Tuesday, May 31, 2016 — DT 28021

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28021
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28021]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By 2Kiwis
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

I would not necessarily say that this puzzle achieved four star difficulty level, but I did need a bit of electronic help to finish and also failed to parse one clue.

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   Put money aside to cover student // work (5)

"learner" = L (show explanation )

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

hide explanation

4a   Church /in/ US state full of hatred in ruins (9)

9a   Campaign /for/ increased responsibility at work (9)

10a   Creature /that is/ closer losing height (5)

11a   Pragmatic type /offering/ a table to engineers (7)

"soldiers" = 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

12a   How one hears /of/ gold recovery? (7)

The symbol for the chemical element gold is Au^[5] (from Latin aurum).

13a   Sent off to collect acceptable // symbols (6)

Jay succeeded in getting me to spend a fair bit of time trying to work U (show explanation ) into the solution before I realized that he had thrown us a curve ball today.

In Britain, U^[5] 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 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).

In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable). 

hide explanation

15a   Period in America // that follows end of sentence? (4,4)

I believe that this clue works either as a cryptic definition (as the 2Kiwis have marked it) or as a double definition (as I have marked it — just to be different).

The punctuation mark (.) known as a period^[5] in North America is called a full stop^[5] by the British.

18a   Conservationists after some years // showing moral turpitude (8)

In Britain, the National Trust^[5] (abbreviation NT) is a trust for the preservation of places of historic interest or natural beauty in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, founded in 1895 and supported by endowment and private subscription. The National Trust for Scotland^[7], a separate organization, was founded in 1931.

20a   Run through // section, overcoming resistance (6)

"resistance" = R (show explanation )

In physics, the symbol R^[5] is used to represent electrical resistance.

hide explanation

23a   Bureau chief /must be/ PC (7)

... no consideration will be given to laptops or netbooks.

In Britain, a bureau^[5] is a writing desk with drawers and typically an angled top opening downwards to form a writing surface rather than a chest of drawers.

24a   Part of an Indian // degree student's first degree, note (7)

Indian^[5] is an informal British term for an Indian meal or restaurant^*.

^* It is very common in British English to find expressions such as this where a phrase comprising a noun modified by a second noun is replaced by simply the modifying noun. For instance, the British term for a station wagon^[5] is estate car^[5] which the Brits shorten to merely estate^[5]. In North America, on the other hand, were we to shorten station wagon, we would certainly refer to it as a wagon rather than a station.

Basmati^[5] (also basmati rice) is a kind of long-grain Indian rice with a delicate fragrance.

26a   Bare one's teeth, swallowing a // bit of corn (5)

The word "corn" has quite a different meaning in Britain than it does in North America. The plant known in North America (as well as Australia and New Zealand) as corn^[5], is called maize^[5] in the UK. In Britain, corn refers to the chief cereal crop of a district, especially (in England) wheat or (in Scotland) oats.

27a   Call to Newcastle area /for/ memorial (9)

While the parsing of wordplay in this clue eluded me, it did not escape the deductive powers of the 2Kiwis.

Newcastle^[5] is the name of two cities in England — only the first of which seems to appear in crossword puzzles:

1. Newcastle upon Tyne is an industrial city and metropolitan district in northeastern England, a port on the River Tyne; population 170,200 (est. 2009);
2. Newcastle-under-Lyme is an industrial town in Staffordshire, in England, just south-west of Stoke-on-Trent; population 77,500 (est. 2009).

28a   Clearly accepting independence // with stoicism (9)

In The Chambers Dictionary — if nowhere else — I^[1] (or I.) is shown to be the abbreviation for independence as well as independent.

29a   Quietly illuminated following end of religious // schism (5)

"quietly" = 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.

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Down

1d   Adepts are to be moved /and/ kept apart (9)

2d   Subtle quality /of/ Amsterdam or Antwerp on the rise (5)

Scratching the Surface

Amsterdam[5] is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands; population 747,093 (2008). It is built on some ninety islands separated by canals. Although Amsterdam is the capital, the country’s seat of government and administrative centre is at The Hague. Antwerp[5] is a port in northern Belgium, on the Scheldt; population 472,071 (2008). By the 16th century it had become a leading European commercial and financial centre.

