Monday, October 26, 2015 — DT 27804

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27804
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, May 18, 2015
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27804]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Kitty
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

The Diversions page editor at the National Post should have been pitching for the Blue Jays. Just when I'm expecting the customary Monday curve ball, he (or she) blasts a fast ball down the centre of the plate. That is to say that the National Post did not ship a puzzle today.

At Big Dave's Crossword Blog we find Kitty flying solo today. She had problems with the same clue that caused me difficulty (19a). It would seem that I may not be able to handle my beer as well as I thought I could.

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   Rip up crust in slices /for/ a rider's refreshment (7,3)

A stirrup cup^[5] is a cup of wine or other alcoholic drink offered to a person on horseback who is about to depart on a journey.

Delving Deeper

Based on the above definition, a stirrup cup would seem to be an old-time 'one for the road'. However, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary broadens the application of the term somewhat telling us that a stirrup cup[2] is an alcoholic drink that is given to someone, originally a rider, who is about to leave, especially someone who is going on a hunt. Since the recipient no longer seemingly needs to be a rider, it really may be 'one for the road'. Kitty clearly has consulted the Chambers Dictionary, which tells us that a stirrup cup[1] is a drink taken on horseback on departing, or arriving and goes on to say that it may also be the name of a container in the form of a fox's head from which a stirrup cup was drunk (although it does characterize this latter usage as rare).

9a   The Spanish scholar's about // to be qualified (4)

"the Spanish" = EL (show explanation )

In Spanish, the masculine singular form of the definite article is el^[8].

hide explanation

10a   Uncertain // to request a loan with advance (5,3,2)

11a   Fake rubies /could cause/ skin discoloration (6)

12a   Film // scene (7)

15a   Substantially /consisting of/ articles and paintings (2,5)

16a   Time, // it's not on our side? (5)

In cryptic crosswords, we often find that time is the enemy, expressed by Irish poet William Butler Yeats as The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time meaning that innocence and beauty are each subject to the ravages of time.

17a   A picking-up point (4)

It took me a while to get the point as this was one of my last one's in.

18a   French girl // will return if encored (4)

19a   Neat // drink? (5)

I knew the bovine part but the drinking part stumped me.

Although I am more accustomed to "raising a pint", according to comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog the expression "lower a pint" means to "drink a beer" — especially in Ireland.

Neat^[5] is an archaic term for a bovine animal or, as a mass noun, cattle. In other words, an animal which lows or moos.

21a   School principal with system /for/ progress (7)

In Britain, head^[5] is short for headmaster^[5] (a man who is the head teacher in a school), headmistress^[5] (a woman who is the head teacher in a school), or head teacher^[5] (the teacher in charge of a school).

22a   Ron meets rough gent /in/ the X-ray unit (7)

I was not familiar with this spelling — which seems questionable, at best, without the diacritic mark. Perchance the crossing word is spelled RÖADMAP in the UK. Or perhaps I am just being too diacritical.

The roentgen^[5] (also röntgen) is a unit of ionizing radiation, the amount producing one electrostatic unit of positive or negative ionic charge in one cubic centimetre of air under standard conditions.

24a   Sound conductor /of/ works by Schubert (6)

Franz Schubert^[5,7] (1797–1828) was an Austrian composer. His music is associated with the romantic movement for its lyricism and emotional intensity, but belongs in formal terms to the classical age. His works include more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly Lieder) , the ‘Trout’ piano quintet (1819), and nine symphonies.

Lied^[7] (plural Lieder; German for "song") originally denoted in classical music the setting of Romantic German poems to music, especially during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Examples include settings by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. Among English speakers, however, "Lied" is often used interchangeably with "art song" to encompass works that the tradition has inspired in other languages. The poems that have been made into Lieder often center on pastoral themes or themes of romantic love.

27a   Takes smart evasion, /seeing/ demanding employer (10)

28a   Crow may come after this bird (4)

Cockcrow^[3,4,11] is another term for the very beginning of the day; daybreak; or dawn ⇒ Needing to catch an early flight, she was up before cockcrow.

29a   Taking off show, /providing/ drinks in the bar (10)

Down

2d   Left-wing // movement (4)

Trot^[5] is an informal, chiefly derogatory term for a Trotskyist or supporter of extreme left-wing views ⇒ (i) a band of subversive Trots; (ii) he declared that the Corporation was a ‘nest of long-haired Trots’. Although most dictionaries list it solely as a noun, The Chambers Dictionary shows it as being both a noun and an adjective ⇒ a Trot sympathizer perhaps?

3d   Early rail /or/ space traveller (6)

The implied clue is:

• Early rail [traveller] /or/ space traveller (6)

Stephenson's Rocket^[7] was an early steam locomotive designed by English railway engineer Robert Stephenson in 1829. Though the Rocket was not the first steam locomotive, it was the first to bring together several innovations to produce the most advanced locomotive of its day. It is the most famous example of an evolving design of locomotives by Stephenson that became the template for most steam engines in the following 150 years.The locomotive was preserved and is now on display in the Science Museum in London.

4d   A French and a Western leader are // in the dark (7)

"a French" = UN (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is un^[8].

hide explanation

5d   Many a poem // that's hard to understand (4)

"many" = C (show explanation )

Terms such as "a large number", "many" or "a great many" are often used in cryptic crosswords to indicate that a large Roman numeral — generally C (100), D (500), or M (1000) — is required. 

hide explanation

6d   Mug taken in by compassion /and/ honesty (7)

7d   Abandoning royal dignity (10)

Dignity^[5] is used in the sense of a high rank or position ⇒ he promised dignities to the nobles in return for his rival’s murder.

8d   Train speed is reduced to // walking-pace (10)

As an anagram indicator, reduce (something) to^[5] means to change a substance to (a different or more basic form) ⇒ it is difficult to understand how lava could have been reduced to dust.

12d   Bowl last ball /in/ the dark (5-5)

In cricket, bowl^[5] means (for a bowler) to propel (the ball) with a straight arm towards the batsman, typically in such a way that the ball bounces once. The bowling motion in cricket is more akin to pitching in baseball than any action one is likely to see at a bowling alley — I am sure the proprietor of a bowling alley would be horrified to witness a customer attempting to use a cricket bowling motion.

A black^[5] is a black thing, in particular the black ball in snooker. In snooker, once all the red balls have been potted, the coloured balls must be potted in ascending sequence from the yellow ball (2 points) to the black ball (7 points).^[7]

13d   Recover // CV –- enclose a reworking (10)

14d   VIP // taking part in maiden voyage (5)

15d   Colour halfway between green and red (5)

19d   Real trouble upset // Ophelia's brother (7)

The word "upset" must be split into two parts, with the first part "up" acting as a directional indicator and the second part "set" serving as the fodder.

Laertes^[7] is a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. His name is taken from the father of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia. In the final scene, he kills Hamlet with a poisoned sword to avenge the deaths of his father and sister, for which he blamed Hamlet. While dying of the same poison, he implicates King Claudius.

20d   It unfolds and gives way (4,3)

23d   Lets out American imprisoned in // brawl (6)

25d   One employing // some Hindu servants (4)

26d   See head of finance over // charges (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