America, a onesie is a one-piece close-fitting lightweight garment worn by a young child, usually having sleeves but leaving the legs uncovered and fastening with press studs at the crotch. 

Rompers^[2] (also romper suit) are a baby's suit, usually one-piece, with short-legged trousers and either a short-sleeved top or a bib top. Some American dictionaries also list this as being spelled romper, with an alternative meaning of a similar garment worn by women and girls for leisure activity^[11] or a garment for adults similar to a romper, typically worn as overalls or as sports clothing^[6]. The latter definition is taken from the American version of Oxford Dictionaries Online (and is not found in the British version).

Thus, on one hand, we have onesies which in Britain are garments for adults and in North America are garments for babies and, on the other hand, rompers which are garments for babies on both sides of the Atlantic, but may also be garments for adults in North America. From this I conclude that the terms onesies and rompers would seem only to be synonymous [and then only approximately so] in North America.

3d   Team on course to create a diversion (9)

In Britain, a side^[5] is a sports team ⇒ there was a mixture of old and young players in their side. While side can also mean team in North America, I believe that the term is used both less frequently and in a more generic fashion than in the UK.

5d   Study, say, covered by B&B giving livelihood (5-3-6)

The clue that we saw today (and which the Brits apparently saw in the newspaper version of the puzzle) is slightly different from the one that appeared in the online version in the UK:

• 5d   Study, say, covered by B 'n' B giving livelihood (5-3-6)

In Britain, to read^[5] means to study (an academic subject) at a university ⇒ (i) I’m reading English at Cambridge; (ii) he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics.

The parsing of the clue is a bit problematic. My thought (which I see has also been put forward in the comments on Big Dave's blog) was that the clue would have been better worded as:

• 5d   Study covered by B&B, say, giving livelihood (5-3-6)

in which the wordplay would parse as READ (study) contained in (covered by) BANDB (B&B) + UTTER (say).

There seems to be no satisfactory explanation of the wordplay as it stands. The clue would appear to require us to either construct a charade of READ + AND + UTTER and then prefix a B to each of the first and third words or, alternatively, to construct a charade of READ + UTTER and prefix B to the first word and AND B to the second word.

6d   Source of illness in Queen Victoria -- American bug (5)

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Victoria was VR^[5] — from the Latin Victoria Regina.

7d   Sin of a vicar going wrong with end of service (7)

In the Church of England, a vicar^[5] is a beneficed member of the clergy [a benefice being a permanent Church appointment for which property and income are provided in respect of pastoral duties] who is the incumbent of a parish where tithes formerly passed to a chapter or religious house or layman.

8d   Broadcast 'Smiley's People' (US) (6)

As usual, the clue appeared in the National Post without the quotation marks.

The wordplay is an anagram (broadcast) of SMILEY — not SMILEY'S as shown in pommers' review (he, himself, points out the error in the comments section of Big Dave's blog). In the definition, the word "US" is a third person plural objective pronoun meaning — in the context of the clue — 'we, the British'.

Smiley's People^[7] is a spy novel by John le Carré (pen name of British author David John Moore Cornwall), published in 1979. Featuring British master-spy George Smiley, it is the third and final novel of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy.

Limey^[5] is an informal, chiefly derogatory North American and Australian term for a British person. The term arises from the former enforced consumption of lime juice to prevent scurvy in the British navy.

9d   Country music? (8,6)

16d   Ability to resist Spanish cheer in dreamlike state (9)

17d   Favourite Oxbridge sportsman watched (4-4)

Blue-eyed boy^[5] is an informal, chiefly derogatory British term for a person highly regarded by someone and treated with special favour ⇒ the problem that managers may favour their blue-eyed boys.

Oxbridge^[5] refers to Oxford and Cambridge universities regarded together.

In Britain, a blue^[5] is a person who has represented Cambridge University (a Cambridge blue) or Oxford University (an Oxford blue) at a particular sport in a match between the two universities ⇒ a flyweight boxing blue. This usage almost certainly arises from the colours associated with these universities — and hence the colour of the uniforms worn by their athletes. Cambridge blue^[5] is a pale blue colour (actually a medium tone of spring green), while Oxford blue^[5] is a dark blue, typically with a purple tinge (actually a very dark tone of azure).

19d   Old river tribe lost craft (7)

21d   Tennessee woman almost turned white (7)

Blanche Du Bois is a central character in A Streetcar Named Desire^[7], a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) which was first performed in 1947.

22d   Computer circuit ranking above all others (6)

24d   Value some consumer items (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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon