Tuesday, September 13, 2016 — DT 28122

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28122
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28122]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Shropshirelad
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 offering from one of the mystery "Tuesday" setters did not put up much of a struggle.

The setter of today's puzzle is recognizable by his frequent use of North American expressions — a point which has not been lost on the British pedants (see thread attached to Comment #2 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog). In addition to the examples mentioned there, Oxford Dictionaries tells us that the use of the letter G^[5]. as an abbreviation for grand is an informal North American term. Apparently the Brits do use the term grand^[5] to informally denote an amount of 1000 pounds but do not use the abbreviation G for this purpose.

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   Collide with // front of stationary three-wheeler (6)

4a   Make possible // arrest to intercept the Spanish Ecstasy (6)

"the Spanish" = EL (show explanation )

In Spanish, the masculine singular form of the definite article is el^[8].

hide explanation

"Ecstasy" = E (show explanation )

E^[5] is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy^* or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒ (i) people have died after taking E; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties.

^* Ecstasy^[5] is an illegal amphetamine-based synthetic drug with euphoric effects, originally produced as an appetite suppressant. Also called MDMA (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine).

hide explanation

8a   American manoeuvres // kept secret (2,6)

10a   Irritable // agent ringing down (6)

The following is the best that I could come up with in my attempt to equate "down" and "nap".

Down^[10] is any growth or coating of soft fine hair, such as that on the human face.

Nap^[2] is:

1. a woolly surface on cloth, raised by a finishing process, not made in weaving;
2. the direction in which this surface lies smooth;
3. any similar downy covering or surface.

11a   Thing // I encountered upon retirement (4)

12a   Views rare broadcast about opener for Lancashire /and/ what's in his trophy cabinet? (10)

By reference, an element in the wordplay is incorporated into the definition. The antecedent of the pronoun "his" is "opener for Lancaster". Thus we need to identify what the opener for Lancaster has in his trophy cabinet.

In cricket, an opener^[2] is either of the two batsmen who begin the batting for their team [remember, in cricket, batsmen always bat in pairs].

Lancashire County Cricket Club^[7], one of eighteen first-class county clubs in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales, represents the historic county of Lancashire. The club's limited overs team is called Lancashire Lightning.

Scratching the Surface
Lancashire[5] is a county of northwestern England, on the Irish Sea; administrative centre, Preston.

13a   Good spoonerism made up about leader of group, // a tattler (6-6)

16a   Greedy lot /from/ Maine, with breeding (2,10)

Generation^[5] is the propagation of living organisms; procreation.

The Me generation^[10] is the generation, originally in the 1970s, characterized by self-absorption; in the 1980s, characterized by material greed. The Brits claim this to be a US term (Comment #2 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog) although neither Oxford Dictionaries^[5] nor Collins English Dictionary^[10] characterizes it as such.

20a   Father, for example, holding post back /in/ assembly (10)

Post^[5] is a chiefly British term for mail^[5], including in the sense of letters and parcels sent or received. Is it not rather ironic that the post is delivered in Britain by the Royal Mail while the mail in Canada is delivered by Canada Post?

21a   Better English // head (4)

Cap^[3] means to to follow with something better; in other words, to surpass or outdo ⇒ capped his last trick with a disappearing act that brought the audience to its feet.

22a   Restaurant /in/ street described by writer (6)

The use of the word "describe" as a containment indicator is a common cryptic crossword convention. This device relies on describe^[3] being used in the sense of to trace the form or outline of ⇒ describe a circle with a compass. Thus, in today's clue, we have BIRO (writer) containing (describing) ST (street; abbrev.) with the rationale for the wordplay being that the container (BIRO) forms an outline around the contained entity (ST) in a similar manner to the circumference of a circle forming an outline around the circular area contained within it.

In Britain, a biro^[5] is a kind of ballpoint pen. Although it is a British trademark, the name is used generically (in the same way that kleenex has become a generic term for facial tissue). It is named after László József Bíró (1899–1985), the Hungarian inventor of the ballpoint pen.

23a   Running out of stock quickly? (8)

As Shropshirelad points out in his review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the clue is written in Yoda-speak. Were one to express it in plain English, it would read "Stock running out quickly".

