Monday, October 3, 2016 — DT 28142

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28142
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, June 16, 2016
Setter Shamus (Philip Marlow)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28142]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers
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 28141 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

Introduction

We start off a new week — and a new month — with a highly entertaining and rather gentle puzzle from Shamus.

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

6a   Source of power /in/ Rome gone, displaced (6-4)

8a   Reportedly useless // means for gauging wind (4)

9a   Law operative given a lead? (6,3)

Lead^[5] is a British term for a strap or cord for restraining and guiding a dog or other domestic animal ⇒ the dog is our constant walking companion and is always kept on a lead. Despite being characterized as a British term by Oxford Dictionaries, the word lead^[3] is found in The American Heritage Dictionary as another name for a leash.

11a   Online reference /for/ short golf course (4)

A links^[5] (also golf links) is a golf course, especially one on grass-covered sandy ground near the sea.

12a   Fool // that may be picked, critically (3)

Nit^[5] is an informal British term for a foolish person ⇒ you stupid nit!.

Pick nits^[5] is a North American expression (according to Oxford Dictionaries) meaning to look for and criticize trivial faults; to nit-pick ⇒ the press will stop picking nits once the next president is in office. Nevertheless, the term "nitpick" seems to be well-represented in British dictionaries, so it may merely be the expression "pick nits" (as opposed to "nitpick") that is considered to be North American.

13a   Utter // it, for instance, going to 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

16a   One-time premier // artiste denies embraces (4)

Outside Australia and Canada, the term Premier^[5] refers to a Prime Minister or other head of government. In Australia and Canada, a Premier is the chief minister of a government of a state or province.

Anthony Eden^[5], 1st Earl of Avon (1897–1977) was a British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1955-7. His premiership was dominated by the Suez crisis of 1956; widespread opposition to Britain’s role in this led to his resignation.

17a   Learner following cheats at work -- // traditional schoolboy resource? (7)

"learner" = L (show explanation )

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

hide explanation

18a   Period recalled in very new // part of mosque (7)

20a   Prevent // bowls rolling backwards (4)

Scratching the Surface

A bowl[5] is a wooden or hard rubber ball, slightly asymmetrical so that it runs on a curved course, used in the game of bowls.  Bowls[5] (known in North America as lawn bowling[5]) is a game played with heavy bowls, the object of which is to propel one’s bowl so that it comes to rest as close as possible to a previously bowled small ball (the jack). Bowls is played chiefly out of doors (though indoor bowls is also popular) on a closely trimmed lawn called a green.

21a   A parliamentarian's sent in to court // part of French board (9)

"parliamentarian" = 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

"court" = CT (show explanation )

Ct^[2] is the abbreviation for Court in street addresses — and possibly in other contexts as well.

hide explanation

The clue may merely allude to a cheeseboard^[10], a board from which cheese is served at a meal. Or, on the other hand, it may refer to board^[5] in the sense of the provision of regular meals when one stays somewhere, in return for payment or services ⇒ board and lodging. Board^[5] is also an archaic term for a table set for a meal ⇒ he looked at the banquet which was spread upon his board.

Camembert^[10] is a rich soft creamy cheese named for a village in Normandy where it originated.

23a   Pressure to avoid item /in/ broadcast (3)

"pressure" = P (show explanation )

In physics, p^[5] is a symbol used to represent pressure in mathematical formulae.

hide explanation

Item^[10] is an informal term for two people having a romantic or sexual relationship.

24a   Figure of veneration // in entertaining company (4)

An icon^[10] (also ikon) is a representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint, especially one painted in oil on a wooden panel, depicted in a traditional Byzantine style and venerated in the Eastern Church.

25a   Very welcoming // dame prone to get excited (4-5)

29a   Cautious // manner restrains king (4)

"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

30a   Lady toils busily around yard // changing sides? (10)

Down

1d   Sudden // work by a photographer (4)

2d   Determination // that's needed to control an estate (4)

I would certainly consider this to be a double definition, although pommers has not marked it as such in his review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog. The second definition becomes more apparent if one replaces the word "that's" with any of "what is", "that which is", or "something (that is)".

Scratching the Surface
The surface reading of this clue may have directed British eyes to an automobile rather than to the probate court. In the UK, estate[5] is short for estate car[5], the British name for a station wagon[5].

3d   Luxury car // kept in warmer climes (4)

Merc^[5] is an informal term for a Mercedes car.

I would say that North Americans would apply this term to a different automobile, the Mercury — although this brand has now been defunct for more than five years.

Mercury^[7] is a defunct American-market division of automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company. Created in 1938 by Edsel Ford, Mercury was an entry-level premium brand intended to bridge the price gap between the Ford and Lincoln vehicle lines (with the division forming half of the later Lincoln-Mercury division). As similar brands, Buick and Oldsmobile played a similar role within General Motors while Mercury competed against the namesake brand of Chrysler (following the cancellation of the DeSoto brand in 1960).

4d   Overlook // fellow blocking traffic marker (7)

At Oxford and Cambridge universities, a fellow^[10] is a member of the governing body of a college who is usually a member of the teaching staff.

 A don^[10] is a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.

5d   How an all-round athlete competes // whatever happens (2,3,5)

7d   Attractive element /that's/ good in French painter is linked to medium (9)

"good" = G (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

Édouard Manet^[5] (1832–1883) was a French painter. He adopted a realist approach which greatly influenced the impressionists, using pure colour to give a direct unsentimental effect. Notable works: Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863), Olympia (1865), and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882).

8d   Left in election following excellent // change of direction (5-4)

In publishing, the abbreviation f.^[10] (plural ff.) is used to denote following (page).

10d   Lodge // out of the South presumably (3)

13d   GB capital's altered // former supermarket giveaway (7,3)

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

14d   Old drink holder in another, clearly empty -- // sign of hotel guests? (9)

15d   Six deliveries -- company // put in too many (9)

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.

19d   Small measurement seen to be faulty? /It's/ huge (7)

22d   Pub // to exclude // lawyers (3)

26d   Nothing in cash machine? // Not big matter (4)

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, pommers describes an ATM as a hole-in-the-wall. In Britain, a hole in the wall[5] is an automatic cash dispenser installed in the outside wall of a bank and not, as in North America, a small dingy bar, shop, or restaurant.

27d   Dinner, maybe, /from/ tin, say, that's timeless (4)

28d   Day /in/ court? (4)

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