Friday, October 20, 2017 — DT 28487

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28487
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, July 24, 2017
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28487]
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

Today may be Friday, but this was a Monday offering in the UK. However, it proves just as pleasant end to the week here as it was a start to the week there. I was really tuned to Rufus' wavelength on this puzzle and the solutions to the cryptic definitions seemed to come effortlessly to mind.

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   Overlooked // cross copper's found in river that's ebbing (7)

"copper" = CU (show explanation )

The symbol for the chemical element copper is Cu^[5] (from late Latin cuprum).

hide explanation

The Dee^[5,7] could be any of several rivers in Scotland, England, Ireland, and Australia among which the most prominent are:

• a river in northeastern Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen;
• a river that rises in North Wales and flows past Chester and on into the Irish Sea.

5a   A sailor does it to make ends meet (7)

9a   Cagebird's not half needed // to shift (5)

The budgerigar^[5] (commonly called budgie^[5]) is a small gregarious Australian parakeet which is green with a yellow head in the wild. It is popular as a cage bird and has been bred in a variety of colours.

10a   Entrance // prisoner's held at (9)

11a   Quibble about trifles // that results in parting? (5,5)

Parting^[5] is the British term for a part^[5] in the hair ⇒ his hair was dark, with a side parting.

12a   Some nice desserts // covered in sugar (4)

14a   Interfere /and/ start a row (3,4,3,2)

18a   But a brunette winning a beauty contest may not be (6,6)

21a   Commotion // not yet finished (2-2)

22a   They will give a seat to one standing (10)

25a   Extremely clever // thing in the ring, perhaps (9)

A brilliant^[3] (noun) is a precious gem, especially a diamond, finely cut in any of various forms with numerous facets.

26a   Former French island // that Napoleon went into (5)

The French word for island is ile^[8].

Napoleon I^[5] (1769–1821), emperor of France 1804–14 and 1815; full name Napoleon Bonaparte; known as Napoleon. In 1799 Napoleon joined a conspiracy which overthrew the Directory, becoming the supreme ruler of France. He declared himself emperor in 1804, and established an empire stretching from Spain to Poland. After defeats at Trafalgar (1805) and in Russia (1812), he abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba (1814). He returned to power in 1815, but was defeated at Waterloo and exiled to the island of St Helena.

27a   Leave scribbled note /offering/ lift (7)

"note" = TE (show explanation )

In music, te^[5] (also ti^[2]) is the seventh note of the major scale in tonic sol-fa.

Judging by a perusal of entries in American and British dictionaries, the only recognized spelling in the US would seem to be ti^[3,4,11] whereas, in the UK, the principal — or only — spelling would appear to be te^[2,3,4,11], with ti given as an alternative spelling in some dictionaries. Oxford Dictionaries is more emphatic, giving the spelling as te^[5] with ti shown as the North American [by which Oxford appears to mean US] spelling.

hide explanation

Anagram indicators are words that denote movement, rearrangement or transformation. As an anagram indicator scribble^[5] might possibly be used in the sense of to write or draw (something) carelessly or hurriedly. However, for this purpose, a much more appropriate meaning for scribble^[5] would be to card (wool, cotton, etc.) coarsely ⇒ machinery used for scribbling and spinning.

28a   Make the most economical use /of/ man (7)

Down

1d   Set me up with manager // to perform relief work (6)

2d   Hold in close affection (6)

3d   Notepaper (5,5)

4d   Yes -- Russian tea may be found here (5)

"yes -- Russian" = DA (show explanation )

In Cyrillic, the Russian word for yes^[8] is да which transliterates into English^[7] as da.

hide explanation

Cha (also chai) is an alternative spelling of char^[5], an informal British name for tea [as a drink].

A dacha^[5] (also datcha) is a country house or cottage in Russia, typically used as a second or holiday home.

5d   Drink with the Queen, that woman with love /for/ very brave character (9)

"drink" = SUP (show explanation )

As a verb, sup^[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒ (i) she supped up her soup delightedly; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle.

