Friday, October 30, 2015 — DT 27808

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27808
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, May 22, 2015
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27808]
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 we are served up a fairly gentle offering from Giovanni who may have attempted to sum up the solving experience in 26d.

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

9a   Peer /in/ uniform (5)

10a   Stars /in/ situation with no possibility of fire, we hear? (5,4)

11a   Unfamiliar // street to an extent (7)

12a   Enthusiastic approval /and/ praise? Outside it's hollow (7)

At comment #7 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, neveracrossword claims that the solution to this clue only exists in the plural form. He goes on to say Was it Gazza who rejoined that the singular is acceptable if there is only one hand clapping?.

Despite this assertion, many of my dictionaries do list plaudit^{[2,3,4,10,11]} in the singular but most of those which do so add that the word is usually used in the plural. The sole exception is Oxford Dictionaries which lists only the plural form, plaudits^[5].

13a   Devoted // Left wanting our top family's leader to go (5)

The top family in Britain would be the Royal Family.

14a   Note provided by accomplice // in the fewest possible words? (9)

Minim^[5] is a British name for a half note, a note having the time value of two crotchets [crotchet being a British name for a quarter note] or half a semibreve [whole note], represented by a ring with a stem.

16a   Leicester roughs on the rampage /in/ the county (15)

Gloucestershire^[5] is a county of southwestern England; county town, Gloucester.

Scratching the Surface
Leicester[5] is a city in central England, on the River Soar, the county town of Leicestershire; population 294,900 (est. 2009). It was founded as a Roman settlement where the Fosse Way crosses the Soar (AD 50-100).

19a   Lots // of you taken to ship and given shelter (9)

"ship" = SS (show explanation )

In Crosswordland, a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[5] ⇒ the SS Canberra.

hide explanation

21a   Waste material /from/ Irish county, no end (5)

Offaly^[5] is a county in the central part of the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Leinster; county town, Tullamore.

23a   Wild animal/'s/ flesh? There's hesitation by king to tuck in (7)

"king" = K (show explanation )

K^[5] is an abbreviation for king that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

hide explanation

A meerkat^[5] is any of three species of small southern African mongoose, especially the suricate.

25a   Result /is/ not favoured? Word of reproof follows (7)

27a   Stream, one merging into lots -- // 19 of 19 of 19 of 19! (9)

The numeral "19" is a cross reference indicator directing the solver to insert the solution to clue 19a in its place to complete the clue. The directional indicator is customarily omitted in situations such as this where only a single clue starts in the light [light-coloured cell in the grid] that is being referenced.

28a   Three of them may be used in emergency (5)

In the UK, the telephone number used to contact emergency services is 999^[5] — rather than 911.

Down

1d   Workers /as/ second-rate characters? (4)

"worker" = BEE (show explanation )

A worker^[5] is a neuter or undeveloped female bee, wasp, ant, or other social insect, large numbers of which do the basic work of the colony.

In crossword puzzles, "worker" will most frequently be used to clue ANT and occasionally BEE but I have yet to see it used to clue WASP. Of course, "worker" is sometimes also used to clue HAND or MAN.

hide explanation

2d   In race get a // cheer (6)

3d   Weapons /in/ fabric carried by crowds (10)

Lint^[5] is a fabric, originally of linen, with a raised nap on one side, used for dressing wounds ⇒ he smeared ointment on a strip of lint.

4d   Shining /as/ bird of prey heading off in the morning (6)

5d   Press one violently /for/ answer (8)

6d   Walkway in Athens /in which/ animal loses tail (4)

The stoat^[5] (also known as the ermine, especially when in its white winter coat) is a small carnivorous mammal (Mustela erminea) of the weasel family which has chestnut fur with white underparts and a black-tipped tail. It is native to both Eurasia and North America and in northern areas the coat turns white in winter. In North America, it is known as the short-tailed weasel.

A stoa^[5] is a classical portico (show explanation ) or roofed colonnade. The Stoa^[5] was the great hall in Athens in which the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno gave the founding lectures of the Stoic school of philosophy.

A portico^[5] is a structure consisting of a roof supported by columns at regular intervals, typically attached as a porch to a building.

hide explanation

7d   Sounds like we have a modern sort of shop /in/ the capital (3,5)

New Delhi^[5] is the capital of India, a city in north central India built 1912–29 to replace Calcutta (now Kolkata) as the capital of British India. With Delhi, it is part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Pop. (with Delhi) 12,259,200 (est. 2009).

8d   Almost // what Derbyshire dressers aim for? (6,4)

I needed Deep Threat's explanation to understand the wordplay in this clue.

Well dressing^[7] (also once known as well flowering) is a summer custom practised in rural England in which wells, springs or other water sources are decorated with designs created from flower petals. The custom is most closely associated with the Peak District of Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

The origins of the tradition are alternatively said to lie in pagan tradition or in giving thanks for the purity of the water drawn from certain wells during the period of the Black Death. It has been said to have originated in Tissington, Derbyshire in 1349.

13d   E-mail: get it encrypted, // OK? (10)

15d   Maiden is leading supporting song, /creating/ trouble (10)

"maiden"  = M (show explanation )

In cricket, a maiden^[5], also known as a maiden over and denoted on cricket scorecards by the abbreviation M^[5], is an over in which no runs are scored.

In cricket, an over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

hide explanation

17d   Song /that's/ old and almost completely glum, I love! (1,4,3)

"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.

Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).

hide explanation

"’O sole mio"^[7] is a globally known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the music was composed by Eduardo di Capua. There are other versions of "’O sole mio" but it is usually sung in the original Neapolitan language. ’O sole mio is the Neapolitan equivalent of standard Italian Il mio sole and translates literally as "my sunshine".

18d   Authorise // second undertaking with any number joining in (8)

The letter n^[10] is used (especially in mathematics) as a symbol to represent an indefinite number (of) ⇒ there are n objects in a box.

20d   Partner // thus getting employment, collecting pence (6)

"pence"  = P (show explanation )

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] (plural pennies [for separate coins] or pence [for a sum of money]) is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p^[5].

hide explanation

22d   Father, losing heart completely, has // looks of disapproval (6)

24d   Item of clothing // left buried by equipment (4)

26d   Yes, a puzzle // completed without difficulty? (4)

I would think that the word "completed" is part of the definition. To express the idea that The crossword was easy, I might say The crossword was completed without difficulty or The crossword was not difficult but I would be unlikely to say The crossword was without difficulty.

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