Thursday, April 17, 2014 — DT 27364

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27364
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27364]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave
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

With a lot of perseverance I reached the point where there were two unsolved clues — and I made short work of them with a bit of help from my electronic assistants.

Tomorrow, being Easter Friday, the National Post will not publish. However, if past experience serves as a guide, the Post will thoughtfully publish the Friday puzzle in the Saturday edition so we will have something with which to occupy our time tomorrow!!!

Cryptic Crossword 101: Select and Discard

In Jay's puzzles, you will often need to select individual letters or groups of letters from words or, conversely, discard letters or groups of letters.

Today we have at least three instances where we must select letters:

• 10a:  the letter L is clued by "source [initial letter] of Lignite";
• 28a:  the letter T is clued by "finally [final letter of] caughT";
•   1d:  the letter R is clued by "her last",  that is, the last [final letter] of heR.

as well as several instances where we must discard letters:

• 14a:  ARE is clued by "AGREE to drop regulars" — that is, discard a regular sequence (in this case, the even letters) from AGREE;
• 15a:  GUES is clued by "GUESS (reckon) not quite complete" — that is, discard the final letter of GUESS leaving it "not quite complete";
• 25a:  SLID is clued by "unfinished SLIDE (part of playground)" — that is, discard the final letter of SLIDE leaving it "unfinished";
• 29a:  T is clued by "NOT without NO (refusal)";
•   6d:  IN is clued by "discovered MINT" — where discovered is used in the whimsical sense of 'with the covers [outer letters] removed';
•   6d:  CAS is clued by "CASH (money) mainly" — that is, discard the final letter of CASH leaving the main part of the word.

In 14a, "regular" indicates a regular sequence of letters. The particular nature of the sequence is not defined and it could be either the odd letters (1, 3, 5, ...) or the even letters (2, 4, 6, ...). On at least one occasion, I seem to recall having seen this wording used to indicate every third letter. The solver must figure out which one is meant by determining which particular sequence fits the clue.

A usage like "discovered" in 6d is based on the whimsical logic that if disrobe means to remove one's robe (or other clothing), then it only stands to reason that discover must mean to remove one's cover.

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.

Definitions are underlined in the clue, with subsidiary indications being marked by means of a dashed underline in semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions.

Across

1a   Left one protected by upper-class European (6)

4a   Worker runs to trap savage fox (8)

10a   Fuelled from a source of lignite dismissed by company (4-5)

11a   Group that spell ‘bay’ with an ‘n’? (5)

12a   Having some luck working with a cob (2,1,4)

Cob^[5] is a British name for a round loaf of bread ⇒ a round granary cob.

Bap^[5] [given as a hint by Big Dave] is a British name for a large, round, flattish bread roll, typically with a spongy texture and floury top.

13a   Wine kept for man on bench? (7)

Reserve wine^[7] is a term given to a specific wine to imply that is of a higher quality than usual, or a wine that has been aged before being sold, or both. Traditionally winemakers would "reserve" some of their best wine rather than sell it immediately, coining the term.

In sports, a reserve^[2] is an extra player or participant who can take another's place if needed; in other words, a substitute. While the dictionaries don't flag this as a British term, I also don't find it in the American dictionaries specifically applied to sport thereby leading me to conclude that the term may be used more commonly in the British sports vocabulary than it is on this side of the Atlantic.

14a   Agree to drop regulars and name a venue (5)

15a   American army dress — overweight, I reckon, not quite complete (8)

British dictionaries give no indication that fatigues^[1,2,5,10] is an American term. Perhaps the answer is found in Wikipedia which defines fatigues^[7] as follows:

• In American English usually a synonym of battledress, typically referring to the plain OG-107 uniform;
• In most Commonwealth countries (and formerly in US English) work clothes (e.g. boilersuits) worn by soldiers to avoid getting their uniforms dirty in non-combat manual work.

