Monday, October 31, 2016 — DT 28172

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28172
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, July 21, 2016
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28172]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Falcon
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 28168 through DT 28171 which were published in The Daily Telegraph from Saturday, July 16, 2016 to Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

Introduction

The editors at the National Post appear to be in a particularly frisky mood today, having leaped over a total of four puzzles to get to this one — which happens to be one that I reviewed on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.

The ramifications of the Brexit^[7] vote constitute a theme running through this puzzle. Ironically, my previous blogging assignment for Big Dave had been on June 23, 2016 — the date on which the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union!

I also note that the captions have disappeared from the illustrations that are included in my review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog. Normally, when one hovers the mouse over the picture a caption is displayed — but this feature is not working for my review of the puzzle which appears today in the National Post. While most of the illustrations are pretty self-evident, I have added explanatory notes in today's review in a couple of cases.

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   Balance // cost in Europe being reorganised (12)

The usage example appearing at Oxford Dictionaries alone justifies inclusion in today's blog.

Counterpoise^[5] denotes a factor or force that balances or neutralizes another ⇒ the organization sees the power of Brussels as a counterpoise to that of London.

8a   Inspirational passage? (7)

9a   Carried on quietly, perhaps? (7)

"quietly" = P (show explanation )

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

hide explanation

"on" = following (convention for charade indicator) (show explanation )

"A on B" Convention

A sometimes ignored cryptic crossword convention provides that, in an across clue, the construction "A on B" is used to clue B + A. The rationale for this practice is that in order for A to be placed on B, B must already exist (i.e., already have been written). Since the English language is written from left to right, this means that B must come first and A is then appended to it. . Notwithstanding the above, a solver must always be vigilant for setters who flout this convention.

hide explanation

11a   Actor // Hardy taking lead in 'Inception' (7)

Laurel and Hardy^[5] were an American comedy duo consisting of Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson) (1890–1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). British-born Stan Laurel played the scatterbrained and often tearful innocent, Oliver Hardy his pompous, overbearing, and frequently exasperated friend. They brought their distinctive slapstick comedy to many films from 1927 onwards.

Laurence Olivier^[5], Baron Olivier of Brighton (1907–1989) was an English actor and director. Following his professional debut in 1924, he performed all the major Shakespearean roles; he was also director of the National Theatre (1963–73). His films include Rebecca (1940), Henry V (1944), and Hamlet (1948).

Scratching the Surface

I must say that it is rather difficult to imagine Oliver Hardy in the role originated by Leonardo DiCaprio. Inception[5] is a 2010 science fiction heist thriller film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious, and is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for a task seemingly-impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.

12a   Demanding // euro's scrapped after negative vote's returned (7)

13a   Power push /producing/ witch hunt (5)

"power" = P (show explanation )

In physics, P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power [among other things] in mathematical formulae.

hide explanation

Workers (and caption) Purged
The picture which illustrates this clue on Big Dave's Crossword Blog shows public service workers being arrested following the attempted coup d'état in Turkey[7] this past summer.

14a   Almost tense and hurt bearing // ordeal (9)

"tense" = T (show explanation )

Grammatically speaking, t.^[10] is the abbreviation for tense.

hide explanation

16a   Grass accepting villain's regret backing // storyteller (9)

Grass is an informal British term meaning:

1. (as a noun) a police informer^[5]; and
2. (as a verb) to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans^[5] ⇒ (i) someone had grassed on the thieves; (ii) she threatened to grass me up.

This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper being rhyming slang for 'copper'). (show explanation )

Rhyming slang^[5] is a type of slang that replaces words with rhyming words or phrases, typically with the rhyming element omitted. For example, butcher’s, short for butcher’s hook, means ‘look’ in Cockney rhyming slang.

hide explanation

19a   Small prongs urging rider's steed initially (5)

This is a trademark RayT semi-&lit. (or semi-all-in-one) clue (show explanation ) in which the entire clue constitutes the wordplay and the definition (marked by the solid underline) is embedded in the clue. If one could manage to justify including the word "initially" in the definition then it would be a full-fledged &lit. (or all-in-one) clue (show explanation ).

In an &lit. clue^[7] (or, as some prefer to call it, all-in-one clue) the entire clue provides not only the definition (when read one way), but under a different interpretation also serves as the wordplay.

