Friday, July 28, 2017 — DT 28427

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28427
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, May 15, 2017
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28427]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

After reviewing a "Friday" Giovanni puzzle a couple of days ago, Miffypops is back in his customary spot unravelling a "Monday" Rufus creation.

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 semi-all-in-one (semi-&lit.) clues. All-in-one (&lit.) clues and cryptic definitions are marked with a dotted underline. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   A charming expression (11)

9a   No charge is made, /so get/ release (4)

10a   Knock on wood if you want to become such a player (11)

As I recall, the toy instrument I played with as a child had metal bars, but in a real one they are made of wood.

The xylophone^[7] (from Greek words meaning "wooden sound") is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets.

11a   Highlight // one's seen in the theatrical world (4)

14a   Reg struggling in last, /but still/ the greatest (7)

16a   Crab tea prepared /for/ the panda (7)

A bearcat^[5] is a bear-like climbing mammal, especially the red panda or binturong.

17a   Made an effort, /though/ tired out (5)

18a   /Get/ the bird, /or/ one encore? (4)

Bis^[5] is a musical direction denoting 'again'.

An ibis^[5] is a large wading bird with a long downcurved bill, long neck, and long legs.

19a   Mark /gets/ nothing less than a film award (4)

20a   Wild bears // that may cut up rough (5)

Neither the cryptic reading nor the surface reading made much sense to me. I did manage to discover what the surface reading means (see box following). However, as for the wordplay, I can only surmise that the clue implies that a sabre may not be an instrument that produces cuts of extreme precision.

Scratching the Surface
Cut up rough[5] is an informal British expression meaning to behave in an aggressive, quarrelsome, or awkward way ⇒ he can cut up rough and turn a bit nasty if he's got a mind to.

22a   Gallery object /is/ a welcome surprise (7)

The gods^[5] is a [possibly British] theatrical term for the gallery in a theatre ⇒ they sat in the gods.

23a   It's cooked /in/ South African tradition (7)

SA^[5] is the abbreviation for South Africa — but nowhere did I find it listed as an abbreviation for South African.

24a   Left // somewhat short (4)

28a   Crazy // way a teacher may receive orders? (3,4,4)

In Britain, head^[5] is short for headmaster^[5] (a man who is the head teacher in a school), headmistress^[5] (a woman who is the head teacher in a school), or head teacher^[5] (the teacher in charge of a school).

As used in the solution to the second definition, off takes the informal sense of 'from' ⇒ I bought it off a friend.

Off one's head^[10,10a] (or out of one's head) is a mainly British slang expression meaning insane or delirious ⇒ He's gone completely off his head.

---

^[10a] COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary

29a   Help // to translate from Latin and French (4)

"from Latin" = AB (show explanation )

In Latin, ab is a preposition that can mean 'from'.

hide explanation

"and French" = ET (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

30a   Man of intelligence // moves centre stage (6,5)

Down

2d   Spends money on // extras, we hear (4)

In cricket, an extra^[5] is a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited (in most cases) to the batting side rather than to a batsman. The types of extra^[7] are no ball, wide, bye, leg-bye, and penalty runs.

In cricket, a bye^[5] is a run scored from a ball that passes the batsman without being hit (recorded as an extra, not credited to the individual batsman).

3d   Very little // to put into the morning hours (4)

4d   Unbeliever // is at the assembly (7)

5d   Trouble spots for teenagers? (4)

6d   Secured when wandering /or/ let loose (7)

7d   The North Sea? Yes and no (6,5)

8d   Private sign /for/ office workers (11)

In astrology, Aries^[10] (also called the Ram) is the first sign of the zodiac, symbol ♈, having a cardinal fire classification, ruled by the planet Mars. The sun is in this sign between about March 21 and April 19.

12d   The policemen to send after skyjackers? (6,5)

Flying squad^[5] is a British term for a division of a police force or other organization which is capable of reaching an incident quickly ⇒ (i) the gang were caught by the Flying Squad; (ii) a medical flying squad.

Behind the Picture
Miffypops illustrates his review with a picture of actors John Thaw and Dennis Waterman in a scene from the British television programme The Sweeney. The Sweeney[7] is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. The programme's title derives from Sweeney Todd, which is Cockney rhyming slang for "Flying Squad". The programme was originally broadcast from 1975 to 1978 with repeated screenings until the early 1980s. It starred John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan, and Dennis Waterman as his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter.

13d   What motoring school is expected to do /for/ fireman's boss? (5,6)

In Britain, motoring school^[10] is another name for driving school^[10].

A fireman^[10] on a railway locomotive is:

• (on steam locomotives) the man who stokes the fire and controls the injectors feeding water to the boiler
• (on diesel and electric locomotives) the driver's assistant

15d   Put your foot down! (5)

The only question here was "TRAMP or TREAD?"

16d   Alcoholic drinks, // things that give a buzz? About right (5)

20d   Dishonestly acquire // piece of riding gear (7)

Snaffle^[5] is an informal British term meaning to take (something) for oneself, typically quickly or without permission ⇒ shall we snaffle some of Bernard’s sherry?.

 A snaffle^[10] (also called snaffle bit) is a simple jointed bit for a horse.

21d   Dedicated // a Sterne novel (7)

Laurence Sterne^[5] (1713–1768) was an Irish novelist. He is best known for his nine-volume work The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1759–67), which parodied the developing conventions of the novel form.

25d   An opening // celebration or its aftermath (4)

26d   He's rough, // tough, loveless, confused (4)

"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

27d   One imprisoned /as/ murderer (4)

The key to the wordplay is recognizing that the word "imprisoned" could be replaced by the phrase "in jail". Now you just need to find the correct synonym for jail.

In the Bible, Cain^[5] is the eldest son of Adam and Eve and murderer of his brother Abel.

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)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon