Tuesday, June 7, 2016 — DT 28029

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28029
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, February 5, 2016
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28029]
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

Deep Threat's description of his solving experience at Big Dave's Crossword Blog is a very accurate depiction of my own.

There does seem to be a bit of a New World flavour to today's puzzle — which, for a change, does not seem to have raised the hackles of the Brits.

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   See alley cat skit around /in/ state capital (4,4,4)

Salt Lake City^[5] is the capital of Utah, situated near the south-eastern shores of the Great Salt Lake; population 181,698 (est. 2008). Founded in 1847 by Brigham Young, the city is the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

9a   Dodgy steeple held together by firm // device pointing upward? (9)

10a   Passion /of/ some woman I adore (5)

11a   Lucy's little case (6)

"Lucy Locket"^[7] is an English language nursery rhyme.

Lucy Locket lost her pocket,

Kitty Fisher found it;

Not a penny was there in it,

Only ribbon round it.

The song shares its tune with the American song "Yankee Doodle" which, by the way, is the state anthem of Connecticut. Lucy Locket and Kitty Fisher were likely "two celebrated courtesans of the time of Charles II". Is the rhyme a commentary on the fact that these were "kept women" with not a penny to their name?

A pocket^[10] is a small bag or pouch in a garment for carrying small articles, money, etc or any bag or pouch or anything resembling this.

12a   Censure // is delivered in hurry after third-rate grade (8)

13a   Retrieve // good article that's been given external restriction (6)

"good" = G (show explanation )

The abbreviation G^[10] for good likely relates to its use in grading school assignments or tests.

hide explanation

15a   What is faced by uphill walker, // treading awkwardly (8)

18a   Row // about to impede girl and wise man (8)

Diana (usually appearing as its diminutive Di) is certainly one of — if not the — most popular female name in Crosswordland.

19a   Idiot in school // who betrays classmate? (6)

Nit^[5] is an informal British term for a foolish person ⇒ you stupid nit!.

21a   Our Upper House is not of course // unrivalled (8)

In the UK, the House of Lords^[5] is the higher chamber of Parliament, composed of peers and bishops.

23a   A Head of University positioned in neat // courtyard (6)

26a   Leftie, the Parisian about /to become/ a church figure (5)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

hide explanation

An elder^[5] is an official in the early Christian Church, or of various Protestant Churches and sects ⇒ he left the Church of which he had been an elder.

27a   One in a hand-to-mouth situation // in which eventual outcome is uncertain (4-5)

28a   Scented aisle laid out /in/ shop (12)

Down

1d   Colonial type /with/ dog crossing lake (7)

2d   Phone up around lunchtime maybe /for/ something from the garden centre? (5)

The denizens of Crosswordland typically favour a late lunch.

3d   Gun I found hidden in heather, // being attentive (9)

A Sten gun^[5] is a type of lightweight British sub-machine gun.

Ling^[5] is another name for the common heather (Calluna vulgaris), a purple-flowered Eurasian heath that grows abundantly on moorland and heathland.

4d   Be aware of // refusal being broadcast (4)

5d   Church shut up in old Ireland /or/ part of England (8)

Eire^[5] is the Gaelic name for Ireland and was the official name of the Republic of Ireland from 1937 to 1949.

Cheshire^[5] is a county of west central England; county town, Chester.

6d   What is symbolised in mathematics periods (5)

This would seem to be a semi-all-in-one clue in which the entire clue provides a cryptic definition of one of the symbols for multiplication in mathematics and the final word provides a second definition from a different perspective.

7d   Ray hitting something is such // an event (8)

Although Deep Threat marks the entire clue as a cryptic definition, I see it as a double definition. The second definition is a noun while the first is an adjective.

Incident^[5] is an adjective (said especially of light or other radiation) denoting falling on or striking something ⇒ when an ion beam is incident on a surface.

8d   The old man needs shelter, /that's/ clear (6)

14d   Behave as faithful sweethearts, // so get day fixed? (2,6)

16d   Little daughter getting wobbly /in/ town (9)

Dunstable^[7] is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the largest settlement in Central Bedfordshire and third largest in Bedfordshire behind Luton and Bedford.

17d   European city // to descend into bottomless abyss on island (8)

Helsinki^[5] is the capital of Finland, a port in the south on the Gulf of Finland; population 579,504 (2009).

18d   Bird -- // big one seen in sky at night? (6)

The dipper^[5] is any of five species of short-tailed songbird related to the wrens, frequenting fast-flowing streams and able to swim, dive, and walk under water to feed.

The Big Dipper^[5] is a North American term for what is known in Britain as the Plough^[5], a prominent formation of seven stars in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear), containing the Pointers that indicate the direction to the Pole Star.

20d   Poet leading international organisation -- // a big hit (4,3)

Homer^[5] (8th century BC) was a Greek epic poet. He is traditionally held to be the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, though modern scholarship has revealed the place of the Homeric poems in a preliterate oral tradition. In later antiquity Homer was regarded as the greatest poet, and his poems were constantly used as a model and source by others.

"international organization" = UN (show explanation )

The United Nations^[5] (abbreviation UN) is an international organization of countries set up in 1945, in succession to the League of Nations, to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

hide explanation

22d   Generous // contribution from popular gents (5)

24d   Foreign characters /given/ one endless job, receiving nothing (5)

Iota^[5] is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ι, ι).

25d   Mostly green, a // foreign capital (4)

Lima^[5] is the capital of Peru; population 7,605,700 (est. 2007). Founded in 1535 by Francisco Pizarro, it was the capital of the Spanish colonies in South America until the 19th century.

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