In a semi-&lit. clue (or, as some prefer to call it, semi-all-in-one clue), either (1) the entire clue acts as the definition while a portion of the clue provides the wordplay or (2) the entire clue acts as the wordplay while a portion of the clue provides the definition.

hide explanation

21a   Shot // -- remain in sack (7)

23a   English meat and French // 'appellation' (7)

"and French" = ET (show explanation )

In French, et^[8] is a conjunction meaning 'and'.

hide explanation

Appellation^[5] is a formal term meaning a name or title ⇒ the city fully justifies its appellation ‘the Pearl of the Orient’.

Scratching the Surface

In the surface reading, the word "appellation" takes on a different connotation. Appellation[5] is another term for: an appellation contrôlée* ⇒ about 20 per cent of French wines with an appellation come from Alsace; or a wine bearing an appellation contrôlée ⇒ the top appellations Saint-Émilion and Pomerol; or the district in which a wine bearing an appellation contrôlée is produced ⇒ the north-east corner of the appellation. * Appellation contrôlée[5] (also contrôlée or appellation d'origine; in full appellation d'origine contrôlée[7], abbreviation AOC[5]) is a description awarded to French wine guaranteeing that it was produced in the region specified, using vines and production methods which satisfy the regulating body.

24a   Pay for // former wife, French dish squeezing one (7)

Pâté is a word (and a dish) that we borrowed from the French.

Expiate^[5] means to make amends or reparation for (guilt or wrongdoing) ⇒ their sins must be expiated by sacrifice.

25a   Cool iron leading to oddly random // blaze (7)

The symbol for the chemical element iron is Fe^[5] (from Latin ferrum).

Up in Flames
The caption for the picture that illustrates this clue on Big Dave's Crossword Blog appears to have self-immolated. The picture depicts the flight from the Fort McMurray wildfire[7] in May of this year.

26a   Changing line electing // wit (12)

Down

1d   Bank clerk /in/ middle of stick-up, looking greyer (7)

2d   Country leaving EU shower -- start of European // state? (7)

3d   Leniency // later on dispensed by Church (9)

"church" = CE (show explanation )

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

hide explanation

4d   Come-uppance for Queen virtuoso's // imitation (5)

Although the word 'repro' appears in American dictionaries, it is not a usage that I am familiar with.

A repro^[5] is:

1. a reproduction or copy, particularly of a piece of furniture ⇒ a Georgian repro cabinet; or
2. the reproduction of a document or image ⇒ in-house repro and some finishing.

5d   Rich, // old and posh covered with endless wealth (7)

"queen" = ER (show explanation )

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5](3) — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

hide explanation

"upper class" = U (show explanation )

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners.

The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable). 

hide explanation

6d   Foreign lady // dressed up in sarong, I suppose (7)

I got the wordplay correct when I solved this clue in July. However, on the second time through I carelessly supposed that it was an anagram of SARONG I. Were that the case, then the anagram indicator would have to be "suppose" which doesn't seem very likely.

Signora^[5] is a title or form of address used of or to an Italian-speaking married woman, corresponding to Mrs or madam ⇒ good night, Signora.

7d   Detailed interest over lesson/'s/ unmatched (12)

The setter uses "detailed" in a whimsical cryptic crossword sense meaning having the tail removed — based on an analogy with words such as deflowered or defrocked.

A parable^[5] is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels.

10d   Special permission // over wearing fashionable pants inside (12)

"over" = O (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O^[5] denotes over(s), an over^[5] being a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

hide explanation

There exists lots of opportunity for misdirection in this clue. The anagram fodder consists of two words that are commonly used as indicators in their own right — "pants"^* as an anagram indicator and "inside" as a containment indicator.

^* Pants^[5] is an informal British term meaning rubbish or nonsense ⇒ he thought we were going to be absolute pants.

15d   Finally digging a hole within enclosure? (9)

On the second time around, this was the last one in — a position it may well have held on the first time around as well.

This must surely be one of the vaguest definitions ever perpetrated on a solver.

17d   Spiked attachment/'s/ trick to take on slope (7)

18d   Fertiliser // can's tipped controlled amount (7)

Nitrate^[10] can mean:

1. any salt or ester of nitric acid, such as sodium nitrate, NaNO₃; or
2. a fertilizer consisting of or containing nitrate salts.

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, tip[5] means to cause (the contents of a container) to be emptied out by holding it at an angle ⇒ Sarah tipped the washing-up water down the sink.

