Monday, January 22, 2018 — DT 28555 (Published Saturday, January 20, 2018)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28555
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28555]
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
Notes
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, January 20, 2018 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

It may only be Monday, but you need to put on your Wednesday solving hat today as Jay puts us through our paces in a British mid-week puzzle..

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   Run /in/ election, Attorney-General having been rejected (6)

5a   Independent group following worker/'s/ protection against infection (8)

"independent" = I (show explanation )

I^[1] is the abbreviation for independent, in all likelihood in the context of a politician with no party affiliation.

hide explanation

"worker" = ANT (show explanation )

The word "worker" and the phrase "social worker" are commonly used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue ANT or BEE.

A worker^[5] is a neuter or undeveloped female bee, wasp, ant, or other social insect, large numbers of which do the basic work of the colony.

In crossword puzzles, "worker" will most frequently be used to clue ANT and occasionally BEE but I have yet to see it used to clue WASP. Of course, "worker" is sometimes also used to clue HAND or MAN.

hide explanation

9a   Sadly many pensioners will have no answer /for/ sources of income (5-8)

Money-spinner^[5] is a British term for a thing that brings in a profit ⇒ we hoped this show would be a money-spinner. A similar expression — and one used on both sides of the pond — is cash cow^[5].

10a   Sophisticated // girl coming out on song (8)

11a   Contents of wordy article printed by popular // decree (6)

12a   Hit, /and/ unable to move across river (6)

14a   End of promotions should come after flogging // lots (8)

Lashings^[5] is an informal British term for a copious amount of something, especially food or drink ⇒ chocolate cake with lashings of cream.

What did they say?

In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis write We always associate the answer with Enid Blyton and ginger beer. Enid Blyton[5] (1897–1968) was an English writer of children’s fiction. Her best-known creation for young children is the character Noddy, who first appeared in 1949; her books for older children include the series of Famous Five and Secret Seven adventure stories. The Famous Five[7] is a series of children's adventure novels written by English author Enid Blyton. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, was published in 1942. The novels feature the adventures of a group of young children – Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina (George) – and George's dog Timmy. The settings for the stories are almost always rural and enable the children to discover the simple joys of cottages, islands, the English and Welsh countryside and sea shores, as well as an outdoor life of picnics, lemonade, bicycle trips and swimming. However, a footnote states "The supposed quote "lashings of ginger beer" does not appear in any of the books."

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, flog[5] is used in the informal British sense of to sell or offer for sale ⇒ he made a fortune flogging beads to hippies.

16a   Managing director /reveals/ someone owed a debt (8)

19a   Oxygen's needed by fool grabbing tail of savage // cat (6)

The symbol for the chemical element oxygen is O^[5].

Clot^[5] is an informal British term for a foolish or clumsy person ⇒ Watch where you’re going, you clot!.

21a   Irish county town's beginning /to make/ wine? (6)

Clare^[5] is a county of the Republic of Ireland, on the west coast in the province of Munster.

Claret^[5] is a red wine from Bordeaux, or wine of a similar character made elsewhere.

23a   Left // section in action (8)

25a   Coins once /found by/ men on board belonging to crew (6,2,5)

A piece^[5] is a figure or token used to make moves in a board game ⇒ a chess piece.

What did they say?

In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis write The men on board could be pawns or bishops .... It would appear that a pawn is not considered to be a piece in chess. In chess, a piece[5] is a king, queen, bishop, knight, or rook, as opposed to a pawn ⇒ indicate which piece or pawn is taken. However, Oxford Dictionaries is hardly consistent, defining a pawn[5] to be a chess piece of the smallest size and value, ...

An eight^[5] is an eight-oared rowing boat or its crew.

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Historically, a piece of eight^[5] was a Spanish dollar, equivalent to 8 reals.

26a   Cut down on // relaxation after December -- right? (8)

27a   Speaks about system of voting /for/ wets (6)

Proportional representation^[5] (abbreviation PR) is an electoral system in which parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them ⇒ PR has been a success in Germany.

Scratching the Surface

Wet[5] (noun)  is an informal British term for a person lacking forcefulness or strength of character ⇒ there are sorts who look like gangsters and sorts who look like wets. In British political circles, the name wet[5] is applied to a Conservative with liberal tendencies ⇒ the wets favoured a change in economic policy. It was a term frequently used by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for those to the left of her in the British Conservative Party [which must have been just about everyone].

