Wednesday, March 5, 2014 — DT 27332

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27332
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, November 11, 2013
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27332]
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 completed today's puzzle while watching the NHL trade deadline broadcast. As it turned out, there was little trade action to distract me from the puzzle and it was completed long before the flurry of activity that occurred shortly before the 3:00 pm trade deadline.

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   Alarm rattles building (7)

5a   It may lead to quick duck for any batsman (7)

This clue is a play on two meanings of the word "duck".

Bowling^[5] in cricket consists of propelling the ball with a straight arm towards the batsman, typically in such a way that the ball bounces once ⇒ Lillee bowled another bouncer.

Thus, depending how the ball bounces, the batsman may have to duck to avoid being hit.

On the other hand, 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.

Therefore, if a batsman is unable to hit a bouncer, he could be "out for a duck" or, in other words, a bouncer could lead to a quick duck.

9a   Backing writer or flier (5)

10a   Throw a fight and spend night worrying? (4,5)

11a   Carriers available for small charges (10)

In Britain, a stroller^[5] is known as a pushchair^[5].

12a   Such wolves are no longer (4)

14a   Flogged by a stock-holder? (12)

18a   They use first impressions to eradicate wrong types (5-7)

21a   Point to agent in sight (4)

22a   They may be eaten in Morocco, inviting glances (6,4)

Sheep's eyes^[3,4,11] are shy, amorous, lovesick glances ⇒ making sheep's eyes at her.

Here's proof (if you dare to watch) that they are eaten in Morocco!

25a   They are utterly conclusive (4,5)

John Sedgwick^[7] (1813–1864) [mentioned by Gazza in his review] was a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was the highest ranking Union casualty in the Civil War, killed by a sharpshooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.

On May 9, 1864, his corps was probing skirmish lines ahead of the left flank of Confederate defenses and he was directing artillery placements. Confederate sharpshooters were about 1,000 yards (900 m) away and their shots caused members of his staff and artillerymen to duck for cover. Sedgwick strode around in the open and was quoted as saying, "What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line?" Although ashamed, his men continued to flinch and he repeated, "I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Just seconds later he fell forward with a bullet hole below his left eye.

26a   He has to be what he is (5)

27a   Laughs at what could be desired (7)

28a   Sort of safe seat high-flier appreciates in difficulty (7)

Down

1d   Wild capers may get you into one (6)

2d   Sailor is married to Elizabeth -- a superior lady (6)

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

3d   In fact, solo composition is a method of teaching music (5,3-2)

Tonic sol-fa^[5] is a system of naming the notes of the scale (usually [in the UK] doh, ray, me, fah, soh, lah, te) used especially to teach singing, with doh as the keynote of all major keys and lah as the keynote of all minor keys.

4d   One playing minor part in run (5)

In cricket, an extra^[5] is a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited to the batting side rather than to a batsman.

5d   Were debts spread out? Yes! (9)

One must read "Yes!" as being an implicit second instance of "spread out". The clue is therefore interpreted as "Were debts spread out? Yes! [they were] spread out".

6d   State university with rising capital investment (4)

The American Heritage Dictionary and the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary both define investment^[3,11] as an archaic term for a garment or vestment. However, The Chambers Dictionary does not include the singular in this sense but does list investments^[1] [specifically in the plural] as an archaic word for clothes.

7d   New couples finally succeeded to become big shots (5-3)

The setter has laid a trap for us in this clue. The wordplay appears to be an anagram (new) of COUPLES + D (finally succeeded; i.e., the final letter of succeedeD). However, that is not the case at all. The wordplay is actually an anagram (new) of COUPLES + (finally) S (succeeded). The word "finally" is essentially a charade indicator informing us that S (an abbreviation for succeeded) is the final letter of the solution.

The abbreviation s^[5] stands for succeeded, in the sense of to have become the new rightful holder of an office, title, or property ⇒ he succeeded to his father’s kingdom. It might be seen, for instance, it charts of royal lineages.

8d   Arrested, perhaps, and recovered tyres (8)

Tyre^[5] is the British spelling of tire (in the sense of an automobile component).

13d   Little may be seen through it (10)

15d   They are known to go round with crooks (9)

... and they are responsible for raising the delicacy presented at 22a.

16d   Asked for and attracted interest (8)

I'm not surprised that Gazza alludes to cricket in his hint. In cricket, an appeal^[5] is a call by a bowler or fielder on the umpire to declare a batsman out, traditionally with a shout of ‘How’s that?’ and to appeal is to make such a call.

17d   He does his writing in bars (8)

For British musicians, stave [mentioned by Gazza in his review] seems to be the preferred name for  staff^[7], the set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, each representing a different musical pitch, on which a musical score is written.

19d   A child of the pen (6)

A pen^[5] is a female swan, a cob^[5] [mentioned by Gazza in his review] is a male swan, and a cygnet^[5] is a young swan.

20d   Loan shark employer admits game being up (6)

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.

23d   Result in directions being put to wrong use (5)

24d   Very impressed, we put in small announcement (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