Tuesday, July 7, 2015 — DT 27706

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27706
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, January 23, 2015
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27706]
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
Notes
The National Post has skipped DT 27705 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Thursday, January 22, 2015.

Introduction

This puzzle is typical Giovanni fare — delivering a new word or two and forcing us to use our grey matter a bit (although perhaps somewhat less than we are accustomed to).

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   Anger's hidden by Jerry's adversary, see, // without excitement (10)

Tom and Jerry^[7] is a series of theatrical animated cartoon films created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, centering on a never-ending rivalry between a cat (Tom) and a mouse (Jerry) whose chases and battles often involved comic violence (despite this they sometimes become allies to defeat a 'greater enemy' such as Spike the dog).

A see^[10] is the diocese of a bishop, or the place within it where his cathedral or procathedral is situated.

The Diocese of Ely^[7] is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in the city of Ely.

6a   Country // protected by formal institution (4)

Mali^[5] is a landlocked country in West Africa, south of Algeria. (expand explanation )

Facts about Mali: population 13,443,200 (est. 2009); languages, French (official), other languages mainly of the Mande group; capital, Bamako. Former name (until 1958) French Sudan.

Conquered by the French in the late 19th century, Mali became part of French West Africa. It became a partner with Senegal in the Federation of Mali in 1959 and achieved full independence a year later, on the withdrawal of Senegal.

hide expanded explanation

9a   Adviser // continued to want leader of empire restricted (10)

"continued" = CONT (show explanation )

The abbreviation for continued is cont.^[5].

hide explanation

A sultan^[5] is a Muslim sovereign. Historically, the title the Sultan^[5] referred to the sultan of Turkey.

10a   Ruler // of grim empire, backward-looking (4)

Emir^[5] (also spelled amir) is a title of various Muslim (mainly Arab) rulers ⇒ HRH the Emir of Kuwait.

12a   Drinks /given/ special trade promotion, first to last (4)

13a   Engineers, fellows this person's put in // fighting units (9)

"engineers" = RE (show explanation )

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

hide explanation

"this person's" = IM (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. Today, the setter has made the scenario slightly more complicated by combining "this person" with the verb "to be" producing "this person's" (contraction for "this person is") which must be replaced by "I'm" (I am).

hide explanation

15a   Dwindle /as/ favourite with little energy facing defeat (5,3)

"little energy" = E (show explanation )

"little energy" is an explicit indication that we need a 'short form for energy'

In physics, E^[5] is a symbol used to represent energy.

hide explanation

16a   Peer endlessly into Cornish river // with pretty plants? (6)

A  peer^[5] is a member of the nobility in Britain or Ireland, comprising the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.

In the UK, Lord^[5] is a title given formally to a baron, and less formally to a marquess, earl, or viscount (prefixed to a family or territorial name) ⇒ Lord Derby.

The River Fal^[5] flows through Cornwall, England, rising at Pentevale on Goss Moor (between St. Columb and Roche) and reaching the English Channel at Falmouth. The River Fal separates the Roseland peninsula from the rest of Cornwall.

18a   Fish crossing river /or/ ditch (6)

The tench^[5] is a European freshwater fish (Tinca tinca) of the carp family, popular with anglers and widely introduced elsewhere.

20a   I will be in this set // filling in crosswords (8)

In the cryptic reading, "filling" is a noun denoting what is used to complete a crossword grid (just as lemon custard might be a filling in pies). The first definition tells us that the letter "I" is part of the set which constitutes the solution.

23a   Lover no longer one to chide, /that's/ clear (9)

Rate^[5] is an archaic term meaning to scold (someone) angrily ⇒ he rated the young man soundly for his want of respect.

24a   Bird /in/ vessel on lake (4)

Ark^[5] is an archaic name for a ship or boat. The best known example is undoubtedly Noah's ark^[5], the ship in which Noah, his family, and the animals were saved from the Flood, according to the biblical account (Gen. 6-8).

What did he say?

In his review, Deep Threat states that the ark "was said to contain two of these birds (plus every other sort of living creature)" repeating the common misconception that Noah took only two of each creature with him on the ark. Noah's precise mission statement was as follows:   The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” (Gen. 7:1-4 New International Version)

26a   Woman // from Dublin maybe that's ditched husband (4)

Dublin^[5] is the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, situated on the Irish Sea at the mouth of the River Liffey; population 506,211 (2006).

27a   Wild beast may be seen here // in the distance, one going in a flash (6,4)

28a   Group /from/ north sitting in silence (4)

29a   Strange fee negotiated /for/ uncommitted participants (4,6)

In Britain, the term free agent^[3,11] does not appear to bear the sports connotation that it carries in North America of a professional athlete who is free to sign a contract with any team. Rather, British dictionaries define free agent^[5] as a person who does not have any commitments that restrict their actions.

Down

1d   Not cross /for/ a moment (4)

Tick^[5] is a British term [although one that I expect is also well-known on this side of the pond] for a mark (✓) used to indicate that an item in a list or text is correct or has been chosen, checked, or dealt with.

Tick^[5] is an informal British term for a moment ⇒ (i) I shan’t be a tick; (ii) I’ll be with you in a tick.

2d   Cluster of hair // girl fixed with net (7)

The anagram indicator "fixed" and the charade indicator "with" are combined into a single entity, the phrase "fixed with".

3d   One of a couple in court // to suppress noise? (6,6)

I had supposed racket to be an American spelling. However, in a rare display of unanimity, my American and British dictionaries all showed racquet to be an alternative spelling of racket^{[2,3,4,5,10,11]}.

4d   Disorderly lot going round hill on American // vehicle (5,3)

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

What did he say?

In his review, Deep Threat describes a tor as being "a hill in the West Country". A tor[7], which is also known by geomorphologists as either a castle koppie or kopje, is a large, free-standing rock outcrop that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest. In the South West of England, the term is commonly also used for the hills themselves – particularly the high points of Dartmoor in Devon and Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

5d   Row securing a good // amount of editorial matter (6)

"good" = G (show explanation )

The abbreviation G^[10] for good likely relates to its use in grading school assignments or tests — ones garnering sufficient numbers of 1d's.

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I would say that Deep Threat has come up short in marking the definition.

Linage^[5] is the number of lines in printed or written matter, especially when used to calculate payment.

7d   A solitary type, male engaged /as/ hospital worker no more (7)

Almoner^[10] is an obsolete British term for a trained hospital social worker responsible for the welfare of patients.

8d   Tories rule in unsettled fashion, // lacking clear purpose (10)

11d   One taking this one won't gain much ground (12)

Smallholding^[5] is a British term for (1) an agricultural holding smaller than a farm or (2) the practice of farming smallholdings ⇒ cooperation with neighbours is the key to successful smallholding.

14d   Celebrate outside club, // jabbering (10)

17d   A right troublesome goddess /gets/ cut off (8)

In Greek mythology, Ate^[10] is a goddess who makes men blind so that they will blunder into guilty acts.

19d   The personification of love at home admitting love /is/ dying away (7)

In Greek mythology, Eros^[5] is the god of love, son of Aphrodite — the Roman equivalent being Cupid. The name is synonymous with sexual love or desire ⇒ Eros drives us to transcend ourselves through desire.

"love" = O (show explanation )

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.

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21d   Pub gets to profit /from/ special deal (7)

22d   Fair // prohibition restricts extremist characters beginning to agitate (6)

25d   More than one runner // misses out, lacking power (4)

"power" = P (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

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