Tuesday, March 17, 2015 — DT 27607

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27607
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, September 29, 2014
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27607]
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

For those of you subjected to a late kick from winter, Rufus provides a pleasant respite from clearing snow and scrapping ice off of windshields.

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   Entitled to be a church member (8)

Baptism^[5] is the Christian religious rite of sprinkling water on to a person’s forehead or of immersing them in water, symbolizing purification or regeneration and admission to the Christian Church. In many denominations, baptism is performed on young children and is accompanied by name-giving.

Where baptism is administered to infants, it not only admits them to membership in the Church but confers a name on them (entitles them).

What did he say?

In his review, Miffypops refers to baptism as the first of the seven sacraments. In the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, the Seven Sacraments are: Baptism Eucharist (or Communion, Mass, or the Lord's Supper) Confession and Absolution (Penance) Holy Matrimony Confirmation (Chrismation) Ordination (also called Holy Orders) Anointing of the Sick (also called Healing or Unction) Some or all of these practices may also be observed by other Christian faiths, although in many cases they refer to them by such terms as "sacerdotal functions", "ordinances", or "traditions" rather than sacraments.

6a   It takes the strain out of brewing (3,3)

In his review, Miffypops laments the lost art of tea-making — and tea-drinking.

9a   Pursue // syllabus (6)

Course^[5] means to pursue (game, especially hares) with greyhounds using sight rather than scent ⇒ (i) many of the hares coursed escaped unharmed; (ii) she would course for hares with her greyhounds.

What did he say?
In his review, Miffypops says Gipsy types do it around here illegally chasing Hares with Lurchers. Lurcher[5] is a British term for a cross-bred dog, typically a retriever, collie, or sheepdog crossed with a greyhound, of a kind originally used for hunting and by poachers for catching rabbits.

10a   Drawer of Cupid's bow? (8)

Cupid's bow^[5] is a shape like that of the double-curved bow often shown carried by Cupid, especially at the top edge of a person’s upper lip ⇒ soulful eyes and Cupid’s bow lips.

11a   Tell a student /to be/ relaxed (8)

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.

12a   Evasive // secret agent seen around border (6)

The Chambers Dictionary lists slippery and slippy as synonyms in every sense — so smooth, wet or slimy as to allow or cause slipping; elusive; evasive: untrustworthy; apt to slip; unstable; uncertain, unpredictable.

On the other hand, Collins English Dictionary specifically lists slippy^[10] as another word for slippery^[10] only in the sense of (1) causing or tending to cause objects to slip ⇒ a slippery road or (2) liable to slip from the grasp, a position, etc — thereby excluding other senses, such as that used by the setter.

13a   Happy // to give duo more dough (4-8)

The anagram indicator here is implicit. The setter merely tells as that some unspecified operation performed on a synonym for "happy" will give as DUO MORE DOUGH. It is left to the solver to figure out which specific operation must be performed.

Furthermore, note that the clue is phrased such that, strictly speaking, the anagram fodder is the solution to the clue (GOOD HUMOURED) with the result of the anagram operation (DUO MORE DOUGH) being given in clue itself. For the anagram fodder to be DUO MORE DOUGH, the clue would need to be phrased, for instance, as:

• Happy given by duo more dough (4-8)

However, an anagram operation is symmetric; that is, if A is an anagram of B, then B is also an anagram of A. Therefore, for practical purposes, we can treat DUO MORE DOUGH as if it were the anagram fodder.

16a   Shakespeare's playhouse in the round? (5,7)

The Globe Theatre^[5] was a theatre in Southwark, London, erected in 1599, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were first publicly performed. The theatre’s site was rediscovered in 1989 and a reconstruction of the original theatre was opened in 1997.

19a   Why brides may conceal // having mixed parentage (6)

21a   Sycophant/'s/ aspirate misplaced (8)

I thought parasite to be a questionable substitute for sycophant^[10]. However, it is on a long list of synonyms found in Collins English Dictionary — many of which one would avoid using in polite company.

23a   They may be happy playing cards (8)

Happy Families^[7] is a traditional card game played in the UK, usually with a specially made set of picture cards, featuring illustrations of fictional families of four, most often based on occupation types. The object of the game is to collect complete families. An adaptation of the game for use with an ordinary set of playing cards is known as Go Fish^[7].

24a   Naturally cold state, /but/ sweet when baking hot outside (6)

Sweet^[5] is a British term for a sweet dish forming a course of a meal; in other words, a pudding or dessert.

25a   In cold weather they go downhill fast (6)

26a   Items of furniture // which are employed off stage (8)

A dresser^[5], in the UK, is not a chest of drawers as in North America. Rather, it is a sideboard with shelves above for storing and displaying plates and kitchen utensils.

In the theatre, a dresser^[5] is a person whose job is to look after theatrical costumes and help actors to dress. Thus someone who works (is employed) off stage.

Down

2d   A cycle /is/ available (6)

As in Remember, should you need me, I'll be around.

