Wednesday, October 4, 2017 — DT 28475

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28475
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, July 10, 2017
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28475]
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

This was a pleasant enough solve although volcanologists are likely to take issue with one clue.

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   Story about island race is // gossip (6)

The Tourist Trophy^[5] (abbreviation TT^[5]) is a motorcycle-racing competition held annually on roads in the Isle of Man since 1907.

4a   Holiday downpour /and/ what it may do to one's activities? (8)

9a   Tear after father /or/ mother (6)

In his review, Miffypops slightly misses the target (but then he does admit that he was suffering the aftereffects of too much imbibing on the weekend). RENT comes not from the verb tear (to pull apart with force) but from the noun tear (the damage resulting from pulling material apart with force).

10a   Teachers call it // the range of a singer's voice (8)

Here and There

A register[5] is a book or record of attendance, for example of pupils in a class or guests in a hotel ⇒ the system requires teachers to take the register at each lesson. From the above usage example, we can see that teachers in the UK are said to "take the register" — and I would guess that they may alternatively be said to "call the register". In my experience, North American teachers are said to "take attendance" or to "call attendance".

In music, register^[2] (noun) denotes the range of tones produced by the human voice or a musical instrument.

12a   Love to take advantage of // river (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

The River Ouse^[5] (rhymes with booze rather than mouse) is a river of northeastern England, formed at the confluence of the Ure and Swale in North Yorkshire and flowing 92 km (57 miles) south-eastwards through York to the Humber estuary. There are also several other rivers in England having the same name or minor variations thereof, namely:

1. a river of southeastern England, which rises in the Weald of West Sussex and flows 48 km (30 miles) south-eastwards to the English Channel;
2. (also Great Ouse) a river of eastern England, which rises in Northamptonshire and flows 257 km (160 miles) eastwards then northwards through East Anglia to the Wash near King’s Lynn; or
3. (also Little Ouse) a river of East Anglia, which forms a tributary of the Great Ouse.

13a   Prices /of/ lettuce good man rejected (5)

Cos^* (or cos lettuce)^[5,10] is a British name for a variety of lettuce with a long slender head and crisp leaves (usual US and Canadian name: romaine).

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^* Oxford Dictionaries explicitly characterizes this as a British term while Collins English Dictionary would seem to imply that to be the case. However, the word cos^[3,11] is found in both The American Heritage Dictionary and the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary — although it is clearly not the preferred term in North America.

14a   Young reporter with article /showing/ place in Caribbean (4)

17a   Enters before the others /and/ wins (5,2,5)

In his review, Miffypops parses the first part of this clue as wordplay, namely COMES IN (enters) + FIRST (before the others). I simply treated "comes in first" as a phrase that means exactly the same thing as "enters before the others".

20a   Kind /of/ floating marina in Utah (12)

23a   American // tug (4)

24a   Annie gets confused /and/ foolish (5)

25a   It's never been seen, // still I must follow it (4)

The Abominable Snowman^[5] (also called yeti) is a large hairy creature resembling a human or bear, said to live in the highest part of the Himalayas.

28a   Man facing beast /needs/ to study other men (8)

In Britain, to read^[5] means to study (an academic subject) at a university ⇒ (i) I’m reading English at Cambridge; (ii) he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics.

"other men" = OR (show explanation )

In the British armed forces, the term other ranks^[5] (abbreviation OR^[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

hide explanation

29a   Company's staff about, /exhibiting/ charm (6)

A charm^[5] is an object kept or worn to ward off evil and bring good luck ⇒ a good luck charm.

A mascot^[5] is a person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck, especially one linked to a particular organization or event ⇒ the team's dolphin mascot.

30a   Put a limit on a conurbation /that's/ maximum size (8)

31a   Frank // and I in Diplomatic Corps (6)

CD^[5] is the abbreviation for corps diplomatique (diplomatic corps).

Down

1d   Fine // score with set up snooker shot (3-5)

In billiards and snooker, a pot^[5] is a shot in which a player strikes a ball into a pocket ⇒ he put together a 36 clearance to blue which was full of difficult pots.

