Tuesday, April 28, 2020 — DT 29173

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29173
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, October 4, 2019
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29173]
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

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat tells us that he "was close to awarding **** for difficulty". Well, I certainly have no hesitation in voting in support of that extra star for difficulty.

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

Abbreviations — Part XIX

In our ongoing examination of abbreviations that have appeared over the years, today we look at those related to transportation. I've stretched the category to include a term from motorsport given that it is featured in today's puzzle. Once again, we see that rarely is anything too old or too obscure to show up in a puzzle.

Abbreviation	Stands for	Additional Information
BEA	British European Airways	British airline that ceased operations in 1974.
F1	Formula One	Highest class of single-seat auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
GT	Gran Turismo (Italian)	In English, "grand touring"; a fast but comfortable sports car.
GTO	Gran Turismo Omogato (Italian)	Pontiac muscle car named for Ferrari GTO race car; production ceased in 1974. the Italian term means "officially certified for racing in the grand touring class".
I	Interstate	As the Brits would say "a US motorway [see below] running between states".
M	Motorway	British name for a controlled access divided highway
M1	Motorway between London and Leeds	Used by setters to clue the letter combination MI.
MOT	Ministry of Transport	Short for MOT test, a compulsory annual test for safety and exhaust emissions in the UK.
SR	Southern Region (originally Southern Railway)	The name changed in 1948 when the old Southern Railway became an operating unit within the newly formed British Railways; ceased to exist in 1992.

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	Doris cavorting by couch, // undressed (8)

6a	Office worker // is pretty stupid, about to be sacked (6)

Post Mortem
I'm afraid that I missed both the anagram and, the deletion. I was trying to find someway of interpreting "sacked" as an instruction to put "is" between "pretty" and "stupid" — and still coming up short of a solution. I definitely felt "pretty stupid" when I read Deep Threat's explanation.

9a	Limit // damage produced by drink (6)

10a	Set of books this writer wrapped in paper // in tasteful style (8)

"set of books " = NT

In Crosswordland, the term "books" and phrases such as "collection of books", "set of books" or "religious books" are commonly used to clue either the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT). Today, as is often the case, the clue provides no indication whether the reference is to the former or the latter.

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"this writer " = I

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, (the or this) speaker, (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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11a	Lover /makes/ soldier lament no end (8)

Para^[4,11] (short for paratrooper) is a soldier in an airborne unit.

12a	Thin // little girl with musical instrument (6)

Without a doubt, Diana (often appearing in its diminutive form Di) is the most popular female name in Crosswordland.

13a	Left in desolate place with little money, engineers // building for community (6,6)

Heath^[5] is a British term for an area of open uncultivated land, typically on acid sandy soil, with characteristic vegetation of heather, gorse, and coarse grasses.

The cent^[5] is a monetary unit in various countries^*, equal to one hundredth of a dollar, euro, or other decimal currency unit. However, in Britain — despite having adopted a decimal currency system — one hundredth of a pound is known as a penny rather than a cent.

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^* Collins English Dictionary lists some 85 jurisdictions having the cent^[10] as a monetary unit worth one hundredth of their respective standard units (show list ).

American Samoa, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Brunei, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guyana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Micronesia, Monaco, Montenegro, Namibia, Nauru, the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Surinam, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, the United States, the Vatican City, the Virgin Islands, and Zimbabwe.

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"engineers " = RE [Royal Engineers]

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

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16a	Nasty ice on side bed -- // problem in the earliest garden? (12)

The Garden of Eden^[5] is the place where Adam and Eve lived in the biblical account of the Creation, from which they were expelled for disobediently eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

19a	Getting rid of // top motorsport group (6)

"top motorsport " = FI [F1 or Formula One]

Formula One^[7] (also Formula 1 or F1 and officially the FIA Formula One World Championship) is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The "formula", designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, to which all participants' cars must conform. The F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix (from French, meaning grand prizes), held worldwide on purpose-built circuits and public roads.

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21a	Periodic times /making/ us sad yet resolved (8)

The period between recurrences of these times is known as a week.

I can suggest a couple of explanations for the use of the word "resolved" as an anagram indicator. Perhaps resolve^[5] is being used in the the sense (said of something seen at a distance) to turn into a different form when seen more clearly ⇒ the orange light resolved itself into four roadwork lanterns. Alternatively, the explanation might be more whimsical. One might consider that given the set of letters comrising the fodder, one way of solving the anagram is to put the letters in the order presented in the clue itself. However, one could "re-solve" the anagram by putting the letters in a different order; namely, the order needed to produce the solution to the clue.