3d   Trunk /with/ tangled roots (5)

4d   Vessel /requiring/ a mast to be re-rigged (9)

5d   She persuaded her admirer to take a short cut (7)

In the Bible, Delilah^[5] was a woman who betrayed Samson to the Philistines (Judges 16) by revealing to them that the secret of his strength lay in his long hair.

Who are they talking about?

At Comment #4 on Big Dave's blog, Bluebird says Nice to see the SAHB again. Wondering if their bizarre costumes ... were a forerunner of the Bay City Rollers? SAHB stands for the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Alex Harvey[7] (1935–1982) was a Scottish blues/rock musician. Although Harvey's career spanned almost three decades he is best remembered as the frontman of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, with whom he built a reputation as an exciting live performer during the era of glam rock in the 1970s. The Bay City Rollers[7] were a Scottish pop band whose popularity was highest in the mid 1970s. The British Hit Singles & Albums noted that they were "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh", and were "the first of many acts heralded as the 'Biggest Group since The Beatles' and one of the most screamed-at teeny-bopper acts of the 1970s". For a relatively brief but fervent period (nicknamed "Rollermania"), they were worldwide teen idols.

6d   Upset about work, // drinks (5)

Here we encounter one of those instances in which the indicator and fodder are combined in a single word. The solver must split the word "upset" into its individual components to get a reversal (up; in  a down clue) of SET. Other examples of such combinations are "redhead" — used to clue R {the initial letter (head) of Red} — and sweetheart — used to clue E {the middle letter (heart) of swEet}.

Lift-and-Separate

At Comment #6 on Big Dave's blog, Dutch describes the device used in this clue as "lift-and-separate", a play on a phrase often encountered in brassiere advertising. It refers to a situation in which a seemingly single conceptual unit (which can be either a word or a phrase) must be split into separate pieces with one piece forming part of the wordplay with the other piece being part of the definition.

7d   /Here's/ quality, // but in unusual attire (9)

We can think of the word "here's" as meaning 'the solution is a synonym for'. Effectively, it plays a role similar to a link between the wordplay and definition. It is found at the beginning of the clue because the setter has chosen to employ an inverted sentence structure.

If we were to rephrase the clue in a normal sentence structure, it might look something like:

• But in unusual attire /provides/ quality (9)

Of course, the word "here" (or any variation that I could think of) does not work in this context. Moreover, the surface reading of the rephrased clue is abysmal — which explains why the setter wisely elected to use an inverted sentence structure.

8d   Didn't refuse -- /that's/ normal (8)

13d   Fabric, // being dear, replaced (9)

As an anagram indicator, "replace" is to be interpreted as re-place (that is, place or position again). Thus, we must reposition the letters found in the fodder. This is based on the following bit of whimsical cryptic logic; given that 'to place' means 'to position', does it not follow that 'to replace' must mean 'to reposition'?

Gaberdine^[5] (also chiefly North American gabardine) is a smooth, durable twill-woven worsted or cotton cloth.

14d   Car demo to be organised -- for a president? (9)

Behind the Image
The "motorcade" illustrated in Miffypops' review is actually the funeral procession for Elvis Presley. As I recall, he never ran for office — let alone got elected.

15d   Review TV show /and/ quietly relax (4,4)

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.

Pedants' Corner

It is pointed out in Comment #7 on Big Dave's blog (and discussed in the ensuing thread) that this clue is grammatically incorrect. The proper term for "quietly relax" would be LIE BACK — not LAY BACK. The expression lie back and think of England [mentioned in the thread] is idiomatic advice to accept (rather than fight)—and distract oneself so as to be able to endure—bad or unwanted sex, or by extension any unpleasant but inevitable experience. The origin of the phrase is supposedly advice given to women whose husbands were soon to attempt to have sexual intercourse with them, encouraging them to think of how beneficial children (who could grow up to be soldiers, sailors, merchants, etc) were to England.

17d   Former spouse sat // in the open (7)

18d   Fireman who doesn't put fires out (6)

I was quite proud of myself (chuffed as the Brits would say) when I wrote in SNIPER on the first pass. Of course, this really messed up my progress in the southeast quadrant. However, I would like to believe that my solution is far more typical of Rufus than the one he has actually used.

What did he say?
In his review, Miffypops says He always wears a boiler suit .... Boiler suit[5] is a British term for a one-piece suit worn as overalls for heavy manual work.

20d   Spots the sign of a faulty washer (5)

I thought this might be a double definition, with the two definitions being "spots" and "the sign of a faulty washer". However, I was not able to find a meaning for "spots" which would satisfy this proposition.

Therefore, I have concluded that clue must be a cryptic definition for wet spots that one might observe beneath a tap with a faulty washer. We would interpret the clue as meaning "Spots [which are] the sign of  a faulty washer". Drip^[1] would seemingly be used not in the sense of 'a falling in drops' but rather of 'that which falls in drops' [of course, after it has splattered on the floor].

22d   Supports // fights, but not seriously (5)

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