Thursday, January 11, 2018 — DT 28548

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28548
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28548]
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

Again, not an overly taxing puzzle today but thoroughly enjoyable.

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   Briefly Commander Bond/'s/ put in danger (10)

Com.^[10] is the abbreviation for Commander.

Scratching the Surface
James Bond[5] is a fictional British secret agent in the spy novels of English author Ian Fleming (1908–1964). Bond[7] is an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. He is known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander.

6a   Further // returns in private bank (4)

9a   In favour of wearing an // aid in the kitchen? (5)

10a   River rose high -- // it holds a lot of water (9)

Just as drunk can be an anagram indicator, so too can high.

12a   A permit held by the // runner? (7)

The question mark indicates that "runner" is but one example of the solution.

13a   Mark /gets/ married in dazed state (5)

A punctuation mark, to be precise.

15a   Article I criticise about // 'brutes' (7)

17a   A tragedy's beginning in that place? (7)

This is an all-in-one clue, a clue in which the entire clue is both wordplay and definition.

19a   Country // dancing nice with lad (7)

21a   Wash out // most of military clothing (7)

Wash out^[3] means to deplete or become depleted of vitality ⇒ By evening, I was washed out from overwork.

I must say that this is not a term with which I am familiar. Personally, I would likely say ⇒ By evening, I was wiped-out^[12] out from overwork.

It seems this is like doing the dishes, you wash, I wipe.

22a   Is to take legal action against // children (5)

24a   Help /from/ gullible person, we hear (7)

27a   Same rice prepared around 100 // desserts (3,6)

28a   Female informally is not // dim (5)

29a   Odour getting rid of male // hawk (4)

30a   What the captain possibly shows // the Queen in metal vessel (10)

"the Queen" = ER (show explanation )

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

hide explanation

Down

1d   Rabbit // caught beaver, perhaps (4)

"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

Historically, beaver^[5] was the name of a hat made of felted beaver fur.

Rabbit^[5] is an informal British term meaning

• (noun) a conversation ⇒ we had quite a heated rabbit about it
• (verb) rabbit^[5] to talk at length, especially about trivial matters ⇒ stop rabbiting on, will you, and go to bed!

Delving Deeper

The term rabbit (meaning talk) comes from the Cockney rhyming slang "rabbit and pork" meaning "talk" [yes, apparently 'pork' rhymes with 'talk' when pronounced in some English accents — although this may not be the best of examples*]. In Cockney rhyming slang, the slang word is obtained by replacing a word (in this case, "talk") by a phrase with which it rhymes ("rabbit and pork") and then dropping the rhyming word from the phrase. Through this process, "talk" becomes "rabbit". * I have heard said that there are as many as fifty or more regional accents in the UK so the similarity in sound is likely true for at least one of them

2d   Mother ordered Garnier // product made with vegetable oil (9)

Scratching the Surface
Garnier[7] is a mass market cosmetics brand of French cosmetics company L'Oréal. It produces hair care and skin care products. The company started as Laboratoires Garnier in 1904, and was acquired by L'Oréal in the 1970s.

3d   Managed cattle here, initially? (5)

In this semi-all-in-one clue, the entire clue (which I have marked with a dashed underline) is wordplay and the portion with the solid underline is the definition.

4d   Trades // book and gets cover removed (7)

The Gospel According to Mark^[7] is the second book of the New Testament and one of the four canonical gospels contained therein.

Delving Deeper
Traditionally thought to be an epitome (summary) of Matthew, which accounts for its place as the second gospel in the Bible, most scholars now regard The Gospel According to Mark as the earliest of the gospels, dating from c. AD 66–70. Most scholars also reject the tradition which ascribes it to Mark the Evangelist, the companion of Peter, and regard it as the work of an unknown author.

5d   Dubious // guess (7)

7d   Black range /is/ essential for a witch (5)

B^[5] is an abbreviation for black used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ 2B pencils.

8d   Intimidated // small number clutching at study being overturned (10)

11d   Most fruitful // case to follow scripture lessons (7)

RI^[10] is the abbreviation for religious instruction which in England refers to the teaching of a particular religion^*.

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^* According to Wikipedia, "In secular usage, religious education^[7] is the teaching of a particular religion (although in England the term religious instruction would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with religious education referring to teaching about religions in general) ..."

14d   Unfortunately cities fail /to provide/ resources (10)

16d   Lay // a rug -- with regret, that has to be taken up (7)

18d   Fighter is swimming // predator in African rivers (5,4)

The tiger fish^[1] (Hydrocyenus goliath) is a large game fish of African rivers.

Delving Deeper

Several species belonging to the genus Hydrocynus of the family Alestidae are referred to as tigerfish[7] and are particularly prized as game fish. These African fish are found in many rivers and lakes on the continent and are fierce predators with distinctive, proportionally large teeth. The goliath tigerfish (Hydrocynus goliath) is among the most famous tigerfish. The largest one on record is said to have weighed 70 kg (154 pounds). Another famous species, simply called the tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus), is considered Africa's equivalent of the South American piranha, though it belongs to a completely different zoological family. Like the piranha, individual tigerfish have interlocking, razor-sharp teeth, along with streamlined, muscular bodies, and are extremely aggressive and capable predators who often hunt in groups. The African tigerfish is the first freshwater fish recorded and confirmed to attack and catch birds in flight.

Note on Spelling
The Chambers Dictionary and Oxford Dictionaries spell the name of the fish as tiger fish[1,5] while Wikepedia spells it as tigerfish[7]. Oxford Dictionaries and Wikipedia spell the genus as Hydrocynus[5,7] while The Chambers Dictionary spells it as Hydrocyenus[1].

20d   Illness /in/ facility headed by detectives (7)

"detective" = DI (show explanation )

A detective inspector (DI^[5]) is a senior police officer in the UK. Within the British police, inspector^[7] is the second supervisory rank. It is senior to that of sergeant, but junior to that of chief inspector. Plain-clothes detective inspectors are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix 'detective' identifying them as having been trained in criminal investigation and being part of or attached to their force's Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

hide explanation

21d   Fixed // chapter from rising American editor (7)

23d   Toff /and/ wife stuck in traffic (5)

Toff^[5] is a derogatory, informal British term for a rich or upper-class person.

Swell^[5] is dated slang for a fashionable or stylish person of wealth or high social position ⇒ a crowd of city swells.

25d   Rotten pears not oddly // tender (5)

Off^[10] (said of food or drink) means having gone bad, sour, etc ⇒ this milk is off.

26d   Raised a large sum of money /for/ Scotch (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