Monday, November 7, 2016 — DT 28178

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28178
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, July 28, 2016
Setter Shamus (Philip Marlow)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28178]
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
Notes
The National Post has skipped DT 28177 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, July 27, 2016.

Introduction

Today, the editors at the National Post skip Jay's 'Wednesday' puzzle to get to a 'Thursday' 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

1a   Computer // record incorporating a note to read further (6)

PTO^[5] (abbreviation for please turn over) is a British term that is written at the foot of a page to indicate that the text continues on the reverse.

4a   A paper having liberal line over period // despite everything (5,3)

The Financial Times^[7] (abbreviation FT) is a British international business newspaper that is printed on conspicuous salmon pink newsprint.

"liberal" = L (show explanation )

The Liberal Party^[5] (abbreviation Lib.^[5] or L^[2])^* in Britain emerged in the 1860s from the old Whig Party and until the First World War was one of the two major parties in Britain. In 1988 the party regrouped with elements of the Social Democratic Party to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, now known as the Liberal Democrats. However, a small Liberal Party still exists although it has no representation in the UK Parliament, no Members of the European Parliament (MEP), no members of the Scottish Parliament, nor any members of the National Assembly for Wales.^[7]

Although Lib.^[5] may be the more common abbreviation for the Liberal Party in Britain—likely to distinguish it from the the Labour Party^[5] (abbreviation Lab.^[5])—Chambers 21st Century Dictionary indicates that L^[2] may also be used.

hide explanation

9a   Style of programme // suitable to partner mostly (6)

In her review, Kath comes up a bit short on the underlining.

10a   Effort completed /for/ walk in the park (8)

12a   Tired // officer's area to patrol (4)

13a   Social /and/ political organisation (5)

14a   Cheese // not lasting long, fine to ignore (4)

"fine" = F (show explanation )

F^[5] is an abbreviation for fine, as used in describing grades of pencil lead [a usage that Oxford Dictionaries surprisingly characterizes as British].

hide explanation

Brie^[5] is a kind of soft, mild, creamy cheese with a firm white skin.

17a   Foreign character creates law for regulating // hazardous material (7,5)

Nu^[5] is the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ν, ν).

20a   Impropriety /and/ hubris a movie dissected (12)

23a   Top // copy, ten required (4)

24a   Plant // close to fence devoured by small horse (5)

25a   What goes into Genoa's tipple? (4)

In her review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kath shows the definition as being "tipple". However, this cannot be the case as "tipple" is part of the anagram fodder.

I believe this is intended to be an &lit. (all-in-one) clue — a type of clue in which the entire clue is both definition and wordplay.

The wordplay is quite straightforward; the solution is hidden in (what goes into ... ?) GenoAS TIpple. The definition is not quite so clear. While Asti is an ingredient in a number of cocktails (such as a Venetian Sunset and a Sorrento Sparkle), I failed to find one that is specifically associated with Genoa. Nevertheless, we can suppose that the inhabitants of Genoa do imbibe concoctions made with Asti.

Momentarily, I thought I might be onto something when I discovered that there is an Italian cocktail called a Genoa. Unfortunately, while it's ingredients include virtually every other alcoholic beverage produced in Italy (gin, grappa, sambuca, and dry vermouth), it contains no Asti.

Asti^[7] (formerly known as Asti Spumante) is a sparkling white Italian wine that is produced throughout southeastern Piedmont but is particularly focused around the towns of Asti and Alba. Since 1993 the wine has been classified as a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) and as of 2004 was Italy's largest producing appellation.

Scratching the Surface
Genoa[5] is a seaport on the northwestern coast of Italy, capital of Liguria region; population 611,171 (2008). It was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.

28a   Deter // daughter getting publicity in publication (8)

29a   Most of what riders do with one /or/ two items of beachwear (6)

30a   National institution // working to stop protest by yard (8)

31a   Overturned pot -- family/'s/ table accessory (6)

Down

1d   Deserted site gathering interest /as/ artistic quarter (4,4)

The Left Bank^[5] is a district of the city of Paris, situated on the left bank of the River Seine, to the south of the river. It is an area noted for its intellectual and artistic life.

2d   Standard weapon /in/ a manner of speaking (8)

3d   Correct without marks // exam (4)

"marks" = M (show explanation )

M^[10] is the symbol for mark(s).