24a   Go after information /exposing/ smart set (6)

Gen^[5] is an informal British term for information ⇒ you’ve got more gen on him than we have.

25a   Night flight /providing/ poor-quality whisky (3-3)

Red-eye^[5] (also red-eye flight) is an informal, chiefly North American term for a flight on which a passenger cannot expect to get much sleep on account of the time of departure or arrival ⇒ she caught the red-eye back to New York.

Red-eye^[5] is an informal US term for cheap whisky.

Meanwhile in Canada ...
Red-eye[5] is a Canadian term for a drink made from tomato juice and beer.

Down

1d   Support // coercive measure (8)

2d   Field // Spanish football team (first half only) (5)

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol^[7] (Royal Madrid Football Club), commonly known as Real Madrid, or simply as Real, is a professional football [soccer] club based in Madrid, Spain.

3d   Lively party /in/ joint associated with drink (5-2)

As a verb, sup^[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒ (i) she supped up her soup delightedly; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle. As a noun, sup^[5] means (1) a sip of liquid ⇒ he took another sup of wine or (2) in Northern England or Ireland, an alcoholic drink ⇒ the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery.

Knees-up^[5] is British slang for a lively party or gathering ⇒ we had a bit of a knees-up last night.

5d   Gathers in information over // savings (4,3)

See 24a for definition of "gen".

6d   Pop devouring miserable specimen with // sausage (9)

7d   Large organisation /in/ Ireland bringing in military police (6)

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

9d   Versatile types, // completely game (3-8)

In case you missed it last week:

Rounders^[5,7] is a ball game played between two teams. The game involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a cylindrical bat. Gameplay centres on a number of innings, in which teams alternate at batting and fielding. A maximum of nine players are allowed to field at any time. Points (known as 'rounders') are scored by the batting team when one of their players completes a circuit past four bases arranged in the shape of a diamond without being put 'out'. The game is popular among Irish and British school children. [Sound at all familiar?]

Delving Deeper

The game of rounders[7] has been played in England since Tudor times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book where it was called "base-ball" by John Newbery. In 1828, William Clarke in London published the second edition of The Boy's Own Book, which included the rules of rounders and which contained the first printed description in English of a bat and ball base-running game played on a diamond. The following year, the book was published in Boston, Massachusetts. Rounders is played under slightly different rules in Britain and Ireland. Both the 'New York game' [from which modern baseball evolved] and the now-defunct 'Massachusetts game' versions of baseball, as well as softball, share the same historical roots as rounders and bear a resemblance to the Irish version of the game.

All-rounder^[5] is a British term for a versatile person or thing, especially a cricketer who can both bat and bowl well.

14d   Son, little devil, revealed /as/ dunce (9)

15d   Friend // to arrive shortly with army chaplain (8)

Compadre^[5] is a southwestern US term for a male friend. [However, it should be familiar to anyone who has seen even a handful of western movies.]

17d   Voluptuous beauty /of/ grand old actress (7)

If you are preceptive, you may note a small discrepancy in Shropshirelad's review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog. Despite being the same thing, it is not the abbreviation for 'good' that we need but rather the abbreviation for 'grand'.

"grand" = G (show explanation )

Grand^[5] is an informal term for a thousand dollars or pounds ⇒ he gets thirty-five grand a year. While the term "grand" itself would seem to be commonly used in the UK, the informal abbreviation G^[5] meaning grand appears to be regarded as a North American usage ⇒ I was up nine Gs on the blackjack tables.

G is defined in various British dictionaries as follows:

1. Oxford Dictionaries: (North American informal) abbreviation for grand, a thousand dollars)^[5];
2. Chambers 21st Century Dictionary: (North American slang) abbreviation for a grand, 1000 dollars^[2];
   
3. Collins English Dictionary: (mainly US slang) a symbol for grand (a thousand dollars or pounds)^[10] .

hide explanation

Dorothy Lamour^[7] (1914–1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

18d   Fierce competition -- // artist's impression (3,4)

"artist" = RA (show explanation )

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[5]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5] (also Royal Academy; abbreviation also RA^[5]), an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. 

hide explanation

19d   Fearless // loved one, disheartened (6)

The setter uses "disheartened" as an indicator to remove the heart (middle letter) from a word meaning "loved one".

21d   Manage to protect small // thicket (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