Thursday, January 18, 2018 — DT 28553

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28553
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, October 9, 2017
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28553]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

With today's puzzle, Rufus has dialled the difficulty level down a notch or two from where it has been set recently. The difficulty level has been somewhat like the temperature here in Ottawa — +10 °C one day and -20 °C the next.

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   Giving up work /and/ going to bed (10)

9a   Vagrant /joins/ fireside circle (4)

Although a hob is located beside a fire, is the word truly synonymous with fireside?
A hob^[5] is a flat metal shelf at the side of a fireplace, having its surface level with the top of the grate and used especially for heating pans.

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops describes hob as an archaic name for an oven or fireplace. I was not able to substantiate the claim that hob was ever another name for an oven or fireplace. Oxford Dictionaries says that hob[5] in the sense of ‘metal shelf by a fireplace’, dates from the late 17th century.

Modern Usage
Hob[10] is a British term for the flat top part of a cooking stove, or a separate flat surface, containing hotplates [electrical heating elements] or burners [gas heating elements].

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From a British perspective, hobo^[5] is a North American term for a homeless person; in other words, a tramp or vagrant.

10a   Infuriated /when/ pact with police is broken (10)

11a   Paper /required/ that's first edition (6)

12a   Perform in the theatre? (7)

In this instance, the setter is generous in in flagging the cryptic definition with question mark ...

15a   One's success may be in the balance (7)

... but in this instance, he is in a more parsimonious mood.

16a   Listener gains two points /and/ makes money (5)

17a   Found /and/ thrown out (4)

18a   Board contest that calls for a series of counter-moves (4)

A counter^[5] is a small disc used in board games for keeping the score or as a place marker.

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Ludo^[5] is the British name for a board game in in which players move counters round a board according to throws of a dice.

Delving Deeper

Ludo (from Latin ludo, "I play") is a strategy board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to the rolls of a single die. Ludo is derived from the Indian game Pachisi, but simpler. The earliest evidence of this game in India is the depiction of boards on the caves of Ajanta (which date to the 2nd century BC). In England, Pachisi was modified to use a cubic die with dice cup and patented as "Ludo" in 1896. The Royal Navy took Ludo and converted it into a board game called Uckers (as mentioned by Salty Dog in Comment #24 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog). The game and its variations are popular in many countries and under various names. In North America, the game is sold under the brand name Parcheesi. Variations of the game are sold under the brand names Sorry!, Aggravation, and Trouble.

As a child, I actually owned a copy of this game — part of a compendium of board games which must have been imported from the UK — and so I am very familiar with the British name.

19a   Exclude // from French licensed premises (5)

"from French" = DE (show explanation )

In French, de^[8] is a preposition meaning 'of'' or 'from'.

hide explanation

21a   One's choice will get cross (7)

22a   Dialect around // the Kremlin? (7)

Here, the question mark indicates that "the Kremlin" is an example of the required solution.

A kremlin^[5] is a citadel within a Russian town with the Kremlin^[5] denoting  the citadel in Moscow.

24a   I had to stand in line -- /it's/ neater (6)

27a   Made a claim /that should be/ upheld (10)

28a   Area /of/ Israeli city (4)

Acre^[5] (also called Akko) is an seaport of Israel.

29a   Temple // altar, perhaps, inlaid with sort of nacre (10)

In biblical use, a tabernacle^[5] is a fixed or movable dwelling, typically of light construction. The Tabernacle was a tent used as a sanctuary for the Ark of the Covenant by the Israelites during the Exodus and until the building of the Temple. Tabernacle^[10] is also a name for the Jewish Temple regarded as the shrine of the divine presence.

Down

2d   Eastern agent /gets/ notice (4)

3d   Undermine // brat with look (6)

4d   Team endlessly receiving rising cheers /gets/ lift (7)

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.

Cheers^[5] is an informal British expression of gratitude or acknowledgement for something ⇒ Billy tossed him the key. ‘Cheers, pal.’.

Ta^[5] is an informal British exclamation signifying thank you ⇒‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully.

5d   Some at school may hoard // tuck (4)

Tuck^[5] is a dated, informal British term for food eaten by children at school as a snack ⇒ (i) our parents provided us with a bit of money to buy tuck with; (ii) they send me a tuck box every month.

6d   Ecstatic, heading off madly /to make/ plans (7)

7d   Going home /and/ staying in? (10)

I am not aware that this question mark carries any particular significance.

8d   Genuine hard work -- // to the lions anyhow (6,4)

12d   Bands /of/ gold put on box by artists (10)

"gold" = OR (show explanation )

Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture.

In heraldry, a tincture^[5] is any of the conventional colours (including the metals and stains, and often the furs) used in coats of arms.

hide explanation

"artists" = 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

13d   Long-running TV programme // possibly needs a rest (10)

EastEnders^[7] is an award-winning British soap opera which has been broadcast on BBC One since 1985. Set in Albert Square in the East End of London in the fictional Borough of Walford, the programme follows the stories of local residents and their families as they go about their daily lives. Consistently among the top-rated TV programmes in Britain, it has tackled many dilemmas that are considered to be controversial and taboo issues in British culture and social life previously unseen on United Kingdom mainstream television.

14d   Keen /to show/ hesitation about decline? (5)

Does the question mark here indicate that the setter is suggesting that "age" may not necessarily be synonymous with "decline"?

15d   Extravaganza composed to entertain // WWI troops? (5)

Once again, as in 22a, the question mark signals a definition by example.

An Anzac^[5] was a soldier in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (1914–18).

19d   Step on it before the opening (7)

20d   A hot rod driver (7)

23d   CIA and RAF in collusion? A film was made out of it (6)

Out of Africa^[7] is a 1985 American epic romantic drama film directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, and starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. The film is based loosely on the autobiographical book Out of Africa written by Isak Dinesen (the pseudonym of Danish author Karen Blixen), which was published in 1937, with additional material from Dinesen's book Shadows on the Grass and other sources. This film received 28 film awards, including seven Academy Awards.

25d   Branch // member (4)

26d   Have some sense, // charge learner (4)

"learner" = L (show explanation )

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

hide explanation

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