Until the introduction of the euro in 2002, the mark^[5] (also called Deutschmark^[5] or Deutsche Mark [from German deutsche Mark 'German mark']) was the basic monetary unit of Germany, equal to 100 pfennig ⇒ Germany spent billions of marks to save the French franc from speculators.

hide explanation

5d   Rum chief in TA's drunk /as/ a pub staple? (5,7)

Fruit machine^[5] is a British term for a coin-operated gaming machine that generates random combinations of symbols (typically representing fruit) on a dial, certain combinations winning varying amounts of money for the player.

6d   City house? // 'City house!' (4)

In this clue, the first part is the wordplay and the second part is the definition — of which the quotation marks form an integral part denoting the audible repetition of the first part of the clue.

The City^[5] [or here, simply City] is short for the City of London^[5] (not to be confused with the city of London).

The City of London^[7] is a city and ceremonial county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the conurbation has since grown far beyond the City's borders. The City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. It is one of two districts of London to hold city status, the other being the adjacent City of Westminster.

It is widely referred to simply as the City (often written as just "City" and differentiated from the phrase "the city of London" by capitalising "City").

In the clue, the setter uses "City" as a surrogate for for the EC postcode which serves the City of London [postcode being the British counterpart of the Canadian postal code or American zip code]. The EC (Eastern Central) postcode area^[7] (also known as the London EC postcode area) is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes almost all of the City of London as well as parts of several other London boroughs. 

"house" = HO (show explanation )

Although not found in most of the dictionaries that I consulted, ho.^[10] is the abbreviation for house.

hide explanation

7d   State admitting duke and bishop // regularly, say (6)

"duke" = D (show explanation )

A duke^[5] (abbreviation D.^[10]) is a male holding the highest hereditary title in the British and certain other peerages^*.

^* The peerage^[5] is the nobility in Britain or Ireland, comprising the ranks of duke or duchess, marquess or marchioness, earl or countess, viscount or viscountess, and baron or baroness.

hide explanation

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

8d   Pound yielding less in East End // store (6)

"pound" = L (show explanation )

The pound^[5] (also pound sterling) is the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence. While the symbol for pound is £, it is often written as L^[10].

The Chambers Dictionary defines the upper case L^[1] as the abbreviation for pound sterling (usually written £) and the lower case l^[1] as the abbreviation for pound weight (usually written lb) — both deriving from the Latin word libra.

In ancient Rome, the libra^[5] was a unit of weight, equivalent to 12 ounces (0.34 kg). It was the forerunner of the pound.

hide explanation

Here "yielding less" refers to an object or material that yields less when squeezed or prodded.

The East End^[5] is the part of London [England] east of the City (see 6d) as far as the River Lea, including the Docklands, an area whose residents are known as cockneys. The cockney^[5] dialect spoken in this area of London is characterized by dropping the aitch (H) from the beginning of words.

According to The Chambers Dictionary, in addition to being a place where food is kept, larder^[1] can also mean a stock of provisions. The Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines larder^[2] as:

1. a cool room or cupboard for storing food, originally bacon; or
2. a wild animal's winter store of food.

11d   Habits harder to change /in/ small measure (5-7)

One might argue that the numeration should have been (4'1-7) but I have noticed that apostrophe's are rarely accounted for in the enumeration.

15d   Worth // found in former itinerary (5)

16d   A vet's arranged // place for notes (5)

Stave is a British term (or maybe not)^* for the set of lines and spaces on which music is written.

^* Both Oxford Dictionaries and Collins English Dictionary characterize stave^{[1,2,3,4,5,10,11]} as a British term, although the American dictionaries do not seem to consider this to be the case. Furthermore, most dictionaries show stave^{[1,2,3,4,10,11]} as an alternative term for staff^{[1,2,3,4,10,11]}. Oxford Dictionaries, on the other hand, takes a contrarian view, listing staff^[5] as an alternative term for stave^[5].

18d   Woman's instant // control in plane (8)

Tick^[5] is an informal British term for a moment ⇒ (i) I shan’t be a tick; (ii) I’ll be with you in a tick.

19d   Perhaps mandarin number one's given rise /for/ achievement (8)

21d   Bike // not made for touring over passes (6)

It took me seemingly forever to see the wordplay here.

"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

22d   Motive // concerning crime devoid of right (6)

26d   Sound of a queen maybe, // largely untainted queen (4)

"queen" = R (show explanation )

Queen may be abbreviated as Q, Qu. or R.

Q^[5] is an abbreviation for queen that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

Qu.^[2] is another common abbreviation for Queen.

Regina^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for queen] denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

Thus Queen Elizabeth signs her name as 'Elizabeth R' as seen here on Canada's paint-stained constitution.

hide explanation

A queen^[5] is an adult female cat that has not been spayed.

27d   Singer /that's/ enthusiastic on the up (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