Friday, July 15, 2016 — DT 28070

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28070
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, March 24, 2016
Setter Shamus (Philip Marlow)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28070]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Kath
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

With a bit of mental effort, I was able to work my through this very enjoyable puzzle only to have my progress halted just short of the finish line by a European city that was far from top of mind for me.

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   Local left in charge is put in shade /as/ annoying character (6,8)

Local^[5] is an informal British term for a pub convenient to a person’s home ⇒ a pint in the local.

"in charge" = IC (show explanation )

The abbreviation i/c^[5] can be short for either

1. (especially in military contexts) in charge of ⇒ the Quartermaster General is i/c rations; or
2. in command ⇒ 2 i/c = second in command.

hide explanation

9a   Emphasise // position of leading tennis player? (5,2)

Point up^[10] means to to emphasize, especially by identifying ⇒ he pointed up the difficulties we would encounter.

The expression point up (with which I am not familiar) seems to be a bit more emphatic than point out^[10] (with which I am familiar). It seems that Kath is not familiar with the term either. When she says I’ve never heard of this meaning but it is in the BRB^*. she is referring to the definition, not to the tennis term.

^* BRB (Big Red Book) is a nickname frequently used on Big Dave's Crossword Blog to refer to The Chambers Dictionary.

The question mark is a crucial element of the wordplay, indicating that "point up" is but one example of a situation in which a leading tennis player might find himself or herself. Thus if the score in a tennis game were any of 15-love, 30-15, or 40-30, the leading player would be a point up. However, in any of these instances, should the leading player win the next point, they would no longer be a point up but would either be two points up or have won the game in the latter case.

10a   Slight curve going round hospital // room (7)

Camber^[10] is used in the sense of a slight upward curve to the centre of the surface of a road, ship's deck, etc.

11a   American school /makes one/ exhilarated (4)

From a British perspective, high school^[5] is a North American term for a secondary school and high^[5] is an informal, chiefly North American term for high school.

12a   Son with papers, say, and weapon /gets/ fleeting look (4,6)

14a   Expert // play on words said in French (6)

In French, dit^[8] is the past participle of the verb dire 'to say'.

15a   Gave a hand // when located round back of offices (8)

17a   Horrible brute with lie almost /getting/ disproof (8)

18a   Priest in old British military outfit /showing/ faith (6)

In the Bible, Eli^[5] is a priest who acted as a teacher to the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1-3).

A British Expeditionary Force^[5] (abbreviation BEF^[5]) was a British force made available by the army reform of 1908 for service overseas. Such forces were sent to France in 1914 and 1939.

21a   Titled woman about ready to reform king? // Idealist (10)

In Britain, Dame^[10] is:

1. the title of a woman who has been awarded the Order of the British Empire or any of certain other orders of chivalry; or 
2. the legal title of the wife or widow of a knight or baronet, placed before her name.

What did she say?

In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kath uses "Judy (sic) Dench" as an example of a titled woman. Dame Judi Dench[7] is a widely acclaimed English actress who has received many awards for her acting in theatre, film and television including six British Academy Film Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, seven Olivier Awards (for excellence in professional theatre in London), two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award (for achievement in live Broadway theatre).

"king" = R (show explanation )

Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

hide explanation

22a   Stock // evidence of a wrongdoer, it's said (4)

Gilt^[10] is another term for a gilt-edged security^[10], a government-issued security on which interest payments will certainly be met and that will certainly be repaid at par on the due date.

24a   Ale a keg spilt -- from this? (7)

In this semi-&lit. clue^* (or, as some prefer to call it, semi-all-in-one clue), the entire clue serves as the definition while the wordplay is furnished by the portion with the dashed underline.

^* In a true &lit. clue^[7] (sometimes called an all-in-one clue) the entire clue provides not only the definition (when read one way), but under a different interpretation is also the wordplay.

25a   Partygoer // at home by six -- something holding up the ball? (7)

26a   Showing the full effects of crashing? (4,2,3,5)

Down

1d   Dads' dance -- // in which uncle pays up (3-4)

Uncle^[5] is an archaic, informal term for a pawnbroker.