3d   Feeling // Germany should avoid relegation (7)

"Germany" = D (show explanation )

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Germany is D^[5] [from German Deutschland].

hide explanation

Relegation^[5] is a British^* term for the transfer of a sports team or player to a lower division of a league ⇒ (i) the team manager refuses to throw in the towel and admit that relegation is inevitable; (ii) the club has suffered two successive relegations.

^* This process is not exclusive to the UK but is also used beyond Britain by bodies such as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). However, it is rare — if not unheard of — in North America.

Delving Deeper

Sports leagues in the UK typically operate on a process of promotion and relegation[7] in which teams are transferred between two divisions based on their performance for the completed season. The best-ranked teams in the lower division are promoted to the division above, and the worst-ranked teams in the higher division are relegated [moved down] to the division below. In some leagues, play-offs or qualifying rounds are also used to determine rankings. This process can continue through several levels, with teams being exchanged between levels 1 and 2, levels 2 and 3, levels 3 and 4, and so on. If we had relegation in North American hockey, the Toronto Maple Leafs would be playing in the American Hockey League next season.

4d   Material /for/ feature on origins of time zones (6)

Chintz^[5] is printed multicoloured cotton fabric with a glazed finish, used for curtains and upholstery.

5d   Metal // worker in short story discovered pump (8)

"worker" = ANT (show explanation )

The phrase "worker" is commonly used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue ANT or BEE.

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.

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The setter uses "discovered" in a whimsical sense directing the solver to strip away outer letters. This cryptic device is based on the logic that if disrobe means to remove one's robe (or other clothing), then it only stands to reason that discover must mean to remove one's cover.

Tantalum^[5] (symbol Ta) is the chemical element of atomic number 73, a hard silver-grey metal of the transition series.

6d   Transport // hotel involved in fixed rental (7)

Hotel^[5] is a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication.

7d   Governor/'s/ time over, wearing uniform (9)

"over" = O (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O^[5] denotes over(s), an over^[5] being a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

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8d   Bug that science associates with metal? (5)

I consider this clue to be a cryptic definition consisting of a straight definition (solid underline) accompanied by cryptic elaboration (dashed underline).

Lurgy^[5] is a humorous British term for an unspecified or indeterminate illness ⇒ I had caught the dreaded lurgy.

14d   Gives up pastry // to provide initial impetus (4-5)

The solution could be a verb (as marked above) or a noun (in which case the clue would parse as shown below).

• 14d   Gives up pastry /to provide/ initial impetus (4-5)

16d   Leader/'s/ turbulent priest found outside study (9)

17d   Speak sharply and go /for/ exposure (8)

19d   Bivouac, protected by river, /offers/ an easing of tension (7)

According to a majority of my dictionaries, bivouac^[1,2,5] specifically denotes camping without tents:

1. (noun) a temporary camp or camping place without tents, especially one used by soldiers and mountaineers; or
2. (verb) to camp out temporarily at night without a tent.

However, one American dictionary, the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, provides a diametrically opposite picture defining bivouac^[11] as a military encampment made with tents.

Collins English Dictionary^[4,10] does not specify whether or not tents are involved.

The Dee^[5] is a river in northeastern Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen. Another river of the same name rises in North Wales and flows past Chester and on into the Irish Sea.

21d   Takes a firm stand /with/ first son found supporting short measures (7)

22d   Religious office /of/ band completely disheartened (6)

Abba^[5] is a Swedish pop group which became popular in the 1970s with catchy, well-crafted songs such as ‘Waterloo’ (1974) and ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’ (1977).

The setter uses "disheartened" as an indication to remove the heart (inner letters) from the word C[ompletel]Y.

Abbacy^[5] denotes the office or period of office of an abbot or abbess ⇒ (i) the abbacy of Ely was vacant; (ii) he made several notable improvements during his short abbacy.

23d   Find // grub, oddly in sink (3,2)

25d   A charge for crossing // island (5)

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