Wednesday, February 19, 2014 — DT 27322

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27322
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27322]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By scchua
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

Today's puzzle was not that onerous to solve, but it provided more than ample opportunity for this blogger to head off exploring tangents.

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   Scientists' aspiration is up -- more potential for development (9,6)

9a   New business set back by famous face (5-2)

There is an error in scchua's explanation of the wordplay, which should be:

• Reversal of ( back ) PUT ( set ) placed after ( by , in an across clue) [a famous face;a celebrity]

10a   Observed how plain the cake was! (7)

11a   Pronouncement from church on complete article (9)

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

12a   Liveliness of bar Nixon regularly frequented (4)

Brio^[5] means vigour or vivacity of style or performance ⇒ she told her story with some brio. In music, as scchua points out, con brio^[5] is a musical direction meaning with vigour.

The clue may be a reference to Richard Nixon^[5] (1913–194), an American Republican statesman who was the 37th President of the US (1969–74).

13a   Work hard on a new catchphrase (6)

15a   Musical phrase about fine female artist's undesirable people (4-4)

F^[5] is an abbreviation for fine that is used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ an F pencil. Although Oxford Dictionaries Online seems to think that this is a British term, I have a Paper-Mate F pencil sitting on the desk in front of me clearly stamped USA.

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[5]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

18a   Soldiers best dress for workplace (8)

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.

19a   What's left after fine programme is cut short? (3,3)

Another pencil!

Fag end^[4] is a British term for the stub of a cigarette.

22a   Charge for small hotel after game (4)

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

While two major variants of the game of rugby exist in the real world, only one is commonly seen in Crosswordland. Rugby union^[5] (abbreviation RU^[5]) is a form of rugby played in teams of fifteen, in contrast to rugby league^[5], which is played in teams of thirteen.

Twickenham Stadium^[7] [mentioned in scchua's review] (usually known as just Twickenham or Twickers) is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest stadium in the world devoted solely to the sport of rugby union, it is the second largest stadium in the UK after Wembley Stadium and the fifth largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is the home of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), and as such primarily a venue for rugby union and hosts England's home test matches [international matches, typically part of a series, played between teams representing two different countries], as well as a number of other major rugby union competitions.

23a   Politician says piece (9)

26a   Run down mountain full of need (7)

Ben^[5] is a Scottish term (used especially in place names) for a high mountain or mountain peak ⇒ Ben Nevis. [Ben Nevis^[5] is a mountain in western Scotland. Rising to 1,343 m (4,406 ft), it is the highest mountain in the British Isles.]

27a   Italy's getting into mixing of blue and green energy source (7)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Italy is I^[5].

28a   Racing to convert soft-spoken Right (3,5,2,5)

It seems that "The Sport of Kings" has varied over time. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, The Sport of Kings is a proverbial phrase for hunting and (now, most usually) horse-racing, although the earliest uses of the expression related to war, as in Dryden's King Arthur (1691). Other pastimes that apparently have been regarded as "The Sport of Kings" include falconry, real tennis [in contrast to lawn tennis] and, in Hawaii, surfing.

Ascot Racecourse^[7] [illustrated in scchua's review] is a famous English racecourse, located in the small town of Ascot, Berkshire, used for thoroughbred horse racing. It is one of the leading racecourses in the United Kingdom, hosting 9 of the UK's 32 annual Group 1 races. The course is closely associated with the British Royal Family, being approximately six miles from Windsor Castle.

Down

1d   50 per cent of potential covers amount for these creatures (7)

2d   Respond, about to suppress part of drama (5)

3d   Consider action initially in restructuring internet (9)

4d   High-pitched sound under pump regularly increasing (6)

5d   Hang about -- that's ladies' underwear! (8)

6d   Curse track showing love for Portugal (4)

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.

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Portugal is P^[5].

7d   Triumph, say, in natural surroundings personified (9)

The Triumph Motor Company^[7] was a British car and motor manufacturing company. Following a series of takeovers and corporate reorganizations, Triumph became part of the Rover Group within British Leyland Motor Corporation. The last Triumph model was the Acclaim which was introduced in 1981 and was essentially a rebadged Honda Ballade [a premium version of the Honda Civic which was sold only in Japan] built under licence from the Japanese auto company Honda. The Triumph name disappeared in 1984, when the Acclaim was replaced by the Rover 200, which was a rebadged version of Honda's next generation Civic/Ballade model. The trademark is owned currently by BMW, which acquired Triumph when it bought the Rover Group in 1994 — and retained the Triumph marque when it later sold Rover.

8d   Terribly fond of holding son, goes to sleep (4,3)

14d   Hide cause of BT failing (9)

BT Group plc^[7], trading as BT, is a British multinational telecommunications services company with head offices in London, Great Britain. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in over 170 countries.

16d   Set up Labour's underlying structure? (9)

My explanation of the clue differs from that given by scchua in his review.

I interpreted "set up" to be a verb meaning to frame^[5], in the sense of to produce false evidence against (an innocent person) so that they appear guilty.

