Friday, February 14, 2014 — DT 27318

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27318
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, October 25, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27318]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog 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 █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

I thought that this puzzle was a little more difficult than others we have seen recently. I got off to a very slow start, but did eventually manage to complete it without calling in the electronic reinforcements. Fortunately, I was able to decipher a couple of solutions from the wordplay even though the word was previously unknown to me.

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   Game old soldiers fought at the front (10)

I had never heard of this game. Fortunately, I was able to work it out from the wordplay.

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually referred to simply as the Royal Engineers (RE), is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

Battledore^[3,4,11] (also called battledore and shuttlecock) is an ancient game played with a flat wooden paddle and a shuttlecock from which badminton was developed.

6a   Resistance units  on a royal mission (4)

The ohm^[5] is the SI unit of electrical resistance, transmitting a current of one ampere when subjected to a potential difference of one volt. (Symbol: Ω). The unit is name after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854).

O.H.M.S.^[7], an initialism for On Her Majesty's Service or On His Majesty's Service (depending on the sex of the reigning monarch), is an official franking commonly seen on correspondence from government departments in the United Kingdom, Canada and other Commonwealth realms. The title of Ian Fleming's 1963 James Bond novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a play on the term.

9a   Reckoning as fools fellows in street (10)

Although Gazza appears to include the word "as" in the definition, I would think that it is merely serving as a link between the definition and the wordplay.

10a   River in the country beginning to disappear (4)

The Ural River^[5] is a river, 1,575 miles (2,534 km) long, that rises at the southern end of the Ural Mountains in western Russia and flows through western Kazakhstan to the Caspian Sea at Atyraū.

13a   A revolutionary having a rest it seems, lying on the shore (7)

You should have no trouble with this clue — as long as you recognize that the phrase "having a rest it seems" is another way of saying "in bed".

Che Guevara^[7] (1928 – 1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.

15a   Plant could provide something spicy, right? (6)

16a   Wild party outside home brings depression (6)

17a   Many a lorry driver will  perform up to expectations (7,3,5)

I was delayed by thinking that the final word of the solution would likely be GRADE.  I spent a lot of time trying to find a slightly longer version of MAKE THE GRADE.

Lorry^[5] is the common British term for a truck.

18a   What I'll give you in all sincerity?  Gosh! (2,4)

20a   Hero was first to gather information (6)

Gen^[5] is British slang for information ⇒ you’ve got more gen on him than we have.

21a   Comforted in such a manner having got thrashed (7)

22a   Fish must be caught -- focus of activity (4)

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c^[5] denotes caught (by).

The chub^[5] (Leuciscus cephalus) is a thick-bodied European river fish with a grey-green back and white underparts.

25a   Spooner's purchasing milk cart as form of transport (6,4)

Float^[5] is a British term for a small vehicle or cart, especially one powered by electricity ⇒ A milkman was kicked in the groin and hit over the head by a York taxi driver - for driving his float too slowly..

A flying boat^[3] is a large seaplane that floats on its hull rather than on pontoons.

26a   Departed from school at Easter (4)

27a   Old writer, maybe I will offer communication for wide readership (4,6)

Down

1d   Shine  where gymnastic skill is required (4)

2d   Rubbish put out by 23 (4)

The numeral 23 is a cross reference indicator directing the solver to insert the solution to clue 23d in its place to complete the clue.

Tosh^[5] is British slang for rubbish or nonsense ⇒ it’s sentimental tosh.

3d   Minor skin problem? You don't need b____ surgeon! (6)

I have read that at one time, cryptic crosswords commonly had fill-in-the-blanks style clues. I thought that this clue might be a throw-back to that time — which was long before I discovered cryptic crosswords. However, that is not the case. In the surface reading, we are expected to see the underlined blank as masking an expletive — like the bleeps inserted to cover vulgar language on television or the copious "(expletive deleted)" references in the transcripts of Richard Nixon's White House tapes. I expect that the word being 'bleeped' may well be "bloody". Of course, in the cryptic reading, nothing but the "b" is being suppressed.

Joseph Lister^[5], 1st Baron Lister (1827–1912) was an English surgeon, inventor of antiseptic techniques in surgery. He realized the significance of Louis Pasteur’s germ theory in connection with sepsis and in 1865 he used carbolic acid dressings on patients who had undergone surgery.

4d   A Maoist doctrine could make this very tricky! (15)

This is a semi-all-in-one clue (or, as it is formally known, a semi-& lit. clue). The entire clue provides the definition while the first part of the clue is the wordplay.

