Thursday, June 25, 2020 — DT 29215

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29215
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, November 22, 2019
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29215]
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

There is definitely some tricky parsing to be found in this puzzle. Like many of those writing on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, 6a and 16d were my last ones in. I gather that the ***/*** rating shown on Big Dave's Crossword Blog is merely the default value in the blog template and likely not meaningful as Deep Threat mentions in his intro that his Internet connection failed preventing him from obtaining a record of his solving time. I'm afraid my solving times are such that they can be judged quite satisfactorily without the aid of a stop watch.

Not everyone liked this puzzle. In Comment #20 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Rabbit Dave displays his lack of enjoyment by writingBack to earth with a bang after last Friday’s enjoyable back-pager with 6a, 17a, 2d, 16d & 22d fighting it out for the wooden spoon. The wooden spoon^[5] is a British term denoting an imaginary prize said to be awarded to the person who is last in a race or other competition. In other words, a booby prize^[5].

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

1a & 18d

Possibly a // piece of writing that offers a vague opinion? (10,7)

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat appears to have overlooked the possibility that this clue can be parsed as a double definition, the second being whimsical.

6a	Quiet road? The reverse -- // it's noisy (4)

"quiet " = 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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Yawp^[10] is used in the sense of a shout, bark, yelp, or cry.

What did he say?
In Comment #14 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Senf points out that writes The BRB [The Chambers Dictionary] says that 6a is ‘Chiefly US‘. That it does. However, both Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) and Collins English Dictionary say that yawp[5,10] is a North American term only in the sense of foolish or noisy talk (a sense not even mentioned in the BRB definition).

9a	Criticise the Spanish // group making decision? (5)

"the Spanish " = EL [Spanish definite article]

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

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10a	Victory's // strange ritual with speed being limited (9)

12a	Complete // departure, terribly hot and bumpy at the outset (13)

14a	Idle maybe when entertained by a fellow // in the USA (8)

Eric Idle^[7] is an English comedian, actor, voice actor, author, singer-songwriter, musician, writer and comedic composer. Idle is a member of the English surreal comedy group Monty Python, a member of the parody rock band The Rutles, and the author of the Broadway musical Spamalot.

15a	Little // message prohibiting Scottish headwear (6)

17a	Language in the borders of Surrey // full of jargon? (6)

Scratching the Surface
Surrey[5] is a county of southeastern England.

19a	Novel set in foreign city // areas with churches (8)

She^[7], subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by English writer Henry Rider Haggard (1856–1925). (read more )

Sir Henry Rider Haggard^[5] (1856–1925) was an English novelist. Published under the name H. Rider Haggard, he is famous for adventure novels such as King Solomon’s Mines (1885) and She (1889).

She, first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887, is one of the classics of imaginative literature, and as of 1965 with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages, one of the best-selling books of all time. Extraordinarily popular upon its release, She has never been out of print.

The story is a first-person narrative that follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward Leo Vincey to a lost kingdom in the African interior. There they encounter a primitive race of natives and a mysterious white queen named Ayesha who reigns as the all-powerful "She", or "She-who-must-be-obeyed". In this work, Rider Haggard developed the conventions of the Lost World subgenre, which many later authors emulated.

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21a	Author errs -- man ill-suited /to be/ an author (6,7)

Arthur Ransome^[5] (1884–1967) was an English novelist and journalist, best known for the children's classic Swallows and Amazons (1930).

24a	See small particles /in/ positions (9)

"see " = LO

Lo^[5] is an archaic exclamation used to draw attention to an interesting or amazing event ⇒ and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them.

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In chemistry, a cation^[5] is a positively charged ion, i.e. one that would be attracted to the cathode in electrolysis ⇒ When two atoms swap electrons to produce a cation and an anion, the two ions are attracted to each other.

25a	Silly person // dipping paper into sauce (5)

The Financial Times^[7] (abbreviation FT) is a British international business newspaper that is printed on conspicuous salmon pink newsprint.

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A softy^[2] (or softie) is a weakly sentimental, soft-hearted or silly person.