23a	Giving // party attended by group of people (8)

24a	Tree // illuminated, one at back of church (6)

Litchi is an alternative spelling of lychee^[2] (also lichee), a tree bearing small fruit with sweet white juicy flesh enclosing a single seed, originally from China but now widely cultivated in many tropical regions.

25a	The Parisian coming to Chichester maybe /as/ a tenant (6)

"the Parisian ) " = LES [French definite article (plural)]

In French, the plural form of the definite article is les^[8].

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Chichester^[5] is a city in southern England, the county town of West Sussex and seat of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester^[7].

A see^[10] is the diocese (show more ) of a bishop, or the place within it where his cathedral (show more ) or procathedral (show more ) is situated.

A diocese^[5] is a district under the pastoral care of a bishop in the Christian Church — or, more precisely, episcopal churches.

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A cathedral^[5] is the principal church of a diocese, with which the bishop is officially associated.

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A pro-cathedral^[5] (or procathedral^[10]) is a church used as a substitute for a cathedral.

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26a	Grounds under water? (8)

Perhaps the setter has intended to misdirect our attention to fishing grounds.

Grounds^[5] are solid particles, especially of coffee, which form a residue; in other words, sediment.

Down

2d	Scotsman outside wicked // African city (6)

Ian^[7] (also Iain) is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, corresponding to English/Hebrew John. It is a common name for a Scotsman — and especially so in Crosswordland where it likely ranks a close second to Diana it overall popularity as a name.

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Ibadan^[5] is the second largest city of Nigeria, situated 160 km (100 miles) north-east of Lagos.

3d	One sort of music /or/ another introducing Georgia (5)

A rag^[5] is a ragtime^* composition or tune.

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^* Ragtime^[5] is a kind of music evolved by black American musicians in the 1890s and played especially on the piano, characterized by a syncopated melodic line and regularly accented accompaniment ⇒ ragtime piano classics.

"Georgia " = GA

Not only is GA^[5] the abbreviation for the US state of Georgia in official postal use, but Ga^[10] is a common abbreviation for Georgia in other contexts as well.

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Ragga^[5] is a style of dance music originating in Jamaica and derived from reggae^*, in which a DJ improvises lyrics over a sampled or electronic backing track. Although the music may derive from reggae, the name apparently does not. It comes from from ragamuffin, because of the style of clothing worn by its followers.

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^* Reggae^[5] is a style of popular music with a strongly accented subsidiary beat, originating in Jamaica. Reggae evolved in the late 1960s from ska and other local variations on calypso and rhythm and blues, and became widely known in the 1970s through the work of Bob Marley; its lyrics are much influenced by Rastafarian ideas.

4d	A boy gone mad having received very // encouraging message before journey (3,6)

5d	Philosopher // performed, having rushed up (7)

Denis Diderot^[5] (1713–1784) was a French philosopher, writer, and critic. (show more )

A leading figure of the Enlightenment in France, he was principal editor of the Encyclopédie (1751–76), through which he disseminated and popularized philosophy and scientific knowledge. Other notable works: Le Rêve de D'Alembert (1782) and Le Neveu de Rameau (1805).

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6d	Made an effort, /being/ weary, a bit confused inside (5)

7d	Favourite uncle somehow hiding a // bad temper (9)

8d	Loner // thus wanting literature, a couple of lines? (8)

The lines here are tracks — the kind that a locomotive would travel on.

A solitary^[5] (noun) is a recluse or hermit ⇒ he had something of the solitary about him.

13d	Yobs // lashing out about nothing repeatedly (9)

Yob^[5] is an informal British term for a rude, noisy, and aggressive young person.

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Origin: Mid 19th century: back slang for boy

14d	Set // against a ledge, wobbling (9)

15d	Oil's nice possibly /as/ a sort of lubricant (8)

17d	Designs // inside temporary accommodation (7)

18d	A line of language? (6)

20d	Beef // good and ready to eat (5)

"good " = G [academic result]

The abbreviation G^[a] for good comes from its use in education as a grade awarded on school assignments or tests.

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^[a] Collins English to Spanish Dictionary

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22d	Dope // beginning to disturb a stomach (5)

Tum^[2] is a colloquial British name for the stomach.

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