Friday, January 19, 2018 — DT 28554

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28554
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28554]
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

Today's setter seems to have placed the bar at a moderate level giving us a fairly good workout without being overly taxing.

On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, you will often see reference made to the BRB. This stands for Big Red Book, a nickname for The Chambers Dictionary — which, just as the name says, is a big red book. The term is a play on the Little Red Book carried by the followers of Mao Tse-tung during the Cultural Revolution in China. You may also see reference made on Big Dave's site to the LRB which is a different Little Red Book. I believe this may refer — depending on who is using the term — to either The Chambers Thesaurus or The Chambers Crossword Dictionary which at 1216 pages and 1024 pages respectively are small (but just as red) compared to The Chambers Dictionary which weighs in at 1920 pages.

In the review of today's puzzle on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, there is a discussion at Comment #3 between Senf and Mr Kitty about differences between the online Chambers dictionary and the printed version in which Mr Kitty states "The dictionary that Chambers makes available online is the “Chambers 21st Century Dictionary”. It’s only a subset of the BRB". It would be more correct to say that the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary contains a subset of the words found in the BRB. It is my understanding that the material in the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary is not — or, at least, is not necessarily — drawn from The Chambers Dictionary but has been (in whole or in part) compiled separately. You will often find differences in spellings and even in meanings between the two dictionaries. The Chambers 21st Century Dictionary also lacks the whimsical definitions for which the BRB is famous, such as the following:

• mullet³ /mul' it/ n a hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round. [Perh from dialect mullethead a fool]

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   Steal // funds (6)

In the latter definition, pocket^[5] is used in the informal sense of a person's financial resources ⇒ the food was all priced to suit the hard-up airman's pocket.

4a   Sylvester kicks // shifty deceptive type (8)

Sly is a shortened form of the male given name Sylvester. Notable examples are Sly Stone^[7], frontman for the American band Sly and the Family Stone, and American actor Sylvester Stallone^[7].

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Although slyboots is a term with which I was unacquainted, it is found in both British and American dictionaries.

Slyboots^[3,4,5,10] (noun) denotes a sly person. A couple of the American dictionaries add some extra flavour to the word:

• Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary defines a slyboots^[11] as an engagingly sly or mischievous person
• Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines a slyboots^[12] as a person who is clever or crafty in an appealing or engaging way

While the word is not present in the online Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, my hardcopy edition of The Chambers Dictionary extends the meaning beyond humankind by defining slyboots^[1] as a sly or cunning person or animal.

9a   Located far away // in Baltimore motel (6)

10a   Really // popular result (2,6)

In effect^[3] denotes in essence or to all purposes ⇒ testimony that in effect contradicted her earlier statement.

11a   Religious man /in/ party, very short about article (9)

A Dominican^[5] is a member of the Roman Catholic order of preaching friars founded by St Dominic, or of a religious order for women founded on similar principles.

13a   Depressing experience without doubt, initially, /for/ proprietor (5)

14a   Show // diversion (13)

17a   New cocktails I prepared // the wrong way? (13)

Is the solution wrong or merely different? Perhaps the question mark is present because the setter had similar misgivings.

21a   Dish // quietly departed (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

23a   Heavy firepower, // ominous positioned in middle of major road (9)

24a   Drawing can put over a // tropical fruit (8)

A plantain^[5] is a banana containing high levels of starch and little sugar, which is harvested green and widely used as a cooked vegetable in the tropics.

Did you know ...?

... a banana[7] is botanically a berry. ... bananas do not grow on trees — in fact, the banana plant is a herb. The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure usually called a "corm". Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy, and are often mistaken for trees, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a "false stem" or pseudostem. ... wild bananas contain numerous large, hard seeds. In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit. As a result, cultivated bananas must be propagated using asexual techniques.

25a   Delighted, // American introduced to remarkable dame (6)

Here and There

From a British perspective, dame[5] — as we might think of it — is an informal North American term for a woman ⇒ a rich dame who took her husband to the cleaners. In the UK, dame[5] is the title given to a woman with the rank of Knight Commander or holder of the Grand Cross in the Orders of Chivalry ⇒ Dame Vera Lynn. Dame[4,5] (also pantomime dame) is a British term for a comic middle-aged female character in modern pantomime, usually played by a man.. On both sides of the pond, dame[3,4,5,11] is also an archaic, sometimes humorous, term for — or form of address for — a married, elderly, or mature woman ⇒ a matronly dame presided at the table.

