Friday, July 3, 2020 — DT 29221

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29212
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, November 29, 2019
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29221]
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

Three intersecting clues located in the central part of the grid proved to be my undoing and caused me to resort to a bit of electronic help to complete the puzzle.

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	Tree // about to be planted by another tree outside a workplace (8)

"about " = CA (Deep Threat's parsing) or C (my parsing) [circa]

The preposition circa^[5] (abbreviation c^[5], c.^[5], or ca^[5]), usually used preceding a date or amount, means approximately [or about] ⇒ (i) the church was built circa 1860; (ii) Isabella was born c.1759; (iii) he was born ca 1400.

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In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat appears to parse the wordplay as:

• {CA (about; circa) + (to be planted by) ASH (another tree)} containing (outside) LAB (a workplace)

I, on the other hand, parse it as:

• {C (about; circa) + (to be planted by) ASH (another tree)} containing (outside) {A (from the clue) + LAB (workplace)}

The calabash^[5] (also calabash tree) is an evergreen tropical American tree which bears fruit in the form of large woody gourds.

5a	Notice wickedness -- /you need/ guidance (6)

9a	Rabbit to look radiant outside a // house (8)

10a	Glasses? // They can make high-pitched sounds (6)

12a	Part of Greater Manchester /in/ short religious book (6)

Eccles^[5] is a town in Greater Manchester, England and a part of the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford.

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In biblical references, Eccles.^[5] is an abbreviation for Ecclesiastes^[5], a book of the Bible traditionally attributed to Solomon, consisting largely of reflections on the vanity of human life.

13a	Need to be without others, // showing malice (8)

Post Mortem
My downfall came from becoming fixated on this being a containment type clue which it turned out not to be.

15a	Garments /for/ certain racehorses? (7)

Post Mortem
Surely, failing to solve this without electronic assistance is unforgivable!

A British girl wearing nothing but a jumper would be exposing much more of her body than would a North American girl wearing only a jumper.

Here and There

While the word "jumper" denotes an item of clothing on both sides of the Atlantic, it is quite a different item of apparel across the pond where it is a sweater rather than a dress. (show more ) In Britain, a jumper[5] is a knitted garment typically with long sleeves, worn over the upper body (in other words, a sweater). The dress that North Americans call a jumper[5] is known to the Brits as a pinafore[5] — defined as a collarless sleeveless dress worn over a blouse or jumper [sweater]. Thus, if a British lass were to wear a pinafore over her jumper and a North American gal were to wear a jumper over her sweater, they would be dressed identically. hide

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Horse racing in the UK is conducted on both flat courses (courses with no jumps) and on courses where the horses are required to jump various obstacles.

National Hunt racing^[7] is the official name given to that form of the sport of horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Ireland in which the horses are required to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is divided into two major distinct branches: hurdles and steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jumps or open ditches.

16a	The first person coming to ship /creates/ confusion (4)

"ship " = SS

In Crosswordland, a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[5] ⇒ the SS Canberra.

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20a	Regret in audience /for/ what is saucy (4)

Roux^[5] is a mixture of fat (especially butter) and flour used in making sauces.

21a	Character // landed in wharf (7)

25a	Name // one who is contemptuous about part of the UK (8)

"part of the UK " = NI

Northern Ireland^[5] (abbreviation NI^[5]) is a province of the United Kingdom occupying the northeast part of Ireland.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, Northern Ireland^[5] is the only major division of the United Kingdom to hold the status of province, with England^[5], Scotland^[5] and Wales^[5] considered to be countries.

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26a	Each group backs the ultimate character, // one showing huge enthusiasm (6)

28a	Some exuberant ribaldry // in the clan (6)

29a	Manufacturing establishment // hard to find in Notts town (8)

Post Mortem
Should I confess to using electronic help? After all, the correct solution did occur to me. However, I dismissed it on the basis that no place could possibly be named Worksop.

"hard " = H [grade of pencil lead]

H^[2,5] is an abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

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Notts.^[5] is the abbreviation for Nottinghamshire^[5], a county in central England.

Worksop^[7] is a town in Nottinghamshire, England.

30a	Writer sitting by river // to become more profound (6)

The use of the word "writer" to clue PEN would likely be slightly more cryptic to the Brits than it is to us on this side of the pond. British solvers will see "pen" as being a writing implement rather than the user of that implement. (show more )

In addition to defining pen^[3,11] as a writing implement, North American dictionaries also define it as a writer or an author ⇒ a hired pen, British dictionaries do not list this meaning although they do show pen^[2,4] (or the pen^[5,10]) as symbolically representing writing as an occupation.