As a noun, sup^[5] means (1) a sip of liquid ⇒ he took another sup of wine or (2) in Northern England or Ireland, an alcoholic drink ⇒ the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery.

hide explanation

"the Queen" = ER (show explanation )

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

hide explanation

"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

6d   Phone's picked up /and/ put down (4)

7d   Court /awards/ fortune to railway (8)

Although Miffypops, in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, shows the definition to be "court awards", I would say that it is merely "court" with the word "awards" serving as a link word.

In England, the Chancery^[10] (or Chancery Division) denotes the Lord Chancellor’s court, now a division of the High Court of Justice.

8d   Having amphetamine with gin, foolishly, /may be/ breaking the law (8)

One might well include the words "may be" in the definition to denote that we are looking for an example of "breaking the law".

Speed^[5] is an informal name for an amphetamine drug, especially methamphetamine.

13d   We never see these TV and film commentators (5-5)

Here and There

There may well be a difference between the British and North American meanings of voice-over. I have always thought of voice-over[3] in the way it is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary, namely narration or dialogue, as in a movie, commercial, or documentary, spoken by an unseen narrator or an onscreen character not seen speaking. However, British dictionaries define voice-over[4] as the voice of an unseen commentator heard during a film, television programme, etc. Thus, in North America, a voice-over is the spoken words delivered whereas in the UK it would appear to be the voice delivering the spoken words — and, Miffypops hint would tend to suggest that the meaning of the term can be extended to include the person whose voice is delivering the spoken words.

15d   It's a cello playing // swing (9)

16d   Fitting // could make it usable (8)

17d   Good stroke for a cricketer, // but not for a golfer (3-5)

As the definition is a noun, the numeration here would appear to be incorrect and should be (3,5).

In cricket, off drive^[1,5] (noun) denotes a drive to the off side whereas off-drive (verb) means to drive [forcefully stroke] (the ball) to the off side^* ⇒ Greig began by off-driving Chandra for four.

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^* In cricket, the off^[5]  (also called off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The other half of the field is known as either the leg^[5] (also called leg side) or on^[5] (also called on side) ⇒ he played a lucky stroke to leg.

19d   Small port /and/ Robin's girl turns tail (6)

In English folklore, Maid Marian^[7] is the love interest of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood.

20d   Guard/'s/ fed up, on edge (6)

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops tells us to add a word meaning the edge of something often applied to sports pitches for example. By pitch, he is referring a sports field rather than the delivery of a baseball by a pitcher. In Britain, pitch[5] is another term for field[5] in the sense of an area of ground marked out or used for play in an outdoor team game ⇒ a football pitch. Although, in sports, end[2] can specifically denote one of the two halves of a pitch or court defended by a team or player, etc., [i.e., an area] the term could also be used in a more general sense to refer to the boundaries marking either end of the field (as opposed to the sides) ⇒ a standard football pitch[7] measures 105 metres (115 yards) from end to end.

23d   Arrest // that leads to dismissal (5)

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.

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops writes that the dismissal in question might occur in cricket or rounders. He might well have added baseball to the list. Rounders[5,7] is a ball game played between two teams. The game involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a cylindrical bat. Gameplay centres on a number of innings, in which teams alternate at batting and fielding. A maximum of nine players are allowed to field at any time. Points (known as 'rounders') are scored by the batting team when one of their players completes a circuit past four bases arranged in the shape of a diamond without being put 'out'. The game is popular among Irish and British school children. [Sound at all familiar? (read on )] The game of rounders[7] has been played in England since Tudor times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book where it was called "base-ball" by John Newbery. In 1828, William Clarke in London published the second edition of The Boy's Own Book, which included the rules of rounders and which contained the first printed description in English of a bat and ball base-running game played on a diamond. The following year, the book was published in Boston, Massachusetts. Rounders is played under slightly different rules in Britain and Ireland. Both the 'New York game' [from which modern baseball evolved] and the now-defunct 'Massachusetts game' versions of baseball, as well as softball, share the same historical roots as rounders and bear a resemblance to the Irish version of the game. hide explanation

24d   Copperfield's taken in two parts -- // one could be guilty (4)

The phrase "taken in two parts" indicates that the word "Copperfield" must be split into two components.

Copper^[5] is a British^* term for brown coins of low value made of copper or bronze.

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^* or perhaps not so British^[3]

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] (plural pennies [for separate coins] or pence [for a sum of money]) is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p^[5].

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