Pop-shop^[1] (or pop shop^[5,10])  is an informal, dated British term for a pawnbroker's shop.

2d   Garb's undeniably wrong /for/ charity event (5,3,3,4)

Bring and buy^[5] (also bring-and-buy sale) is a British term for a charity sale at which people bring items for sale and buy those brought by others.

3d   Regulars in minor team /getting/ tiny amount (4)

4d   Table accessory /and/ kitchenware taken up by family (6)

5d   Expand // where night-watchman might be? (8)

In the sport of cricket, a nightwatchman^[7] (spelling night-watchman^[1] or nightwatchman^[2,5,10]) is a lower-order batsman who comes in to bat higher up the order than usual near the end of the day's play [of course, the fact that he comes in to bat implies that a top-order batsman has just been dismissed]. The nightwatchman's job is to maintain most of the strike^* until the close of play (remaining in overnight^**, hence the name) and so protect other, more capable batsmen from being out cheaply in what may be a period of tiredness or in poor light at the end of the day, and then again the following morning when the batsmen have not yet `got their eye in,' or when the early-morning conditions may favour the bowlers. The theory is that losing two top-order batsmen in quick succession would be worse than losing one top-order batsman and a tailender.

^* strike^[2] is the position of being the batsman bowled at [pretty much the same as an 'at bat' in baseball]
^** remember that a cricket match is played over the course of five days.

In cricket, a crease^[10] is any of three lines (bowling crease, popping crease, or return crease) near each wicket marking positions for the bowler or batsman.

Note that, in cricket, a crease is a line — not an area as it is in (ice) hockey and lacrosse. Thus, it has been my understanding that, in cricket, a batsman is said to be "at the crease" — unlike hockey or lacrosse, where a player is said to be "in the crease".  However, the cricket-mad Brits seemed to have no problem with the batsman being IN CREASE.

6d   A hardly believable paper // invariably (2,3,5)

The Times^[7] is a British daily national newspaper based in London.

7d   Chancellor perhaps /gets/ basic intern time reviewed (7,8)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer^[5] (Chancellor^[5] for short) is the chief finance minister of the United Kingdom, who prepares the nation’s annual budgets — a counterpart to the Minister of Finance in Canada or the Secretary of the Treasury in the US.

8d   One that's thick // infernal sort? About right (6)

Thick^[5] is used in the informal sense of having a very close, friendly relationship (with someone) ⇒ he’s very thick with the new master.

13d   Hotel meeting place in ground set down /in/ dependent region (10)

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

Hinterland^[2] is used in the sense of an area dependent on a nearby port, commercial site, or any centre of influence.

16d   European city // uprising over, as in receipt of German OK (8)

Ja^[8] is the German word for 'yes'.

Sarajevo^[5] is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina; population 304,600 (est. 2008).

Delving Deeper

Taken by the Austro-Hungarians in 1878, it became a centre of Slav opposition to Austrian rule. It was the scene in June 1914 of the assassination by a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863–1914), the heir to the Austrian throne, an event which triggered the outbreak of the First World War. The city suffered severely from the ethnic conflicts that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991, and was besieged by Bosnian Serb forces in the surrounding mountains from 1992 to 1994.

17d   Sift // puzzling piece of verse (6)

A riddle^[5] is a large coarse sieve, especially one used for separating ashes from cinders or sand from gravel. As a verb, riddle^[5] means to pass (a substance) through a large coarse sieve ⇒ for final potting, the soil mixture is not riddled.

19d   Idiot /in/ craze hoarding articles (7)

In her review, Kath shows the articles as being "the definite and the indefinite" [FA(THE|A)D] but the order of the articles could just as well be reversed [F(A|THE)AD].

20d   Look forward to // chutney perhaps (6)

23d   Acknowledge // a victor with pained expression (4)

Victor^[5] is a code word representing the letter V, used in radio communication.:

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
Signing off for today — Falcon