The Story Behind the Picture

Deep Threat illustrates his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog with a comic strip panel labelled "Softy Walter (from Dennis the Menace)". The reference is to the British Dennis the Menace — not the American one with whom we are more likely to be familiar. (show more ) Dennis the Menace[7] is the name of separate US and UK comic strip characters that debuted on the same day in March 1951 in their respective readership areas, and are still published. The American Dennis the Menace[7] is a daily syndicated newspaper comic strip originally created, written, and illustrated by Hank Ketcham. It debuted on March 12, 1951, in 16 newspapers. Now written and drawn by Ketcham's former assistants, Marcus Hamilton and Ron Ferdinand, and son Scott Ketcham, it is distributed to at least 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and in 19 languages. Coincidentally, a UK comic strip of the same name debuted on the same day, though the issue in question bore the cover date of March 17. The two are not related and change their names subtly in each other's respective home bases to avoid confusion. The UK Dennis[7] is quite different in appearance and character from his American counterpart, characterized by his red-and-black striped jersey, his devilish grin, his scruffy, black (versus straw-coloured) hair, his dog Gnasher, and his gang of friends (known as "The Menaces" who carry on a running feud — that sometimes becomes violent — with a rival gang "The Bash Street Kids"). The British Dennis is an uncontrollable schoolboy who takes pride in causing chaos and mayhem to those around him due to his intolerance for rules and order. Dennis often proves himself to be quite selfish and greedy, often disregarding his friends in favour for treasures. Often equipped with an array of menacing weaponry (such as a catapult [slingshot]), Dennis is considered to be quite the loner, seeking no solace in anyone's company aside from his faithful pet dog Gnasher. The first time that I encountered the British Dennis was in a British crossword puzzle where he was described as an enfant terrible. The British Dennis would certainly seem to be far more of an enfant terrible than the American one! hide

26a	Proper learner /in/ fight (4)

"learner " = L [driver under instruction]

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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Automobile displaying an L-plate

27a	Huge bikes /in/ engineering units (10)

As an adjective, mega^[5] is an informal term meaning very large or huge ⇒ he has signed a mega deal to make five movies.

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A megacycle^[5] is one million cycles (of an oscillation or other periodic phenomenon).

Down

1d	More than one trouble-maker // is besieging politician (4)

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat describes the politician referenced in the clue as one we don’t actually have at the moment. At the time this puzzle appeared in the UK back in November, the country was in the final stages of campaigning for a general election to be held on December 12.

2d	Girl trapped shortly /in/ eating area (7)

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

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat describes the solution to the clue as a small area in a flat or caravan with a dining table and seating. Flat and caravan are the British names for an apartment and travel trailer or R.V. respectively.

3d	Imitating // action of a card player? (9,4)

4d	The country's // reasonable, wanting a new leader (8)

5d	Marrying /and/ attempting not to have rows initially (5)

7d	Non-believer // witnessing robbery (7)

8d	One with several partners, // mostly a pig misbehaving (10)

11d	A slim young man surprisingly // showing generosity (13)

13d	A small herd, having gone astray, /getting/ gathered together (10)

16d	End up with girl getting covered /in/ powder (8)

Magnesia^[5] is hydrated magnesium carbonate used as an antacid and laxative ⇒ Or sometimes medicine such as milk of magnesia can be mixed with chocolate or strawberry-flavored milk.

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat describes the girl referred to in the clue as possibly Miss Grey, the eponymous heroine of the novel by Anne Brontë. Agnes Grey, A Novel[7] is the debut novel of English author Anne Brontë (writing under the pen name of "Acton Bell"), first published in 1847.

18d

See 1a

20d	The male boss at newspaper with terrible flu // taking care (7)

22d	River -- // little one under which darling almost drowns (5)

The positional indicator in the wordplay is "under which ... drowns". This could almost be considered overkill as drown on its own essentially means to go under thus makeing the wordplay "little one under which darling almost goes under". I guess we can think of this as a "belt and suspenders" situation.

The Rhône^[5] is a river in southwestern Europe which rises in the Swiss Alps and flows 812 km (505 miles), through Lake Geneva into France, then to Lyons, Avignon, and the Mediterranean west of Marseilles, where it forms a wide delta that includes the Camargue.

23d	A positive response? More than one! (4)

Once again (as in 1a) I see the parsing in a slightly different manner than that shown by Deep Threat in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog. In this clue, the entire clue is the definition in which we find embedded wordplay. The solution AYES denotes more than one positive response. The wordplay is A (from the clue) + YES (positive response). The double underline marks the portion of the clue that is not only the wordplay but also forms part of the definition.

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