Thursday, October 15, 2015 — DT 27795

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27795
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, May 7, 2015
Setter Petitjean (John Pidgeon)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27795]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Dutch
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 puzzle appeared in The Daily Telegraph on the day of the United Kingdom general election of 2015^[7]. I could not help but note several parallels between that election and the one currently underway in Canada. In each case we have blue, red, orange, and separatist parties contesting a fixed-term election for the first time. In the UK election, David Cameron's blue party (Conservatives) won a decisive majority. Second place went to Ed Miliband's red party (Labour) and third place to Nicola Sturgeon's separatist Scottish National Party. The Conservative's former coalition partners, Nick Clegg's orange party (Liberal Democrats), were reduced to a mere shadow of their former selves (eight seats). It was the first general election to be held at the end of a fixed term parliament following the enactment of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.

This puzzle also sees Dutch (a frequent contributor to the comments section of Big Dave's Crossword Blog) make his debut as a reviewer.

In his intro, Dutch makes a plea to readers "please don't forget to vote, even Russell Brand says he is voting now". 

Russell Brand^[7] is an English comedian, actor, radio host, author, and activist who was married briefly to singer American singer Katy Perry. He is notorious for a number of controversies in which he has been embroiled and has incorporated his drug use, alcoholism, and promiscuity into his comedic material. In a much publicised interview in 2013, he encouraged the British electorate not to vote. In an exchange at Comment #22 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kitty naughtily suggests that, in voting, Russell Brand would "just try and fill all the boxes" (clearly an allusion to his well known promiscuity).

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   Get the wrong idea about // tailored denim perhaps (12)

9a   Passing criticism /for/ punch not delivered head-on (9)

A sideswipe^[5] is a passing critical remark about someone or something or, as put by Collins English Dictionary, an unexpected criticism of someone or something while discussing another subject^[10] ⇒ the book was chiefly an attack on the literary work of Rossetti, but it also took a few sideswipes at Swinburne.

A sideswipe^[2] is a blow coming from the side, as opposed to head-on.

According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, sideswipe^[5] is a chiefly North American term for a glancing blow from or on the side of something, especially a motor vehicle.

10a   Mock // intermittently flawless English (5)

Here, "mock" appears in the role of an adjective.

11a   Seedily fashionable seafront's disappearing -- // it's closed some of the time (6)

12a   Spring horse race according to Spooner/'s/ pal (8)

Plate^[5] is a collective term for dishes, bowls, cups, and other utensils made of gold, silver, or other metal ⇒ an exhibition of the plate belonging to the college.

In particular, plate^[5] can refer to a silver or gold dish or trophy awarded as a prize in a race or competition ⇒ she lifted the plate in victory or a race or competition in which such a prize is awarded ⇒ the final of the Ladies' Plate at Henley.

Thus a "Spring horse race" might be a 'May plate'.

A spoonerism^[5] is a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect, as in the sentence you have hissed the mystery lectures. It is named after the Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), an English scholar who reputedly made such errors in speaking.

Who is he talking about?

In Comment #5 at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Beaver thanks Dutch for the picture that illustrates his hint for this clue, mentioning that it "reminded me of Miss Harry who was once employed thus". American singer-songwriter and actress Debbie Harry[7], best known as the lead singer of the new wave and punk rock band Blondie, worked as a Playboy bunny (among other things) before starting her singing career.

13a   Bill/'s/ temperature dropping, becoming more poorly (6)

Bill^[2] is used in the sense of an advertising poster.

A sticker^[2] is an adhesive label or small poster, card etc, especially one displaying a message or advertisement in a shop window, on a car, etc or that children swap and collect.

15a   Concoct a résumé including number /for/ online identity (8)

18a   Fixed // jailbird's meeting with good man, social worker (8)

"good man" = ST (show explanation )

The phrase "good man" is commonly used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue the letters ST, St^[5] being the abbreviation for Saint.

hide explanation

"social worker" = ANT (show explanation )

The phrase "social worker" is commonly used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue ANT.

A social insect is an insect that lives in a colony with other insects of the same species.

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" (or "social 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

19a   Call round in pursuit of a cold // tart (6)

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, a suitor pays a visit to a frigid female.

21a   Pub reportedly having top-notch // ham (8)

Ham^[2] is a theatrical term for inexpert or clumsy acting (or a bad actor, especially one who overacts or exaggerates). In this sense, it can be used as an adjective meaning inexpert ⇒ a ham actor.

23a   Went dizzy between rounds /getting/ quick punches (3-3)

One-two^[5] denotes a pair of punches delivered in quick succession with alternate hands.

"round" = O (show explanation )

The word "round" is commonly used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue the letter O, simply because the letter has a round shape.

hide explanation

26a   New Saab losing rear end crashed by learner -- /it's/ to do with the hooter (5)

"learner" = L (show explanation )

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

hide explanation

Scratching the Surface

Saab Automobile AB[7] is a Swedish manufacturer of premium automobiles. Their vehicles are rather rare on North American roads. For over two decades (1989 to 2010), Saab was owned, in whole or in part, by General Motors. Under GM's direction, the badge-engineered Saab 9-2X (based on the Subaru Impreza) and Saab 9-7X (based on the Chevrolet Trailblazer) were introduced in the American market in 2005 with the hope of increasing sales. Both models were a critical and commercial failure and were cancelled a few years after production began.

27a   Fred's partner given fruitcake /and/ biscuit (9)

Fred Astaire^[5] (1899–1987) was an American dancer, singer, and actor; born Frederick Austerlitz. He is famous for starring in a number of film musicals, including Top Hat (1935), in a successful partnership with Ginger Rogers.

