Thursday, June 4, 2015 — DT 27677

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27677
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, December 19, 2014
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27677]
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

Today, Giovanni shows us his gentler side.

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   Secret // needle like this has been lifted (3,3,6)

8a   Small organisms // Georgia found in drink (5)

"Georgia" = GA (show explanation)

The US Postal Service abbreviation for the state of Georgia^[7] is GA.

hide explanation

9a   Outside church Daniel chewed a // bit of food (9)

An enchilada^[5] is a tortilla served with chilli sauce and a filling of meat or cheese.

11a   Sound of tongue, say, /getting/ salt (9)

Tungstate^[10] is a salt of tungstic acid.

12a   Bill Hill /seen as/ an insincere type? (5)

A tor^[5] is a hill or rocky peak.

Actor^[5] is used in the sense of a person who behaves in a way that is not genuine.

13a   Hostile row backed by others? (5,4)

16a   Restricted round end of semester, /being/ examined (5)

18a   Housed, but not in the basement? (3,2)

19a   Bent // administration (9)

Scratching the Surface
In Britain, the word bent[5] has the same connotation (dishonest or corrupt) as does the word crooked[5] in North America. [It would appear that the British use both bent and crooked in this sense].

20a   One banished /from/ English team starts to look exasperated (5)

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.

22a   Series of questions // schematic in arrangement (9)

A catechism^[5] is a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for religious instruction.

25a   Sink to the depths /and/ administer corporal punishment (3,6)

What did he say?

In his review, Deep Threat refers to what Mr Quelch did when he had Billy Bunter bent over. Greyfriars School[7] is a fictional English public school used as a setting in the long-running series of stories by English writer Charles Hamilton (1876–1961), who wrote under the pen-name Frank Richards. The stories are focused on the Remove (or lower fourth form), whose most famous pupil was Billy Bunter. Henry Samuel Quelch Esq., M.A. is Form Master [teacher] of the Remove. Firm but fair ("a Beast, but a just Beast"), he stands no nonsense and does not spare the rod. A form[7] is a class or grouping of students in a school. The term is used predominantly in the United Kingdom, although some schools, mostly private, in other countries also use the title. Pupils are usually grouped in forms according to age and will remain with the same group for a number of years, or sometimes their entire school career. Forms are normally identified by a number such as "first form" or "sixth form". A form number may be used for two year groups and differentiated by the terms upper and lower. The sixth form is the senior form of a school, and is usually divided into two year groups: the lower sixth and upper sixth. If there is more than one form for each year group they will normally be differentiated by letters, e.g., "upper four B", "lower two Y". Schools do not follow a consistent pattern in naming forms. Remove[10] is a British term for a class or form in certain schools, especially one for children of about 14 years, designed to introduce them to the greater responsibilities of a more senior position in the school.

26a   Grotesque act // of sycophant I criticise (5)

27a   Need for cadet to be trained // in civil war group? (12)

The North was a Union, the South was a Confederation.

Down

1d   High notes coming from here in church? (5,4)

2d   Insects // loud above meadows (5)

"loud" = F (show explanation)

Forte^[5] (abbreviation f^[5]) is a musical direction meaning (as an adjective) loud or (as an adverb) loudly.

hide explanation

3d   Animal // hospital burning -- initial hint of arson? (5)

4d   Dodgy dealer // always introduced by big noise (9)

5d   Ending // of weather pattern with cold coming in (9)

6d   Soldiers going up a street // get very hot (5)

"Soldiers" = OR (show explanation)

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

hide explanation

7d   Type of word // that contributes to an oration (4,2,6)

10d   Branch of study that could help high-level management (12)

I took AERONAUTICS for a test flight, but it came up short—sending me back to the drawing board.

Similar — but different

Although, superficially, 7d and 10d might appear to have similar structures (i.e., they each conclude with a subordinate clause introduced by the word 'that'), I have deemed them to be different in one key respect. In 7d, I believe that both the definition as well as the cryptic definition that constitutes the wordplay are sufficiently strong to stand in their own right. Moreover, the condition described by the subordinate clause is not a necessary attribute of the solution (i.e., a part of speech is used elsewhere than in an oration). Therefore, I have marked it as a double definition, with the latter one being cryptic. In 10d, on the other hand, both the definition and the wordplay are much vaguer and do not as readily stand on their own. However, when used in combination, they form a cryptic definition comprising a vague standard definition (the portion with the solid underline) together with a bit of cryptic elaboration (the portion with the dashed underline). While this argument may be seen by some as 'splitting hairs', I do note that the manner in which Deep Threat has underlined the definitions in his review would appear to indicate that he has drawn a similar conclusion.

14d   Given dope // and dumped? (6,3)

The wordplay is based on a British meaning of the word 'tip'. As a noun, tip^[10] means a dump for refuse,  etc. and, as a verb, it means to dump (rubbish, etc).

15d   Order I did enact /as/ shown (9)

17d   One fool, one an old rocker // brought into club? (9)

Nit^[5] is an informal British term for a foolish person ⇒ you stupid nit!. 

 Ted^[2] is short for Teddy boy^[5], a slang term originally applied to a young man belonging to a subculture in 1950s Britain characterized by a style of dress based on Edwardian fashion (typically with drainpipe trousers, bootlace tie, and hair slicked up in a quiff) and a liking for rock-and-roll music.The name comes from from Teddy, pet form of the given name Edward (with reference to Edward VII's reign). Judging by the entry in the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, it would appear that the term Teddy boy^[2] is now applied to any unruly or rowdy adolescent male.

We saw both of these terms on Monday—albeit in separate clues.

21d   Church anthem not with it -- // jazzy piece wanted (5)

In the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England, an introit^[10] is a short prayer said or sung as the celebrant is entering the sanctuary to celebrate Mass or Holy Communion.

Intro^[1] is an informal contraction of introduction, used especially of the opening passage of a jazz or popular music piece.

23d   Embraced by sailor this person /becomes/ more submissive (5)

"this person" = ME (show explanation)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the) compiler, (the) setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

hide explanation

24d   Talk about minister's latest // plan (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