19d   Reinforce // part of post if fencing (7)

The hint on Big Dave's site was written with Kitty in mind so it was gratifying to see that she appreciated it (Comment #35 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog).

20d   A French redhead in stockings // upset by stallion (7)

"a French" = UN (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is un^[8].

hide explanation

"redhead" = R (show explanation )

A common cryptic crossword construct is to use the word "redhead" to clue R, the initial letter (head) of Red.

hide explanation

22d   Stay // fit to support daughter (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

Saturday, October 29, 2016 — Trick or Treat

Introduction

Although I was held up momentarily in the southwest corner, overall I found today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon to be on the gentle side. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable solve — one that could well be considered to be a bit of a treat. It certainly should not prevent you from taking in the ball game later today.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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 █ - yet to be solved

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue
	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 (//).

Across

1a   Help // remove a stone from part of the face (5,2)

PIT|CH IN —PIT (remove a stone from; as in pitting cherries when making a pie) + CHIN (part of the face)

5a   Squabbles about post office // information leaks (7)

TI(PO)FFS_ — TIFFS (squabbles) containing (about) PO (post office; abbrev.)

9a   Lacrosse team with alien // belief (5)

TEN|ET — TEN (lacrosse team) + (with) ET (alien; character in Spielberg film)

The number of players comprising a team is often used as a metonym for the team itself. Thus baseball's Blue Jays might be referred to as the Toronto nine. Similarly, a men's field lacrosse team — not to mention Bo Derek^[7] — could be called a ten.

Lacrosse^[5] is a team game, originally played by North American Indians, in which the ball is thrown, carried, and caught with a long-handled stick having a curved L-shaped or triangular frame at one end with a piece of shallow netting in the angle. In men's field lacrosse^[7], there are ten players on each team (box lacrosse^[7] teams are comprised of six players, while women's field lacrosse^[7] teams have 12 players).

"alien" = ET (show explanation )

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

hide explanation

10a   Old aircraft/’s/ excursions around course (9)

TRIP(LANE)S — TRIPS (excursions) containing (around) LANE (course; track)

A lane^[3] is a narrow passage, course, or track, especially a prescribed course for ships or aircraft.

11a   Adventuresome, // launder small bill in gin concoction (13)

S(WASH|BUCK)LING — {WASH (launder) + BUCK (small bill; bank note)} contained in (in) SLING (gin concoction; cocktail)

13a   The plane’s scattered // some big animals (9)

ELEPHANTS* — anagram (scattered) of THE PLANES

16a   That group’s // next in line behind leader of tour (5)

T|HEIR — HEIR (next in line) following (behind) T (leader [initial letter] of Tour)

17a   Mali’s changing // religious creed (5)

ISLAM* — anagram (changing) of MALIS

Scratching the Surface

Mali[5] is a landlocked country in West Africa, south of Algeria; population 13,443,200 (est. 2009); languages, French (official), other languages mainly of the Mande group; capital, Bamako. Former name (until 1958) French Sudan. Conquered by the French in the late 19th century, Mali became part of French West Africa. It became a partner with Senegal in the Federation of Mali in 1959 and achieved full independence a year later, on the withdrawal of Senegal.

19a   Ace rarely lost // track event (5,4)

{RELAY RACE}* — anagram (lost; aimlessly wandering around) of ACE RARELY

21a   Beefing up, // limber guys can go without oxygen (13)

SUPPLE|MEN|TIN|G_ — SUPPLE (limber) + MEN (guys) + TIN (can; metal container) + G {GO (†) with the letter 'O' removed (without oxygen); O being the symbol for the chemical element oxygen}

25a   I’m one with Hulot’s creator about // parody (9)

IM|I|TATI|ON — IM (I'm) + I ([Roman numeral for] one) + (with) TATI (Hulot's creator) + ON (about; concerning, on the subject of)

Monsieur Hulot^[7] is a character created and played by French comic Jacques Tati for a series of films in the 1950s and '60s, namely Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953), Mon Oncle (1959), Playtime (1967) and Trafic (1971). The character of Hulot (although played by another actor) also appears briefly in François Truffaut's Bed & Board (1970).

26a   Siren breaking // up (5)

RISEN* — anagram (breaking) of SIREN

"Up" as in, for instance, 'out of bed'.

