Monday, August 11, 2014 — DT 27442 (Bonus Puzzle)

Prologue

For those who are suffering from CCWS (Cryptic Crossword Withdrawal Syndrome), I present your Monday fix — namely, the puzzle that the National Post skipped one week ago.

During July and August, the National Post does not publish an edition on Monday. In years past, a Monday Diversions page has sometimes been printed in either a preceding or subsequent edition of the paper. However, that practice appears to have been discontinued. In order to afford readers the opportunity to tackle the puzzles that the National Post has skipped, throughout the summer I will be posting (with a one week delay) the puzzles that would normally have appeared on Monday.

Enjoy solving the puzzle. The review follows.

Review

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27442
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, March 20, 2014
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27442]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By archy and mehitabel
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
The National Post skipped this puzzle which — under its regular publication schedule — would have appeared on Monday, August 4, 2014.

Introduction

Although archy and mehitabel may have thought this puzzle rated only two stars for difficulty, I felt it pushed well into three star territory. I did eventually complete it without using electronic aids — but only over the course of several sessions spread over most of the day.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

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

7a   Expect warning shout before round when facing tee (8)

Round, in the sense of about or approximately, can more formally be expressed by the Latin preposition circa^[5] (abbreviation c^[5] or c.) ⇒ the church was built circa 1860. When used in this sense, North Americans would be much more likely to say "around" rather than "round". Of course, the North American usage would totally destroy the surface reading of the clue.

9a   King returns backing one's country (6)

King Lear^[7] is a tragedy by English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616). The title character descends into madness after disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all.

10a   Hands over change (4)

11a   Make up into cutest swirls (10)

12a   Army capturing enemy's leader rejoiced (6)

14a   Sailor's accurately holding south in deep (8)

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

15a   Rare stigma found by Church (6)

One meaning of stigma^[5] is a small scar or mark such as a birthmark.

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

17a   Lechery of French master (6)

In French, de^[8]is a preposition meaning 'of''.

Sire^[3] is an archaic form of address for a superior, especially a king.

20a   Use charm as prude corrupts sweetheart (8)

In this clue, the setter employs a not uncommon cryptic crossword construct, in which the word "sweetheart" is used to clue E, the middle letter (heart) of swEet. Other examples of this construct are the use of the word "midnight"to clue G, the middle letter (mid) of niGht" and "redhead" for R, the initial letter (head) of Red.

22a   He produces case of beer with container (6)

I think archy continued jumping on the typewriter keys longer than necessary as he has underlined too much of the clue. The phrase "case of beer" is part of the wordplay — not part of the definition. However, one might also make the argument that this is a semi-&lit. (semi-all-in-one) clue with the entire clue serving as the definition (in which case, archy should have kept on jumping).

For those unfamiliar with the background, Archy (a cockroach) and his best friend Mehitabel (an alley cat) are fictional characters introduced in 1916 by Don Marquis, a columnist at The New York Evening Sun. Purportedly, Archy took to writing stories and poems on an old typewriter at the newspaper office when everyone in the building had left. Archy would climb up onto the typewriter and hurl himself at the keys, laboriously typing out stories of the daily challenges and travails of a cockroach which would then appear in Marquis' column.

Because he was a cockroach, Archy was unable to operate the shift key on the typewriter (he jumped on each key to type; since using shift requires two keys to be pressed simultaneously, he physically could not use capitals), and so all of his verse was written without capitalization or punctuation. Thus, in his writing — as well as on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the names of the two friends always appear as "archy and mehitabel". However, whenever Marquis (as himself) wrote about the characters, he would use capitals (as he was quite capable of operating the shift key). Thus I have chosen to follow his lead by capitalizing the names (except, of course, when referring to the bloggers who have chosen not to capitalize their pseudonyms).

However, I do marvel that archy is able to move the platen back to do underlining!

23a   Supporter's complaint about new player (10)

24a   Eat too much cold stuff (4)

... stuff being used as a verb.

25a   Globe, Shakespeare played initially in this place (6)

The Globe Theatre^[5] was a theatre in Southwark, London, erected in 1599, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were first publicly performed. The theatre’s site was rediscovered in 1989 and a reconstruction of the original theatre was opened in 1997.

26a   One watches over guy with Queen playing (8)

It wouldn't be a RayT without an appearance by Her Majesty.

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

Down

1d   Division's supporting pro footballers (8)

These footballers are, of course, soccer players. The positions^[7] of the eleven players comprising a soccer team can be grouped into defenders, midfielders and forwards in addition to the goalkeeper.

2d   The man covering record, a Beatles record! (4)

Help!^[7] is an album released in 1965 by English rock group the Beatles, and the soundtrack from their film Help!.

3d   Organised detectives giving rank (6)

The Criminal Investigation Department (seemingly better known by its abbreviation CID^[2]) is the detective branch of the British police force.

4d   Endless calamity over time creates horror (8)

In a down clue, "over" is probably most frequently used to mean 'on top of'(a charade indicator). However, in this instance, it is used in the sense of 'across' or 'spanning' (a containment indicator).

5d   Associate fellow set up embracing bird (10)

The tern^[5] (of which there are many species) is a seabird related to the gulls, typically smaller and more slender, with long pointed wings and a forked tail.

6d   Oddly deep patches? (6)

This is as an &lit.^[7] clue (sometimes called an all-in-one clue). The entire clue (when read one way) is the the definition, but under a different interpretation takes on the roll of wordplay.

8d   Foreign national seen in boat on Ganges (6)

The Ganges^[5] is a river of northern India and Bangladesh, which rises in the Himalayas and flows some 2,700 km (1,678 miles) south-east to the Bay of Bengal, where it forms the world’s largest delta. The river is regarded by Hindus as sacred. Hindi name Ganga.

Tonga^[5] is a country in the South Pacific consisting of an island group south-east of Fiji; population 120,900 (est. 2009); official languages, Tongan and English; capital, Nuku’alofa. Also called the Friendly Islands.

13d   Harvest we threshed containing nothing at all (10)

16d   He's a card, performing in pantomimes (8)

In the surface reading, pantomime^[5] is used in the sense of a traditional British theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas.

However, for cryptic purposes, pantomime^[5] may be used in the sense [new to me] of an absurd or confused situation ⇒ the drive to town was a pantomime.

If so, charade^[5] would be used in the sense of an absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance ⇒ talk of unity was nothing more than a charade.

However, I am not convinced that this is the case as, apart from the word "absurd", the two definitions appear to have little in common.

In charades^[10], the setter may have been thinking of the parlour game in which one team acts out each syllable of a word, the other team having to guess the word. The common factor between charades (the parlour game) and pantomimes (the stage production) would seemingly be that they both typically employ exaggerated gestures.

18d   Swallowed by clientele, vat originally provides lift (8)

Lift^[5] is the British term for an elevator^[5].

19d   Wild, spasmodic utterance when receiving shock therapy (6)

Electroconvulsive therapy^[10] (abbreviation ECT; also known as electroshock therapy) is the treatment of certain psychotic conditions by passing an electric current through the brain to induce coma or convulsions.

The term shock therapy^[10] encompasses a broader range of treatments, including (in addition to electroshock therapy) the injection of drugs to produce convulsions or coma.

21d   Free from former wife, not quite available (6)

22d   Side street is ample around journey's end (6)

Byroad is another term for byway^[3] meaning a side road. I would think that the latter term is the one which is more often used in North America.

24d   Team starts to collapse, relinquishing every wicket (4)

Crew^[10] could refer specifically to a rowing team or, more generally, it might merely be an informal term for a gang, company, or crowd.

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