Tuesday, December 12, 2017 — DT 28524

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28524
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28524]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Mr Kitty
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

The consensus among commenters on Big Dave's Crossword Blog seems to be that this puzzle is, as Kath sums it up at Comment #13, "straightforward and quite good fun". I certainly cannot disagree with that assessment.

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

7a   Where acne cream is applied // immediately (2,3,4)

8a   Reportedly hostile // country (5)

10a   Element /that's/ PC? (6)

PC^[5] is a British designation for a police constable ⇒ PC Bartholomew made his report.

11a   Start /seeing/ charmer in boy (6,2)

12a   Club // president's first, say (6)

A putter^[5] is a golf club designed for use in putting, typically with a flat-faced head.

14a   Recall titles written about a // mariner (6)

16a   Bird // left old ship (4)

Ark^[5] is an archaic name for a ship or boat. The best known example is undoubtedly Noah's ark^[5], the ship in which Noah, his family, and the animals were saved from the Flood, according to the biblical account (Gen. 6-8).

17a   Vehicle // shuffled along sadly (5)

18a   Monster // thus returns (4)

19a   Dram for a // baby (6)

Once I had all the checking letters, the only thing I could think of was DIAPER. However, that option was to fail the grade on two counts — one, I couldn't parse it, and two, the British do not use the term (across the pond they are called nappies). My electronic assistants presented me with a list of words that matched the checking letters. However, I still had to select the correct one from the possibilities displayed.

My British dictionaries define nipper^[2,5,10] as an informal or colloquial term for a (small) child, while my American dictionaries say that nipper^[3,11] means a small boy. The American Heritage Dictionary indicates that the term is chiefly British and Chambers 21st Century Dictionary characterises it as not only informal, but dated ("old colloquial use").

21a   River important /for/ this animal (6)

The Don^[5] is river in Russia which rises near Tula, south-east of Moscow, and flows for a distance of 1,958 km (1,224 miles) to the Sea of Azov.

Delving Deeper

As mentioned by Andrew in Comment #8 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog,  One doesn’t need to go so far afield for the river in 21. S Yorkshire will do. In fact, there are at least two rivers in the UK that go by that name,  the Don[5] being: a river in Scotland which rises in the Grampians and flows 131 km (82 miles) eastwards to the North Sea at Aberdeen a river in northern England (Yorkshire) which rises in the Pennines and flows 112 km (70 miles) eastwards to join the Ouse shortly before it, in turn, joins the Humber I would strongly suspect that the Don River in Toronto takes its name from the latter.

24a   A resting drunk, // one won’t react (5,3)

In chemistry, an inert gas^[5] (also called noble gas^[5]) is any of the gaseous elements helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, occupying Group 0 (18) of the periodic table. They were long believed to be totally unreactive but compounds of xenon, krypton, and radon are now known.

26a   Empty // vessels, one inside the other (6)

27a   Ostentatious // moment (5)

Flash^[5] (adjective) is an informal British term meaning:

• ostentatiously stylish or expensive ⇒ a flash new car
• ostentatiously displaying one's wealth ⇒ he's a bit flash and refers to his gold card a few times too many

28a   Secret row developed /in/ English city (9)

Worcester^[5] is a cathedral city in western England, on the River Severn, the administrative centre of Worcestershire.

Down

1d   Bulb // lit and lit again, one screwed in (5)

2d   Rodent // pink, much maligned! (8)

3d   Liveliness /in/ frisky priest (6)

4d   Lack of American // intelligence (4)

Nous^[5] is an informal British term meaning common sense or practical intelligence ⇒ if he had any nous at all, he’d sell the film rights.

5d   Repeated tea // dance (3-3)

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

---

The cha-cha^[5] (also cha-cha-cha) is a ballroom dance with small steps and swaying hip movements, performed to a Latin American rhythm.

6d   Palace or monument ultimately rebuilt /for/ old ruler (9)

Cleopatra^[5] (also Cleopatra VII) (69-30 BC) was queen of Egypt 47-30 BC, the last Ptolemaic ruler. After a brief liaison with Julius Caesar she formed a political and romantic alliance with Mark Antony. Their ambitions ultimately brought them into conflict with Rome, and she and Antony were defeated at the battle of Actium in 31 BC. She is reputed to have committed suicide by allowing herself to be bitten by an asp.

9d   Reportedly, film // wasn't a hit (6)

13d   Fast // pace initially in attack (5)

15d   Restrict distribution of beer -- /it's/ basic logic (9)

17d   Illusory image -- // the setter should preserve one on newspaper (6)

"the setter" = ME (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.

hide explanation

18d   Some cricket players /can be/ dull (8)

In cricket, an over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

20d   Capital gains hard /for/ ecclesiastical district (6)

"hard" = H (show explanation )

H^[2,5] is an abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

hide explanation

22d   Beginner // without sin? (6)

23d   Mountains // in Switzerland, especially (5)

The Andes^[5] are a major mountain system running the length of the Pacific coast of South America. Its highest peak is Aconcagua, which rises to a height of 6,960 m (22,834 ft).

25d   Reveal // second question (4)

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