The British use the term biscuit^[3,4,11] to refer to a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or crackers in North America. A North American biscuit^[5] is similar to a British scone.

Ginger nut^[1,2,4,5,10] (also called ginger snap^[2,4,5] or gingersnap^[1,3,10,11]) is a British term for a hard ginger-flavoured biscuit [cookie]. The Chambers Dictionary specifically defines ginger nut^[1] as a small thick gingersnap.

I failed to find the spelling gingernut in any of my regularly consulted dictionaries. Between the 2003^[4] edition and the 2015 edition^[10], Collins English Dictionary did, however, change the spelling from ginger snap to gingersnap.

28a   Anticipated accepting nothing traitor // coughed up (12)

"nothing" = O (show explanation )

The word "nothing" is commonly used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue the letter O, simply because nothing can be denoted by the digit '0' which resembles the letter 'O'.

hide explanation

Down

1d   Sum up South: Presley denied half a dozen // shellfish (7)

Elvis Presley^[5] (1935–1977) was an American rock-and-roll and pop singer. He was the dominant personality of early rock and roll with songs such as ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ (both 1956). He also made a number of films, including King Creole (1958).

2d   James left note /for/ creep (5)

Sid James^[7] (1913–1976), born Solomon Joel Cohen, was a South African-born English actor and comedian.

Carry On Delving

Sid James is particularly known as English comedian Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour, which ran on British television from 1956 until 1960, and as a regular performer in the Carry On films, a sequence of 30[see note] low-budget British comedy motion pictures produced between 1958 and 1978. [Note: I have ignored one film which Wikipedia includes in its count. Carry on Columbus was made after a fourteen year hiatus in 1992 by a different film company, with a largely different cast, and with a greatly increased production budget.]

3d   Shut up about access to field possibly // causing trouble (9)

Diverging slightly from Dutch's interpretation, I consider the phrase "access to field possibly" to be clueing STILE (the word "possibly" having been included to indicate that a stile is but one option with another choice being a gate).

4d   Engineers regularly raised // limit (4)

5d   Paying no attention // like the proverbial chicken -- using Ecstasy not the answer (8)

The informal expression like a headless chicken^[5] denotes in a panic-stricken and unthinking manner ⇒ players were running about like headless chickens, going in different directions. I have always heard the expression in the form "like a chicken with its head cut off".

"Ecstasy" = E (show explanation )

E^[5] is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒ (i) people have died after taking E; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties.

hide explanation

6d   Smart // new 12-inch Sony at last (5)

7d   Welcome // appeals by a conservation group (8)

Welcome as in "a welcome surprise".

In Britain, the National Trust^[5] (abbreviation NT) is a trust for the preservation of places of historic interest or natural beauty in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, founded in 1895 and supported by endowment and private subscription. The National Trust for Scotland^[7], a separate organization, was founded in 1931.

8d   TV comedian's housing rent // cut (6)

Unlike the comedian in 2d, the one appearing here was unknown to me. Fortunately, the clue was solvable despite this lack of knowledge.

Jack Dee^[7] is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer known for his sarcasm and deadpan humour. He is well known in the United Kingdom for writing and starring in the sitcom Lead Balloon and hosting the panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. He has also hosted or appeared on several other comedy and game shows.

Let^[5] is a chiefly British term meaning to allow someone to have the use of (a room or property) in return for regular payments ⇒ (i) she let the flat to a tenant; (ii) they’ve let out their house. [I'm not sure that this word is as British as Oxford Dictionaries Online would have us believe.]

14d   Concentrate /with/ not very clever trick first (8)

16d   No vehicle backed up? Strangely true, // one can tell (9)

17d   Puzzle // unusually tiring for everyone on earth (8)

"for everyone" = U (show explanation )

Under the British system of film classification^[7] a U (for 'universal') rating indicates that a film is suitable "for all the family" — or, at any rate, for those members over 4 years of age.

hide explanation

"earth" = E (show explanation )

E^[10] is a symbol for earth (possibly as an electrical term).

In Britain, earth^[5] is used as a noun to mean an electrical connection to the ground, regarded as having zero electrical potential ⇒ ensure metal fittings are electrically bonded to earth and as a verb to mean to connect (an electrical device) with the ground ⇒ the front metal panels must be soundly earthed. The equivalent term in North American is ground^[5] (both as a noun and a verb).

I can't help but smile at the irony displayed by Oxford Dictionaries Online in defining earth as a British term meaning an "electrical connection to the ground" and ground as a North American term meaning an "electrical connection to the earth".

 hide explanation

18d   Regular // claim in court (6)

"court" = CT (show explanation )

Ct^[2] is the abbreviation for Court in street addresses — and possibly in other contexts as well.

hide explanation

20d   Did recruit // make appreciative noises over pithead now and then? (2-5)

The phrase "now and then" indicates that we need an alternating sequence (i.e., every second letter) from the preceding fodder.

Co-opt^[5] is used in the sense to appoint to membership of a committee or other body by invitation of the existing members ⇒ the committee may co-opt additional members for special purposes.

22d   Flowers /in/ bunches by the sound of it (5)

Phlox^[5] is a North American plant that typically has dense clusters of colourful scented flowers, widely grown as an alpine or border plant.

24d   Take sides with clear // opinion (5)

25d   Hit back /causing/ swelling (4)

Tonk^[5] is an informal [seemingly British] term meaning to hit hard.

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