Friday, November 7, 2014 — DT 27515

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27515
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, June 13, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27515]
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 thought that this was rather gentle for a Giovanni puzzle. It definitely helps, though, to have some familiarity with cricket terminology.

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. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

2a   I'm loyal, party having got involved /in/ a bit of old-fashioned drama (8,4)

A morality play^[5] is a kind of allegorical drama having personified abstract qualities as the main characters and presenting a lesson about good conduct and character, popular in the 15th and early 16th centuries.

8a   Black mineral /in/ hole (4)

9a   Very small country -- it has hidden // energy (8)

In the cryptic analysis, do not interpret "it has hidden" in the sense of 'it possesses hidden' but, rather, in the sense of 'it has hidden [itself in what has gone before]'.

10a   Offensive doctor given medal -- // one kept in bedroom? (8)

OBE stands for Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

The Order of the British Empire^[5] is an order of knighthood instituted in 1917 and divided into five classes, each with military and civilian divisions. The classes are: Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight or Dame Commander (KBE/DBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE). The two highest classes entail the awarding of a knighthood.

11a   Amount /of/ temporary accommodation given to old lover (6)

12a   Bird /or/ spider unfortunate old woman swallowed? (10)

Flycatchers^[5] in America are distinctly different birds than their Old World counterparts. The former belong to the family Tyrannidae while the latter are part of the family Muscicapidae.

"I Know an Old Lady (Who Swallowed a Fly)" is a children's song composed by Canadian folksinger Alan Mills with lyrics by Rose Bonne. The song was originally popularized by American folk singer Burl Ives. In the song, the lady swallows a succession of progressively larger animals starting with a fly. The second animal swallowed is a spider.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly
But I don't know why she swallowed the fly

13a   Makes improvements to // this writer in final bits (6)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as compiler, setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

16a   Vegetable /supplied by/ place in Somerset (5)

Chard^[5] is a town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. The parish, lying near the Devon border, has a population of approximately 15,000 and, at an elevation of 121 metres (397 ft), it is the southernmost and highest town in Somerset.

17a   Greek and German meeting /in/ cave (6)

You will discover — if you haven't already — that most of the Germans you encounter in Crosswordland seem to be named Otto.

18a   Cope with duress somehow /in/ legal administration (3,7)

21a   Holy person got old /and/ performed publicly? (6)

23a   Pessimistic // resident has limited say (8)

The phrase "limited say" is used to clue 'an abbreviation meaning say (or for example)'.

24a   One hut is constructed /for/ dwarf (8)

25a   We in Calais /must show/ common sense (4)

Calais^[5] is a ferry port in northern France; population 75,790 (2006). Captured by Edward III in 1347 after a long siege, it remained an English possession until it was retaken by the French in 1558.

In French, nous^[8] is a pronoun meaning we.

Nous^[5] is an informal British term meaning common sense or practical intelligence ⇒ if he had any nous at all, he’d sell the film rights.

26a   Dances -- ten got nasty // sort of drug (12)

Down

1d   Extra // wealthy person keeping everyone under (2-4)

Nob^[5] is an informal British term for a person of wealth or high social position ⇒ it was quite a do—all the nobs were there.

In cricket, an extra^[5] is a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited to the batting side rather than to a batsman.

In cricket, a no-ball^[5] is an unlawfully delivered ball, counting one as an extra to the batting side if not otherwise scored from ⇒ we also bowled far too many no-balls and wides.

In cricket, a wide^[5] (also wide ball) is a ball that is judged to be too wide of the stumps for the batsman to play, for which an extra is awarded to the batting side.

2d   Beggar/'s/ confession about inability to put things right? (9)

3d   Dismissed // a Parisian in the course of disturbance (3,3)

In French, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is un^[8].

In cricket, run out^[7] (abbreviation ro^[2]) denotes the dismissal of a batsman by hitting a wicket with the ball while the batsman is out of his ground^[10] (the area from the popping crease back past the stumps, in which a batsman may legally stand).

4d   Even temper // that's necessary for one learning deportment with books aloft! (5-10)

One must read the second definition as though it began "[something] that's necessary ...".

5d   Gate there dangling -- not entirely // fixed (8)

6d   One in secret scheme // who will get things off the ground? (5)

Similar to 4d, one must read the definition as though it began "[someone] who will get ...".

7d   Bizarre idea about cold metal /being/ radioactive element (8)

In chemistry, actinide^[5] denotes any of the series of fifteen metallic elements from actinium (atomic number 89) to lawrencium (atomic number 103) in the periodic table. They are all radioactive, the heavier members being extremely unstable and not of natural occurrence.

14d   Performer /in/ river, wounded worker (9)

The River Exe^[7] rises on Exmoor in Somerset, 8.4 kilometres (5 mi) from the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It reaches the sea at a substantial ria, the Exe Estuary, on the south (English Channel) coast of Devon.

15d   Stick out // for short time, discourteous to others (8)

16d   Cooking // a couple of fish by the sound of it (8)

The ling^[5] is 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.

19d   Queen /of/ island beset by mounting fury (6)

Regina^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for queen] denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

20d   Taste /that's/ acidic getting Virginia upset inside (6)

22d   Bit of time soldier's taken over /making/ device (5)

In the UK, mo^[5] (abbreviation for moment) is an informal term for a short period of time ⇒ hang on a mo!.

A GI^[5] is a private soldier in the US army ⇒ she went off with a GI during the war. Contrary to popular belief, the term apparently is not an abbreviation for general infantryman, but rather derives from the term government (or general) issue (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces).

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