In a true all-in-one (& lit.) clue, not only does the entire clue provide the definition, but the wordplay also comprises the entire clue. The present clue —  in which the wordplay comprises only a portion of the clue — does not fully meet the criteria for an all-in-one (& lit.) clue. Thus, it is called a semi-all-in-one (or semi_& lit.).

A Maoist is a follower of Mao Tse-tung^[5] (1893–1976), Chinese statesman, chairman of the Communist Party of the Chinese People’s Republic 1949–76 and head of state 1949–59.

5d   Soldier expressing bitterness audibly (6)

Ranker^[5] is a British term for a soldier in the ranks; a private.

7d   The woman wearies when keeping four cows? (10)

8d   Team of senior citizens getting beef? (10)

This is another solution that I deciphered from the wordplay and then had to check the dictionary to verify its existence.

Silverside^[5] is a British term for the upper side of a round of beef from the outside of the leg ⇒ large cubes of silverside.

11d   Article falsely acclaimed as scholarly (10)

Academical^[5,10] is an alternative [possibly British] word for the adjective academic ⇒ the academical year. In North America, I would expect to see this expressed as the academic year.

12d   Do what someone else has done and support clubs? (6,4)

It didn't help to have initially written in FOLLOW LEAD. Fortunately, it did not take too long to discover my error.

13d   Be antagonistic almost when you see rodents (7)

14d   Theologian holding point of view was a swinger (7)

Doctor of Divinity^[7] (D.D. or DD, Divinitatis Doctor in Latin) is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects. In the United Kingdom, Doctor of Divinity has traditionally been the highest doctorate granted by universities, usually conferred upon a religious scholar of standing and distinction. In the United States, the Doctor of Divinity is usually awarded as an honorary degree.

19d   Young woman given work is a bit lumpy (6)

In music, Op.^[5] (also op.) is an abbreviation meaning opus (work). It is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication.

A dollop (see the discussion below) is a lump or a shapeless mass of food [of seemingly indeterminate size]. In the cryptic analysis of the clue, I believe we need to interpret the word "lumpy" as a postpositive adjective. Thus "a bit lumpy" could be expressed another way as "a lumpy portion" or, in other words, a dollop.

In his review, Gazza tells us that 'in the surface 'a bit lumpy' means dull or boorish". I must say that I was unable to find that meaning in any of my dictionaries [which doesn't necessarily mean that it is not used that way colloquially] which give definitions for lumpy^[2] along the lines of this one from The Chambers 21st Century Dictionary: (said of a person) having a heavy body or a body that is fat in parts. However, lumpish^[2] is defined as heavy, dull or awkward.

One would gather from a perusal of several dictionaries that dollop is a rather amorphous term:

• Oxford Dictionaries Online: a large, shapeless mass of something, especially soft food ⇒ great dollops of cream^[5];
• Chambers 21st Century Dictionary: a small shapeless mass of any semi-solid substance, especially food^[2];
• The Chambers Dictionary: (1) a lump; (2) a small shapeless mass^[1];
• Collins English Dictionary: (1) a semisolid lump; (2) a large serving, especially of food^[10].

At this point in my search, the dictionaries were evenly divided as to whether a dollop represents a large serving or a small serving. To break the tie, I looked to The American Heritage Dictionary — which seems to take a position firmly on the fence. It says that a dollop^[3] is (1) a large lump or portion of a solid matter ⇒ a dollop of ice cream or (2) a small quantity or splash of a liquid ⇒ a dollop of whiskey.

Finally, the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary defines dollop^[11] as (1) a lump or blob of some substance or (2) a small amount ⇒ a dollop of cream.

Thus, small would seem to edge out large by the narrowest of margins. Nevertheless, the lesson here surely is to be careful what you ask for — you may not get what you expect!

20d   A measure of class (6)

A league^[4,11] is an obsolete unit of distance, varying at different periods and in different countries; in English-speaking countries usually estimated roughly at 3 miles (4.8 kilometers).

23d   Entertainer of a multitude (4)

24d   Sun is one  name for tabloid (4)

It seems to me that our setters are giving a whole new meaning to the term "daily newspaper". This is the third day in a row that we have seen The Sun appear in a clue.

The Sun^[7] is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland by a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

The Daily Star^[7] is a popular daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom.

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)

Happy Valentine's Day — Falcon