Down

2d   Give weapons to others /in/ support (7)

3d   Fast bowler's second /is/ slow (5)

In the Christian Church, Lent^[5] is the period preceding Easter, which is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church^* it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, and so includes forty weekdays [excluding the six Sundays that fall during this period but including Saturdays].

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^* It would be more correct to say "Protestant churches" as Lent is defined differently in the Roman Catholic Church^[7].

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Lento^[5] is a musical term meaning (especially as a direction) slow or slowly.

Scratching the Surface

In cricket, a bowler[5] is member of the fielding side who bowls or is bowling — bowling[7] being  the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. There are different types of bowlers[7] ranging from fast bowlers, whose primary weapon is pace, through swing and seam bowlers who try to make the ball deviate in its course through the air or when it bounces, to slow bowlers, who will attempt to deceive the batsmen with a variety of flight and spin. A spin bowler usually delivers the ball quite slowly and puts spin on the ball causing it to bounce at an angle off the pitch.

4d   Bread wrapper taken from work? (3,6)

Pay packet^[5] is the British term for pay envelope, an envelope containing an employee's wages.

5d   Dress /is/ concerning, held in disgust (7)

6d   Label covering new and old // dance music (5)

7d   Engineers employed by poor business may be on this, financially (9)

In this semi-all-in-one clue, the entire clue is the definition in which the wordplay (marked by a dashed underline) is embedded.

Here and There

Oxford Dictionaries makes a fine — and not overly compelling — distinction between British and North American usage of the term breadline. Breadline[5,10] is a North American term for a queue [line] of people waiting to receive free food given out by a government agency or a charity organization. The breadline[5,10] (seemingly usually in the phrase 'on the breadline') is a British term denoting the poorest condition in which it is acceptable to live ⇒ they are not well off, but they are not on the breadline. I would suspect that this may be an American term that has been adopted into British English. After all, if it were a British term, it would surely have been a bread queue.

8d   Smart // dogs regularly fed with a cut of beef (7)

Shin^[3,4] is a chiefly British term [although known to at least one American dictionary] for a cut of meat from the lower foreleg of beef cattle.

13d   Slip perhaps // reporting to battle full of energy (9)

"energy" = E (show explanation )

In physics, E^[5] is a symbol used to represent energy in mathematical formulae.

hide explanation

15d   Station crowd /gets/ breaking news (4,5)

Stop press^[5] is a British term for late news inserted in a newspaper or periodical either at the last moment before printing or after printing has begun (especially as a heading) ⇒ stop-press news.

17d   Strangely asleep after run, /showing/ setback to recovery (7)

"run" = R (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards [not to mention baseball scoreboards], the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

In cricket, a run^[5] is a unit of scoring achieved by hitting the ball so that both batsmen are able to run between the wickets, or awarded in some other circumstances.

hide explanation

18d   Wine resurrected /in/ Lancashire? (3,4)

Lancashire Rose

The Red Rose of Lancaster^[7] is the county flower of Lancashire.

The rose was first adopted as an heraldic device by the first Earl of Lancaster. It was one of the badges of Henry IV of England, the first king of the House of Lancaster. Following the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, it became the emblem of Lancashire.

Delving Deeper
Yorkshire Rose Tudor Rose
The rose is the national flower of England[7], a usage dating back to the English civil wars of the fifteenth century (later called Wars of the Roses), in which a red rose represented the House of Lancaster, and a white rose represented the House of York. The Tudor dynasty created the Tudor rose, which united both the white and the red roses.

20d   Too full of themselves at first, // for all to see (7)

22d   Health e-tailers must enclose // letter (5)

Theta^[5] is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet (Θ, θ).

24d   Chap // that's understood? (5)

Roger^[5] is an informal term used to express assent or understanding^* ⇒ ‘Go light the stove.’ ‘Roger, Mister Bossman,’ Frank replied.

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^* This general usage has likely been adopted from radio communication, where roger^[5] is used to indicate (to the sender) that a message has been received ⇒ Roger; we’ll be with you in about ten minutes.

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