27a   Cleaning regimen // uplifted part of a pool by the sound (7)

{HY|GIENE}~ — sounds like (by the sound) {HIGH (uplifted) + GENE (part of a [gene] pool}

28a   Runs through // underground passages holding kilo (7)

S(K)EWERS — SEWERS (underground passages) containing (holding) K (kilo; abbrev.)

Down

1d   Bakeshop // is acquired by Patricia’s Ontario neighbour (10)

PAT(IS)S|ERIE — IS (†) contained in (acquired by) {PAT ([diminutive of] Patricia) + S ('s)} + ERIE (Ontario neighbour; Lake Erie is immediately upstream from Lake Ontario)

2d   Manner of speaking about old horse/’s/ carrying capacity (7)

TON(NAG)E — TONE (manner of speaking) containing (about) NAG (old horse)

3d   Door // that chips on the inside (5)

_HAT|CH_ — hidden in (on the inside) of tHAT CHips

4d   Errant nut shot // character in The Birth of a Nation (3,6)

{NAT TURNER}* — anagram (shot; ruined) of ERRANT NUT

The Birth of a Nation^[7] refers not to the 1915 silent film directed by D.W. Griffith but to the 2016 film directed by Nate Parker based on the story of Nat Turner, the enslaved man who led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831.

5d   Time Richard/’s/ stunt (5)

T|RICK — T (time; abbrev.) + RICK ([diminutive of] Richard)

6d   Fortune-telling // friend misty about end of year (9)

PAL|MIST(R)Y — PAL (friend) + MISTY (†) containing (about) R (end [final letter] of yeaR)

7d   Manage to get // $1,000 in last performance (7)

FINA(G)LE — G ($1,000; abbreviation for 'grand') contained in (in) FINALE (last performance)

8d   Small grey // window frame (4)

S|ASH — S (small; abbrev.) + ASH (grey)

12d   Athletes seeking jobs // get seen far astray (4,6)

{FREE AGENTS}* — anagram (astray) of GET SEEN FAR

14d   Tossed me the opal, /or/ part of a diamond (4,5)

{HOME PLATE}* — anagram (tossed) of ME THE OPAL

15d   “Silent Sam” arranged // some tough workplaces (4,5)

{SALT MINES}* — anagram (arranged) of SILENT SAM

Scratching the Surface

More than likely, "Silent Sam" is merely a convenient combination of letters for the setters. However, I did find a few instances of the term although it would be extremely difficult to relate any of them to the clue. Silent Sam[7] is the American name for the wordless Swedish comic strip Adamson, created by Oscar Jacobsson (1889-1945) in 1920. It has also been published under the name Adamson's Adventures. The comic strip, about a silent, cigar-smoking man (Adamson) with a big hat and frequent misadventures, was published in hundreds of newspapers all over the world. After Jacobsson died in 1945, it was drawn by the Dane Viggo Ludvigsen until 1964. Ironically, the strip featured in the Wikipedia article contains dialogue! Silent Sam The Dancing Midget[7] was a stage name for Sammy Davis, Jr. as a child. Silent Sam[7] is a controversial statue of a Confederate soldier by Nova Scotian sculptor John Wilson* on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The statue was funded by the University Alumni and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It was erected in 1913 as a memorial to the 321 alumni who lost their lives in the American Civil War and all students who joined the Confederate States Army. More than one thousand members of the university fought in the American Civil War in either the Northern or Southern armies, comprising at least 40% of the student body, a statistic that was unequaled by any other school. Wilson created a "silent" statue by not including a cartridge box on the Confederate soldier's belt so he cannot fire his gun. * John Wilson (1877–1954) was a Nova Scotian sculptor who produced public art throughout North America. He was a professor in the School of Architecture at Harvard University for 32 years. He is most famous for his American Civil War monuments, the Confederacy Statue (Silent Sam) in North Carolina and his Washington Grays Monument (the 'Pennsylvania Volunteer') in Philadelphia.

18d   Los Angeles scam // with staying power (7)

LA|STING — LA (Los Angeles) + STING (scam)

20d   A flimsy paper // under discussion (2,5)

A|T ISSUE — A () + TISSUE (flimsy paper)

22d   Folk knowledge about one // French river (5)

LO(I)RE — LORE (folk knowledge) containing (about) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

The Loire^[5] is a river of west central France. France’s longest river, it rises in the Massif Central and flows 1,015 km (630 miles) north and west to the Atlantic at St-Nazaire.

