Thursday, September 28, 2017 — DT 28471

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28471
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28471]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By 2Kiwis
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

This puzzle was a breeze to review as there were not a lot of terms that I deemed to be in need of explanation. If I remember correctly, it was only a bit more difficult to solve.

In the intro to their review, the 2Kiwis mentioned that "At present our country is swarming with people wearing red clothing ...". These were fans of the British and Irish Lions^*[7] rugby union team which was touring New Zealand at the time. The Lions had lost to the New Zealand national team in a game played in Auckland on June 24, then defeated them on July 1 in a game played at Wellington Regional Stadium (known colloquially as "The Cake Tin"). At the time that this puzzle appeared in the UK, the teams had yet to play the final game of the series — in Auckland on July 8 (which turned out to be a draw).

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^* A team comprised of players who are eligible to represent the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

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   Touch // millions caught consumed by hatred? (7)

"caught" = C (show explanation )

In cricket, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out^[5], 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] denotes caught (by).

hide explanation

5a   Look closely at // label designed to take you in (7)

9a   Vehicle loaded on board ship /showing/ signs of damage (5)

"loaded on board ship" = 'contained in SS' (show explanation )

In Crosswordland, you will find that a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[10]. Thus phrases such as "aboard ship" or "on board ship" (or sometimes merely "aboard" or "on board") are Crosswordland code for 'contained in SS'. Today's setter is rather verbose, using the lengthy phrase "loaded on board ship".

hide explanation

10a   Trouble with allowance, // love? (9)

11a   Officially sanctioned // writer is shamed, lacking pretence (10)

12a   Courage // that's needed to deal with winter conditions? (4)

14a   Stupidly reply 'What if I // take unnecessary risks?' (4,4,4)

18a   Perhaps London spirit's limiting a // potential tax liability (7,5)

21a   Vessels unloading the first // crop (4)

22a   Form of transport /of/ patissier, accepting he's no different (10)

Boneshaker^[5,10] is an informal British term for:

• an early type of bicycle having solid tyres [tires] and no springs
• an old vehicle with poor suspension ⇒ a boneshaker of a van

25a   Saved // ladies having gone astray, welcoming charity (4,5)

26a   Source of industrial ooze covering lake//  house (5)

27a   Stylish /but/ frustrating? (7)

28a   Down is way back /for/ such cruel people (7)

Down

1d   Lose // roadkill seen in two parts (6)

The M1^[7] is a north–south motorway [controlled access, multi-lane divided highway] in England connecting London to Leeds.

2d   Sketches /from/ a newspaper stocked by doctor's (6)

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

3d   Adjustments made to last scouse // dishes (10)

A cassoulet^[5] is a French stew made with meat (typically pork, goose, and duck) and beans.

Scratching the Surface
Scouse[5] (noun) is an informal British term denoting: the dialect or accent of people from Liverpool ⇒ the man turned on him in Scouse short for Scouser[5], a person from Liverpool Scouse[5] (adjective) means relating to Liverpool ⇒ a Scouse accent.

4d   US city // area crossed by motorway twice (5)

The motorway from 1d reappears not once, but twice.

5d   Expert set up to keep Tories spinning // unusual items (9)

6d   Times? // European, and impetuous for the most part (4)

Scratching the Surface
I suspect that the surface reading is intended to be an allusion to The Times[7], a British daily national newspaper based in London. The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a division of News UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian-born American publisher and media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

7d   A police squad getting tipple down, an ugly shower (4,4)

"police squad" = CID (show explanation )

The Criminal Investigation Department (seemingly better known by its abbreviation CID^[2]) is the detective branch of a British police force.

hide explanation

Tipple down^[5] is an informal British expression meaning to rain heavily ⇒ it was tippling down with rain.

8d   Stretch // student with English afterwards (8)

"student" = 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

13d   Eastern city editor /may be/ impressed (10)

In the wordplay, Shanghai^[5] is the name of a city on the east coast of China, a port on the estuary of the Yangtze; population 11,283,700 (est. 2006). Opened for trade with the west in 1842, Shanghai contained until the Second World War areas of British, French, and American settlement. It was the site in 1921 of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.

In the solution, shanghai^[5] is used in a historical sense meaning to force (someone) to join a ship lacking a full crew by drugging them or using other underhand means ⇒ they specialized in drugging and robbing sailors, sometimes arranging for them to be shanghaied aboard tramp boats.

Impress^[5] is used in an historical sense meaning to force (someone) to serve in an army or navy^* ⇒ a number of Poles, impressed into the German army.

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^* While one might infer from the definition that it was not necessary to force people to serve in the Air Force, the truth is that the Air Force did not exist when this practice was in vogue.

15d   Shouting about inside of bowl /becoming/ discoloured (9)

16d   Trained // fish in group with backing of French (8)

"of French" = DE (show explanation )

In French, de^[8] is a preposition meaning 'of'' or 'from'.

hide explanation

17d   Flight destination (8)

19d   Heads /needing/ to hear of rows (6)

20d   Soldiers // love to be involved in raising game (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

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, raise[5] means to drive (an animal) from its lair ⇒ the rabbit was only 250 yards from where he first raised it.

23d   Pots /for/ producers of beer (not British) (5)

24d   Two and six regularly used /to get you/ a bed that's dry (4)

In certain Arabic-speaking countries, a wadi^[5] is a valley, ravine, or channel that is dry except in the rainy season.

Scratching the Surface

The expression "two and six"[7] is short for two shillings and six pence. In the British currency system used prior to the introduction of the current decimal currency system in 1971 a shilling[5] (abbreviation s[5]) was a coin and monetary unit equal to one twentieth of a pound or twelve pence a penny[5] (abbreviation d[5] [for denarius]) was a coin or monetary unit equal to one twelfth of a shilling or 240th of a pound Pence[5] is a plural form* of penny[5]. * Both pence and pennies have existed as plural forms of penny since at least the 16th century. The two forms now tend to be used for different purposes: pence refers to sums of money (five pounds and sixty-nine pence) while pennies refers to the coins themselves (I left two pennies on the table). The use of pence rather than penny as a singular (the chancellor will put one pence on income tax) is not regarded as correct in standard English.

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