Monday, December 8, 2014 — DT 27536

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27536
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27536]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave
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

It is a very straightforward puzzle today. In fact, the rating for this puzzle on Big Dave's blog — one * each for difficulty and enjoyment — is surely the harshest that I have ever seen.

The beast with the peculiar name was unfamiliar to me but I was able to work it out from the wordplay. Even the English railway junction was easy to derive from the clue.

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   Sailor needs to be given // purpose (6)

4a   So, a nicer new // storyline (8)

10a   Finished with one revolutionary's // compositions (9)

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.

11a   Children, // a bone of contention (5)

12a   Scandal // revealed before right time (7)

13a   Bid // organised (7)

Bid is the past tense of the verb bid^[3] used in the sense of to issue a command to or to direct.

14a   Gang, last to leave // important railway junction (5)

Crewe^[7] is a Railway town in Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683. Crewe is perhaps best known as a large railway junction and home to Crewe Works, for many years a major railway engineering facility for manufacturing and overhauling locomotives, but now much reduced in size. From 1946 until 2002 it was also the home of Rolls-Royce motor car production. The Pyms Lane factory on the west of the town now produces Bentley motor cars exclusively.

15a   Former sweetheart, // doll -- fame spread (3,5)

18a   Just // terrible heading off (8)

20a   Songbird with the French // name (5)

A tit^{[Britannica Concise Encyclopedia]} is any of several songbirds closely related to the chickadee, including the great tit (Parus major), found in Europe, North Africa, and Asia and the tufted titmouse (Parus bicolor), native to North America. These birds are called either "chickadees" or "titmice" in North America, and just "tits" in the rest of the English-speaking world.^[7]

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

23a   A month // round Connecticut, temperate, no sun (7)

The US Postal Service abbreviation for the state of Connecticut^[7] is CT.

25a   Film, // extremely short, I got out (7)

Vertigo^[5] is a 1958 psychological thriller starring James Stewart and Kim Novak that was produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

26a   A growth // on the other hand (5)

27a   International organisation presented /as/ irrelevant (9)

28a   Knocking back endless wine /is/ ominous (8)

Retsina^[5] is a Greek white or rosé wine flavoured with resin.

29a   Heraldic beast // with very peculiar name (6)

In heraldry, a wyvern^[5] is a winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail.

Down

1d   Leading score /is/ excellent (3-5)

2d   This may be worn as a favour (7)

A rosette^[5] is a rose-shaped decoration, typically made of ribbon, worn by supporters of a sports team or political party or awarded as a prize ⇒ the showjumping rosettes Samantha had accumulated.

In Britain, it is apparently common practice to wear a rosette as a badge to show one's allegiance to a sports team or political party. To illustrate the clue, I have chosen an example of the latter while Big Dave, in his review, has selected an instance of the former — a rosette worn by a fan of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

3d   Queen /in/ Belize with hat askew (9)

5d   How a private obstetrician may prefer to be paid? (4,2,8)

Healthcare in the United Kingdom^[7] is a devolved matter, meaning England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have their own systems of publicly funded healthcare (in England known as the National Health Service). A variety of differences exist between these systems, as a result of each region having different policies and priorities. That said, each country provides public healthcare to all UK permanent residents that is free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. In addition, each also has a private healthcare sector which is considerably smaller than its public equivalent. Therefore, the inclusion of the the word "private" in the clue to differentiate between an NHS doctor (who would be paid by the government) and a private doctor (who would be paid by the patient — or the patient's health insurance provider).

6d   Nymph: // Diana, possibly (5)

In classical mythology, a naiad^[5] is a water nymph said to inhabit a river, spring, or waterfall. A nymph^[5] is a mythological spirit of nature imagined as a beautiful maiden inhabiting rivers, woods, or other locations.

7d   Backing soldiers, play guitar behind // stage (7)

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

8d   Exaggerate // about reception (6)

Over^[5] is used in the sense of on the subject of ⇒ a long and heated debate over unemployment.

9d   Gambling device, // woeful, often her undoing (5,2,7)

16d   It'll relay changes // word for word (9)

17d   Blonde he let out, // under a moral obligation (8)

19d   Progressing // on board coach (2,5)

Strangely, among my usual collection of dictionary sites, the expression in train appears only at Oxford Dictionaries Online. In train^[5] means (of arrangements) in progress ⇒ an investigation is in train.

Parting ways with Big Dave, I have elected to designate the second part of the clue as a definition — albeit one that is rather borderline.

Someone writing at Big Dave's site questioned the use of the word "coach" to clue TRAIN. The two words are truly not synonyms, as a coach is a part of a train. However, if one is "on board [a] coach", they could be said to be "in [a] train" — although I think that one would certainly be far more apt to say "on [a] train".

Another writer has suggested viewing "coach" and "train" as verbs meaning to educate.

21d   National emblem // saint introduced to Leith, oddly (7)

The thistle^[7] is the floral emblem of Scotland.

Leith^[10] is a port in southeastern Scotland, on the Firth of Forth. It has been part of Edinburgh since 1920.

22d   Gold found in extensive // swamp (6)

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

24d   Benefit /from/ riding in single-decker outside? (5)

I would beg to differ slightly with Big Dave on the interpretation of the clue. I believe that the setter has inverted the structure of the wordplay which we should interpret (after undoing the inversion) as BUS (single-decker) containing (outside) ON (riding in ['on board' a bus, for instance]). The interpretation of the clue may be clearer if one inserts a pause following "riding in" to get "riding in; single-decker outside".

Had the word "outside" been omitted from the clue:

• Benefit /from/ riding in single-decker? (5)

the wordplay suggested by Big Dave would work. That is, ON (riding [a horse, for instance]) contained in (in) BUS (single-decker).

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