23d   Grit // found in Grüner Veltliner (5)

_NER|VE_ — hidden in (found in) GrüNER VEltliner

Scratching the Surface
Grüner Veltliner[7] (Green Veltliner) is a variety of white wine grape variety grown primarily in Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

24d   Bad-mouth hot // item on a menu (4)

DIS|H — DIS (bad-mouth) + H (hot; abbrev.)

Epilogue

The holdouts today were 24d and 27a, the last two clues to surrender.

Although I was considering a title for the review built around foretelling the outcome of the World Series based on 6d and 14d, I settled instead for one inspired by 5d. "Wait", you may well say, "there is no 'treat'" to which I would respond "Ah, but the expression promises only one or the other."

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

Friday, October 28, 2016 — DT 28167

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28167
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, July 15, 2016
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28167]
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

As Deep Threat comments in his review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Giovanni steps up the pace after several weeks of comparatively gentle offerings on his part. I did find myself having to resort to calling in my electronic assistants to help deal with a couple of clues in the southwest quadrant.

In Comment #20 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kitty expresses "lots of love and sympathy to our French friends". The previous evening, 14 July 2016, a 19 tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the death of 86 people and injuring 434.^[7]

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   Daughter by cliff-face rocks // writing (6)

"By" as a Charade Indicator

As a charade indicator, an argument can be made that "by" could indicate either before or after. Thus "A by B" could be used to clue either "A before B" or "A after B". By[10] is a preposition that can have any of a broad range of meanings including: beside; next to; near ⇒ a tree by the house; passing the position of; past ⇒ he drove by the old cottage; or not later than; before ⇒ return the books by Tuesday. The latter two meanings should be obvious with sense (2.) denoting beyond or following and sense (3.) denoting before. It would appear that the first meaning could indicate either before or after — or, for that matter, even above or below. However, if we were to interpret "by" to imply "written beside", we might make the same argument that is used with respect to the construction "A on B" in an across clue; namely, that in order to write A on (or by) B, B must already exist (i.e., have been written first) and, given that English text is written from left to right, this would imply that "A on B" or "A by B" must consequently indicate "A after B". The conclusion would seem to be that the construction "A by B" means whatever the setter chooses it to mean and that the solver should be prepared to encounter either possibility.

5a   This person in shock, I suspect, /is/ longing to be elsewhere (8)

"this person" = ME (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

hide explanation

9a   Girl gone /to find/ success in a particular field (6,4)

As Deep Threat states in his review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, "[t]he success here is to be found on the cricket field" — but (as Brian also points out in Comment #6 at Big Dave's Crossword Blog) it is success specifically for the bowler and fielding side and anything but success for the batsman (or batsmen) involved. But then, the clue does say success in ... [the] field and not at the wicket.

In cricket, a maiden over^[10] (also known as a maiden^[10]) is an over^* in which no runs are scored.

^* In cricket, an over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

10a   Composer /showing/ merit, first to last (4)

Thomas Arne^[7] (1710–1778) was an English composer, best known for the patriotic song Rule, Britannia!. He also wrote a version of God Save the King, which became the British national anthem, and the song A-Hunting We Will Go. Arne was the leading British theatre composer of the 18th century, working at Drury Lane and Covent Garden.

11a   I'm so excited with a bar /offering/ wonderful food (8)

Ambrosia^[5] is something very pleasing to taste or smell ⇒ the tea was ambrosia after the slop I’d been suffering. In Greek and Roman mythology, ambrosia is the food of the gods.

12a   The distinctive style with which we introduce our newspaper (6)

Old English typeface

This puzzle originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph. The clue seemingly implies that the paper employs a Gothic typeface on its masthead. However, one can clearly see that not to be the case. The paper in fact uses a variant of the Old English typeface.

Gothic is a sans serif style of typeface, an example being the Highway Gothic typeface developed by the United States Federal Highway Administration and used for road signage in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, China and many other countries around the world.

Surprisingly, this discrepancy raised no comment on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.

By the way, I believe the masthead of the National Post uses a variant of the Miller typeface^[7] (a serif style of typeface).

13a   Set down // passage to be read out (4)

15a   Coming down /to provide/ illumination (8)

18a   Maybe ghost // getting to storm angrily around flat (8)

A revenant^[5] is a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.

Had I seen the film The Revenant^[7], perhaps the solution to this clue would have been obvious to me.

---

For a long time, I thought that the solution might be TENEMENT^* but, of course, could not figure out how to parse it.

