Wednesday, October 7, 2015 — DT 27789

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27789
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, April 30, 2015
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27789]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Kath
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 really didn't seem like a RayT puzzle. Not only has Her Majesty gone AWOL but the innuendo is pretty low key today.

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   Close after mixing /in/ crew's quarters (10)

The forecastle^[5] (also fo'c'sle) is the forward part of a ship below the deck, traditionally used as the crew’s living quarters.

6a   Back plans /for/ junk mail (4)

9a   Active // serviceman dropped into drink ... (5)

"serviceman" = GI (show explanation )

A GI^[5] is a private soldier in the US army ⇒ she went off with a GI during the war. Contrary to popular belief, the term apparently is not an abbreviation for general infantryman, but rather derives from the term government (or general) issue (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces).

hide explanation

10a   ... left // crew circling English Channel (9)

This was my second last one in — largely due to what I thought were a couple of dodgy synonyms. After some research, I reconciled myself to one of them, but I still have reservations concerning the other.

Crew^[10] is used in the informal sense of a gang, company, or crowd.

To my mind, channel and main are hardly synonymous in a nautical sense — in fact, they are almost the antithesis of each other. 

A channel^[5] is:

1. a length of water wider than a strait, joining two larger areas of water, especially two seas;
2. a navigable passage in a stretch of water otherwise unsafe for vessels;
3. a hollow bed for a natural or artificial waterway.

The main^[5] is an archaic or literary term for the open ocean.

Nevertheless, Collins English Dictionary lists main as a synonym for channel^[10] (along with strait, sound, route, passage, canal, and waterway).

I am more willing to accept channel as a synonym for main^[10] in the sense of pipeline, pipe, conduit, and duct. 

12a   Film director // took a trip in Italy (7)

"Italy" = I (show explanation )

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Italy is I^[5] [from Italian Italia].

hide explanation

Frederico Fellini^[5] (1920–1993) was an Italian film director. He rose to international fame with La Strada (1954), which won an Oscar for best foreign film. Other major films include La Dolce Vita (1960), a satire on Rome’s high society.

13a   Tones down // fashion before case of excess (5)

15a   Stranded // guard on manoeuvres (7)

17a   Attraction /of/ girl ends with love in France (7)

The French word for love is amour^[5].

19a   Newspaper customarily contains // brief glimpses (7)

Aperçu^[3,4,11] (a word adopted from French) can mean a hasty glance or glimpse, but is usually used to mean a discerning perception or insight.

21a   Excuse /is/ almost fair embracing former wife (7)

22a   Mountain // top found following fault (5)

"top" = A1 (show explanation )

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] meaning first class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-class.

hide explanation

Mount Sinai^[10] is the mountain where Moses received the Law from God (Exodus 19–20). It is often identified as Jebel Musa, sometimes as Jebel Serbal, both on the south Sinai Peninsula.

24a   Spreads // about over first slice of sandwich (7)

27a   Sneakily steals in after sweetheart's // key (9)

"sweetheart" = E (show explanation )

Here we see a common cryptic crossword construct, in which the word "sweetheart" is used to clue E, the middle letter (heart) of swEet.

hide explanation

28a   First for Sabbath, performing in charge // of sound (5)

"in charge" = IC (show explanation )

The abbreviation i/c^[5] can be short for either

1. (especially in military contexts) in charge of ⇒ the Quartermaster General is i/c rations; or
2. in command ⇒ 2 i/c = second in command.

hide explanation

29a   Trains of young sprogs initially? (4)

Sprog^[5] is a humorous, informal British term meaning a child.

Here, the entire clue constitutes the wordplay. Based on the underlining I have shown, the definition would be the first four words in the clue making this a semi-&lit. (semi-all-in-one) clue. However, were one to stretch the definition to include the entire clue (quite plausible in light of Comment #11 from Sheepdog on Big Dave's site), it would become a full-fledged &lit. (all-in-one) clue.