Using this approach, the wordplay is FRAME (set up) + WORK (labour) with the definition being "underlying structure" or FRAMEWORK.

In his review, scchua shows the definition as being "set up", with the wordplay being WORK (labour) following ('s [contraction of is] underlying; in a down clue) FRAME (structure).

As for the definition, according to The Chambers Dictionary — regarded as the "authority" for Daily Telegraph puzzles — a framework^[1] is (1) the work that forms the frame or (2) the skeleton or outline of anything, while a set-up^[1] is the arrangement, organization, configuration or structure of anything. So, somewhat of a match, I would have to concede.

This approach relies on "set up" being a noun rather than a verb. With one exception, all the dictionaries that I consulted spell the noun as either set-up (hyphenated) or setup (a single word), rather than set up (two words) as in the clue. The Chambers Dictionary spells the noun as a hyphenated word, set-up, as does Chambers 21st Century Dictionary^[2] and Oxford Dictionaries Online^[5]. The American dictionaries, The American Heritage Dictionary and the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, both spell the noun as a single word, setup. The latest version of Collins English Dictionary spells the noun as either setup or set-up^[10]. While an earlier version of Collins English Dictionary does appear to spell the noun as two words, set up^[4], the Collins Thesaurus of the English Language (from the same era) spells the noun as a hyphenated word, set-up.

The Labour Party^[5] in Britain is a left-of-centre political party formed to represent the interests of ordinary working people that since the Second World War has been in power 1945–51, 1964–70, 1974-9, and 1997–2010. Arising from the trade union movement at the end of the 19th century, it replaced the Liberals as the country’s second party after the First World War.

17d   Person wanting to be in good nick? (8)

This clue relies on two meanings of "nick" that are foreign to North Americans.

In the cryptic reading, nick^[5] is British slang for a prison ⇒ he’ll end up in the nick for the rest of his life.

However, to Brits the clue would certainly convey a different meaning on the surface — and therein lies the misdirection.

In Britain, the phrase in (a specified) nick^[5] means in (a specified) condition ⇒ you’ve kept the car in good nick.

18d   Food that might entice an American coin collector? (7)

Rarebit^[5] (also known as Welsh rarebit or Welsh rabbit) is a dish of melted and seasoned cheese on toast, sometimes with other ingredients. The name rarebit is an alteration of rabbit in Welsh rabbit; the reason for the use of the term rabbit is unknown.

This clue is based on the largely erroneous premise that a bit is an American coin. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, bit^[3] is actually a chiefly British term for a small coin ⇒ a threepenny bit.

In North America, bit^[5] is a dated term for a unit of 12 1/ 2 cents (used only in even multiples). Thus a bit is a monetary value, not a coin. Just as a British penny is a coin with a value of one pence, an American quarter is a coin with a value of two bits. The term is always used in even multiples as there is no possible combination of American coins having a value of one bit (12 1/ 2 cents).

Wikipedia provides a fuller explanation of the use of bit^[7] in the US and the UK:

In the United States, the bit is equal to ⅛ of a dollar or 12½ cents. In the U.S., the "bit" as a designation for money dates from the colonial period, when the most common unit of currency used was the Spanish dollar, also known as "piece of eight", which was worth 8 Spanish silver reales. One eighth of a dollar or one silver real was one "bit".

With the adoption of the decimal U.S. currency in 1794, there was no longer a coin worth ⅛ of a dollar but "two bits" remained in the language with the meaning of one quarter dollar, "four bits" half dollar, etc.

In Britain, Ireland and parts of the former British Empire, where before decimalisation a British-style currency of "pounds, shillings and pence" was in use, the word "bit" was used differently. Rather than representing a specific monetary value, it was applied colloquially to a range of low-denomination coins in the sense of "coin" or "piece of money". Thus a threepence coin or "threepenny piece" would become a "threepenny bit", usually pronounced "thru'penny bit".

The term was used only of coins representing multiple values – a penny coin was simply a "penny", not a "penny bit", a shilling coin was a "shilling", a half crown coin was "half-a-crown" – but anything valued at more than a unit could attract the suffix "bit".

Although earlier there had been other values in circulation such as the "fourpenny bit" or "groat", the "bit" coins still in use in the United Kingdom up to decimalisation in 1971 were the two-shilling bit (often "two-bob bit"), the sixpenny bit (or "tanner"), and the threepenny bit.

In the UK, use of the term "bit" largely disappeared with the arrival of decimal coinage and the loss of the coin denominations to which it had applied [unlike the US, where the term lived on]. Thus a ten pence piece is referred to merely as "ten pence", or even "ten pee", not as a "tenpenny bit".

20d   Daughter approaches swings (7)

21d   Primate mostly eating root of marram grass (6)

Marram grass^[5] (Ammophila arenaria) is a coarse European grass of coastal sand dunes, binding the loose sand with its tough rhizomes.

24d   Regret love affair in France without a name (5)

In French, amour^[8] can mean love affair.

25d   Bound to drink around the end of week (4)

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