Friday, July 4, 2014 — DT 27421

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27421
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, February 24, 2014
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27421]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

This was a Monday puzzle in the UK and, as might be expected, was not too difficult but, nevertheless, very enjoyable.

Speaking of Monday, we are about to enter the summer period during which the National Post does not publish on Monday. From past experience, we should see a "Monday Diversions" page in tomorrow's edition of the paper containing the puzzle that would have appeared then

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   Potential opener, one that may yet represent Yorkshire (7)

Like many clues crafted by Rufus, this one is a bit difficult to classify.  One might label it as a double definition, as Miffypops appears to do in his review. However, I don't feel that the second part is substantial enough on its own to constitute a proper definition. Thus, I have decided to call it a cryptic definition which has a primary indication (marked by the solid underline) and subsidiary indication (with the dashed underline).

Yorkshire^[7] is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. It was the seat of the House of York which, in the 15th century, fought the rival House of Lancaster for the throne of England in a series of civil wars, commonly known as the Wars of the Roses — so-called because the white rose was the symbol of the House of York while the red rose represented the House of Lancaster. The flag of Yorkshire comprises a white rose on a blue background.

In his review, Miffypops mentions "the flowers on the England Rugby Union teams shirts" which happens to be a red rose — which is hardly representative of York.

5a   Seems in order to get retribution (7)

It seems that nemesis^[5] (often Nemesis) can mean retributive justice ⇒ Nemesis is notoriously slow.

9a   Animated youngster in film and book given limited scope (5)

One might be tempted to incorporate "and book" into the definition, as this youngster originally appeared in a book — but then he wasn't animated in the book (at least not in the way he was in the film). Besides, the word "book" is needed in the wordplay.

Bambi, a Life in the Woods^[7] is a 1923 Austrian novel written by Felix Salten which traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father and experience about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest. The story is probably better known from Bambi^[7], a 1942 American animated film produced by Walt Disney which was based on the book.

The wordplay is B (book) + AMBI[T] (scope) with the final letter removed (limited).

10a   Entering ground, following a South American (9)

As an anagram indicator, ground is the past tense or past participle of the verb grind^[5]. An anagram indicator is a word that denotes movement or transformation. Grind denotes transformation in the sense of wheat being ground into flour.

11a   Uncast replacements? (5,5)

Like Miffypops, I deduced that the clue must have a theatrical connection, leading me to focus my efforts on finding a solution for which the first word would be STAGE. The consensus on Big Dave's blog seems to be that the solution, SPARE PARTS, refers to machine parts. In this vein, one correspondent (skempie) comments "surely spare parts have been cast, otherwise they would not yet be parts". However, at least one contributor felt that the reference is, in fact, theatrical. Tstrummer writes "Not sure why some were baffled by 11a. When casting a play, there are often spare parts that need to be filled – minor roles taken by members of the cast (often non-speaking). Sometimes these are taken by assistant stage managers etc, or anybody who happens to be around. In films, they call them extras."

The clue would seem not to be a double definition, since I cannot conceive of  "uncast" meaning spare parts. Therefore, I would say that the primary indication is "replacements" referring to spare machine parts, with "uncast" being a subsidiary indication alluding to spare parts being uncast roles in the theatre.

12a   Exchange prisoners of war in turn (4)

Swop^[3] is a chiefly British variant spelling of swap.

14a   Two things required for a fiddle one’s seen at the card table (6,6)

18a   Fuel-saving trip that’s intended to reduce overheads (7,5)

21a   Classic acorn producers (4)

In horse racing in Great Britain, the British Classics^[7] are a series of five horse races run over the flat (i.e., without jumps) for thoroughbreds. Each classic is run once each year and is restricted to horses that are three years old. The third of these races is the Epsom Oaks^[7] (apparently commonly referred to as The Oaks), a race for fillies run at Epsom Downs each June.

22a   Compensating for disappointing scenery (10)

25a   Military command that’s withdrawn? (2,3,4)

26a   Arthur’s head is in a drink once more (5)

27a   Make out new plan for Marxist flotation (7)

28a   Eternal solution for unstable sea legs (7)

I think we are to interpret the phrase "eternal solution" as meaning the solution to the clue is a synonym for eternal.

Down

1d   Healthy transport in decay (6)

2d   Mother’s coming up on a vessel — a Chinese one (6)

Once we have substituted the antecedent for the pronoun, the definition becomes "a Chinese vessel".

3d   Man of the match? (10)

4d   Doctor and a graduate join together in play (5)

5d   Clothing range with buckles (9)

As an anagram indicator, buckle is used in the sense of bend out of shape.

6d   Repair men do nothing less (4)

7d   Basic requirements for ship launchings (8)

8d   Those resting between the lines? (8)

Sleeper^[3] is a chiefly British term for a railroad crosstie. Railroad is a chiefly US term for a railway.

13d   Unfortunate people were knocked down in this traffic (5,5)

In an auction, knock down^[10] means to declare (an article) sold, as by striking a blow with a gavel.

15d   Possibly stayed for Sunday (3,2,4)

16d   Elegant fashion on a bride (8)

17d   Tap observed to be crooked (8)

19d   He stole away from the shore (6)

20d   They may be after estate — amen! (6)

Estate agent^[5] is the British name for a real estate agent^[5].

23d   Was its queen a graduate of Girton? (5)

Girton College^[7] is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential college for women, established in 1869. Full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the university. In 1976, it was Cambridge's first women's college to become coeducational.

Sheba^[5] is the biblical name of Saba in southwestern Arabia. The queen of Sheba visited King Solomon in Jerusalem (1 Kings 10).

24d   Save up to get a brass instrument (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