Thursday, June 11, 2020 — DT 29205

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29205
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, November 11, 2019
Setter Campbell (Allan Scott)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29205]
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

I finished the puzzle without electronic help — but several over-stretched synonyms certainly left me with a few question marks in my mind. And the definition at 19a has to be just plain wrong.

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.

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

5a	Choral music singers // delight staff (4,4)

8a	Disapprove of // old unpredictable popes (6)

"old " = O [linguistics]

In linguistics, O^[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i) OFr [Old French]; (ii) OE [Old English].

However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.

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10a	Marvellous, very amusing detailed // material (6)

The setter uses "detailed" in a whimsical cryptic crossword sense meaning having the tail removed — analogous to the formation of words such as deflowered or defrocked.

11a	Mostly bad-tempered // note (8)

Crotchet^[5] is a British name for a quarter note, a note having the time value of a quarter of a semibreve^* or half a minim^**, represented by a large solid dot with a plain stem.

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^* Semibreve^[5] is a British name for a whole note.
^** Minim^[5] is a British name for a half note.

12a	Widespread stick /for/ military advisers (7,5)

The general staff^[5] are the staff assisting a military commander in planning and executing operations ⇒ the general staff were faced with major difficulties in redeployment of troops.

15a	Work schedule /in/ bistro, taxing (4)

Rota^[5] is a British term for a list showing when each of a number of people has to do a particular job ⇒ a cleaning rota.

17a	Challenged // about feeding my old man (5)

18a	Walking aid, // article found in church (4)

"church " = CE [Church of England]

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

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19a	Unreasonableness /shown by/ Irish supporter about quota (12)

I assumed that definition is intended to be only the first word of the clue. However, the review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog shows the definition as being the first two words of the clue.

If we focus solely on my parsing of the clue, as Malcolm points out in Comment #1 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the definition and solution are different parts of speech, the definition being a noun while the solution is an adverb. The correct match to the definition would be "irrationality" while the correct match to the solution would be "unreasonably".

This matter is addressed further in the thread arising from Comment #4, where Big Dave explains that he  added the underlining to shown to make the definition look a bit less like a noun! Perhaps nothing can be done to save this clue.

Like Big Dave, I tried to extend the definition to include the word 'shown' — or even the words 'shown by' — but I can't see how that can possibly be correct. I might accept "showing unreasonableness" as meaning "irrationally", but surely not "unreasonableness shown".

22a	Ready money /in/ strong bag brought back by husband (4,4)

"husband " = H [genealogy]

The abbreviation for husband is h^[1,2] or h.^{[3,4,10,11,12]} or H^[12] or H.^[4,10,11,12]) [although no context is provided, it may well come from the field of genealogy].

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Ready money^[5] (also called ready cash) is money in the form of cash that is immediately available ⇒ you might find yourself without the ready money you need to snap up a bargain.

Hard cash^[5] (North American cold cash^[5]) denotes negotiable coins and banknotes as opposed to other forms of payment.

24a	Willing to participate, worker // readily available (2,4)

On^[1] (adjective) means willing to participate in an activity, bet, etc. I tried to imagine how one might apply this meaning in practice, perhaps I've got five bucks that says the Leafs will lose. Are you on?.

25a	Quickly getting in a large // car (6)

Saloon^[5] (also known as saloon car^[10]) is a British term for a car [known in Canada, the US, and New Zealand as a sedan^[10]] having a closed body and a closed boot [trunk] separated from the part in which the driver and passengers sit ⇒ a four-door saloon.

26a	Snakes, // excellent specimens (8)

Rattler^[1] is an informal term^* for an excellent specimen of the kind.

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^* Good luck finding this meaning anywhere other than The Chambers Dictionary.

Down

1d	Has news of English // vehicle (6)

2d	British want to include 'ER', // a TV series (10)

Blackadder^[7] is a British television sitcom starring English comedian Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder. The programmes originally aired from 1983–1989.

Scratching the Surface

Given the surface reading of the clue, I presume that the reference is to the US television show and not to Her Majesty's regnal cipher although Miffypops in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog would appear to disagree. The American medical drama ER[7] is a television series created by novelist and medical doctor Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from 1994 to 2009. Its 15 seasons make it the longest-running primetime medical drama in American television history and its 124 Emmy Award nominations make it the most nominated drama program in history. By the way, you will not find an ER department in a British hospital. Instead, you should look for the A & E[5] (Accident & Emergency). The foregoing two points (an American television program combined with American medical terminology) may explain why Miffypops sees the clue differently than do I.

3d	Very very // indifferent (2-2)

4d	Precise // remedy (8)

Specific^[5] is a dated term for a medicine or remedy effective in treating a particular disease or part of the body ⇒ he grasped at the idea as though she had offered him a specific for cancer.

6d	The Parisian soon ringing editor // put under pressure (6,2)

"the Parisian " = LE

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

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7d	Investor receiving money, /as/ one exchanging favours for mutual advantage (13)

Scratch^[5] is an informal term for money ⇒ he was working to get some scratch together.

9d	Troublesome situation // weak characters raised (4)

Wet^[5] is an informal British term for a person lacking forcefulness or strength of character ⇒ there are sorts who look like gangsters and sorts who look like wets.

In British political circles, the name wet^[5] is applied to a Conservative with liberal tendencies ⇒ the wets favoured a change in economic policy.

It is a term that was frequently used by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for those to the left of her in the British Conservative Party [which must have been just about everyone].

13d	Also short of rum, // et cetera (3,2,5)

As an anagram indicator, rum^[5] is used in a dated informal British sense meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

14d	Witty remark // about eastern passenger ship (3-5)

16d	Sweet /and/ sour delivery (4,4)

Sweet^[5] is a British term for a piece of candy^[5] ⇒ a bag of sweets.

Acid drop^[5] is a British term for a kind of boiled sweet [candy] with a sharp taste.

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops refers to a roundsman. Roundsman[5] is a British* term for a trader's employee who goes round delivering and taking orders ⇒ a milk roundsman.} * North American term route man Not only am I unfamiliar with the British term, I can't say that I've ever heard the North American term. Then again, its been a good many decades since a milkman last visited my door.

20d	A ploy to detain Hamlet, initially /for/ a brief period (6)

Scratching the Surface

Hamlet[7] (in full The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark) is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. (show more ) Set in Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet. Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brother's widow. hide

21d	Silence head of administration, // slightly crazy (4)

23d	Spots // some in open carriage heading north (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 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