The wordplay parses as NOTCH (score) following (with) a reversal (set up) of POT (snooker shot). As the charade indicator "with" merely means accompanying, it presumably could be used to denote either preceding or following. Therefore, it is up to the solver to determine which is applicable.

2d   Boring // ties -- more variation is needed (8)

3d   Seafarers cross it ceremonially /in/ number of ships (4)

The line-crossing ceremony^[7] is an initiation rite in various navies that commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the Equator.

5d   Experts on current problems (12)

6d   Understand // it has potential for growth (4)

7d   A king hurt twisted // character in legend (6)

"king" = R (show explanation )

In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms^*, Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

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^* A Commonwealth realm^[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.

hide explanation

Arthur^[5] was a legendary king of Britain, historically perhaps a 5th- or 6th-century Romano-British chieftain or general. Stories of his life, the exploits of his knights, and the Round Table of his court at Camelot were developed by Malory, Chrétien de Troyes, and other medieval writers and became the subject of many legends.

8d   Point supported by unusual Roman // invader of Britain (6)

The Normans^[5] are a people of mixed Frankish and Scandinavian origin who settled in Normandy from about AD 912 and became a dominant military power in western Europe and the Mediterranean in the 11th century.

The Norman Conquest^[5] was the conquest of England by William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) after the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

11d   Highly capricious bounder (8,4)

I interpreted the clue as a whimsical allusion to the tenth sign of the zodiac, Capricorn (the Goat).

According to Big Dave, "The word capricious is derived from the Latin for this animal" (caper (masc.) and capra (fem.) being the Latin words for 'goat'). However, Collins English Dictionary seems to debunk that explanation as "folk etymology". Instead, Collins claims that the word caprice^[10] comes (via French) from the Italian word capriccio meaning 'a shiver' which, in turn, comes from capo 'head' + riccio 'hedgehog', suggesting a convulsive shudder in which the hair stood on end like a hedgehog's spines.

I much prefer Jose's explanation in a reply to Comment #10 on Big Dave's site where he says "I reckon the setter has tongue-in-cheekily “invented” capricious as an adjective [synonymous with] caprine (goatlike) and, if so, the clue should have a ? to indicate the play on words".

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, bounder[5] is a dated informal British term for a dishonourable man ⇒ he is nothing but a fortune-seeking bounder.

15d   There's one in every agony letter /in/ magazine? (5)

Agony column^[5] is an informal British term for an advice column — a column in a newspaper or magazine offering advice on personal problems to readers who write in. The author of such a column is known as an agony aunt^[5] or agony uncle^[5].

16d   Test // piece (5)

In his review, Miffypops marks the clue as a double definition and then seems to describe it as a cryptic definition. Actually, I believe one could reasonably conclude that the clue fits either category — or both.

As a double definition, the two definitions are:

• Essay^[10] denotes (noun) a test or trial or (verb) to test or try out.
• An essay^[5] (noun) is a short piece of writing on a particular subject.

As a cryptic definition, the clue is exactly as Miffypops has described it "A piece of writing set for an examination".

18d   Eccentric declines /to be/ kept quiet (8)

19d   Went into service? (8)

21d   Arcane // section of army stick together (6)

22d   Take out from the paper (6)

26d   Turn over stuff // that remains from pressed grapes (4)

Marc^[5] is:

• the refuse of grapes or other fruit that have been pressed for winemaking ⇒ the spent marc can be seen in purple-black piles by the roadside
• an alcoholic spirit distilled from marc ⇒ working men sat over bowls of milky coffee and glasses of marc

27d   Mountain ash? (4)

I concur with Miffypops that this is a "very wobbly cryptic definition". It would be a lovely clue were the underlying premise to be true. However, although a volcano spews both lava and ash, lava is hardly ash.

Scratching the Surface
The surface reading is intended to misdirect our attention to the mountain ash[5], a small deciduous tree of the rose family, with compound leaves, white flowers, and red berries.

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