Tuesday, October 20, 2015 — DT 27800

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27800
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27800]
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

Although I managed to complete today's puzzle, I did have a quibble or two about some of the clues.

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   Set record -- first /for/ a medical specialist! (11)

"first" = IST (show explanation )

The word "first" is often used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue the letters IST as this sequence of letters resembles its shortened form "1st".

hide explanation

9a   Fail in competition /and/ refuse to talk (5,2)

Update: Almost everything I wrote here turns out to be wrong. I should have read Dutch's review more carefully. My only excuse is that I was writing this at midnight.

I interpreted this to be a double definition. However, I don't think "choke up" satisfies either of these definitions. To ''fail in competition" is to choke^[5] — not to choke up — and if you "choke up"^[5] you are unable to speak because you have been overcome with emotion, especially without due cause — not because you refuse to talk. I did search for evidence to disprove my understanding but failed to find any.

I also tried to justify the first part of the clue as a charade with the wordplay being CHOKE (fail) + UP (in competition).

The best I could come up with is up^[5] being a baseball term meaning at bat (which I suppose could be considered to be "in competition" as opposed to sitting on the bench, but would be highly unlikely to appear in a British puzzle). Moreover, one cannot merely substitute cricket for baseball because in cricket a batsman is said to be "in" — not "up".

In his review, Dutch suggests that the first part of the clue is a container clue with the wordplay being HOKE (a verb meaning to fail [he claims]) contained in (in) CUP (competition).

A cup^[5] is a contest in which the winners are awarded a cup ⇒ playing in the Cup is the best thing ever.

However, hoke^[5] means (of an actor) to act (a part) in an insincere, sentimental, or melodramatic manner ⇒ just try it straight—don’t hoke it up. This is hardly synonymous with fail.

Nevertheless, the clue appears not to have aroused even an iota of concern in the UK.

10a   Popular guy touring North, // away from the sea (6)

12a   Result // revealed company limits of malaise (7)

13a   Proceed at once /from/ Indian state capital (2,5)

Goa^[5] is a state on the west coast of India; capital, Panaji. Formerly a Portuguese territory, it was seized by India in 1961. It formed a Union Territory with Daman and Diu until 1987, when it was made a state.

14a   Unadulterated English // strain (5)

15a   Unwilling to work // without a dress? (9)

I think of this as a double definition in which the second one is whimsical (thus the dashed underline). In his review, Dutch indicates that the solution to this latter definition would be enumerated (5-4) but I would not use a hyphen.

17a   Meat that's cooked inside doesn't mostly spread // worms! (9)

20a   Another one's // bird? (5)

22a   Sun and Express /may be/ financially sound (7)

"sun" = S (show explanation )

S^[1] (or S.) is the abbreviation for sun (so sayeth The Chambers Dictionary).

hide explanation

In Roman mythology, Sol is the sun, especially when personified as a god.

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, we have a couple of British newspapers. The Sun[7] is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland by a division of News UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The Daily Express[7] is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom.

24a   Handcuff // chap, adult, oddly calmed (7)

Chap^[5] is an informal British term [although well-travelled, I would say] for a man or a boy ⇒ he sounded like a nice, caring sort of chap.

The A (Adult) certificate is a former film certificate^[7] issued by the British Board of Film Classification. This certificate existed in various forms from 1912 to 1985, when it was replaced by the PG (Parental Guidance) certificate. [Despite this, it continues to find widespread use in Crosswordland.]

25a   Tinker/'s/ dossier covering two days (6)

26a   At home with drink, kids with no limits /being/ tasteless (7)

27a   Mutually destructive // niece set straight by trainee doctor (11)

I had not realized that the word "by" could mean "following or after" as Dutch informs us in his review. However, The Chambers Dictionary defines by^[1] as meaning in succession to. A related meaning is (of horses, etc.) sired by — which certainly could impart a whole new dimension to the phrase "niece ... by trainee doctor".

I had supposed that the rationale for A by B producing B + A might be the same as that for A on B producing B + A.

"A on B" Convention

In cryptic crosswords, there is a convention that, in an across clue, the construction "A on B" is used to clue B + A. The rationale for this practice is that in order for A to be placed on B, B must already exist (i.e., already have been written). Since the English language is written from left to right, this means that B must come first and A is then appended to it. . Notwithstanding the above, a solver must always be vigilant for setters who flout this convention.

Down

2d   Amazing // certain people after a hollow welcome (7)

3d   Shanghai journalist /is/ deeply affected (9)

Shanghai^[5] is used in a historical sense meaning to force (someone) to join a ship lacking a full crew by drugging them or using other underhand means ⇒ they specialized in drugging and robbing sailors, sometimes arranging for them to be shanghaied aboard tramp boats.

Impress^[5] means to force (someone) to serve in an army or navy ⇒ a number of Poles, impressed into the German army.

Scratching the Surface
Shanghai[5] is a city on the east coast of China, a port on the estuary of the Yangtze; population 11,283,700 (est. 2006). Opened for trade with the west in 1842, Shanghai contained until the Second World War areas of British, French, and American settlement. It was the site in 1921 of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.

4d   Stretched out // in the air, topless (5)

5d   Chivalrous // worker bears insolence (7)

"worker" = ANT (show explanation )

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

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

6d   Genuine // evil about to engulf Church (7)

"Church" = CE (show explanation )

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

hide explanation

7d   Firm docked one's time, after bill /for/ musician (11)

8d   Laugh in front of the Queen! /That's/ a warning (6)

"Queen" = ER (show explanation )

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

hide explanation

Hooter^[5] is a chiefly British term for:

1. a siren or steam whistle, especially one used as a signal for work to begin or finish; or
2. the horn of a motor vehicle.

11d   Items /requiring/ unusual smooth finishes (4,3,4)

What did he say?
In his review, Dutch describes odd as a 3-letter word for unusual or rum. Rum[5] is a dated informal British term meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

16d   Person desperately wanting a night out? (9)

18d   Quantity /produced by/ factory with one working? (7)

19d   Let out to cover study /for/ mechanism (7)

In Britain, to read^[5] means to study (an academic subject) at a university ⇒ (i) I’m reading English at Cambridge; (ii) he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics.

Somewhat surprisingly, in his review, Dutch suggests a far more generic meaning for read.

20d   Waits for operator perhaps // to suspend lad (5,2)

21d   Engineers turn up impressive // formula (6)

"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

23d   Wooden // serving dish (non-U!) (5)

As a noun, treen^[5] denotes small domestic wooden objects, especially antiques. As an adjective, treen^[5] is a chiefly archaic term meaning wooden ⇒ a treen snuffbox.

Scratching the Surface

In the surface reading, non-U[5] is an informal British term meaning (of language or social behaviour) not characteristic of the upper social classes or not socially acceptable to certain people ⇒ he’s always teasing her for her Cockney accent and her non-U turns of phrase. It is the converse of U[5] which is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners. The latter term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

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