^* In Britain, the word tenement seems not to carry the negative connotation that it does in North America. In Britain, a tenement^[4] is merely a room or flat [apartment] for rent or (also called tenement building) a large building divided into separate flats [apartments], whereas in North America, a tenement^[3,11] is generally regarded as a rundown, low-rental apartment building — often overcrowded and located in a poor section of a large city — whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards.

Naturally, this played havoc with my efforts at 17d.

19a   Leave // social event that finishes early (4)

21a   Walked with head invisible, /being/ bent (6)

23a   Relinquished /and/ put into store (4,4)

25a   Woman // to have a meal sent back (4)

26a   Impede leaders /viewed as/ idiots (10)

27a   Asian person // seen wandering across enclosure (8)

Pale^[10] can denote:

1. a wooden post or strip used as an upright member in a fence;
2. an enclosing barrier, especially a fence made of pales; or
3. an area enclosed by a pale.

A Nepalese^[10] is a native or inhabitant of Nepal^[5], a mountainous landlocked country in southern Asia, in the Himalayas (and including Mount Everest); population 28,563,400 (est. 2009); official language, Nepali; capital, Kathmandu.

28a   Notice // someone using a red box? (6)

According to dictionaries, post^[3,4,11] is a (chiefly) British term meaning to send by mail. However, the phrase "post a letter" — while certainly much less common than "mail a letter" — does not sound entirely foreign to me. After all, our mail service is named Canada Post — and ironically the British postal service is known as the Royal Mail.

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat writes that the second definition could ... describe someone putting a letter into a pillar box. A pillar box[5] is a large red cylindrical public postbox [mailbox] where one would mail a letter in the UK.

Down

2d   Goldfinches // about to come to grief (5)

Just as the term for a group of geese is a gaggle, the term for a gathering of goldfinches is a charm. For the terms applicable to other species, see Common Names for Gatherings of Birds.

3d   Coming to finish, see ace run freely, /demonstrating/ staying power (9)

4d   Vessel has a name inscribed /in/ a foreign language (6)

5d   Be slightly deranged /and/ need to go up on the roof? (4,1,5,5)

Have a slate loose^[10] is an informal British and Irish expression meaning to be eccentric or crazy. A slate^[5] is a flat plate of slate used as roofing material.

6d   Loan /gives/ male good time -- nothing right in that (8)

"good" = G (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

7d   Set up // talks on reducing arms, in short (5)

START^[10] is an acronym for Strategic Arms Reduction Talks.

What did he say?

In Comment #6 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Brian tells us that he got really hung up on SALT in 7d, never heard it referred to as START before. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were two rounds of bilateral conferences and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union—the Cold War superpowers—on the issue of armament control. The two rounds of talks and agreements were SALT I and SALT II. Negotiations commenced in Helsinki, Finland, in November 1969. SALT I led to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an interim agreement between the two countries. Although SALT II resulted in an agreement in 1979, the United States Senate chose not to ratify the treaty in response to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which took place later that year. The Soviet legislature also did not ratify it. The agreement expired on December 31, 1985 and was not renewed. The treaties led to the STARTs, or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, which consisted of START I (a 1991 completed agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union) and START II (a 1993 agreement between the United States and Russia, which was never ratified by the United States), both of which proposed limits on multiple-warhead capacities and other restrictions on each side's number of nuclear weapons. A successor to START I, New START, was proposed and was eventually ratified in February 2011.

8d   Person sending things? // Tricks to disregard for the most part (9)

14d   Lincoln rector originally managed church // going in the wrong direction (9)

Abraham Lincoln^[5] (1809–1865) was an American Republican statesman, 16th President of the US 1861-5.

"church" = CE (show explanation )

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

hide explanation

Aberrance^[2] is is a departure from what is normal.

Scratching the Surface

A rector[5] is a member of the clergy, although the meaning of the term varies among religious denominations. The term denotes: in the the Church of England, an incumbent of a parish where all tithes formerly passed to the incumbent, in other Anglican Churches, a member of the clergy who has charge of a parish; in the Roman Catholic Church, a priest in charge of a church or of a religious institution.

16d   Speed isn't bad? /There's/ less than total enthusiasm (9)

17d   Worthy // archbishop joining bishop in drink (8)

William Laud^[10] (1573–1645) was an English prelate; archbishop of Canterbury (1633–45). His persecution of Puritans and his High Church policies in England and Scotland were a cause of the Civil War; he was impeached by the Long Parliament (1640) and executed.