26a   Occupant // let team inside (8)

Let^[5] is a chiefly British^* term meaning to allow someone to have the use of (a room or property) in return for regular payments ⇒ (i) she let the flat [apartment] to a tenant; (ii) they’ve let out their house.

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^* However, I seriously doubt that this word is quite as British as Oxford Dictionaries would have us believe.^[3,11]

"team" = SIDE (show explanation )

Side^[5] is a British term for a sports team ⇒ there was a mixture of old and young players in^* their side.

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^* Note that, in Britain, a player is said to be "in a side" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America.

In North America, the term side^[3] is used in a very general fashion that can denote one of two or more opposing individuals, groups, teams, or sets of opinions. While this same general usage would seem to exist as well in the UK, the term side^[5] is also used there in a much more specific sense to mean a sports team, as we can clearly see from the following usage examples ⇒ (i) Previous England rugby sides, and England teams in many other sports, would have crumbled under the weight of such errors.; (ii) They'll face better sides than this Monaco team, but you can only beat what's put in front of you.

hide explanation

27a   Second drink after work /may cause/ rumour (6)

I think Mr Kitty has included more in the definition than needs to be there. I suppose we could infer that a gossip is [one] who may cause rumour. However, rumour seems to me to be a perfectly good synonym for gossip in its own right.

Down

1d   Page with a notice in about // procession (6)

"page" = P (show explanation )

In textual references, the abbreviation for page is p^[5] ⇒ see p 784.

hide explanation

2d   Representative feeding domestic pet // cheese (9)

Camembert^[10] is a rich soft creamy cheese named for a village in Normandy where it originated.

3d   Formerly caught lying in shade // like a mammoth? (7)

"caught" = C (show explanation )

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.

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c.^[2,10] or c^[5] denotes caught (by).

hide explanation

The question mark may indicate that a mammoth is not the only creature to which this adjective applies — others being the dinosaur, the sabre-toothed tiger, the dodo, the passenger pigeon, etc.

5d   Household receptacle, // brand new, bishop takes out (5,6)

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

A bishop ^[5] is a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a mitre, that can move any number of spaces in any direction along a diagonal on which it stands. Each player starts the game with two bishops, one moving on white squares and the other on black.

hide explanation

Linen basket^[5] is a British term for a receptacle with a lid, for holding soiled clothing.

6d   Foolish person, // fan with nothing on (7)

7d   Once a warring // Indian, perhaps (5)

As an anagram indicator, I suppose one is to infer that warring would imply the existence of a state of confusion.

8d   Artist brought in statue damaged /in/ flood (8)

"artist" = RA (show explanation )

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[10]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5] (also Royal Academy; abbreviation also RA^[10]), an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. 

hide explanation

12d   Chapter on exploitation of poor helping // large firm (11)

The abbreviation for chapter (likely in textual references) is c.^[2]

15d   Team with groups taking time out /for/ tea break? (9)

Eleven^[5] is the number of players in^* a cricket^[7] side [team] or an Association football^[7] [soccer] team — and is frequently used as a metonym for such a team ⇒ at cricket I played in the first eleven.

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^* Note that in Britain a player is "in a side" or "in a team" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America.

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Elevenses^[5] is an informal British term for a short break for light refreshments, usually with tea or coffee, taken about eleven o’clock in the morning.

The question mark may be alluding to the fact that the light refreshment taken is not necessarily tea.

16d   Skirted musician /bringing/ silver flute into empty bar (8)

The symbol for the chemical element silver is Ag^[5] from Latin argentum

18d   Conservative, inflamed, // violated rules (7)

"Conservative" = C (show explanation )

The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.^[10] or Con.^[10].

The Conservative Party^[5] is a a major British political party that emerged from the old Tory Party^* under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s. Since the Second World War, it has been in power 1951–64, 1970-74, and 1979–97. It governed in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats from 2010 until the general election of May 2015, in which it was returned with a majority.

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^* Historically, a Tory^[10] was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.

hide explanation

19d   Left hanging // on one climbing astride branch (2,5)

20d   Looked at // central spot on high, taking in diameter (4,2)

22d   Gather // in the morning on a steamship (5)

Setters more often than not give us only "ship" from which we must deduce that they mean 'steamship' (abbreviation SS^[10]). However, today's setter spells it out for us.

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