30a   Some wreathe art in essential // quality of sincerity (10)

Down

1d   Agitation /from/ female sitting on knees (4)

2d   Strengthen // control caught in front (9)

"caught" = C (show explanation )

In cricket, similar to baseball, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out^[5], that is for a player on the opposing team to catch a ball that has been hit by the batsman before it touches the ground.

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c.^[2,10] or c^[5] denotes caught or caught by.

hide explanation

3d   Can opener with winder /for/ fish container (5)

Behind the Picture

I was surprised to see a picture of lobster traps illustrating the word "creel" in Kath's review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog. I was even more surprised to find creel[2,4,10,11], defined as a wicker trap for fish, lobsters, etc. in several dictionaries — including one American dictionary (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary). According to Wikipedia, the word creel[7] is used in Scotland (chiefly in the north) to refer to a device used to catch lobsters and other crustaceans. Made of woven netting (similar to that used in traditional fishing net) over a frame of plastic tubing and a slatted wooden base, this type of creel is analogous in function to a lobster pot. However, there does seem to be one major flaw in Kath's choice of illustration. A lobster is not a fish!

4d   Close // second slipped catching first person (7)

I actually constructed the correct solution from the wordplay and then dismissed it as not being credible. If I had only looked it up earlier, I could have dramatically shortened my solving time.

Serried^[5] denotes (of rows of people or things) standing close together ⇒ (i) serried ranks of soldiers; (ii) the serried rows of vines.

5d   Rodent // male, minute, occupying branch (7)

The lemming^[5] is any of several species of small, short-tailed, thickset rodent related to the voles, found in the Arctic tundra; in particular, the Norway lemming (Lemmus lemmus), noted for its fluctuating populations and periodic mass migrations, which in popular belief sometimes culminate in the animals jumping off cliffs into the sea.

7d   Dug // 'Satisfaction' reportedly (5)

Dug^[5] is used in the sense of engaged in research or conducted an investigation [in this case, an unwelcome one] ⇒ he had no compunction about digging into her private affairs.

8d   Judge // moving targets and aim (10)

11d   Provoke // fashionable celebrity about launch opening (7)

14d   Trouble // from injury containing clot on hospital department (10)

Clot^[5] is an informal British term for a foolish or clumsy person ⇒ Watch where you’re going, you clot!.

"hospital department" = ENT (show explanation )

Should you have failed to notice, the ear, nose and throat (ENT^[2]) department is the busiest section, by far, in the Crosswordland Hospital.

hide explanation

16d   Job taking top off // ointment (7)

An unction^[10] is an ointment or unguent^[10] [a less common name for an ointment].

18d   Respect // order by one's master, welcoming direction (9)

"order" = OBE (show explanation )

OBE^[5] is the abbreviation for Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire^[7] is the "order of chivalry of British democracy", rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations and public service outside the Civil Service. It was established in 1917 by King George V, and comprises five classes, in civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male, or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order.

The classes are: Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight or Dame Commander (KBE/DBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE).

Appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, the Viceroy of India, and the colonial governors, as well as on nominations from within the United Kingdom. As the Empire evolved into the Commonwealth, nominations continued to come from the Commonwealth realms, in which the monarch remained head of state. These overseas nominations have been discontinued in realms which have established their own Orders, such as the Order of Australia, the Order of Canada, and the New Zealand Order of Merit, but members of the Order are still appointed in the British Overseas Territories.

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Obeisance^[5] is deferential respect ⇒ they paid obeisance to the Prince.

20d   Below stairs, oddly, eat // fish (7)

A sardine^[3] is any of various edible fishes of the family Clupeidae that are frequently canned, especially small herrings of western Atlantic waters and the European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) of European waters.

21d   In // tree collecting nut kernel (7)

23d   Good man in denial, /being/ horrid (5)

25d   Gives us hiccups consuming // Japanese dish (5)

26d   Plays /in/ a court having small support (4)

"court" = CT (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

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