Thursday, December 10, 2015 — DT 27847

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27847
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27847]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Gazza
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
Notes
The National Post has skipped DT 27846 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Monday, July 6, 2015.

Introduction

I see that Gazza rated this puzzle at a mere two stars for difficulty. My shortcoming proved to involve musical terminology and British slang.

The Diversions page editor at the National Post continues to make my life difficult by skipping  another puzzle.

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   Something simple to do /in/ 'Pinocchio', say, when staged (6,4)

6a   Finish // second, then first (4)

10a   Moon /having/ brownish colour around it (5)

Titan^[5] is the largest satellite of Saturn (diameter 5,150 km), the fifteenth closest to the planet, discovered by C. Huygens in 1655. It is unique in having a hazy atmosphere of nitrogen, methane, and oily hydrocarbons.

11a   Later, adorn // part of ship (9)

An afterdeck^[5] is an open deck toward the stern of a ship.

12a   Cricketer, /in/ awful heat, getting runs -- 100 (8)

"runs" = R (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

In cricket, a run^[5] is a unit of scoring achieved by hitting the ball so that both batsmen are able to run between the wickets, or awarded in some other circumstances.

hide explanation

Ton^[5] is an informal British term for a hundred, in particular a speed of 100 mph, a score of 100 or more, or a sum of £100 ⇒ he scored 102 not out, his third ton of the tour.

Michael Atherton^[7] is a retired England international cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the captaincy of England at the age of 25 and led the side in a record 54 Test matches. Following retirement he became a journalist and is currently a cricket commentator with Sky Sports.

13a   Type of printer // seen over in hardware sale (5)

15a   Distinguished // each sportsman originally on pitch (3-4)

Scratching the Surface
In Britain, pitch[5] is another term for field[5] in the sense of an area of ground marked out or used for play in an outdoor team game ⇒ a football pitch. In cricket, the pitch[5] is the strip of ground between the two sets of stumps ⇒ both batsmen were stranded in the middle of the pitch.

17a   Dye // master spy's employed (7)

18a   Throwing away // doughy piece of food left out (7)

21a   Golden syrup /from/ tin initially put on flaky cereal (7)

Treacle^[7] (the British term for what is known as molasses in North America) is any uncrystallised syrup made during the refining of sugar. The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup, a pale variety (known in North America as light molasses), and a darker variety known as black treacle (or dark molasses in North America). Black treacle (confusingly also called molasses in the UK, although it would seem this term is applied primarily when the substance is not intended for human consumption) has a distinctively strong, slightly bitter flavour, and a richer colour than golden syrup. Golden syrup treacle is a common sweetener and condiment in British cookery, found in such dishes as treacle tart and treacle sponge pudding.

Delving Deeper

Molasses is a byproduct of the sugar-making process, and is made with both sugar cane and sugar beets. Specifically, molasses is the concentrated cane syrup or beet syrup leftover when sugar crystals are extracted. The most widely available molasses is sugar cane molasses because it is often used in baking. It comes in three varieties: light, dark and blackstrap. When sugar cane is being processed into sugar, the juice from crushed or pressed sugar cane is boiled to prompt the crystallization process. The liquid resulting from the first cooking of the sugar cane syrup is light molasses. It has a relative high sugar content and a fairly mild flavor. Dark molasses is the liquid resulting from the second boiling of the sugar cane juice. It is less sweet, quite a bit thicker and darker in color than light molasses. Dark molasses is sometimes called “robust molasses,” as well. Blackstrap molasses is the darkest, thickest and least sweet of the types of molasses and is the result of the third and final boiling of the sugar cane juice.

23a   Composer // from Hanover discovered (5)

Giuseppe Verdi^[5] (1813–1901) was an Italian composer. His many operas, such as La Traviata (1853), Aida (1871), and Otello (1887), emphasize the dramatic element, treating personal stories on a heroic scale and often against backgrounds that reflect his political interests. Verdi is also famous for his Requiem (1874).

Scratching the Surface
Hanover[5] is an industrial city in northwestern Germany, on the Mittelland Canal; population 516,300 (est. 2006). It is the capital of Lower Saxony.

24a   Group of characters /from/ Bath, pale in resort (8)

As an anagram indicator, "resort" is used in the somewhat whimsical sense of 'to sort again'.

