Tuesday, November 29, 2016 — DT 28200

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28200
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28200]
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

As is often the case in "Tuesday" puzzles (which recently have actually been appearing in the National Post on Tuesday), several of the clues have a distinctively North American flavour. This has caused some to wonder whether the setter might be an ex-pat from this side of the pond.

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, ShropshireLad questions a few of the definitions found in today's puzzle. Granted, they may not be the the most common usage of the words involved but I can see nothing wrong with them.

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   Broadcaster has quarrel regarding west-facing // building (10)

Sky plc^[7] [private limited company] is a British satellite broadcasting, on-demand Internet streaming media, broadband and telephone services company with headquarters in London. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy. Sky is Europe's biggest and leading media company and largest pay-TV broadcaster, with 21 million subscribers. Australian-American media mogul Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox owns a 39.14 per cent controlling stake in the company.

6a   Senior/'s/ outraged? Not half! (4)

Scratching the Surface
Not half[5] is an informal British expression meaning to an extreme degree or very much so ⇒ she didn’t half flare up! [meaning that she flared up up to an extreme degree (she was not merely "half upset" but fully upset) or, in other words, she hit the roof].

9a   About to apply // reason (5)

10a   Exchanges // knitted garment with us (9)

12a   Earning /from/ gambling, good for bishop (7)

"good" = G (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

13a   Son starts to look extremely exhausted -- prompting this? (5)

This is a semi-&lit. (or semi-all-in-one) clue (show explanation ) in which the entire clue acts as the definition while the portion of the clue with the dashed underline provides the wordplay.

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

15a   Free // drink after one drops one! (7)

17a   State // cleared criminal (7)

19a   Bride's upset about invitations, initially -- // they're below par (7)

In golf, a birdie^[5] is a score of one stroke under par at a hole. [Note that the Brits seem to say "at a hole" rather than "on a hole".]

21a   Endure sitting in the German // express (7)

"the German" = DER (show explanation )

In German, der^[8] is one of the several forms that the definite article may assume.

hide explanation

The expressing and delivering is done verbally.

22a   Royal // appears in picture gallery (5)

24a   Describe // former lover? Unattractive (7)

27a   A daughter calling /for/ permission to enter (9)

28a   Gullible // citizen ignoring Brexit's conclusion (5)

Scratching the Surface

Brexit[5] is a term for the potential departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union ⇒ (i) the debates barely touched on the impact a Brexit might have on the City [the London financial district used as a metonym for the British financial markets]; (ii) the report warned that Brexit would reduce the EU's potential GDP. This term was coined in 2012 (originally as Brixit), a blend of British (or Britain) and exit, probably on the pattern of Grexit (coined earlier in the same year). Grexit[5] is a term for the potential withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone (the economic region formed by those countries in the European Union that use the euro as their national currency) ⇒ renewed fears of a Grexit have been shaking the financial markets. The term was coined in 2012 as a blend of Greek (or Greece) and exit.

29a   Child taken round new // class (4)

30a   Torch /is/ snazzy and easy to carry (10)

Flash^[5] (adjective) is an informal British term meaning ostentatiously stylish or expensive ⇒ a flash new car.

Torch^[10] — in addition to its historical meaning — is the British name for a flashlight.

From a British perspective, flashlight^[5] is the North American name for an electric torch.

Down

1d   Lay off // dry white wine (4)

Sack^[5] is a historical term for a dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from Spain and the Canaries.

2d   Child/'s/ potty gone rusty (9)

3d   The man's in court /for/ a case (5)

"court" = CT (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

4d   A rising artist restricted by shortcoming: // greed (7)

"artist" = RA (show explanation )

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[10]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5] (also Royal Academy; abbreviation also RA^[10]), an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. 

hide explanation

5d   Tied up /or/ about to tie the knot (7)

7d   Information about // literary style (5)

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

8d   Upset, pa's despair // fades away (10)

11d   Annie perhaps /makes/ false claim about American (7)

Annie^[7] is a Broadway musical based upon the popular comic strip Little Orphan Annie created by American cartoonist Harold Gray (1894–1968). The original Broadway production, which opened in 1977, ran for nearly six years and won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

14d   Clumsily move ahead of sailor? // Hazel's possibly knocked down by him (10)

The entry for jack in The Chambers Dictionary would fill a page if it were not spread over parts of two pages. Among the definitions, one finds jack^[1] defined as (often with capital) a sailor.

The hazel^[5] is a temperate shrub or small tree with broad leaves, bearing prominent male catkins in spring and round hard-shelled edible nuts in autumn.

From a British perspective, a lumberjack^[5] (also lumberman) is a North American term for a person who fells trees, cuts them into logs, or transports them to a sawmill.

The Lumber in the Attic
In Britain, lumber[5] has a totally different meaning than it does in North America, being articles of furniture or other household items that are no longer useful and inconveniently take up storage space.

16d   Hangers-on that are frozen out? (7)

18d   Promoting // a volume about discoing? On the contrary (9)

20d   Peculiar // ice in drinks all overturned (7)

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, ShropshireLad writes in relation to this clue Not sure the definition is ‘nailed on’ here.. I see no issue. Peculiar[5] is used in the sense of particular or special [that is, unique to the situation] ⇒ any attempt to explicate the theme is bound to run into peculiar difficulties.

21d   Deputy closes // banks (7)

23d   Street urchin: // a male consumed by alcohol (5)

25d   Cancel // a Northern university being hosted by the Netherlands (5)

One could assemble the legos either as A + N + {U contained in NL}; or A + {(N + U)} contained in NL}.

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for the Netherlands is NL^[5].  

26d   Reduce // study temperature (4)

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, ShropshireLad writes in relation to this clue An ever so slightly stretched definition?. Not at all. Dent[5] is used in the sense of to have an adverse effect on or diminish ⇒ this neither deterred him nor dented his enthusiasm.

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