Wednesday, December 27, 2017 — DT 28537

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28537
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28537]
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

Today's offering from Jay goes easy on difficulty but does not scrimp on enjoyment.

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   Donor/'s/ complaint about new player (10)

6a   Responsibility, // having advantage but losing the lead (4)

9a   Feel concern about victory appearing in court // division (5-2)

Carve-up^[5] (noun) is an informal British expression denoting a ruthless division of something into separate areas or parts ⇒ the carve-up of the brewing industry by vested interests.

10a   Inflammatory // European rationale (7)

12a   Nobody let off Labour // association (3,3,7)

Old boy network^[5] (also old boys' network) denotes an informal system through which men are thought to use their positions of influence to help others who went to the same school or university as they did, or who share a similar social background ⇒ many managers were chosen by the old boy network.

I am familiar with the latter version but not the former.

In Britain, an old boy^[5] (abbreviation OB^[2])  is:

• a former male student of a school or college ⇒an old boy of Banbury County School; or
• a former male member of a sports team or company ⇒ the White Hart Lane old boy squared the ball to present an easy chance from 12 yards.

It is interesting that although the term "old boy" is not used in North America, we do use the expression "old boys' network".

Scratching the Surface

The capitalization of the word "Labour" would indicate that the surface reading alludes to the Labour Party[5], a British left-of-centre political party formed to represent the interests of ordinary working people that since the Second World War has been in power 1945–51, 1964–70, 1974-9, and 1997–2010. Arising from the trade union movement at the end of the 19th century, it replaced the Liberals as the country’s second party after the First World War.

14a   Quiet footballers in company /providing/ breeding ground for schools (4,4)

The Football Association^[7], also known simply as the FA, is the governing body of football [soccer] in England. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur and professional game in England.

15a   Frozen? It helps to cover // top (6)

17a   Listen in // rage, lost, crossing central London district (6)

The West End^[5] is the entertainment and shopping area of London to the west of the City^*. The boundaries of the West End coincide closely with those of the W1 postcode area^[7] [postcode being the British counterpart of the Canadian postal code or American zip code].

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^* Note that the City^[5] is short for the City of London^[5] (not to be confused with the city of London). (show explanation ) Both the West End and the City of London would be considered to be within central London.

The City of London^[7] is a city and ceremonial county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the conurbation has since grown far beyond the City's borders. The City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. It is one of two districts of London to hold city status, the other being the adjacent City of Westminster.

It is widely referred to simply as the City (often written as just "City" and differentiated from the phrase "the city of London" by capitalising "City") and is also colloquially known as the Square Mile, as it is 1.12 sq mi (2.90 km²), in area. Both of these terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being largely based in the City. This is analogous to the use of the terms Wall Street and Bay Street to refer to the financial institutions located in New York and Toronto respectively.

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What did they say?

In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis describe the area in question as the London district that takes in Mayfair and Soho. Mayfair[5] is a fashionable and wealthy district in the West End of London, originally the site of a fair held annually in May in the 17th and 18th centuries. Soho*[7] is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable transformation. It now is predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues. * The name Soho[5] dates to the mid 17th century and probably derives from the old word soho, used as a hunting cry: the area was a royal park in Tudor times.

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Earwig^[5] is an informal British term meaning to eavesdrop on a conversation ⇒ he looked behind him to see if anyone was earwigging.

19a   Heart, perhaps, is initially eager /and/ direct (8)

21a   Successful run /of/ king after life (metaphorically) in turbulent water (7,6)

"king" = K (show explanation )

K^[5] is an abbreviation for king that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

hide explanation

In cricket, innings^[5] (plural same or informally inningses) can denote any of:

• each of two or four divisions of a game during which one side has a turn at batting ⇒ the highlight of the Surrey innings
• a player’s turn at batting ⇒ he had played his greatest innings
• the score achieved during a player’s turn at batting ⇒ a solid innings of 78 by Marsh.

In the first sense, the term innings (spelled with an 's') would correspond somewhat to an inning (spelled without an 's') in baseball while the second sense would be roughly equivalent to an at bat in baseball.