18a   Scottish engineer admitting mistake with a boatman (5,3)

James Watt^[5] (1736–1819) was a Scottish engineer. Among his many innovations he greatly improved the efficiency of the Newcomen steam engine, which was then adopted for a variety of purposes. He also introduced the term horsepower.

Water rat^[10] is an informal term for a person who is very fond of water sports.

Ratty and Mole [who appear in Big Dave's hint] are characters from the children's classic The Wind in the Willows^[7] by Scottish writer Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932), first published in 1908.

20a   It’s in a church letter (5)

23a   Protective cover for primate in role (7)

One meaning of parapet^[5] is a protective wall or earth defence along the top of a trench or other place of concealment for troops ⇒ the sandbags that made up the parapet had been blown away and the wall of the trench had caved in.

25a   Protective cover for child in unfinished part of playground (4,3)

Skid lid^[5] is an informal British name for a crash helmet.

26a   Bird finding love in right dump! (5)

While dump and bin might be used as nouns, they could also be verbs.

A dump^[5] is a site for depositing rubbish. Bin^[5] is a British [more or less] name for a receptacle in which to deposit rubbish. 

As verbs, dump^[5] means to deposit or dispose of (rubbish, waste, or unwanted material), typically in a careless or hurried way while bin^[5] means to throw (something) away by putting it in a bin.

American robin

As you will note from Big Dave's illustration, a British robin^[5] is not the same bird as the one we have in North America. The European robin or redbreast, Erithacus rubecula, is a small Old World thrush having an orange-red face and breast. The American robin, Turdus migratorius, is a large New World thrush that resembles the European robin, especially in having a red breast.

27a   Prepare too hard for open rule, by the sound of it (9)

28a   Bird finally caught rodent eating it (8)

Titmouse^[5] is another term for tit^[5], a small songbird that searches acrobatically for insects among foliage and branches. Called chickadee in North America.

29a   Man of the cloth makes enquiries, not without refusal (6)

A priest^[5] is an ordained minister of the Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican Church, authorized to perform certain rites and administer certain sacraments.

Down

1d   Cleopatra is excited after casting off her last breastplate! (8)

A pectoral^[5] is an ornamental breastplate.

2d   Evidence of loss from brewing a keg ale (7)

3d   Eastern county rowing crew rumoured to choke (9)

Suffolk^[5] is a county of eastern England, on the coast of East Anglia; county town, Ipswich.

An eight^[5] is an eight-oared rowing boat or its crew.

5d   Bush says people must be respected politicians (5,9)

6d   Discovered mint with money mainly for South Americans (5)

The Incas^[5] were a South American Indian people living in the central Andes before the Spanish conquest.

7d   Get separated from fantastic creature in plunge (7)

In fantasy literature and games, an orc^[5] is a member of an imaginary race of human-like creatures, characterized as ugly, warlike, and malevolent. While the term has existed since the late 16th century, the current sense is due to the use of the word in the fantasy adventures written by South African-born British novelist J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973).

8d   Give up and put a coat on before decorating (6)

Render^[5] can be used in a literary sense of to give up or surrender ⇒ he will render up his immortal soul.

Render^[5] also can mean to cover (stone or brick) with a coat of plaster ⇒ external walls will be rendered and tiled.

9d   For energy, limits the amount of rapid increases (14)

16d   Fighter delighted a riot’s broken out (9)

17d   Doctor Brown on Italian thriller (8)

Doctor Who^[7] is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior appears as a blue police box. The show has had widespread distribution in North America and apparently is currently available in Canada on the SPACE specialty channel on cable and satellite.

19d   Circus performer, born in a European setting (7)

21d   Part of arable farming’s up to date (7)

22d   Short of verve (6)

In Britain, a short^[5] is a drink of spirits served in a small measure or, as Collins English Dictionary puts it, a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer^[10].

24d   Quietly enthusiastic about horse (5)

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

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