Friday, October 7, 2016 — DT 28146

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28146
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28146]
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

For the second day running (or third day running if you include the two-star offering on Wednesday) we are served up a relatively easy puzzle. Well, at least you should get an early start on your long weekend plans.

With Monday being a holiday in Canada, the National Post will not publish. However, if you find yourself in need of a crossword fix, drop by for a bonus puzzle dredged from my archive of unpublished puzzles.

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   Miner runs out /for/ dog (6)

"runs" = R (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

In cricket, a run^[5] is a unit of scoring achieved by hitting the ball so that both batsmen are able to run between the wickets, or awarded in some other circumstances.

hide explanation

4a   Celebrity and posh guy // begin a meal? (5,3)

... or begin anything else — the question mark tells us that "a meal" is just an example.

Toff^[5] is a derogatory, informal British term for a rich or upper-class person.

9a   Don't forget about departing // politician (6)

The politician has made a recent appearance.

"politician" = MEMBER (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

10a   Cartographer /in/ vehicle, on schedule coming back (8)

We've also recently seen both the vehicle and the schedule.

Merc^[5] is an informal term for a Mercedes car — not the defunct Mercury as many North Americans might suppose.

Rota^[5] is a British term for a list showing when each of a number of people has to do a particular job ⇒ a cleaning rota.

Gerardus Mercator^[5] is the Latinized name of Gerhard Kremer (1512–1594), a Flemish geographer and cartographer who invented the system of map projection that is named after him.

11a   One shouting loudly taking in Turin's original // campanile (4,5)

A campanile^[5] is an Italian bell tower, especially a free-standing one. I would hardly call the bell tower of la Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris (shown in ShropshireLad's review) a campanile — it is neither in Italy nor free-standing.

Scratching the Surface
While we haven't seen the city recently, we have seen the river that runs through it. Turin[5] is a city in northwestern Italy on the River Po, capital of Piedmont region; population 908,825 (2008). Turin was the capital of the kingdom of Sardinia from 1720 and became the first capital of a unified Italy (1861–4).

13a   Cast // the short line (5)

14a   Someone to watch over // newspaper backer (8,5)

One must interpret the definition as "someone to watch over [you]" rather than "someone [for you] to watch over".

The Guardian^[7] is a British national daily newspaper, known until 1959 as the Manchester Guardian. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group.

17a   King's wife /and/ a prince rather put out (9,4)

Catherine Parr^[7] (alternatively spelled Katherine or Kateryn) (1512–1548) was Queen of England and of Ireland (1543–47) as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII, and the final queen consort of the House of Tudor. She married him on 12 July 1543, and outlived him by one year. She was also the most-married English queen, with four husbands.

21a   Perfect // state (5)

Yet another word that we have seen not too long ago.

23a   Dished roast up in GB // bar (6-3)

Gastropub^[5] (or gastro-pub^[10]) is a British term for a pub that specializes in serving high-quality food ⇒ we've built our reputation on searching out obscure ethnic restaurants, gastropubs, cutting-edge bars, and superlative food venues.

In his review, ShropshireLad informs us that the enumeration for the clue is wrong as it appears unhyphenated in the BRB (the Big Red Book, otherwise known as The Chambers Dictionary). While Collins English Dictionary does spell it with a hyphen, The Chambers Dictionary is considered to be the definitive authority for Daily Telegraph puzzles.

Scratching the Surface
GB[10] is both the abbreviation for Great Britain and the International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Great Britain.

24a   Doubtful one // acting so strangely (8)

25a   Popular elsewhere, // to some extent (2,1,3)

26a   Former head of coven almost strung up /in/ market (8)

27a   Grow furious /in/ diocese with religious education beginning to decline (3,3)

A see^[10] is the diocese of a bishop, or the place within it where his cathedral or procathedral is situated.

In the UK, religious education^[10] (abbreviation RE^[5]) is a subject taught in schools which educates about the different religions of the world.

Down

1d   Got passed // (caught me in tight bay) (4,2)

"caught" = C (show explanation )

In cricket, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out^{[5](phrasal verb,2)}, 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](1) denotes caught (by).

hide explanation

As an anagram indicator, tight^[5] is used in the informal sense of drunk ⇒ he got tight on brandy.

I believe that "got passed" is to be read as 'got [something] passed' to you; in other words, you 'came by [something]' or managed to acquire or obtain (something) [see come by^[5]].

2d   Easily moved about male priest /getting/ media attention (9)

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

3d   Sloth? // One near it, trembling (7)

5d   Seek arbiter for organising // deciders (3-8)

6d   Cheese /in/ bed, eaten by woman (7)

Ricotta^[2] is a soft white unsalted Italian curd cheese made from sheep's or cow's milk and often used in sauces for ravioli, lasagne, etc.

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, ShropshireLad writes The ‘bed’ here is used by a new born child and is contained in (eaten by) the name of a woman normally associated with being ‘educated’. In Britain, a small bed with high barred sides for a baby or very young child is called a cot[5] rather than a crib[5] as it is known in North America. Educating Rita[7] is a 1980 stage comedy by British playwright Willy Russell that was the basis of a 1983 Academy Award winning film featuring Michael Caine and Julie Walters.

7d   External // computer device failing to start (5)

8d   Food all right /for/ so long (8)

12d   Union band (7,4)

15d   Female independence /in/ peril? Grow worried (4,5)

16d   Account clergyman /finds/ correct (8)

Curate^[5] can mean:

1. (also assistant curate) a member of the clergy engaged as assistant to a vicar, rector, or parish priest; or
2. (archaic) a minister with pastoral responsibility.

18d   Land mass // area? US, I fancy (7)

19d   Set out /from/ Scottish island, extremely game (7)

Arran^[5] is an island in the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland.

20d   Complied with demands, /making/ love with you in part of garden (6)

"love" = O (show explanation )

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).

hide explanation

In Britain, a garden^[2,10] is an area of land, usually one adjoining a house, where grass, trees, flowers and other ornamental plants, fruit, vegetables, etc, are grown; i.e., what one would call a yard in Canada and the US. Note that a British garden includes the lawn as well as everything else whereas a North American garden would comprise only the flower and vegetable beds and any trees or shrubs contained therein and exclude the lawn and any trees or shrubs growing there.

22d   Livener // to take, short (5)

Nick^[5] is an informal British term meaning to steal ⇒ she nicked fivers from the till.

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