Monday, April 6, 2020 — DT 29157 (Published Saturday, April 4, 2020)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29157
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, September 16, 2019
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29157]
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
Notes
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, April {date}, 2020 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

My experience with this puzzle was not unlike that reported by many on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — off to a fast start and then quickly becoming bogged down. I did, however, manage to finish without resorting to electronic help.

On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, there are reports of people having attended the "Proms" or having watched them on television. The term prom^[5] (or Prom) is short for promenade concert^[5], a British name for a concert of classical music at which a part of the audience stands in an area without seating, for which tickets are sold at a reduced price. The most famous series of such concerts is the annual BBC Promenade Concerts (known as the Proms), instituted by Sir Henry Wood in 1895. Given that the performer at the concert discussed on Big Dave's blog is Barry Mannilow, it would seem that the Proms must have expanded its repertoire!

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Abbreviations — Part II

On Friday, I wrote about the use of abbreviations in cryptic crossword puzzles. I thought it might be interesting to have a look at some of the fields from which setters draw the abbreviations in their puzzles. Today, I have chosen the lowly pencil — the crossword solvers indispensable tool (unless you are confident enough to complete the puzzles in ink).

In my archives, I found three abbreviations related to pencils — or to be more precise — to pencil lead (one of which appears in today's puzzle):

• B^[5] is an abbreviation for black, as used in describing grades of pencil lead
• F^[5] is an abbreviation for fine, as used in describing grades of pencil lead
• H^[2,5] is an abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead

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.

Markup Conventions
"//" - marks the boundary between wordplay and definition when no link word or link phrase is present "/[link word or phrase]/" - marks the boundary between wordplay and definition when a link word or link phrase is present	"solid underline" - precise definition "dotted underline" - cryptic definition "dashed underline" - wordplay "double underline" - both wordplay and definition
Click here for further explanation and usage examples of markup conventions used on this blog.

Across

1a	Empty // tank container to be loaded (6)

5a	Curiosity // at home about bisecting experiment (8)

9a	Fine actor, he cracked up describing the old man /in/ an old western (4,6)

"fine " = F [pencil lead]

F^[5] is an abbreviation for fine, as used in describing grades of pencil lead.

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Note: Surprisingly, Oxford Dictionaries Online characterizes this usage as British

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The use of the word "describe(s)" (or "describing") as either a containment indicator or a hidden word indicator is a common cryptic crossword device which relies on describe^[1,2,12] being used in the sense of to trace out or delineate ⇒ skaters describing circles on the ice — although the idea would be much clearer were one to rephrase the example as the tracks made by the skaters' blades describing circles on the ice which is what is actually taking place.

Thus, in today's clue, we have F(ine) +  ORTACHE (anagram of ACTOR HE) containing (describing; outlining or forming a container around) PA (old man).

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Fort Apache^[7] is a 1948 American western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda.

10a	Perhaps an annual // charge (4)

The second definition brings to mind the 1970's American police television drama series Hawaii Five-0^[7] in which many episodes ended with Detective Captain Steve Mcgarrett issuing the order "Book 'em, Danno".

11a	Item handed down /from/ extremely humble Irish weaver? (8)

12a	Fame /achieved by/ some in theatre, now nobodies (6)

13a	Drop a // series of novels involving a family's history (4)

15a	Firm /that's/ manufactured our steel (8)

18a	Always swallowed by swimmer // with a temperature (8)

19a	Expert nursing husband /in/ pain (4)

21a	/This being/ fit to eat, // the Spanish stay over (6)

"the Spanish " = EL [Spanish definite article]

In Spanish, the masculine singular form of the definite article is el^[8].

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23a	Pest // is lying in shade (8)

25a	That woman, old // champion (4)

26a	Easy thing to do /in/ 'Peter Pan', say (6,4)

Peter Pan^[5] is a 1904 play by Scottish dramatist Sir J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) in which the title character is a boy with magical powers who never grew up.

Correcting the Record
On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops describes the play as a drama based on a book by J M Barrie. In actual fact, it was the other way around — the book was based on the play[7]. Barrie's stage play entitled Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premiered in 1904 in London. Barrie later adapted and expanded the play's storyline as a novel, published in 1911 as Peter and Wendy.

27a	Charge // impressed English (8)

28a	Wading bird // quietly settled across lake (6)

"quietly " = P [music notation]

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.

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The plover^[5] is a short-billed gregarious wading bird, typically found by water but sometimes frequenting grassland, tundra, and mountains.

Down

2d	Love // a party with endless wine (5)

"party " = DO

Do^[5,12] is an informal British^[5] or chiefly British^[12] term^* for a party or other social event ⇒ the soccer club Christmas do.

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^* although Webster’s New World College Dictionary^[12] supports the contention by Oxford Dictionaries Online^[5] that this usage is British, two other US dictionaries do not characterize do^[3,11] used in this sense as a British term

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3d	Take it in turns // to change a net at sea (9)

4d	Excellent // spinner following advice (6)

5d	Trendy school, // limited in scope (15)

Comprehensive^[5] is short for comprehensive school, a British term for a secondary school in which children of all abilities from a particular area are educated in one school.

Incomprehensive^[10] means not comprehensive; i.e., limited in range or scope.

6d	One developing ideas /in/ article on various riots (8)

7d	Bird/'s/ bill, gold colour on reflection (5)

Nib^[10] is used in the sense of a point, tip, or beak.

"gold colour " = OR [heraldic tincture]

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.

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8d	Head wearing sample // timing device (9)

14d	Get better workers in a time /leading to/ change (9)

16d	A shop, alas, mistreated // dog (5,4)

The Lhasa apso^[10] is a small dog of a Tibetan breed having a long straight dense coat, often gold or greyish, and a well-feathered tail carried curled over its back.

17d	Telegram about case confused // smart alec (8)

20d	Busy, // even at university! (4,2)

In Britain, up^[5] means at or to a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge ⇒ they were up at Cambridge about the same time.

22d	Flowering shrub /shown in/ British volume (5)

Broom^[5] is a flowering shrub with long, thin green stems and small or few leaves, cultivated for its profusion of flowers.

Prescient, or what?
On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops comments that This plant ... flowers all year round. It will stop doing so when kissing goes out of fashion. Well, that time may have just arrived!

24d	Constant speed /in/ decrepit car (5)

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 Advanced 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)
^[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon