Thursday, July 10, 2014 — DT 27425

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27425
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, February 28, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27425]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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 got off to a very slow start today and the pace hardly picked up much from there. I found this to be a fairly tricky puzzle — one which I would tend to describe as a satisfying solve more so than an enjoyable solve. Some of the clues were very challenging but produced a clear "Oh-ho!" moment when the penny finally dropped. It was a strenuous exercise but an endeavour that left one with a pronounced sense of accomplishment upon its completion. However, in my euphoria over completing the puzzle without assistance, I failed to notice that it is a pangram (a puzzle in which every letter of the alphabet appears at least once in the solution).

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   Disadvantage footballer’s seen after 0-0 result? (8)

The player in the clue might be involved in any number of games — association football (or soccer as we call it), Canadian football, American football, or even Australian rules football. However, the score definitely suggests soccer.

A back^[5] is a player in a team game who plays in a defensive position behind the forwards ⇒ their backs showed some impressive running and passing.

5a   Telephone line into lady’s private room? (6)

Blower^[5] is an informal British term for a telephone ⇒ I’ve been trying to get hold of you on the blower.

Bower^[5] is a literary term for a woman’s private room or bedroom.

9a   Sickly stuff from Maureen and the girls (8)

While solving the puzzle, I misread the definition as "sticky stuff" — which likely got me to the solution more quickly than if I had read the clue correctly. I only realized my error while writing the review.

Mo is a common nickname for Maureen.

In Britain, the sticky liquid that North Americans call molasses^[10] is known as treacle. To someone from the UK, the term molasses^[2] refers to the thickest kind of treacle, left over at the very end of the process of refining raw sugar.

Why is molasses "sickly stuff"? A Google search quickly corroborates that it is common for molasses to be described as "sickly sweet". The word treacle^[5] is synonymous with cloying [tending to disgust or sicken (someone) with an excess of sweetness, richness, or sentiment] sentimentality or flattery ⇒ enough of this treacle—let’s get back to business.

Molasses may not only be sickly, it can be deadly. In 1919, a 50-foot-tall, 90-foot-wide molasses tank collapsed in Boston releasing a two-story wave of sticky, brown goo that barreled down the streets at 35 miles an hour destroying all in its path. The torrent buckled pillars of Boston's elevated railway, crushed cars, and broke buildings apart. Twenty-one people perished in the great molasses flood.

10a   Fish — four caught, still breathing (6)

A ling^[5] can be any of a number of long-bodied edible marine fishes including various species of large East Atlantic fish related to the cod, in particular Molva molva, which is of commercial importance.

12a   Something rudimentary established by a new European (6)

13a   Senior women fussing no end, yes? (8)

15a   Get hold of a lot of sheets of paper — about a hundred (7)

I was able to get hold of the solution once I had scaled my paper order back from 500 sheets to 25.

16a   Time for a certain revolution? Yes, right! (4)

20a   Jewish scribe of peculiar zeal, looking back (4)

In the Bible, Ezra^[5] was a Jewish priest and scribe who played a central part in the reform of Judaism in the 5th or 4th century BC, continuing the work of Nehemiah and forbidding mixed marriages.

21a   Officer on board who may be using a rope? (7)

I would say that the latter part of the clue qualifies as a definition, thereby making this a double definition.

25a   After short time is making a protest at the back? (8)

Although I got to the solution via a different route than that followed by Deep Threat, I think his interpretation is better than mine.

According to his interpretation, the wordplay would parse as T (short time) + (after ... is) RAILING (making a protest)

I had taken the definition be "after":

• 25a   After short time is making a protest at the back? (8)

with the wordplay parsing as T (short time) + (at the back) RAILING (making a protest). I reasoned that the words "after" and "trailing" could be interchanged in a case such as "In the alphabet, B is after (or trailing) A."

However, my explanation does not account for the word "is". I think at the time that I carelessly lumped it into the code for RAILING (is making a protest), which is clearly incorrect.

However, should the word "is" be removed from the clue, either explanation would work:

• 25a   After short time, making a protest at the back? (8)

• 25a   After short time, making a protest at the back? (8)

26a   Loud old pop group associated with US city crime (6)

Forte^[5] (abbreviation f^[5]) is a musical direction meaning (as an adjective) loud or (as an adverb) loudly.

Electric Light Orchestra^[7] (ELO) were a British rock group from Birmingham, England.

28a   Maybe a feller who keeps a diary? (6)

In his review, Deep Threat depicts this as a cryptic definition (which is certainly a valid interpretation). However, I also don't think it would be unreasonable to call it a double definition. A logger may be a feller (someone who chops down trees) or someone who records events.

29a   Generate new sort of drink (5,3)

... one brewed from old chestnuts, methinks.

30a   Very English army officer in the Home Counties, slim and attractive (6)

The Home Counties^[5] are the counties surrounding London in southeast (SE) England, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire.

31a   Given choice and was indebted (8)

Down

1d   Cost is ridiculous, mounting up over time (6)

2d   Attractiveness of short lane outside old city (6)

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC.

3d   Statesman’s terrible racism revealed within covers of book (8)

Otto von Bismarck^[5], Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1815–1898) was a Prussian minister and German statesman, Chancellor of the German Empire 1871–90; known as the Iron Chancellor. He was the driving force behind the unification of Germany, orchestrating wars with Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1870-1) in order to achieve this end.

4d   Revolutionary female worker in the kitchen (4)

Che Guevara^[7] (1928–1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.

6d   Wait as one bound by fate having hesitation (6)

7d   First sign of winter and crossbred animals will make beastly noises (8)

A hinny^[5] (plural hinnies) is the offspring of a female donkey and a male horse.

8d   Record tigers being let loose on railway (8)

11d   Shameful bishop out of bed? In bed! (7)

In his review, Deep Threat remarks of the solution "I’m not convinced that this word actually means ‘shameful’". My thoughts precisely.

Right Reverend^[5] (abbreviation RR^[2]) is a title given to a bishop, especially in the Anglican Church ⇒ the Right Reverend David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham.

14d   Getting rid of relations into the clutches of a psychologist (7)

Carl Jung^[5] (1875–1961) was a Swiss psychologist who originated the concept of introvert and extrovert personality, and of the four psychological functions of sensation, intuition, thinking, and feeling. He collaborated with Sigmund Freud in developing the psychoanalytic theory of personality, but later disassociated himself from Freud’s preoccupation with sexuality as the determinant of personality, preferring to emphasize a mystical or religious factor in the unconscious.

17d   Materials he removed from the discarded hats? (8)

Tile^[10] is old-fashioned British slang for a hat. Apparently the expression arises from the fact that "it’s something that goes over-head" — alluding to roofing tiles.

18d   The first big character is one standing on two legs! (8)

19d   Aggressive macho types given external check (8)

22d   Prince’s warning about British (6)

Prince Albert^[5] (1819–1861) was consort to Queen Victoria and prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

23d   King has old wife attached to rope in ceremony of abasement (6)

K^[5] is an abbreviation for king that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

A tow^[5] is a rope or line used to tow a vehicle or boat.

A kowtow^[5] is an act of kneeling and touching the ground with the forehead in worship or submission as part of Chinese custom.

24d   Spooner’s drunken group using mitts (2,4)

A spoonerism^[5] is a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect, as in the sentence you have hissed the mystery lectures. It is named after the Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), an English scholar who reputedly made such errors in speaking.

27d   Northern bank open to view — characters within it twisted! (4)

Brae^[5] is Scottish for a steep bank or hillside.

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