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The Dee^[5,7] could be any of several rivers in Scotland and England — not to mention Ireland and Australia — the most prominent being:

• a river in northeastern Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen
• a river that rises in North Wales and flows into England, past Chester and on into the Irish Sea

31a	Lively // trip with side getting sozzled (8)

Scratching the Surface

Side[5] is a British term for a sports team ⇒ there was a mixture of old and young players in* their side. (show more ) * Note that, in Britain, a player is said to be "in a side" or "in a team" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America. In North America, the term side[3] is used in a very general fashion that can denote one of two or more opposing individuals, groups, teams, or sets of opinions. While this same general usage is also found in the UK, the term side[5] is also used there in a much more specific sense to mean a sports team, as we can clearly see from the following usage examples ⇒ (i) Previous England rugby sides, and England teams in many other sports, would have crumbled under the weight of such errors.; (ii) They'll face better sides than this Monaco team, but you can only beat what's put in front of you. hide

Down

1d	Taxi came first, /being/ sent urgent message (6)

Chambers 21st Century Dictionary and Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) define cable^[2,5] (short for cablegram^[2,5]) as a telegraph message (telegram) sent by cable [presumably as opposed to wireless]. However, Collins English Dictonary states that a cable^[10] (also called overseas telegram, international telegram, or cablegram) is a telegram sent abroad by submarine cable, radio, communications satellite, or by telephone line.

2d	International organisation intricately decorated outside? // Madness! (6)

"international organisation " = UN

The United Nations^[5] (abbreviation UN) is an international organization of countries set up in 1945, in succession to the League of Nations, to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

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3d	Having dined in inn, revolutionary /gets/ assaulted (6,2)

4d	Last bit of this jaunt -- // go on spending spree? (4)

6d	Solitude not so bad? /One may get/ weak (6)

7d	Meant /to be/ at home, getting looked after (8)

8d	French art, for example, is subject ultimately /for/ writer (8)

Art^[5] is an archaic or dialect second person singular present of the verb to be ⇒ I am a Gentleman as thou art.

In French, the second person singular present of the verb être ('to be') is es^[8].

11d	Children's author // heard song (7)

Lewis Carroll^[5] (1832–1898) was an English writer; pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He wrote the children's classics Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871), which were inspired by Alice Liddell, the young daughter of the dean at the Oxford college where Carroll was a mathematics lecturer.

14d	Son pushed lips out /and/ talked excitedly (7)

"son " = S [genealogy]

In genealogies, s^[5] is the abbreviation for son(s) ⇒ m 1991; one s one d^*.

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^* married in 1991; one son and one daughter.

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17d	Put up // for annual test, Megane passed finally (8)

In the UK, MOT^[5] (also MOT test) refers to a compulsory annual test for safety and exhaust emissions of motor vehicles of more than a specified age. It is an abbreviation of Ministry of Transport, which introduced the original test.

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Although promote can mean raise in other contexts as well, many Brits are likely to see the word being used in a sports context, where promote^[5] means to transfer (a sports team) to a higher division of a league ⇒ they were promoted from the Third Division [to the Second Division] last season.

Scratching the Surface
The Renault Mégane[7] is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault.

18d	US general /taking/ team south of stream (8)

As we saw at 31a, side is a British term for a sports team.

In Scottish and Northern English dialects, a burn^[5] is a small stream.

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General Ambrose Burnside (1824–1881) was an American army officer whose lasting legacy is the name for a style of grooming facial hair. Burnsides^[5] consist of a moustache in combination with whiskers on the cheeks but no beard on the chin ⇒ But as the memory of General Burnside faded, the style became known as simply ‘burnsides,’ and soon an interesting linguistic flip-flop occurred.

19d	Treks are tricky /for/ one proceeding in the nude (8)

22d	Get rid of drug, /creating/ ticklish situation (6)

"drug " = E [the illicit drug Ecstasy]

E^[5] is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy^* or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒ (i) people have died after taking E; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties.

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^* Ecstasy^[5] is an illegal amphetamine-based synthetic drug with euphoric effects, originally produced as an appetite suppressant. Also called MDMA (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine).

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23d	Outmoded // beret that should be thrown out? (3-3)

24d	Silly // dispute never ending, unfortunately (6)

27d	Love being in dance // band (4)

"love " = O [nil score in tennis]

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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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