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

hide explanation

20d   Get better // sort of truck (4-2)

22d   Monster // lurking in filthy drains (5)

In Greek mythology, the Hydra^[5] was a many-headed snake whose heads grew again as they were cut off, eventually killed by Hercules.

24d   Ram, // the first thing you see on Welsh border (5)

Wedge^[5] is used in the sense of to force into a narrow space ⇒ she wedged her holdall [British term for 'carryall'] between two bags.

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

Thursday, October 27, 2016 — DT 28166

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28166
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, July 14, 2016
Setter Shamus (Philip Marlow)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28166]
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

I needed help from my electronic assistants to solve a couple of clues today — one of which involved a colloquial British expression jammed into an English comedian whom I may have encountered in the past but certainly did not remember.

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

8a   Versatile comedian holding surprised expression -- /it's/ pretension (8)

The versatile Englishman Stephen Fry^[7] is not only a comedian but an actor, writer, presenter [host of a TV or radio programme] and activist as well.

Lumme^[5] [from (Lord) love me] is an informal, dated British exclamation used to express surprise or interest ⇒ ‘Lumme!’ said Quigley. ‘She isn’t half a size!’.

Flummery^[5] denotes meaningless or insincere flattery or conventions ⇒ she hated the flummery of public relations.

9a   Elevated figure dividing US city // almost (6)

An earl^[5] is a British nobleman ranking above a viscount and below a marquess [in other words, the third highest of the five ranks of British nobility — duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron].

10a   Fuss // overshadowed boxing (3)

11a   Firm backed gambling site with a final twist /in/ time (8)

12a   Resources // the law distributed (6)

13a   Standard adhered to in the US? (5,3,7)

This is a cryptic definition comprised of a broad straight definition (solid underline) combined with a bit of cryptic [or, perhaps, not so cryptic] elaboration (dashed underline).

15a   Uncle, face of 13, and young reporter knocked back a // drink (7)

The numeral "13" is a cross reference indicator directing the solver to insert the solution to clue 13a 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

Uncle Sam^[5] is a personification [i.e., face] of the federal government or citizens of the US [which are also represented by the solution to 13a].

Sambuca^[5] is an Italian aniseed-flavoured liqueur ⇒ (i) a glass of flaming sambuca; (ii) a good few sambucas were consumed before he finally tottered into a taxi.

18a   Paint // special number on car carrying chaps (7)

Pi^[5] is the numerical value of the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter (approximately 3.14159).

GT^[2] (abbreviation for Italian Gran Turismo, which translates as 'grand touring' in English) is a name given to certain fast but comfortable sports cars. 

"chaps" = MEN (show explanation )

Chap^[3,4,11], an informal term for a man or boy, is a shortened form of chapman^[3,4,11], an archaic term for a trader, especially an itinerant  pedlar [British spelling of peddler].

hide explanation

What did she say?
In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kath tells us that the contained element is some chaps or blokes. Bloke[5] is an informal British term for a man ⇒ he’s a nice bloke.

21a   Capital band going round district with tune /and/ ballad (11,4)

"Scarborough Fair"^[7] is a traditional English ballad about the Yorkshire town of Scarborough. The song is perhaps best known from the version by Simon and Garfunkel who melded it with their own original material in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" which was the lead track of the 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and was released as a single after being featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968. The copyright failed to mention the "traditional" source of some of the material and credited only Simon and Garfunkel as the authors.

24a   A hut is renovated /in/ short break (6)

25a   Means of transference between banks for an estate? (3,5)

In the UK, estate^[5] is short for estate car^[5], the British name for a station wagon^[5].

26a   Sack fellow thrown out /in/ rage (3)

"fellow" = F (show explanation )

F^[2] is the abbreviation for Fellow (of a society, etc). For instance, it is found in professional designations such as FRAIC (Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada).

hide explanation

27a   Accepted rule, we hear, /as/ part of snooker? (6)

A canon^[5] is a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged ⇒ the appointment violated the canons of fair play and equal opportunity.

---

This clue works if one accepts that snooker and billiards are one and the same — which, I would submit, they are not. However, there being so many different cue sports (not to mention variations of same) with rules and terminology that vary widely in different parts of the world (or even between different regions within the same country), it is virtually impossible to make any definitive statement about these games. The only constant seems to be that all such games are played on tables with cues and balls. However, the size of the table may vary, with some tables having pockets while others do not; cues vary in size, material and design; and balls vary from game to game, in size, design and quantity.

