Wednesday, July 15, 2015 — DT 27712

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27712
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, January 30, 2015
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27712]
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

This is surely Giovanni in one of his more gentle moods.

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

5a   Cheer /from/ 250 in a train (7)

7a   The woman following us /may be/ match participant (5)

9a   Pet needing bowl of water /and/ grub? (3,3)

10a   Record sound /that's/ getting less and less (8)

11a   This may suggest a whiskery visitor less welcome than Santa! (3-7)

13a   Lined up to speak /and/ given a line (4)

14a   Futility // that is demonstrated by blunt type (13)

I believe the second part of this clue could be considered to be a definition. It effectively denotes "characteristic possessed by blunt object".

16a   Passage cut off at front -- // one has water all round (4)

17a   Claim /to be/ retired, existing within post-work allowance? (10)

19a   Variety of points made by actors /in/ TV feature maybe (8)

20a   Something you get in bridge // material (6)

In the card game bridge, a rubber^[3] is (1) [a unit of play consisting of] a series of games of which two out of three or three out of five must be won to terminate the play or (2) an odd game played to break a tie.

22a   Original // eleven maybe (5)

Prime^[5] is an adjective denoting from which another thing may derive or proceed ⇒ Diogenes' conclusion that air is the prime matter.

In mathematics, prime^[5] is another term for prime number^[5], a number that is divisible only by itself and 1 (e.g. 2, 3, 5, 7, 11).

23a   Criticise // reduction in numbers (7)

A rundown^[5] is a reduction in the productivity or activities of a company or institution ⇒ a rundown in the business would be a devastating blow to the local economy.

Down

1d   Cold in the south of France? // Move quickly (4)

In French, sud^[8] is a word meaning south.

2d   Woman /in/ overturned vehicle concealing terrible rage (8)

3d   Something big in the bar (6)

In his review, Deep Threat points out that the clue could either be a cryptic definition (as the markup above shows) or a double definition (as the markup below shows).

Bumper^[5] is an archaic term for a generous glassful of an alcoholic drink, typically one drunk as a toast.

Having never heard of this measure of alcoholic drink, I parsed the clue as a double definition:

• 3d   Something big /in/ the bar (6)

4d   Signs /from/ eccentric people? (10)

5d   Silver and gold set down on a // Greek marketplace (5)

"silver" = AG (show explanation )

The symbol for the chemical element silver is Ag^[5] from Latin argentum.

hide explanation

"gold" = OR (show explanation )

Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture.

In heraldry, a tincture^[5] is any of the conventional colours (including the metals and stains, and often the furs) used in coats of arms.

hide explanation

In ancient Greece, an agora^[5] was a public open space used for assemblies and markets.

6d   Something hard to find? This may help the copper search! (5,8)

I thought there might be some wordplay here with "something hard" and "to find" clueing METAL and "DETECT" respectively. However, it would seem that this was merely a blind alley.

The clue could have been written:

• Something hard to find? Gold perhaps. This may help the copper search! (5,8)

The setter may have shied away from this as this clueing for OR had been used in the previous clue.

8d   Rovers? // Another football team (7)

Rangers Football Club^[7] are a football [soccer] club in Glasgow, Scotland, which plays in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League.

Queens Park Rangers Football Club^[7] (usually referred to as QPR) is a professional English football [soccer] club in White City, London that will play in The Championship, the 2nd tier of English football, during the 2015-2016 season.

Scratching the Surface

Blackburn Rovers Football Club[7] is an English professional association football [soccer] club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Football League Championship (the 2nd tier of English football), having been relegated from the Premier League, the top tier of English football, at the end of the 2011–12 season. Rovers Football Club[7] were a 19th-century football [soccer] club based in Glasgow that were one of the original 16 teams to participate in the inaugural season of the Scottish Cup. Rovers F.C. finally dissolved in 1878. Melchester Rovers Football Club is a fictional football [soccer] club featured in the British comic strip Roy of the Rovers[7] which ran from 1954 until 1993.

12d   Protective clothing // piece -- grease sure somehow to penetrate it (6,4)

Boiler suit^[5] is a British term for a one-piece suit worn as overalls for heavy manual work.

What did she say?

In comment #22 at Big Dave's Blog, weekendwanda says I thought 12d was particularly appropriate on the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s funeral. She is referring to Sir Winston Churchill who was the British prime minister during World War II and his association with the "siren suit". The siren suit[7] is a one-piece garment for the whole body which is easily put on or taken off, originally designed for use on the way to and in air-raid shelters. The suit solved the problems of warmth and modesty encountered when seeking shelter during nighttime air raids in the United Kingdom during World War II. It was roomy and could be put on over night clothes quickly when an imminent air raid was announced by the sirens. The suit was worn by both children and adults when sheltering in either back garden [backyard] or public shelters. Similar in style to boilersuits worn by many workers including mechanics, brick layers and tank crews to protect their standard clothing, the siren suit was invented by Churchill as an original leisure suit in the 1930s. He played a large part in popularizing it as an item of clothing during World War II, wearing it regularly, including when meeting other important people such as U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, General Dwight Eisenhower and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The advantages of clothing that could be easily and quickly put on over other clothing led to the adoption of this style of suit during the war by many who were forced to leave their homes to seek shelter during air raids. That these raids were announced by the sound of sirens led to the adoption of their name.

14d   Design // special teas for youngster to drink (5-2)

15d   Carol's bound to tolerate // bad language (8)

Wear^[5] is an informal British term meaning to tolerate or accept ⇒ the environmental health people wouldn’t wear it.

17d   Earth perhaps // beginning to tremble under tree (6)

The plane^[5] (also plane tree) is a tall spreading tree of the genus Platanus of the northern hemisphere, with maple-like leaves and bark which peels in uneven patches.

18d   Canoe could be wrecked by it (5)

21d   Item of footwear /in/ sack (4)

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