Monday, May 30, 2016 — DT 28020

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28020
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28020]
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 28019 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Monday, January 25, 2016.

Introduction

The editors at the National Post continue their customary boycott of puzzles set by Rufus skipping over his "Monday" puzzle to get to a puzzle from one of the mystery "Tuesday" setters.

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

7a   Master criminal // amusing friend endlessly, in the morning back inside (2,6)

Dr. Fu Manchu^[7] is a fictional character introduced in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer^* during the first half of the twentieth century. The character was also featured extensively in cinema, television, radio, comic strips, and comic books for over 90 years, and has become an archetype of the evil criminal genius while lending the name to the Fu Manchu moustache.

^*  Sax Rohmer^[7] was the pseudonym of prolific English novelist Arthur Henry Ward (1883–1959).

9a   Boast about a century /in/ Polish city (6)

The abbreviation for century or centuries is c.^[5] ⇒ a watch case, 19th c. [Note that Oxford Dictionaries shows the abbreviation as including a period and then fails to include the period in the usage example.]

Cracow^[5] is an industrial and university city in southern Poland, on the River Vistula; population 754,624 (2008). It was the capital of Poland from 1320 until replaced by Warsaw in 1609.

In what seems to me to be a display of rather convoluted logic, Oxford Dictionaries tells us that Kraków^[5] is the Polish name for Cracow — I would strongly suggest that Cracow is the English name for Kraków.

10a   When one chooses // a woven cloth (2,4)

11a   Put one in mind of // watch left Eisenhower (4,4)

Dwight David Eisenhower^[5] (1890–1969) was an American general and Republican statesman, 34th president of the US 1953–61; known as Ike. In the Second World War he was Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in western Europe 1943-5. As president, he adopted a hard line towards communism.

The phrase "put someone in mind of"^[5] means to resemble and so remind someone of ⇒ he was a small, well-dressed man who put her in mind of a jockey.

12a   Expecting // interfering parents and their children to intervene (2,3,6,3)

15a   Expression of incredulity // seen originally in a poem (2,2)

"If—"^[7] is a poem by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), written in 1895 and first published in Rewards and Fairies, 1910. The poem begins:

If you can keep your head when all about you
  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
  But make allowance for their doubting too;

17a   Bird, // headless chicken (5)

19a   Fall /in/ ditch (4)

20a   Sponge /made by/ winning team, unhappy with loaf (6-4,4)

"team" = SIDE (show explanation )

Side^[5] is a British term for a sports team ⇒ there was a mixture of old and young players in their side. [Note that a player is "in a side" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America]

In North America, the term side^[3] is used in a very general fashion that can denote one of two or more opposing individuals, groups, teams, or sets of opinions. While this same general usage would seem to exist as well in the UK, the term side^[5] is also used there in a much more specific sense to mean a sports team, as we can clearly see from the following usage examples ⇒ (i) Previous England rugby sides, and England teams in many other sports, would have crumbled under the weight of such errors.; (ii) They'll face better sides than this Monaco team, but you can only beat what's put in front of you.

hide explanation

Sponge^[2,5,10] (also sponge cake) is a British term for a light cake made by beating eggs with sugar, flour, and usually butter or other fat^* ⇒ (i) a chocolate sponge; (ii) the gateau is made with moist sponge.

^*  British dictionaries do not seem able to come to a consensus on the recipe for sponge cake. Collins English Dictionary informs us that sponge cake^[10] is a light porous cake, made of eggs, sugar, flour, and flavourings traditionally without any fat.

23a   T.S. Eliot wrong about leading edge of table // knife (8)

Scratching the Surface
T. S. Eliot[5] (1888–1965) was an American-born British poet, critic, and playwright; full name Thomas Stearns Eliot. Associated with the rise of literary modernism, he was established as the voice of a disillusioned generation by The Waste Land (1922). Four Quartets (1943) revealed his increasing involvement with Christianity. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.

25a   Number collecting wood /for/ burning (2,4)

27a   Forms an opinion on // book (6)

Judges^[5] is the seventh book of the Bible, describing the conquest of Canaan under the leaders called ‘judges’^* in an account that is parallel to that of the Book of Joshua and is probably more accurate historically. The book includes the stories of Deborah, Jael, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.

^* A judge^[5] was a leader having temporary authority in ancient Israel in the period between Joshua and the kings.

28a   Musical item /making/ racket -- surefire winner, opening in Oliver! (8)

Cert^[5] is an informal British term for:

1. an event regarded as inevitable ⇒ of course Mum would cry, it was a dead cert;
2. a racehorse strongly favoured to win a race; or
3. a person regarded as certain to do something ⇒ the Scottish [goal]keeper was a cert to play.

Scratching the Surface

Oliver![7] is a British musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by English writer Charles Dickens (1812–1870). It premièred in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, a successful Broadway production in 1963 and further tours and revivals. It was made into a musical film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1977–80, 1994–98 and again from 2008–11.

A concerto^[5] is a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Gazza writes Strictly speaking it should be the wordplay that makes the definition, not the other way round. Perhaps what Gazza states is a convention in cryptic crosswords — he certainly has far more experience than I in such matters. Nevertheless, I frankly see no reason for this to be so. It seems to me that just as one can "make" the definition by assembling or synthesizing the components in the wordplay, one can equally well "make" the components in the wordplay by disassembling or decomposing the definition.

Down

1d   Only // son entering project (4)

2d   Drive away // one's husband following disqualification (6)

3d   Lower // middle (4)

Lower is used in the whimsical cryptic crossword sense of something that lows (moos) — in other words, a bovine animal.

 Bull^[5] is a chiefly British short form for bull's-eye.

4d   Hard in small unfriendly // place of learning (6)

"hard" = H (show explanation )

H^[5] is an abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

hide explanation

5d   Dedicated // hospital given permission (8)

6d   Sweated labour /in/ New York -- OK, possibly, if supporting daughter (6-4)

Donkey work^[5] is an informal British term for the boring or laborious part of a job; in other words, drudgery ⇒ supervisors who get a research student to do the donkey work.

8d   Pick up // telephone of rising Republican (4,3)

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

13d   Flower /in/ autumn? It's out around end of November (10)

The nasturtium^[5] (Tropaeolum majus) is a South American trailing plant with round leaves and bright orange, yellow, or red flowers, which is widely grown as an ornamental.

14d   Proposed // relocation day (5)

16d   Strong wind getting up breaks safety device /in/ part of plane (8)

18d   Its effect in the sky gets no women excited? (3,4)

There is not much to add to what Gazza has already said in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog other than to observe that a Google search using the search terms "full moon increased libido" generated a torrent of hits — none of which appeared to be particularly authoritative. A representative example is Does full moon influence our sexual life?

21d   Hate // extremely delicate examination (6)

22d   Connoisseur's top bid /for/ chest (6)

24d   Individual touring clubs // long ago (4)

"clubs" = C (show explanation )

Clubs^[2]) (abbreviation C^[1]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

hide explanation

The use of the word "tour" as a containment indicator is predicated on it meaning 'to go around'.

26d   Admire // Riviera terraced houses (4)

Rate^[5,10] is used in an informal [almost certainly British] sense meaning to have a high opinion of ⇒ (i) Mike certainly rated her, goodness knows why; (ii) the clients do not rate the new system.

Scratching the Surface
The Riviera[5] is part of the Mediterranean coastal region of southern France and northern Italy, extending from Cannes to La Spezia, famous for its beauty, mild climate, and fashionable resorts.

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