Friday, July 1, 2016 — DT 28051 (Canada Day Bonus Puzzle)

Prologue

It being Canada Day, the National Post has not published an edition today. For those of you who cannot make it through a day without your cryptic fix, here is DT 28051 to tide you over.

Happy Canada Day!

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28051
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28051]
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

This gentle puzzle from Jay should provide you with an enjoyable solve while not detaining you overly long from your other Canada Day activities.

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   Struck by writing /that's/ restrained (10)

6a   Creatures // carried by consumers going west (4)

10a   Perfect, // say (5)

11a   Engineers expressing disapproval about time // getting PC going again (9)

"engineers" = 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   City /needing/ my answer to include date of birth (7)

Cor^[5] is an informal British exclamation expressing surprise, excitement, admiration, or alarm ⇒ Cor! That‘s a beautiful black eye you’ve got!.

Cordoba^[5] could be either:

• a city in Andalusia, southern Spain; population 325,453 (2008). Founded by the Carthaginians, it was under Moorish rule from 711 to 1236, and was renowned for its architecture, particularly the Great Mosque.
• a city in central Argentina; population 1,319,000 (est. 2005).

What did they say?
In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis tell us that the first element in the charade is a synonym for ‘my’ or ‘blimey’. Blimey[5] (also cor blimey) is an informal British exclamation used to express surprise, excitement, or alarm. Another variant of this term is gorblimey[5], an informal expression of surprise or indignation.

13a   Humour about bowler's // thingy? (7)

Bowler^[5] (also bowler hat) is a chiefly British name for a man’s hard felt hat with a round dome-shaped crown. The North American name for this item of apparel is derby^[5] — said to arise from American demand for a hat of the type worn at the Epsom Derby.

Thingy^[5] is another term for thingummy^[2,5] (also thingamy, thingummyjig, thingummybob; North American thingamajig^[2,11], thingumajig^[2,11], thingamabob^[2], or thingumabob^[2]), a person or thing whose name one has forgotten, does not know, or does not wish to mention ⇒ one of those thingummies for keeping all the fire tools together.

If the above should provide an insufficient selection from which to choose, one might also use doohickey, doojigger, gimmick, gismo, gizmo, gubbins, thingmabob, thingmajig, whatchamacallit, whatchamacallum, whatsis, or widget.^{[WordNet 3.0]}

However, kudos to Jay who has managed to find a variant which is not on the list.

14a   Satisfaction when initially denied // confirmation (12)

18a   Agrees, packing forged Ming // shipments (12)

Scratching the Surface

Ming[5] is the name of the dynasty that ruled China 1368–1644 founded by Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398). The Ming period was renowned for ceramics and porcelains.The major production centers for porcelain were the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province and Dehua in Fujian province. The Dehua porcelain factories catered to European tastes by creating Chinese export porcelain by the 16th century. Individual potters also became known, such as He Chaozong, who became famous in the early 17th century for his style of white porcelain sculpture. In The Ceramic Trade in Asia, Chuimei Ho estimates that about 16% of late Ming era Chinese ceramic exports were sent to Europe, while the rest were destined for Japan and South East Asia.[7]

21a   Bohemian // relations back on strike (7)

23a   Item acrobats are told to change? (7)

This clue is a cryptic definition with embedded wordplay.

24a   Moan about a story's // inconsistencies (9)

25a   Reclaim a good environment /for/ an insect (5)

26a   Crush // fly (4)

27a   Sixties music // beery mates played? (6,4)

Mersey beat^[5] denotes the characteristic pop music of the Beatles and other groups from Liverpool [England] in the 1960s.

Down

1d   Gut feeling about a // large cut of meat (6)

2d   Characteristics /of/ flora and fauna (6)

I would say that this is a double definition, although the 2Kiwis have not designated it as such.

3d   Cut mainly coming after fiddling crop rotation /is/ a duty (11,3)

Unlike a US ax, a British axe has an "e" at the end. Thus "cut mainly" indicates the removal of this final letter. Canadians are well-used to seeing the word spelt either with or without a final "e".

4d   Class ace getting into new // structure (9)

In Britain, a form^[5] is a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number. Thus the fifth form would be the British linguistic counterpart (although not the academic equivalent) of the fifth grade in North America and Form One would be akin to saying Grade One (show more ).

A form^[7] is a class or grouping of students in a school. The term is used predominantly in the United Kingdom, although some schools, mostly private, in other countries also use the title. Pupils are usually grouped in forms according to age and will remain with the same group for a number of years, or sometimes their entire school career.

Forms are normally identified by a number such as "first form" or "sixth form". A form number may be used for two year groups and differentiated by the terms upper and lower. The sixth form is the senior form of a school, and is usually divided into two year groups: the lower sixth and upper sixth. If there is more than one form for each year group they will normally be differentiated by letters, e.g., "upper four B", "lower two Y". Schools do not follow a consistent pattern in naming forms.

hide

5d   Joint given to person getting sack? (5)

Give someone the elbow^[5] is an informal British expression meaning to reject or dismiss someone ⇒ (i) I tried to get her to give him the elbow; (ii) she decided to give tradition the elbow.

7d   Canvas /having/ trouble under water? (8)

The main^[5] is an archaic or literary term for the open ocean. I have never before seen it used in the plural.

8d   Getting a view of // son struggling, having missed start (8)

9d   Council /using/ writer in neighbourhood (5,9)

Local authority^[5] is a British term for an administrative body in local government ⇒ (i) you will need planning permission from your local authority; (ii) local authority housing.

15d   Excited side inviting top celebs /and/ perfectionists (9)

The A-list^[5] denotes a real or imaginary list of the most celebrated or sought-after individuals, especially in show business ⇒ [as modifier] an A-list celebrity.

16d   One won't strike poet, // keeping weapon here (8)

17d   Almost faint, panicking in front of tailless rodent // of ill repute! (8)

19d   Cold scruff welcomes a // bite to eat (6)

20d   Skilful // Italian supports a doctor with nothing (6)

"Italian" = IT (show explanation )

This clueing might be explained in either of the following ways:

• It.^[10] is an abbreviation for Italian or Italy.


• Italian^[10] is another name for Italian vermouth. It^[5] is an informal, dated British term for Italian vermouth ⇒ he poured a gin and it.

hide explanation

22d   Weapon /that's/ fine to change after end of week (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)

Happy Canada Day — Falcon