Thursday, August 21, 2014 — DT 27455

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27455
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, April 4, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27455]
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 definitely felt that the difficulty level of this puzzle exceeded the range indicated by Deep Threat. For me, it was well into three star territory.

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

1a   Induce spell of energetic play in gym (6)

PT^[5] is the abbreviation [British, according to Oxford Dictionaries Online] for physical training^[5], the systematic use of exercises to promote bodily fitness and strength.

4a   Short reptile sits beside American plant (6)

I think my major problem here was due to an early fixation on CACTUS.

8a   Last session for student, a learner that's kept at home (8)

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

10a   Reduce the intensity of reminder from club treasurer? (6)

In Britain, sub^[5] is short for subscription^[4] (which here is used  in the sense of membership dues or fees) ⇒ the annual sub for the golf club will be £200. This meaning for the word subscription is chiefly a British usage.

11a   Fibre is hard, in need of ventilation (4)

H^[5] is an abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

12a   Shop and church on one cliff tottering (3-7)

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.

Off-licence^[5] is a British term for a shop selling alcoholic drink for consumption elsewhere.

13a   Bristol lady is seen to be such a money-grabber! (4-8)

I desperately tried to make WOOL-GATHERER fit — obviously without success.

A toll-gatherer^[1] is (1) a person who collects a toll, e.g. at a tollbridge or tollgate or (2) a person who collects taxes. In North America, such a person would certainly be called a toll collector or a tax collector respectively.

The phrase "Bristol lady" is cryptically a 'toll-gatherer' as the word "toll" is contained (gathered) within it (BrisTOL Lady).

16a   University is hard -- chaps finally admit shock (12)

The word "hard" reprises its performance from 11a.

Aston University is a public research campus university situated at Gosta Green, in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK’s first elite College of Advanced Technology in 1956. Aston University received its Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II on 22 April 1966.

20a   Entertainment conjured up by a top girl, eh? (5,5)

I knew it was an anagram and I came up with an unbelievable number of five-letter combinations from the fodder that formed words. However, I failed to find the correct five-letter combinations until I called in my electronic assistants.

21a   Any number in club gear come together (4)

The letter n^[10] is used (especially in mathematics) as a symbol to represent an indefinite number (of) ⇒ there are n objects in a box.

Kit^[5] is a British term for the clothing used for an activity such as a sport ⇒ a football kit; in other words, what would be called a uniform on this side of the pond.

22a   What's kept by journalist or editor and filed? (6)

I failed to see the hidden word and tried to parse the wordplay as ST (what's kept by journalist) + OR (from the clue) + ED (editor). Doh! Of course, I was at a total loss to explain the first part of the charade.

23a   Boss has drink with little hesitation, one to join the men (8)

As a verb, sup^[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒ (i) she supped up her soup delightedly; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle. As a noun, it means (1) a sip of liquid ⇒ he took another sup of wine or (2) in Northern England or Ireland, an alcoholic drink ⇒ the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery.

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

24a   New way to begin service (6)

The Royal Navy^[5] (abbreviation RN) is the British navy. It was the most powerful navy in the world from the 17th century until the Second World War.

25a   Fat Greek free from trouble (6)

Due to an incorrect presumption that the definition is an adjective, my initial stab at a solution involved an adjective — rather than a verb — meaning "free from trouble". This certainly made 15d much harder to solve than it otherwise would have been.

Down

1d   It's fun for tot to stay up with a short thing to read (8)

2d   Shell in French sea, yellow on surface (5)

Mer^[8] is a French word meaning sea.

Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture.

An ormer^[5] is an abalone (mollusc), especially one used as food in the Channel Islands^[5], a group of islands in the English Channel off the northwestern coast of France, of which the largest are Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. Formerly part of the dukedom of Normandy, they have owed allegiance to England since the Norman Conquest in 1066, and are now classed as Crown dependencies.

3d   Criticise artist holding party, a troublesome female (7)

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[5]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

In Greek mythology, Pandora^[5] is the first mortal woman. In one story she was created by Zeus and sent to earth with a jar or box of evils in revenge for Prometheus' having brought the gift of fire back to the world. She let out all the evils from the container to infect the earth; hope alone remained to assuage the lot of humankind.

5d   I run up, one likely to slide -- it's not so safe (7)

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

6d   Member in taxi to drive down, providing urgent message (9)

7d   Plaster that's mostly irremovable, firm (6)

9d   Sinister types putting pen to paper, say? (4-7)

Sinister^[5] (the Latin word for 'left') is an archaic and heraldic term denoting of, on, or towards the left-hand side (in a coat of arms, from the bearer’s point of view, i.e. the right as it is depicted). The opposite is dexter^[5] which denotes on or towards the right-hand side (in a coat of arms, from the bearer’s point of view, i.e. the left as it is depicted).

In his review, Deep Threat comments that he is "not dextrous when it comes to writing" — a cryptic way of saying that he is left-handed.

14d   Metal is brought round that place to be beaten (9)

15d   Worker that is eating tiny amount -- it should improve health (8)

17d   Socialist foundation overturned, as commanded (2,5)

18d   Generous type perhaps keeping quiet when cheat appears (7)

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.

19d   One who suffers, having two small boys (6)

21d   Fate of King with fleet of ships a third destroyed (5)

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

In Hinduism and Buddhism, karma^[5] (from the Sanskrit word for 'fate') is the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. Informally, the term has come to mean good or bad luck, viewed as resulting from one’s actions.

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