Tuesday, November 21, 2017 — DT 28509

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28509
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, August 18, 2017
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28509]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Senf
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 merely "reading and writing" on the first two clues, I thought this was shaping up to be a one-star effort. However, the further I got into it, the more difficult it became. For me the puzzle was solidly ensconced at the top of the two-star range — possibly even infringing on three-star territory.

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

9a   Walk // quietly past market, having turned back (5)

"quietly" = P (show explanation )

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

hide explanation

10a   See zebra moving east /in/ wind (3,6)

11a   Artist // sits awkwardly being welcomed in West? (7)

Mae West^[5] (1892–1980) was an American actress and dramatist. She made her name on Broadway in her own comedies Sex (1926) and Diamond Lil (1928), memorable for their spirited approach to sexual matters, before embarking on her successful Hollywood career in the 1930s.

12a   A new excitement when king emerges /from/ earthy mound (3,4)

"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

13a   One has darkness, no end, /in/ native dwelling (5)

14a   Carol wrapping Ted maybe /in/ protective covering (9)

Sir Edward Heath^[5] (1916–2005) [commonly known as Ted Heath] was a British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1970-4. He negotiated Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community and faced problems caused by a marked increase in oil prices. Attempts to restrain wage rises [raises] led to widespread strikes and he lost a general election after a second national coal strike.

16a   Fruit // obtainable from San Marino garden (8,7)

Scratching the Surface
San Marino[5] is a republic forming a small enclave in Italy, near Rimini; population 30,200 (est. 2009); official language, Italian; capital, the town of San Marino. It is perhaps Europe’s oldest state, claiming to have been independent almost continuously since its foundation in the 4th century.

19a   Worried // rodent met snakes (9)

21a   Groan maybe /as/ recipient of holy letter (5)

Titus Groan^[7] is the main protagonist in a novel of that name by English writer Mervyn Peake (1911–1968). It is the first novel in the Gormenghast fantasy series.

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St Titus^[5] (1st century AD), Greek churchman. A convert and helper of St Paul, he was traditionally the first bishop of Crete. Feast day (in the Eastern Church) 23 August; (in the Western Church) 6 February. The Epistle to Titus^[5] is a book of the New Testament, an epistle of St Paul addressed to St Titus.

23a   Minister embraces a // device for generating energy (7)

A rector^[5] is a member of the clergy, although the meaning of the term varies among religious denominations (show more ):

• in the the Church of England, an incumbent of a parish where all tithes formerly passed to the incumbent,
• in other Anglican Churches, a member of the clergy who has charge of a parish;
• in the Roman Catholic Church, a priest in charge of a church or of a religious institution.
  

hide explanation

25a   There's little right in Dad /being/ more distant (7)

27a   Bug one's caught? // Supplement will limit cold (9)

Bug^[5] is used in the sense of an enthusiastic interest in something ⇒ they caught the sailing bug.

28a   Extremist // contributing to awful tragedy (5)

An ultra^[3,4,11] is an extremist, as in politics, religion, or fashion.

Down

1d   Cook cutting out a // part of vegetable? (4)

2d   Fellow on phone /gets/ prize-winning novelist (6)

Dame Hilary Mantel^[7] is an English writer whose work includes personal memoirs, short stories, and historical fiction. She has twice been awarded the Booker Prize, the first for the 2009 novel Wolf Hall, a fictional account of Thomas Cromwell's rise to power in the court of Henry VIII, and the second for the 2012 novel Bring Up the Bodies, the second instalment of the Cromwell trilogy. Mantel was the first woman to receive the award twice. The third instalment to the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, is in progress.

Delving Deeper

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction[7] (formerly known as the Booker-McConnell Prize and commonly known simply as the Booker Prize) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel, written in the English language and published in the UK. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured international renown and success; therefore, the prize is of great significance for the book trade. From its inception, only Commonwealth, Irish, and South African (and later Zimbabwean) citizens were eligible to receive the prize; in 2014, however, this eligibility was widened to any English-language novel—a change which proved controversial. In 2016 and 2017, the prize was won by writers from the United States. A high-profile literary award in British culture, the Booker Prize is greeted with great anticipation and fanfare. It is also a mark of distinction for authors to be selected for inclusion in the shortlist or even to be nominated for the "longlist".

3d   Bishop's office // copies tape improperly (10)

Episcopate^[5] denotes the office of a bishop.

4d   Like groups /offering/ worldly goods (6)

5d   A form of rule in Home Counties, supported by very old // city (8)

The term raj^[5] is an Indian word meaning rule or government ⇒ they alleged that a ‘goonda^* raj’ had been set up in the state. Historically, the Raj refers to British sovereignty in India. ⇒ the last days of the Raj

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^* Goonda^[5] is an Indian term meaning a hired thug or bully ⇒ the unbridled goondas roughed up the peasants and murdered them very often.

The Home Counties^[5] are the counties surrounding London in southeast (SE) England, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. (show more )

No exact definition of the term exists and the composition of the Home Counties remains a matter of debate. While Oxford Dictionaries restrictively lists them as being chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire, Wikipedia tells us that the Home Counties^[7] are generally considered to include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex (although Sussex does not border London).

