Tuesday, July 19, 2016 — DT 28074

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28074
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28074]
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 28071 through DT 28073 which were published in The Daily Telegraph from Friday, March 25, 2016 to Monday, March 28, 2016.

Introduction

Today the National Post takes another Great Leap Forward skipping over three puzzles. At a result we actually get a "Tuesday" puzzle on a Tuesday. We also get a grid that I do not recall having seen before.

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   Sensational // duck, wicket given after loud shout (6)

From the perspective of both the surface reading and the cryptic reading, this clue is about entirely about cricket.

In cricket, a duck^[5] is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] ⇒ he was out for a duck. This is similar to the North American expression goose egg^[5] meaning a zero score in a game.

In British puzzles, "duck" is used to indicate the letter "O" based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter.

In cricket, the term wicket^[5] can have any of several meanings:

1. each of the sets of three stumps with two bails across the top at either end of the pitch, defended by a batsman;
2. the prepared strip of ground between two sets of stumps ⇒ when they inspected the wicket, they found it being rolled by some prisoners;
3. the dismissal of a batsman; each of ten dismissals regarded as marking a division of a side’s innings ⇒ Darlington won by four wickets.

In the latter sense, wicket is abbreviated as W^[5] on scorecards.

Yellow^[5] (said of a style of writing, especially in journalism) denotes lurid and sensational ⇒ he based his judgement on headlines and yellow journalism.

5a   Unfair contest? // Short young lady lighter (8)

10a   Trim // tree with pendulous cones (6)

11a   Piece of pork, // free on bar (5,3)

12a   Hotel's restraint must be misplaced, // ultimately (2,3,4,6)

In the last resort^[5] means ultimately ⇒ in the last resort what really moves us is our personal convictions.

This expression has a somewhat different connotation than as a last (or final) resort^[5] which means when all else has failed ⇒ the soldiers had orders not to shoot except as a last resort to save human life.

16a   Skittle 17 out -- // high point (8)

The numeral "17" is a cross reference indicator directing the solver to insert the solution to clue 17d in its place to complete the clue. The directional indicator is customarily omitted in situations such as this where only a single clue starts in the light^* that is being referenced.

^* light-coloured cell in the grid

Skittles^[3,4,5,11] is a chiefly British term that can mean either:

1. a game played with wooden pins, typically nine in number, set up at the end of an alley to be bowled down with a wooden ball or disc (also known, especially in the US, as ninepins); or
2. the pins used in the game of skittles.

18a   Wrong /having/ commercial break (6)

Adrift^[10] is used in the informal sense of off course or amiss ⇒ the project went adrift.

20a   Agree, surprisingly, about introduction of grunge // style of music (6)

Reggae^[5] is a style of popular music with a strongly accented subsidiary beat, originating in Jamaica. Reggae evolved in the late 1960s from ska and other local variations on calypso and rhythm and blues, and became widely known in the 1970s through the work of Bob Marley; its lyrics are much influenced by Rastafarian ideas.

Scratching the Surface
Grunge[5] (also grunge rock) is a style of rock music characterized by a raucous guitar sound and lazy vocal delivery.

21a   How mate's changed // a bit (8)

22a   One banned, diplomatically, /from/ Goa? So partner Ann broadcast (7,3,5)

Scratching the Surface
Goa[5] is a state on the west coast of India; capital, Panaji. Formerly a Portuguese territory, it was seized by India in 1961. It formed a Union Territory with Daman and Diu until 1987, when it was made a state.

27a   Not the main attraction /in/ area, plant storing hydrogen (8)

It is interesting that Gazza thought of "side" in a North American context (in reference to an area of Manhattan) and I thought of it in the British context of Merseyside and Tyneside (areas adjacent to the rivers Mersey and Tyne respectively).

The symbol for the chemical element hydrogen is H^[5].

28a   Rule // in gaming over non-members (6)

29a   Quits just after Goran's first // service (8)

Quits^[5] is an adjective meaning (of two people) on even terms, especially because a debt or score has been settled ⇒ I think we’re just about quits now, don’t you?.

Evens^[1] as an adjective or adverb means quits.

On^[2] means immediately after, at or before ⇒ He found the letter on his return.

In the Christian Church, evensong^[5] is a service of evening prayers, psalms, and canticles, conducted according to a set form, especially that of the Anglican Church ⇒ choral evensong.

Scratching the Surface

Goran Ivanišević[7] is a retired Croatian professional tennis player and current tennis coach. He is the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Before the 2001 tournament, he was ranked 125th and after his victory he was 16th. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 2 (behind Pete Sampras) in 1994. In tennis and other racket sports, service[5] is the action or right of serving to begin play.

30a   Rant /in/ exchange about onset of inflation (6)

Down

2d   Thoughtful to support former partner, /and/ costly! (9)

3d   Number // haggling with a US criminal? (8,3)

"Number" is used in the whimsical cryptic crossword sense of something that numbs.

4d   Go round // with list (5)

6d   Popular place /getting/ contribution (5)

7d   Mingle /with/ grockles, initially, in pool (5)

Mere^[5] is a chiefly literary, British term for a lake or pond ⇒ the stream widens into a mere where hundreds of geese gather.

Those of us in Ottawa should be familiar with this word as the Mackenzie King Estate (the country estate of Canada’s 10th and longest-serving prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King) is located just across the Ottawa River in Kingsmere, Quebec, on the shores of Kingsmere Lake (a name which surely amounts to Kingslake Lake).

Scratching the Surface
Grockle[5] is an informal, often derogatory, British term for a holidaymaker [vacationer], especially one visiting a resort in Devon or Cornwall [the area from whence Gazza hails].

8d   Body // temperature, approximately (5)

9d   Bowler perhaps receiving a mouthful /in/ home ground (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 [a British horse race].

13d   Felt hat // put back on after ending of nuptials (7)

Stet^[5] (Latin 'let it stand') is an instruction used on a printed proof to indicate that a correction or alteration should be ignored.

Behind the Picture
The photo used by Gazza in his review shows the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (otherwise known as Prince William and the former Kate Middleton) wearing the emblematic hats presented to them at the Calgary Stampede in 2011. Here's another shot where they are into the spectacle rather than each other.

14d   Actual capital of mythical // royal domain (5)

15d   Drink /with/ team in small club (11)

17d   Laundered? // Caught by bank (5)

"caught" = C (show explanation )

In cricket, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out^[5], that is for a player on the opposing team to catch a ball that has been hit by the batsman before it touches the ground.

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c.^[2,10] or c^[5] denotes caught (by).

hide explanation

19d   Sweet-talked // female, embarrassed accepting coffee (9)

20d   Swift reply /from/ king that is sent round office (7)

"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

23d   Go on horseback astride good // saddle (5)

"good" = G (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

A saddle^[5] is a low part of a ridge between two higher points or peaks ⇒ follow the road which goes across the saddle between two tors [hills or rocky peaks].

24d   Watering hole, // old, unaltered (5)

25d   Nut, // a small hard growth (5)

26d   Weird thing, // darkness (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