Friday, January 30, 2015 — DT 27575

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27575
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, August 22, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27575]
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

Like a hurricane, I think that this puzzle gained strength during its journey across the Atlantic. I certainly found that it put up a far more vigorous challenge than the two star effort which Deep Threat reports in his review.

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   Sailor // left with a legacy from sword fight? (6)

Lascar^[5] is a dated term for a sailor from India or SE Asia ⇒ the manning of British ships by lascar crews.

5a   Corresponding /from/ river location after work (8)

The Po^[7] is a river that arises in the Cottian Alps and flows eastward across northern Italy entering the Adriatic Sea through a delta near Venice.

In music, Op.^[5] (also op.) is an abbreviation meaning opus (work). It is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication.

9a   Bigheads // say nothing -- aims can look dubious (10)

In Britain, a bighead^[4] is a conceited person while in the US and Canada bighead^[3,4,11] means conceit or egotism.

10a   Lose weight // within judicious limits (4)

11a   Enduring // children endlessly -- that's the head man (8)

12a   /What is/ written /is/ restricted (6)

I had no trouble solving the clue. However, on close examination, the parsing seemed to be a bit baffling. I can only conclude that the phrase "what is" is part of a split link phrase, which we can see more clearly if we normalize the clue structure:

• 12a   Restricted /is what is/ written (6)

13a   River almost /makes you/ sentimental (4)

Here "makes you" is a link phrase and is interpreted in the sense of "produces the result for you (the solver)".

The Tweed^[5] is a river which rises in the Southern Uplands of Scotland and flows generally eastwards, crossing into northeastern England and entering the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed. For part of its lower course it forms the border between Scotland and England.

Twee^[5] is a British term meaning excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental ⇒ although the film’s a bit twee, it’s watchable.

15a   Hoopla? // A reasonable object of ridicule (4,4)

In Britain, hoopla^[5] is a game in which rings are thrown from behind a line in an attempt to encircle one of several prizes. I discover that the sense in which I am familiar with this term is a chiefly North American usage in which hoopla^[5] means unnecessary fuss surrounding something ⇒ I really didn’t know what the hoopla was all about.

Before investigating the meaning of "hoopla", I had supposed that "object of ridicule" was the definition as in Having fired the opening salvo, Larry set himself up as fair game for the rest of the evening. That is, Larry made himself a target of ridicule when he made a crack about one of his companions.

However, as Deep Threat points out in his review, the wordplay is FAIR (reasonable) + GAME (a[n] ... object of ridicule).

Make (a) game of^[5] is an archaic expression meaning to mock or taunt. Come to think of it, this sense of "game" is likely also what we see in the expression "fair game". In my example above, Larry having taunted someone else, becomes the object of taunts himself.

18a   Couple admitting love at // sporting event (4,4)

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

The Boat Race^[7] is an annual rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights on the River Thames in London, England. It usually takes place on the last weekend of March or the first weekend of April.

19a   Spots // knight lying in a church (4)

N^[5] is the abbreviation for knight used in recording moves in chess [representing the pronunciation of kn-, since the initial letter k- represents 'king'].

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.

21a   Small creature given grub // moaned (6)

23a   Orchestra // according to some sounding wrong, less authentic? (8)

In what well may be a British usage, a sinfonia^[5] is a small symphony orchestra ⇒ the City of London Sinfonia.

The wordplay is sounds like (sounding) {SIN (wrong) + PHONIER (less authentic; when pronounced with a non-rhotic accent)}.

The word "phonier", when pronounced in a non-rhotic^[5] accent ("phoni-uh"), sounds like "fonia".

Non-rhotic accents omit the sound < r > in certain situations, while rhotic accents generally pronounce < r > in all contexts. Among the several dozen British English accents which exist, many are non-rhotic while American English (US and Canadian) is mainly rhotic. This is, however, a generalisation, as there are areas of Britain that are rhotic, and areas of America that are non-rhotic. For more information, see this guide to pronouncing < r > in British English.

25a   Appear /in/ bishop's office before Mass (4)

A see^[10] is the diocese of a bishop, or the place within it where his cathedral or procathedral is situated.
In physics, the symbol m^[5] is used to represent mass.

