Friday, November 27, 2015 — DT 27832

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27832
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, June 19, 2015
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27832]
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

Giovanni almost always throws in some words that I have never heard of. Today, it is not so much new words that he introduces but new meanings for words with which I thought I was very familiar.

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   Dog about to get spirited? // Fat cats may enjoy that! (10)

Pluto^[7], also called Pluto the Pup, is a cartoon character created in 1930 by Walt Disney Productions. He is a yellow orange-color, medium-sized, short-haired dog with black ears. Unlike most Disney characters, Pluto is not anthropomorphic beyond some characteristics such as facial expression, though he did speak for a short portion of his history. He is Mickey Mouse's pet. Officially a mixed-breed dog, he made his debut as a bloodhound in the Mickey Mouse cartoon The Chain Gang. Together with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, and Goofy, Pluto is one of the "Sensational Six"—the biggest stars in the Disney universe. Though all six are non-human animals, Pluto alone is not dressed as a human.

6a   Something deceitful // in this campaign (4)

10a   Starts /making/ things in the bakery (5)

11a   Something supplied // for eyesight (9)

12a   Power when weapon /gives/ means to enter camp? (8)

"power" = P (show explanation )

In physics, P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power (among other things).

hide explanation

13a   Anxiety when head's lost // hair (5)

15a   Lock up // prisoner? Excellent! (7)

17a   Out of rubbish I am afraid will emerge a // small animal (7)

A rotifer^[5] is a minute multicellular aquatic animal of the phylum Rotifera.

19a   No n-noise? /One's/ falling asleep (7)

In his review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat shows the definition as "One's falling asleep". However, I think it must be only "falling asleep" with the word "one's" playing the part of a link word.

21a   Sure to want new leader // to be relevant (7)

22a   Vehicle one needed to go round quiet // island (5)

"quiet" = P (show explanation )

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

hide explanation

Capri^[5] is an island off the west coast of Italy, south of Naples.

24a   Help bishop in need /to be/ easy-going (4-4)

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

hide explanation

27a   Room /in/ a hospital department accommodating dishevelled tramp (9)

From a British perspective, apartment^[10] (often used in the plural) denotes any room in a building, usually one of several forming a suite, especially one that is spacious and well furnished and used as living accommodation, offices, etc.

Flat^[5] is the term used in Britain for what would be called an apartment^[5] in North America. 

28a   City // company being ventilated, it appears (5)

Remember that "being ventilated" means "having AIR allowed in".

Cairo^[5] is the capital of Egypt, a port on the Nile near the head of its delta; population 6,758,600 (est. 2006).

29a   To catch // fish -- not hard after short time (4)

The hake^[7] is any of several species of large-headed elongated fish with long jaws and strong teeth. It is a valuable commercial food fish.

30a   Unusual garden has to include the latest in fancy // shrubs (10)

The hydrangea^[5] is any of many species of shrub or climbing plant with rounded or flattened flowering heads of small florets, native to Asia and America.

Down

1d   Left // harbour (4)

2d   Lacking knowledge, // a foreign king in play comes to nasty end (9)

"a foreign" = UN (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

King Lear^[7] is a tragedy by English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616). The title character descends into madness after disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all.

3d   Place of refreshment /has/ nothing unaltered (5)

4d   Admonish // agent wandering (7)

Like many others, I questioned "wandering" meaning "rove". When I discovered that not only does this meaning exist but it is also a chiefly North American usage, I braced myself for the expected howls of outrage on Big Dave's site. I was not to be disappointed.

As a gerund, "wandering" can be used as a noun — as it is in the wordplay in this clue.

Rove^[5] is a chiefly North American term for a journey, especially one with no specific destination; or, on other words, an act of wandering ⇒ a new exhibit will electrify campuses on its national rove.

5d   Food like beetroot served up /in/ stew (7)

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

1. the edible dark-red spherical root of a kind of beet, eaten as a vegetable; or
2. the variety of beet (Beta vulgaris subspecies vulgaris) which produces beetroots.

From a British perspective, a beet^[5] is:

1. any of several subspecies of a herbaceous plant (Beta vulgaris) widely cultivated as a source of food for humans and livestock, and for processing into sugar. Some varieties are grown for their leaves and some for their swollen nutritious root.
2. North American term for beetroot.

7d   Set of bells // that man installed in church (5)

Chime is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as "a bell"^[5] and by Collins English Dictionary as "an individual bell"^[10]. However, should one keep searching, one will discover that Chambers 21st Century Dictionary tells us that a chime^[2] is an individual bell or a set of tuned bells.

"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

8d   Remote inns supply // vegetable soup (10)

As an anagram indicator, supply is an adverb meaning 'in a supple manner'.

9d   Issuing some edict, a Tory // tyrant (8)

14d   Various locations (about 100) to give // one smashing images (10)

Today, the term iconoclast^[5] is applied to a person who attacks or criticizes cherished beliefs or institutions. Historically, the term was used for a destroyer of images used in religious worship, in particular:

1. a supporter of the 8th- and 9th-century movement in the Byzantine Church which sought to abolish the veneration of icons and other religious images; or
2. a Puritan of the 16th or 17th century.

16d   Pioneer // at home with computer technology, one at end of line (8)

IT^[5] is the abbreviation for information technology.

18d   The fellow's entering country /to get/ commercial concession (9)

20d   Walk // right into cooking area (7)

A gallery^[5] is a long room or passage, typically one that is partly open at the side to form a portico or colonnade (show explanation ).

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

A colonnade^[5] is a row of evenly spaced columns supporting a roof, an entablature, or arches.

hide explanation

21d   Playwright harbouring love /for/ dog (7)

Harold Pinter^[5] (1930–2008) was an English dramatist, actor, and director. His plays are associated with the Theatre of the Absurd and are typically marked by a sense of menace. Notable plays: The Birthday Party (1958), The Caretaker (1960), and Party Time (1991). Nobel Prize for Literature (2005).

"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

A pointer^[5] is a dog of a breed that on scenting game stands rigid looking towards it.

23d   Board /offering/ eleventh scheme? (5)

25d   Roger or Francis -- /which/ is rasher? (5)

Roger Bacon^[5] (circa 1214–1294) was an English philosopher, scientist, and Franciscan friar. Most notable for his work in the field of optics, he emphasized the need for an empirical approach to scientific study.

Francis Bacon^[5], Baron Verulam and Viscount St Albans (1561–1626) was an English statesman and philosopher. As a scientist he advocated the inductive method; his views were instrumental in the founding of the Royal Society in 1660. Notable works: The Advancement of Learning (1605) and Novum Organum (1620).

Francis Bacon^[5] (1909–1992) was a British painter, born in Ireland. His work chiefly depicts human figures in grotesquely distorted postures, set in confined interior spaces.

A rasher^[5] is a thin slice of bacon ⇒ (i) two rashers of lean bacon; (ii) he cut into one of the rashers on his plate.

26d   Report of drinking bout /brings/ cries of disapproval (4)

I had never heard booze used in this sense. However, with the exception of Oxford Dictionaries, all my dictionaries — both British and American — define booze^{[2,3,4,10,11]} as meaning a drinking bout or spree in addition to being alcoholic drink.

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