Friday, January 16, 2015 — DT 27565

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27565
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, August 11, 2014
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27565]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

Miffypops, who authored the review of today's puzzle found on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, writes in a very relaxed, chatty style that has been well received by readers of that website. However, I have observed that his analysis does not always stand up to rigorous examination. In the introduction to his review of today's puzzle, he says "I polish off Rufus’s puzzle at silly o clock whilst half asleep". Perhaps he was still not fully awake when he started to write his review, as points with which I am inclined to take issue seem to be present in an even greater number than usual — especially in the early part of the review.

By the way, if the difficulty rating awarded to the puzzle on Big Dave's blog seems high, be aware that Miffypops admits in a comment that he "forgot to edit the rating". Thus it is stuck at the default value of three stars found in the template used by bloggers.

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 (//). Definitions presented in blue text are for terms that appear frequently.

Across

1a   Camaraderie // that a student may hope for (10)

In the second definition, I find that it helps to mentally change "that" to "[something] that".

Miffypops seems to have missed the mark with his explanation of the second definition. In higher education, a fellowship^[10] is a financed research post providing study facilities, privileges, etc, often in return for teaching services.

6a   Boss /has/ education cut short (4)

Did Miffypops forget in what sense the word "stud" is being used or is he merely engaging in hinting through the provision of an alternative meaning?

A boss^[5] is a stud on the centre of a shield — which, of course, is not an "upright timber".

10a   A wire // 200 yards in length (5)

Cable^[5] is a nautical unit of length equal to 200 yards (182.9 m) or (in the US) 240 yards (219.4 m) ⇒ he caught a glimpse of the mast, a cable or two downwind.

I am surprised to see Miffypops refer to cable as "a variant of the American terms for wires made from strands of metal and also electronically sent messages". I can find no indication in the dictionaries of cable being an American term. In fact, a well known British telecommunications company is named Cable and Wireless^[5].

11a   Crude oil in a USA // state (9)

Contrary to Miffypops's indication, "USA" belongs to the fodder rather than the definition.

12a   East Russian // bear is in wild (8)

Siberia^[5] is a vast region of Russia, extending from the Urals to the Pacific and from the Arctic coast to the northern borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China. Noted for the severity of its winters, it was traditionally used as a place of exile; it is now a major source of minerals and hydroelectric power.

13a   Ward off /with/ shortened sword held by both hands (5)

15a   Issue // helps to make one man a teacher (7)

17a   Damp returns in place // that's for cooking (7)

As in 1a, it will help to mentally insert the word "something" at the beginning of the definition.

19a   Watch marksman /getting/ optical range (7)

From my experience, the solution is a rarely used word. This seems rather strange given how common is the counterpart term "earshot".

21a   I will be imprisoned in stronghold // somewhere in Spain (7)

Castile^[5] is a region of central Spain, on the central plateau of the Iberian peninsula, formerly an independent Spanish kingdom.

22a   Father is getting through // the Telegraph? (5)

The Daily Telegraph^[7] is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper, founded in 1855 as The Daily Telegraph and Courier, which is published in London and distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally [... and the newspaper in which this puzzle initially appeared].

24a   Done -- to death? (8)

After close examination, I'm afraid that I can't support Miffypops' contention that this is a double definition. Rather, I would say that it is a cryptic definition (flagged by the question mark) where the primary indication is a broad definition (done) and the subsidiary indication is a bit of cryptic elaboration (to death) that enables the solver to zero in on the correct solution. The definition "done" could denote any number of other possible solutions (completed, finished, over, etc.) in addition to "executed". The subsidiary indication "to death" points us in the right direction.

This is a style of clue of which Rufus is the acknowledged master. You are about to encounter a few more of this style of clue.

27a   A pair of braces which are put together by the astute (3,3,3)

28a   Fully employ -- an umbrella for example? (3,2)

To "fully employ" (something) is to USE (it) UP — which also describes how one would employ an umbrella.

29a   Has to get quiet // door fastening (4)

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.

30a   Field dressing of growing importance (10)

Scratching the Surface
A field dressing[7] (or battle dressing) is a kind of bandage intended to be carried by soldiers for immediate use in case of (typically gunshot) wounds. It consists of a large pad of absorbent cloth, attached to the middle of a strip of thin fabric used to bind the pad in place.

Down

1d   Effrontery, more than cheek (4)

In his review, Miffypops identifies another body part (lip) that is used to mean insolence. Yet another occurred to me — and by writing the incorrect solution NECK into the grid I managed to slow my progress considerably in the northwest corner. Neck^[4] is an informal [seemingly British] term meaning impudence or audacity ⇒ he had the neck to ask for a rise [a raise (in pay) for a North American].

2d   Built with care in a way /to/ help to avoid friction (9)

3d   Daisy /is/ a neat looker! (2-3)

Neat^[5] is an archaic term for a bovine animal or, as a mass noun, cattle.