26a   Person from Scotland /or/ Wales aging terribly (10)

A Glaswegian^[5] is a native of Glasgow, Scotland.

And who might that be?
Rab C. Nesbitt[7] [whose picture illustrates Deep Threat's review] is a Scottish Comedy which began in 1988. Produced by BBC Scotland, it stars Gregor Fisher as an alcoholic Glaswegian who seeks unemployment as a lifestyle choice.

27a   Barrier around lake or // foreign city (8)

Florence^[5] is a city in west central Italy, the capital of Tuscany, on the River Arno; population 365,659 (2008). Florence was a leading centre of the Italian Renaissance from the 14th to the 16th century, especially under the rule of the Medici family during the 15th century.

28a   Managed amount of money said /to be/ extortionate charge (6)

Down

2d   Sin /is/ risk when daughter is out of sight (5)

In theology, the seven deadly sins^[10] are the sins of pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth.

3d   Part // company with politician, one leading national organisation (9)

In Britain, the National Trust^[5] (abbreviation NT) is a trust for the preservation of places of historic interest or natural beauty in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, founded in 1895 and supported by endowment and private subscription. The National Trust for Scotland^[7], a separate organization, was founded in 1931.

4d   /It's/ rotten, // what leading detective did (6)

The inverted structure of the clue pushes the link word to the front. If expressed in a normal structure, the clue would read:

• 4d   What leading detective did /is/ rotten (6)

The Criminal Investigation Department (seemingly better known by its abbreviation CID^[2]) is the detective branch of a British police force. 

Therefore the leading detective would be the person who "ran CID". 

5d   Partially fruitless condition /evident in/ old territory? (6,4,5)

Orange Free State^[5] was an area and former province in central South Africa, situated to the north of the Orange River. An area inhabited by Bantu-speaking farmers, it was first settled by Boers after the Great Trek. It became a province of the Union of South Africa in 1910 and in 1994 became one of the new provinces of South Africa. It was named Free State in 1995.

6d   Job with power to help, // upfront expense having been met (4-4)

In physics, P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power (among other things).

Does anyone else think that it is ironic that post-paid means that the cost off mailing a letter has been prepaid?

7d   Woman /given/ conflicting directions for crossing America (5)

And who might that be?

Susan Boyle[7] [who Deep Threat has selected to illustrate this clue] is a Scottish singer who came to international attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. Boyle's initial appearance on the talent show fired public imagination when her modest stage introduction left the studio audience, viewers and judges alike unprepared for the power and expression of her mezzo-soprano voice. Before she had finished the song's opening phrase a standing ovation for Boyle had erupted. Her performance triggered an international media and Internet response. Her first album was released in November 2009 and debuted as the number one best-selling album on charts around the globe.

8d   Native // unsettled by mean Brits (9)

14d   Like loaf of bread /as/ starters, main course and pudding? (9)

The only thing preventing me from marking this as a double definition is the fact that the numeration would have to be (5,4) for the second part to be a definition.

Wholemeal^[10] is the British term for whole-wheat^[10].

Starter^[5] is a chiefly British term [according to Oxford Dictionaries Online, but certainly a term that is not entirely foreign to Canada] meaning the first course of a meal.

Whereas in North America, the term pudding^[5] denotes specifically a dessert with a soft or creamy consistency, in Britain the term pudding^[5] refers to either (1) [seemingly any] cooked sweet dish served after the main course of a meal or (2) the dessert course of a meal ⇒ what’s for pudding?.

16d   Beautiful musical instrument // somewhere in Wales (9)

Glamorgan^[10] (or Glamorganshire) is a former county of southeastern Wales that was divided into West Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan, and South Glamorgan in 1974.

17d   King maybe on horse, one turning up in woollen jacket (8)

A cardigan can be a jacket as well as a sweater. A cardigan^[3,4,11] is a knitted garment, such as a sweater or jacket, that opens down the full length of the front.

20d   Solution // offered by politicians we ridicule (6)

22d   Father chewing bird/'s/ bone (5)

24d   Princess given little house /in/ mountainous part of America (5)

Princess Ida^[7] (full name Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant) is a comic opera with music and libretto by the English team of Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and Sir W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) respectively.

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