Friday, February 9, 2018 — DT 28569

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28569
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, October 27, 2017
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28569]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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 Giovanni should not cause one to work up much of a sweat.

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   Entitlement to enter good French /or/ English city (8)

The masculine singular form of the French adjective meaning good is bon^[8].

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Brighton^[5] is a resort on the south coast of England, in East Sussex; population 127,700 (est. 2009).

6a   A theologian I brought to court /as/ sort of abuser? (6)

"theologian" = DD (show explanation )

Doctor of Divinity^[7] (abbreviation D.D. or DD, Divinitatis Doctor in Latin) is an advanced academic degree in divinity.

Historically, the degree of Doctor of Divinity identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects. In the United Kingdom, Doctor of Divinity has traditionally been the highest doctorate granted by universities, usually conferred upon a religious scholar of standing and distinction. In the United States, the Doctor of Divinity is usually awarded as an honorary degree.

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"court" = CT (show explanation )

Ct^[2] is the abbreviation for Court in street addresses — and possibly in other contexts as well.

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9a   Troublemaker /showing/ ill-feeling around back of bar (6)

10a   Person of note going from bar to bar (8)

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat describes this clue as a Cryptic definition of one whose business is to read and play the notes written in bars on a stave. Stave[5] is a British term — or maybe not (show explanation ) — for the set of lines and spaces on which music is written that is more commonly known in North American as a staff[1,2,3,4,10,11]. Both Oxford Dictionaries and Collins English Dictionary characterize stave[1,2,3,4,5,10,11] as a British term, although American dictionaries do not seem to consider this to be the case. Furthermore, most dictionaries show stave[1,2,3,4,10,11] as an alternative term for staff[1,2,3,4,10,11]. Oxford Dictionaries, on the other hand, takes a contrarian view, listing staff[5] as an alternative term for stave[5]. hide explanation A bar[7] (or measure) is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats, each of which are assigned a particular note value. The word bar is more common in British English, and the word measure is more common in American English, although musicians generally understand both usages. Originally, the word bar derives from the vertical lines drawn through the staff [or stave] to mark off metrical units. In British English, the vertical line is also known as a bar, but often the term bar-line is used in order to avoid confusion between the two meanings of bar. In American English, the word bar stands for the lines and nothing else.

11a   Mum, more elegant, /seen as/ dangerous woman (3-5)

Maneater^[3] (or man-eater^[5]) is American slang (or an informal British term) for a sexually aggressive woman who has multiple male sexual partners and is considered to be scheming or manipulative.

12a   Yen to get ahead of schedule /producing/ annual publication (6)

"yen" = Y (show explanation )

The yen^[5] (abbreviation Y^[5])  is the basic monetary unit of Japan.

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13a   Enlisted with camp reorganised /in/ movement to a different location (12)

16a   One sort of spider // that brings in the cash (5-7)

Money-spinner^[1] is another term for a money spider^[5], a very small shiny black spider which is supposed to bring financial luck^*.

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^* Spiders of the family Linyphidae^[7] are known as money spiders in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and in Portugal, from the superstition that if such a spider is seen running on you, it has come to spin you new clothes, meaning financial good fortune.

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Money-spinner^[5] is a British expression 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].

19a   Let out, // learner relaxed (6)

"learner | student" = 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.

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Let^[5] is a 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]

21a   Hip teacher -- he put out zany // diagram for maths class (3,5)

In Britain, the short form for mathematics is maths^[5] ⇒ her mother was a maths teacher, rather than math^[5] as is the case in North America ⇒ she teaches math and science.

23a   Scripture this person smuggled into county, /showing/ commitment (8)

The use of the word "scripture" is a departure from the customary "religious books" — or merely the word "books" — to clue the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT). Today's setter, as is frequently the case, provides no indication whether the reference is to the former or the latter.

"this person" = I (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

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Devon^[5] (also called Devonshire) is a county of southwestern England.

24a   University lecturer is key-holder, // a renowned chemist (6)

A don^[10] is a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.

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John Dalton^[5] (1766–1844) was an English chemist, father of modern atomic theory. He defined an atom as the smallest part of a substance that could participate in a chemical reaction and argued that elements are composed of atoms. He stated that elements combine in definite proportion and produced the first table of comparative atomic weights.

25a   Way // something wooden is implanted into stone (6)

The stone^[5] (abbreviation st^[5]) is a British unit of weight equal to 14 lb (6.35 kg) ⇒ I weighed 10 stone.

26a   Proud walker -- // good person accompanying king, say (8)

"king" = R (show explanation )

In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms^*, Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

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^* A Commonwealth realm^[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.

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Behind the Video

The video used by Deep Threat in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog comes from Oklahoma![7], a 1955 musical film based on the 1943 stage musical Oklahoma!, written by composer Richard Rodgers, and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The scene in the clip features Gordon MacRae as Curly, Shirley Jones (in her film debut) as Laurey, and Charlotte Greenwood as Aunt Eller. Oklahoma! is notable as the first feature film photographed in the Todd-AO 70 mm widescreen process (and was simultaneously filmed in CinemaScope 35mm).

Down

2d   Parrot // to have hidden under material (6)

Rep^[5] (also repp) is a fabric with a ribbed surface, used in curtains and upholstery.

3d   Cunning // guy will, from what we hear (5)

4d   See artist struggling /with/ compositions (9)

5d   I may be seen as the first one that's positive (7)

As Deep Threat indicates in his review, "I is ... a Roman arithmetic quantity greater than zero". Of course, for the ancient Romans, there was no other kind as there is no way to represent negative numbers — or even zero — in Roman numerals.

6d   Try // when given influence in decision-making (5)

Assay^[5] (verb) is an archaic term meaning to attempt ⇒ I assayed a little joke of mine on him.

7d   Speech-maker // got back, having switched ends (9)

8d   Cold and inexperienced, Heather /is/ moving slowly (8)

Ling^[5] is another name for the common heather^[5], a purple-flowered Eurasian heath that grows abundantly on moorland and heathland.

13d   Set of rules for some who are buttoned up? (5,4)

Scratching the Surface
Buttoned up[10] (or buttoned-up) is an informal term meaning very reserved and unwilling to disclose personal information ⇒ the buttoned-up wife of an English clergyman.

14d   Trick proposal /made by/ candidate (9)

15d   Very little energy in second // part of symphony (8)

A movement^[5] is a principal division of a longer musical work, self-sufficient in terms of key, tempo, and structure ⇒ the slow movement of his violin concerto.

17d   With mischief-makers around, death // is about to happen (7)

18d   Love in wood /is/ pleasurable experience (6)

"love" = O (show explanation )

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).

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Groove^[10] is a slang term for an experience, event, etc, that is groovy^*.

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^* attractive, fashionable, or exciting

20d   Doctor with one foot under // pile of snow? (5)

22d   Servant // trashing hotel (5)

A helot^[5] was a member of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta, intermediate in status between slaves and citizens.

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