Monday, April 28, 2014 — DT 27372

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27372
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, December 28, 2013
Setter Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27372 - Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27372 - Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (Review)
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
Notes
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

I got off to a slow start with this puzzle, then became mired several times. Each time, I was able to get started again and eventually completed the puzzle without needing to call in the electronic helpers.

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.

Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (& lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions.

Across

1a   Open space for said hall of justice (9)

6a   Live band’s opening work is jazz (5)

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.

Bebop^[5] is a type of jazz originating in the 1940s and characterized by complex harmony and rhythms. It is associated particularly with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie.

9a   Old iron, say (7)

10a   Emphasise hair streak (9)

11a   Set of teeth producing inane chatter (7)

12a   Oarsman catches lake fish that’s smoked (7)

A bloater^[5] is a herring cured by salting and light smoking.

13a   Last place to catch a plane? (7,8)

17a   Sort of 12’s not a crustacean (7)

19a   Orphan Tommy’s part is non-existent (7)

22a   Hours pub is open? It’s determined by the passage of the sun (5,4)

A double definition with the first one being cryptic. In his review, gnomethang does so identify it despite not explicitly marking it as such.

In Britain, a local^[7] is a pub convenient to a person’s home ⇒ a pint in the local.

Local time^[5] is the time at a particular place as measured from the sun’s transit over the meridian at that place, defined as noon.

23a   One may be dropped in error (7)

Clanger^[5] is an informal British term for an absurd or embarrassing blunder ⇒ the minister had dropped a massive political clanger. To drop a clanger is to make a blunder.

I initially wrote in BLOOMER — bloomer^[5] being a dated informal British term for a serious or stupid mistake ⇒ he never committed a bloomer. It appears that a Brit either commits bloomers or drops clangers — although I expect that some British women do drop their bloomers.

24a   Puzzle of engineers going by public transport (5)

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

A rebus^[5] is a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters; for instance, apex might be represented by a picture of an ape followed by a letter X.

25a   A British composer, one on the wagon (9)

Sir John Stainer^[5] (1840–1901) was an English composer. He is remembered for his church music, including hymns, cantatas, and the oratorio Crucifixion (1887).

Down

1d   Tentative proposal makes sense with cockney girl (6)

A cockney^[5] is a native of East London [specifically the East End], traditionally one born within hearing of Bow Bells (the bells of St Mary-le-Bow^[7] church). Cockney is also the name of the dialect or accent typical of cockneys, which is characterised by dropping the H from the beginning of words and the use of rhyming slang^[5].

2d   One writes about drink (8)

Porter^[5] is a dark brown bitter beer brewed from malt partly charred or browned by drying at a high temperature [originally made as a drink for porters].

3d   Grasp small volume in French, going to church (6)

A centilitre^[5] (abbreviation cl) is a metric unit of capacity, equal to one hundredth of a litre [or 10 millilitres].

In Canada, we virtually always measure small volumes of liquid in millilitres (abbreviation ml). Europeans, on the other hand, almost invariably use centilitres. Thus, our 750 ml bottle of wine would be only 75 cl in Europe.

In French, en^[8] is a preposition meaning in.

4d   Result of firing into the air? (6)

If one splits the solution (2,4) it denotes "firing into the air".

5d   Material, it can be felt (8)

In the second definition of this double definition, tangible^[5] is used as a noun meaning a thing that is perceptible by touch.

In the first definition, it is used as

Material^[5], as an adjective, means denoting or consisting of physical objects rather than the mind or spirit.

Tangible^[5], as an adjective, means (1) perceptible by touch or (2) — in a more figurative sense — clear and definite; in other words, real ⇒ the emphasis is now on tangible results. It would mean much the same thing if one were to say the emphasis is now on material results.

While the two meanings of tangible are, in essence, the same (just different parts of speech — noun and adjective), the elegance of the clue comes from the different meanings that the word "felt" can take on. In the surface reading, felt is a type of fabric (or material).

6d   Dancehall sweeper hoovers in everything (8)

In the UK, hoover^[5] (a genericized version of the trade name Hoover) means (as a noun) a vacuum cleaner (from any manufacturer) and (as a verb) to clean (something) with a vacuum cleaner (he was hoovering the stairs).

The Hoover Company^[7] started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name became synonymous with vacuum cleaners and vacuuming in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

7d   Move tons of money allocated (6)

I took a bit of research before I was able to reconcile the use of the word "of" as a link word between the wordplay and the definition.

The word of^[10] can mean constituted by, containing, or characterized by ⇒ a family of idiots, a rod of iron, a man of some depth — which would seem to explain its usage in this role.

8d   Old examination of shepherds (8)

Here, "of" forms part of the definition since the solution is an adjective.

13d   Signal no doubts (3-5)

The setter may have had no doubts — but I certainly do.

I wanted to underline "no doubts" as a second definition (in his review, gnomethang refers to it as a cryptic definition). However, after much wavering, I decided not to do so since ALL CLEAR (no doubts) does not match the numeration (there is no hyphen). On that account, I would presume that "no doubts" would have to be considered to be wordplay — but what one would call it, it know not.

All-clear^[5] is a signal that danger or difficulty is over ⇒ she was given the all-clear to travel home.

14d   Win easily but not in form (8)

In Britain, a form^[5] is a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number. Thus the fifth form would be the counterpart to the fifth grade in North America and Form One would be like saying Grade One.

15d   Wrong to get unwell with a Mexican cake (8)

16d   Gas, neon has grit mixed with it (8)

18d   In alibi, car-bomber’s stashed acid (6)

Bicarb^[5] is an informal short form for sodium bicarbonate^[10] (also called bicarbonate of soda or baking soda), a white crystalline soluble compound used in effervescent drinks, baking powders, fire extinguishers, and in medicine as an antacid.

Strictly speaking [or even loosely speaking], sodium bicarbonate (which is also known as sodium hydrogen carbonate) is not an acid. It is an acid salt^[5], a salt formed by incomplete replacement of the hydrogen of an acid, e.g. potassium hydrogen sulphate (KHSO₄) [or sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO₃)].

19d   Summary not quite correct (6)

20d   Al Pacino’s last three characters get knocked off over a yarn (6)

Al Pacino^[5] is American film actor. He achieved recognition with The Godfather (1972) and went on to receive eight Oscar nominations, winning one for Scent of a Woman (1992).

Alpaca^[5] refers to the wool of the alpaca or fabric made from alpaca wool — the alpaca^[5] (Lama pacos) being a long-haired domesticated South American mammal related to the llama, valued for its wool.

21d   Note: pair of kings ranks double (6)

In music, mi^[2] is the third note of the major scale in sol-fa notation.

Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

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

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