Cannon [defined below] is a term used in the game known in Britain as billiards^[5,7,10] and in many other parts of the world as English billiards, a game for two people, played on a billiard table, in which three balls are struck with cues into pockets round the edge of the table. The three balls are a red ball (an object ball), a white ball (cue ball for player 1 and object ball for player 2), and a third ball which may be either white with a spot or yellow (cue ball for player 2 and object ball for player 1). Points are scored for cannons and/or potting balls [striking balls into pockets] . Confusingly, the term billiards is also used in some quarters to refer to cue sports in general or to any or a number of various cue sports in particular.

In billiards, cannon^[5,10] is a British term for;

1. a stroke in which the cue ball strikes two balls successively; or
2. the points scored by such a shot.

In Canada and the US, this would be called a carom.

Snooker^[10] is quite a different game, played on a billiard table with 15 red balls, six balls of other colours, and a white cue ball. The object is to pot the balls in a certain order.

28a   Dejected, /as/ large number have figures one could see on stage (8)

"large number" = D (show explanation )

In cryptic crosswords, a "number" is very often a Roman numeral and, in particular, terms such as "(a) large number", "many" or "a great many" are frequently used  to indicate that a large Roman numeral — generally C (100), D (500), or M (1000) — is required.

hide explanation

Down

1d   Bring to light /what's/ allowed on the internet? (6)

The wordplay is a whimsical cryptic definition in which the setter extrapolates from terms such as eMail, eZine, and eCommerce to imagine that eLicit might also be an internet term.

2d   Damage // independent politician before broadcast (6)

"independent" = I (show explanation )

I^[1] is the abbreviation for independent, likely in the context of a politician with no party affiliation.

hide explanation

"politician" = MP (show explanation )

In Britain (as in Canada), a politician elected to the House of Commons is known as a Member of Parliament^[10] (abbreviation MP^[5]) or, informally, as a member^[5].

hide explanation

3d   Substitute circling -- one pass /and/ it could be a walkover (7,8)

Pelican crossing^[5] is a British term for a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights operated by pedestrians. The name comes from pe(destrian) li(ght) con(trolled), altered to conform with the bird's name.

Scratching the Surface
Walkover[10] is an informal term for an easy or unopposed victory. The term likely originated in horse racing where walkover[3] denotes a race with only one horse entered, won by the mere formality of walking the length of the track.

4d   Extremists in country support East acquiring new // deadly material (7)

5d   Understand very few articles, /yet/ be shrewd (4,1,5,2,3)

6d   Soldier like Montgomery principally /as/ example (8)

Para^[4,11] (short for paratrooper) is a soldier in an airborne unit.

Dig^[5] is an informal [and rather dated, I would think] term meaning to like, appreciate, or understand ⇒ I really dig heavy rock.

Scratching the Surface
Bernard Montgomery[5], 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887–1976) was a British Field Marshal; known as Monty. His victory at El Alamein in 1942 proved the first significant Allied success in the Second World War. He commanded the Allied ground forces in the invasion of Normandy in 1944 and accepted the German surrender on 7 May, 1945.

7d   Dishevelled woman, // second of two sitting between poles (8)

14d   Division of company /getting/ damage in East End (3)

The cockney^[5]* dialect spoken in the East End of London is characterized by dropping the aitch (H) from the beginning of words — as well as the use of rhyming slang^[5], but the latter is neither here nor there today.

^* A cockney^[5,10] is a native of East London [specifically that part of East London known as the East End^[5]], traditionally one born within hearing of Bow Bells (the bells of St Mary-le-Bow^[7] church).

16d   Leading opponent, heartless // regarding records (8)

17d   Singer /from/ Italian city with colour (8)

Bari^[5] is an industrial seaport on the Adriatic coast of southeastern Italy, capital of Apulia region; population 320,677 (2008).

19d   Period /of/ years, limitlessly confused (3)

20d   Allow case // against top player reportedly (7)

A seed^[5] is any of a number of stronger competitors in a sports tournament who have been assigned a specified position in an ordered list with the aim of ensuring that they do not play each other in the early rounds ⇒ he knocked the top seed out of the championships.

22d   Charge excessively /for/ thermal coat (6)

23d   Sudden arrival // sadly ruins start of holiday (6)

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