Metaphorically, an innings^[5] is a period during which a person or group is active or effective ⇒ Brewer stepped up to the commission and had his innings too.

24a   Income /generated by/ engineers replacing start of tree-lined road (7)

"engineers" = RE (show explanation )

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

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25a   Ruin fun and stagger, /showing/ force out of habit (7)

A habit^[5] is a long, loose garment worn by a member of a religious order ⇒ nuns in long brown habits, black veils, and sandals.

Unfrock^[5] is another term for defrock^[5] meaning to deprive (a person in holy orders) of ecclesiastical status ⇒ (i) he had left his diocese one step ahead of a move to defrock him; (ii) a defrocked French Catholic priest.

26a   Type // like this vacuous recruit (4)

So^[2] means in that [or this] state or condition [i.e., ‛like that’ or ‛like this’]  (i) promised to be faithful, and has remained so; (ii) She told him ‛I am single, and I plan to remain so.’.

27a   Popular item of underwear intended, reportedly, /for/ capital (10)

In Britain, a vest^[5] is an undergarment worn on the upper part of the body, typically having no sleeves. The garment that North Americans (as well as Australians) call a vest is known in the UK as a waistcoat.

Down

1d   Have a punt on // other side (4)

Punt^{[2,3,4,5,10,11]} is a chiefly British term which (as a verb) means to gamble or bet, especially against the bank (as in roulette and some card games such as faro), or on horses or other sporting events and (as a noun) denotes such a gamble or bet.

Back^[5] (verb) is used in the sense of to bet money on (a person or animal) winning a race or contest ⇒ he backed the horse at 33–1.

2d   Contracts // speeded up arguments (7)

3d   Criminal soon vilified by female/'s/ spatial perception (5,2,6)

4d   Furniture item // requiring copper lead on a rod, possibly (8)

"copper" = CU (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

"lead" = PB (show explanation )

The symbol for the chemical element lead is Pb^[5] (from Latin plumbum).

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Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, lead[5] could possibly be taken in the British sense of  a wire that conveys electric current from a source to an appliance, or that connects two points of a circuit together.

5d   Evenly poached -- ain't // much water (5)

7d   Robin circulates around first-class // capital (7)

"first-class" = AI (show explanation )

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] meaning first class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-class.

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Nairobi^[5] is the capital of Kenya. It is situated on the central Kenyan plateau at an altitude of 1,680 m (5,500 ft).

8d   He nicks your stuff // if he's taken amiss (5,5)

Nick^[5] is an informal British term meaning to steal ⇒ she nicked fivers from the till.

11d   Apparently // where hands must work round the clock ... (2,3,4,2,2)

On the face of it^[5] is a phrase meaning without knowing all of the relevant facts or apparently ⇒ on the face of it, these improvements look to be insignificant.

On the face of it the ellipses may look significant. However, they serve merely to enhance the surface reading (one is expected to read the two clues together as a single statement) and they play no role whatsoever in the cryptic reading of the clues.

13d   ... then, // behind parts of hospital (10)

16d   Stick out // rubbish hoarded by strait-laced type (8)

Rubbish^*[3,4,11] is used in the sense of foolish words or speech; in other words, nonsense.^* }

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

Rot^[3,4,11] is used in the sense of pointless talk or nonsense.

18d   Summarised // article pinched by hobo (3,4)

From a British perspective, hobo^[5] is a North American term for a tramp^*[5] or vagrant^**[5].

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^* a person who travels from place to place on foot in search of work or as a vagrant or beggar
^** a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging

A rover^[5] is a person who spends their time wandering.

20d   Annoying // a few, supporting church with no roof (7)

Kirk^[5] is a Scottish and Northern English term for a church.

22d   Harvest // acres within valley (5)

A.^[10] is the abbreviation for acre(s) or acreage.

A glen^[5] is a narrow valley, especially in Scotland or Ireland.

23d   Go around with no end of paper /for/ sketch (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