Scratching the Surface
Bath[5] is a spa town in southwestern England; population 81,600 (est. 2009). The town was founded by the Romans, who called it Aquae Sulis, and was a fashionable spa in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

27a   Somewhat slow, // Republican to enter US city slum area (9)

In the US, a Republican^[5] (abbreviation R^[5])  is a member or supporter of the Republican Party.

Larghetto^[5] is a musical term meaning:

1. (especially as a direction) in a fairly slow tempo; or
2. a passage or movement marked to be performed in a fairly slow tempo.

28a   Fight /in/ shed (5)

29a   Toy not starting -- // current // is needed (4)

Due to the inverted sentence structure used by the setter, the definition finds itself in an unaccustomed spot at the middle of the clue.

30a   Request, daily, // a note of Westminster schedule (5,5)

Westminster^[5] is an inner London borough which contains the British Houses of Parliament and many government offices. Full name City of Westminster. It is commonly used as a metonym for the British Parliament ⇒ Westminster must become more effective in holding the government to account.

Order Paper^[5] is a British and Canadian term denoting a paper on which the day’s business for a legislative assembly is entered.

Down

1d   Sweet // tea finally polished off by copper (4)

The symbol for the chemical element copper is Cu^[5] (from late Latin cuprum).

2d   Altogether // fashionable lot at broadcast (2,5)

3d   Maybe reel /in/ fish, indefinite number caught (5)

The dace^[5] is any of several species of small freshwater fish related to the carp, typically living in running water.

The letter n^[10] is used (especially in mathematics) as a symbol to represent an indefinite number (of) ⇒ there are n objects in a box.

4d   Adhesive material // I stripped from column (7)

In Britain, Australia and New Zealand, a plaster^[10] is an adhesive strip of material, usually medicated, for dressing a cut, wound, etc. It would be known as a band-aid^[5] to most North Americans.

5d   An American theatre award presented to male // opposite (7)

In the US, a Tony^[5] is an award given annually for outstanding achievement in the theatre in various categories.

7d   Logic behind Throckmorton's capital // crime (7)

Sir Francis Throckmorton^[7] (1554–1584) was a conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I of England in the Throckmorton Plot.

Delving Deeper

The Throckmorton Plot[7] was an attempt by English Roman Catholics in 1583 to murder Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with her second cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot is named after the key conspirator, Sir Francis Throckmorton (cousin to Elizabeth Throckmorton, Elizabeth's first lady in waiting), who confessed to the plot under torture. Although Throckmorton later retracted his confession, he was convicted of high treason and executed in 1584.

8d   Fire-raiser confronted /is/ giving nothing away (5-5)

9d   Foreword // for the record, we hear (8)

14d   For all to see, wicked person in farewell // show (10)

"for all to see" = 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

Vale^[5] is an archaic exclamation meaning farewell.

16d   Mean to go round with one on lake /in/ the gloaming (8)

The gloaming^[5] is a literary term meaning twilight or dusk ⇒ hundreds of lights are already shimmering in the gloaming.

19d   Again, reportedly fear disposing of a // rebellious knight (7)

In Arthurian legend, Mordred^[5] was the nephew of King Arthur who abducted Guinevere and raised a rebellion against Arthur.

20d   Greek looking for // hard worker (7)

Graft^[5] is an informal British term meaning:

1. (as a noun) hard work ⇒ success came after years of hard graft; and
2. (as a verb) work hard ⇒ I need people prepared to go out and graft.

A grafter is someone who works hard.

What did he say?

In his review, Gazza remarks They [the Greeks] need more of a miracle worker at the moment. At the time this puzzle was published in the Daily Telegraph in July, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was in the final stages of negotiations with officials from the European Stability Mechanism for a third economic bailout for Greece — with an agreement coming less than a week later on July 12, 2015.[7]

21d   First-class // spinner opening (3-4)

Top-hole^[5] is a dated or humorous informal British expression meaning excellent or first-rate ⇒ this CD is a top-hole purchase.

22d   Poor Clare, raised /and/ put in order (5,2)

25d   A model upset // satirist (5)

Aesop^[10] (?620–564 BC) was a Greek author of fables in which animals are given human characters and used to satirize human failings.

26d   Pole, // not required, finished early (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