The oxeye^[10] is (1) any Eurasian plant of the genus Buphthalmum, having daisy-like flower heads with yellow rays and dark centres; (2) any of various North American plants of the related genus Heliopsis, having daisy-like flowers [actually, its a member of the sunflower family]; or (3) the oxeye daisy^[10] (also known as daisy, marguerite, or moon daisy), a Eurasian composite plant, Leucanthemum vulgare having flower heads with a yellow centre and white outer rays. The Chambers Dictionary includes only the latter meaning and spells it ox-eye^[1]. The ox-eye daisy — an introduced plant to North America, Australia and New Zealand — would seem to be the plant that I am familiar with as a daisy here in Canada.

4d   Cross // sailor gets over anger (7)

A saltire^[5] is a diagonal cross as a heraldic ordinary [such as the Saint Andrew's cross on the flag of Scotland^[7]].

5d   Tropical animals // upset us again (7)

7d   Go for a long walk -- /or/ take up afternoon painting (5)

Should you be reading Miffypops review, note that PM, of course, stands for post meridiem and not post meridian [which conceivably might be some sort of indication of longitudinal positioning].

8d   Uncalled-for correspondence (4,6)

The surface reading suggests inappropriate correspondence, as in That remark was certainly uncalled for. In his review, Miffypops claims that a dead letter is an unsolicited letter — a contention for which I can find no support in the several dictionaries that I consulted.

Miffypops states "Those with The BRB [The Chambers Dictionary, commonly referred to on Big Dave's blog as the Big Red Book] may have the first definition [an unsolicited letter]." Let me assure you that is not the case. The Chambers Dictionary defines dead-letter^[1] as a letter undelivered and unclaimed at the post office. The correspondence is "un-called for" in the sense that no one called in at the post office to pick it up.

Perhaps Miffypops may be forgiven for not being familiar with this expression as Oxford Dictionaries Online characterizes dead letter^[5] as being a chiefly North American term.

A couple of dictionaries specify that a dead letter^[2,10] is a letter that can neither be delivered nor returned because it lacks adequate directions. However, The American Heritage Dictionary defines dead letter^[3] a bit more broadly as an unclaimed or undelivered letter that after a period of time is destroyed or returned to the sender by the postal service.

This all goes to prove that dictionaries are — in one respect — a lot like clocks. A man who has one clock knows what time it is; a man who has two clocks is not sure!

9d   They wrongly assume // moneylenders must be carrying cash (8)

... in this case, a very small amount of cash.

In Britain's current decimal currency system, the smallest denomination is the penny^[5] (plural pennies [for separate coins] or pence [for a sum of money]), a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p^[5].

Usurer^[10] is an archaic or obsolete term for a moneylender. I was only familiar with the term in its modern sense of a person who lends funds at an exorbitant rate of interest.

14d   Bag holds writhing viper /in/ agitated state (5,5)

I fruitlessly spent a great deal of time trying to construct a solution based on "bag" clueing CATCH.

Trying to establish the equivalency of bag and fetch is a bit like playing the parlour game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon^[7]. There seemingly being no direct link to connect the dots, then one must set up a connection through some intermediate point.

I can only conclude that bag^[10] is likely being used in the sense of get where synonyms would be take, land, score, gain, pick up, secure, obtain, capture, acquire, get hold of, come by, procure, make sure of, and win possession of. The corresponding meaning of fetch would seem to be bring with synonyms being pick up, collect, go and get, get, carry, deliver, conduct, transport, go for, obtain, escort, convey, and retrieve.

Even after all this research, I am still not thoroughly convinced that bag and fetch are synonymous. In linguistics, unlike mathematics, the fact the A = B and B = C does not conclusively establish that A = C.

16d   Disciple /has/ to stick to holy writ (8)

The New Testament^[5] (abbreviation NT^[5]) is the second part of the Christian Bible, written originally in Greek and recording the life and teachings of Christ and his earliest followers. It includes the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, twenty-one Epistles by St Paul and others, and the book of Revelation.

18d   Highly esteemed? // That's hilarious! (9)

20d   Where he may be involved in diverting treat (7)

In this semi-&lit. (or, as it is sometimes known, semi-all-in-one) clue, the entire clue constitutes the the definition, while the portion marked with a dashed underline also serves as the wordplay.

21d   It's smoked /by/ the great man in bed (7)

A cheroot^[2,5,10] is a cigar with both ends open (cut off squarely at both ends).

You may notice that Miffypops refers to a cot in his review as "[t]he bed ... of a small child". The word crib^[5] is chiefly a North American term. To the Brits, a young child's bed is known as a cot^[5].

23d   Religious // debt put in postscript (5)

25d   Standard /in/ American university depressing a student (5)

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.

26d   Incentive /to provide/ branch road (4)

I am only familiar with the term spur^[11] being used with respect to a short branch [railway] track leading from the main track. The fact that this is the only sense in which it appears in the American dictionaries would seem to suggest that the application of the term to highways is a British usage. According to Collins English Dictionary, a spur^[4] is a short side road leading off a main road ⇒ a motorway spur [a motorway being a controlled-access, multi-lane divided highway].

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