Monday, November 17, 2014 — DT 27521

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27521
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, June 20, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27521]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Gazza
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

Having completed the puzzle without the use of electronic assistance, I was a bit surprised to see Gazza award it four stars for difficulty. As I recall, it did take me rather a long time to complete it — and I certainly must have been well-tuned to the setter's wavelength.

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

1a   Sheet anchor (11)

7a   Austere type // left out of a second eleven based in Glasgow (7)

Eleven^[5] is the number of players on a cricket^[7] side or an Association football^[7] [soccer] team — and is often used as a metonym for such a team ⇒ at cricket I played in the first eleven.

Celtic Football Club^[7] is a football [soccer] club in Glasgow, Scotland which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The Scottish Premiership^[7] is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland.

This puzzle appeared in the UK on June 20, 2014. The day before, England had lost to Uruguay in the first round of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, thereby ensuring that England would not advance to the next round. Thus Gazza's comment "I was hoping not to have to mention football this morning as I know how sensitive some people are!".

8a   I arrive looking untidy /in/ holiday area (7)

The Riviera^[5] is part of the Mediterranean coastal region of southern France and northern Italy, extending from Cannes to La Spezia, famous for its beauty, mild climate, and fashionable resorts.

10a   Time's no good for holding in // desire (8)

11a   Sharpness shown by doctor -- // one deals with a lot of rubbish (6)

13a   Chemical /in/ area by northern river (4)

The River Ure^[7] is a stream in North Yorkshire, England, approximately 74 miles (119 km) long from its source to the point where it changes name to the River Ouse.

Urea^[5] is a colourless crystalline compound which is the main nitrogenous breakdown product of protein metabolism in mammals and is excreted in urine.

14a   Engineers, excellent fellows needing time /for/ tweaking (10)

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

16a   Loveless emperor with a penetrating urge -- to ____ Rome! (10)

We usually refer to the two main parts of a clue as the definition and the wordplay. However, the more general terms would be primary indication and subsidiary indication. While the latter term has been used extensively, I discover that I may have inadvertently coined the former term. A Google search revealed that every instance of its use was something that I had written!

In most cases, the primary indication is a definition. However, in this clue, I would say that the entire clue provides the primary indication. However, it is not a definition. Rather, it is a "fill-in-the-blank" statement in which one must insert the solution in order to complete the thought. The subsidiary indication is a bit of wordplay which I have marked with a dashed underline.

Nero^[5] (AD 37-68) was Roman emperor 54-68; full name Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Infamous for his cruelty, he wantonly executed leading Romans. His reign witnessed a fire which destroyed half of Rome in 64.

18a   Odd bits of Sue's mail /in/ house (4)

According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, semi^[5] is an informal British term for a semi-detached house ⇒ a three-bedroomed semi. However, I feel confident that one would also encounter this usage in Canada, although I think we would likely say ⇒ a three-bedroom semi.

21a   Slips of paper? (6)

22a   Snag /having/ daughter untrained, needing support (8)

24a   Move quickly in attempt /to make/ pattern (7)

In architecture, tracery is (1) ornamental stone openwork, typically in the upper part of a Gothic window ⇒ the rose designs were divided by tracery or (2) a delicate branching pattern ⇒ a tracery of red veins.

25a   Mythical beast -- // gosh! -- inside a French home (7)

Cor^[5] is an informal British exclamation expressing surprise, excitement, admiration, or alarm ⇒ Cor! That‘s a beautiful black eye you’ve got!.

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

26a   Awful screamer keeping on, originator of gloom? (11)

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.

Down

1d   Wolves needing time /to get/ all essential elements brought together (7)

2d   Strong // sign resistance will disappear (6)

In physics, R^[5] is the symbol for electrical resistance.

3d   People telling stories // turn coarse when drunk (10)

4d   Lord // soon found to be deficient (4)

An earl^[5] is a British nobleman ranking above a viscount and below a marquess [the third highest of the five ranks of nobility — duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron].

5d   With divine protection Jules // ruled (8)

Jules Verne^[5] ( 1828–1905) was a French novelist. One of the first writers of science fiction, he often anticipated later scientific and technological developments, as in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870). Other novels include Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

6d   Whistle // that is nominally shared by two quarrelling brothers (7)

Tweedle^[1] (said of a bird) means to pipe or whistle.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee^[7] are fictional characters in an English nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom. The names have since become synonymous in western popular culture slang for any two people who look and act in identical ways, generally in a derogatory context.

The nursery rhyme informs us that:

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

    Agreed to have a battle;

For Tweedledum said Tweedledee

    Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

Just then flew down a monstrous crow,

    As black as a tar-barrel;

Which frightened both the heroes so,

    They quite forgot their quarrel.

Although the nursery rhyme does not specify that the two are brothers, they are apparently identified as such in the work by Lewis Carroll.

7d   Play // just right for any person in general (2,3,4,2)

As You Like It^[7] is a pastoral comedy by English playwright William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the First Folio, 1623.

The phrase "any person in general" is another way of saying "you". And if something is "just right for you" then it would be "as you like it" .

9d   A bridge player, Richard, and two fellow players // filled with astonishment (3-8)

In the game of bridge, North^[5] and South^[5] comprise one partnership and play against East^[5] and West^[5] who form the other partnership.

12d   One winning nothing receiving embrace /from/ French author (6,4)

Victor Hugo^[5] (1802–1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist. A leading figure of French romanticism, he brought a new freedom to French poetry, and his belief that theatre should express both the grotesque and the sublime in human existence overturned existing conventions. His political and social concern is shown in his novels. Notable works: Hernani (drama, 1830) and Les Misérables (novel, 1862).

15d   Curse // those people in an organisation supposed to help motorists (8)

The Automobile Association^[7] (The AA) is a British motoring association founded in 1905, which was demutualised in 1999 to become a private limited company which currently provides car insurance, driving lessons, breakdown cover [roadside assistance], loans, motoring advice and other services.

17d   Body /of/ animal under vehicle, cold (7)

19d   Hair being swept up added to our // charm (7)

20d   Shelter // gaping with its roof off (6)

23d   River -- // some deny that will rise (4)

The Tyne^[5] is a river in northeastern England, formed by the confluence of two headstreams, the North Tyne, which rises in the Cheviot Hills, and the South Tyne, which rises in the northern Pennines. It flows generally eastwards, entering the North Sea at Tynemouth.

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