Other counties more distant from London, such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Oxfordshire are also sometimes included in the list due to their close proximity to the capital and their connection to the London regional economy.

hide explanation

"very" = V (show explanation )

The abbreviation v (or v.)^[1,2,5,10] stands for very. Although this definition is found in most of my British dictionaries, it does not appear in any of my American dictionaries. Unfortunately no explanation is given as to the specific context in which one might encounter this usage. The only example that I can imagine is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments.

hide explanation

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Sarajevo^[5] is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Delving Deeper

Taken by the Austro-Hungarians in 1878, Sarajevo became a centre of Slav opposition to Austrian rule. It was the scene in June 1914 of the assassination by a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863–1914), the heir to the Austrian throne, an event which triggered the outbreak of the First World War. The city suffered severely from the ethnic conflicts that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991, and was besieged by Bosnian Serb forces in the surrounding mountains from 1992 to 1994.

6d   Rubbish // ultimately attracting rubbish (4)

Rot^[3,4,11] and the second instance of  rubbish^[3,4,11] are used in the sense of nonsense.

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Grot^[5] is an informal British term for something unpleasant, dirty, or of poor quality ⇒ they watch endless grot on telly.

As for rubbish^[5], Oxford Dictionaries considers the word (in all senses) to be chiefly British — despite it not being characterized as such by American dictionaries^[3,11].

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Senf writes the answer is also the name of the shop opened by Reggie Perrin which sold useless products. The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin[7] is a sitcom based on a series of novels by English comedy writer David Nobbs (1935–2015) that initially ran on British television from 1976 to 1979. The story concerns a middle-aged middle manager, Reginald "Reggie" Perrin, who is driven to bizarre behaviour by the pointlessness of his job. In Series Two, Reggie opens a shop called Grot, where he sells useless products like square hoops, round dice and Tom's wine (made from sprouts, nettles and the like), hoping it will be an interesting failure. However, the products are snapped up as novelties, and Grot becomes a huge success. Reggie relapses into alienation and tries to destroy Grot from within by hiring incompetents, but this backfires as they all display unsuspected talents.

7d   Shy, // taking clothes off etc? (8)

Here "etc" denotes crawling between the covers (putting on pajamas — though optional — might also be involved).

8d   Modern bits of language // spreading gloominess (10)

A neologism^[5] is a newly coined word or expression.

13d   Unimportant // stuff this person's brought to the fore (10)

"this person's" = IM (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

Today, the setter has made the scenario slightly more complicated by combining "this person" with the verb "to be" producing "this person's" (a contraction of "this person is") which must be replaced by "I'm" (a contraction of "I am").

hide explanation

15d   Unfaithful // love rat, suitor gets upset about (10)

"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

17d   Chap blocks road in that revolutionary // conqueror's home region (8)

William I^[5] (c.1027–1087), who reigned 1066–1087, was the first Norman king of England; known as William the Conqueror. He invaded England and defeated Harold II at the Battle of Hastings (1066).

Delving Deeper

The Normans[5] (from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages[7]) 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. Normandy[7] is a region of northern France bordering the English Channel. Normandy's name is derived from the settlement of the territory by mainly Danish and Norwegian Vikings ("Northmen") from the 9th century. For a century and a half following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman and Frankish rulers.

18d   Pause // during session with one needing little time (8)

I don't understand why Senf refers to the first part of the wordplay being "A verb constructed from a two word synonymic phrase for during session" as I can find no reference to "in term" being a common phrase used in this sense ("in session" yes, but "in term"?). I simply see the wordplay as a charade of IN (during) + TERM (session) + (with) I ([Roman numeral for] one) + T (little [abbrev. for] Time)

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Intermit^[5] (verb) means:

• to suspend or discontinue (an action or practice) for a time ⇒ he was urged to intermit his application. 
• (especially of a fever or pulse) to stop for a time.

20d   Champion // fed up, having obtained goal (6)

22d   Volunteers landing on Caribbean country but not a // Pacific island (6)

"volunteers" = TA (show explanation )

In the UK, Territorial Army^[5] (abbreviation TA^[5]) was, at one time, the name of a volunteer force founded in 1908 to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined military personnel for use in an emergency. Since 2013, this organization has been called the Army Reserve.

hide explanation

Haiti^[5] is a country in the Caribbean, occupying the western third of the island of Hispaniola.

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Tahiti^[5] is an island in the central South Pacific, one of the Society Islands, forming part of French Polynesia.

24d   Understanding // the performance, he won't participate (4)

I did call my electronic reinforcements out of barracks here. They confirmed not only that word I was looking for must be among the possibilities that I was already considering but also pointed me in the direction of the correct solution. However, even at that point, it took some effort to parse the wordplay.

26d   Bit of money /made by/ heartless competitor (4)

The rial^[5] (also riyal) is the basic monetary unit of Iran, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.

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