Monday, August 31, 2020

Monday, August 31, 2020 — DT 29262 (Published Saturday, August 29, 2020)

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29262
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Friday, January 17, 2020
Setter
Unknown
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29262]
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
Notes
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, August 29, 2020 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

This puzzle had an unfamiliar feel to it. I got off to a slow start but eventually I got on to the setter's wavelength and the pace picked up markedly.

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   Rivals in union: // one French -- righteous, utterly -- facing Scotsman linked to church (6,8)

"Scotsman " = IAN

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.

hide

"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.

hide

9a   That girl's gloves, we hear // they've become separated (7)

10a   Thrill /to have/ good racket after losing clubs (7)

"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.

[a] Collins English to Spanish Dictionary

hide

"clubs " = C [card suit]

Clubs[2]) (abbreviation C[1]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

hide

11a   Having consumed whiskey, revolutionary number // one is drunk, proverbially (4)

"whiskey " = W [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

In what is commonly known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet[7]*, Whiskey[5] is a code word representing the letter W.

* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

hide



The expressions as pissed as a newt (also as pissed as a fart[5] ) is vulgar British slang meaning very drunk.

12a   Wavering, abstain -- RIP // trying to please both sides? (10)

14a   Go the wrong way with // shopping trip? (6)

15a   Torture // giving detectives bit of a shock (8)

"detectives " = DIS [detective inspectors]

A detective inspector (abbrevation DI[5]) is a senior police officer in the UK. Within the British police, inspector[7] is the second supervisory rank. It is senior to that of sergeant, but junior to that of chief inspector. Plain-clothes detective inspectors are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix 'detective' identifying them as having been trained in criminal investigation and being part of or attached to their force's Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

hide

17a   English welcome in patio after rambling about // country (8)

18a   Group in open red omnibus, backward-looking // in fashion (6)

Scratching the Surface
Omnibus* is a dated[5] or less common[10] name for a bus ⇒ a horse-drawn omnibus.

* Historically, an omnibus[3] was a large horse-drawn public conveyance, especially of the late 1800s.

21a   Lacking the capacity to host for five? // Impossible to justify (10)

22a   Chap touring Spain /gets/ tight (4)

"chap " = MAN

Chap[3,4,11] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[3] term for a man or boy — although a term that is certainly not uncommon in Canada. It is a shortened form of chapman[3,4,11], an archaic term for a trader, especially an itinerant pedlar[a,b].

[a] Pedlar is the modern British spelling of peddler[14] which, in most senses, is considered by the Brits to be a US or old-fashioned British spelling. The exception is in the sense of a dealer in illegal drugs which the Brits spell as drug peddler.
[b] The current meaning of chap[2] dates from the 18th century. In the 16th century, chap meant 'a customer'. The dictionaries do not explain how a shortened form of 'chapman' (pedlar) came to mean 'customer'.

hide

"Spain " = E [IVR code]

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Spain is E*[5] (from Spanish EspaƱa).

Spanish Licence Plate Format
(The IVR code is on the left below the EU flag emblem)

hide

24a   Is the Italian island phone firm turning over // capital? (7)

In Italian, the masculine singular form of the definite article is il[8].

BT[5] (the abbreviation for British Telecom) is a trade name of BT Group plc*[7] (trading as BT and formerly known as British Telecom), a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broadband and mobile services in the UK, and also provides subscription television and IT services.

* plc (public limited company) is the British equivalent to the North American designation Ltd.



Tbilisi[5] is the capital of Georgia[5], a country in the Caucasus of south-western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. (show more )

An independent kingdom in medieval times, Georgia became part of the Russian empire in the 19th century and then was absorbed into the Soviet Union. On the break-up of the USSR in 1991, Georgia became an independent republic outside the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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25a  Outline device to have a lasting impression? (7)

26a   Farming types /with/ rustic guitars dancing around lake (14)

Down

1d   Make psycho // release the door? (7)

2d   Excessive admiration /of/ that man over rank or posting (4-11)

3d   Put // clock up (4)

Clock[5] is an informal British term for a person’s face I thought I recognized your clock.

Dial[5] is an informal British term for a person’s face he must be one of the new batch—I haven't seen his dial before.

4d   Attack // while yacht maybe goes under (6)

Yacht is used as a verb.

5d   Book taxi home /for/ cottage in wood? (3,5)

The phrase "in wood" denotes made of wood rather than located in wood.

6d  Paint a toad for a change? Yes (10)

This seems to be a sort of semi-all-in-one clue in which the entire clue is a cryptic definition while part of the clue doubles as both wordplay and part of the definition. The word "yes" which plays no part in the wordplay is what indicates that the first part of the clue also factors into the definition. The word "yes" provides emphasis and is equivalent to the phrase "you can say that again".

Although one might think that the definition is merely the word "change". I don't believe that would satisfy cryptic crossword convention. Therefore, I think we have to consider the entire clue to be the definition — awkward though it might be.

7d   Alludes to // angry former employers? (5-10)

8d   My being under doctor // goes on (6)

In this case, one[5] is a third person singular pronoun used to refer to the speaker, or any person, as representing people in general. When used in the possessive referring to the speaker, "one's" would equate to "my".

13d   Latin period (4,6)

16d   Redesigned atrium covering is // sweet (8)

Sweet[5] is a British term for a sweet dish forming a course of a meal; in other words, a dessert.

Tiramisu[5] is an Italian dessert consisting of layers of sponge cake soaked in coffee and brandy or liqueur with powdered chocolate and mascarpone cheese.

17d   Value of shares /in/ players' organisation (6)

In the UK, US, and several other countries, Equity[5] is a trade union to which all professional actors must belong.

19d   Noun's disguised hiding place /in/ puzzle (7)

"place " = PL [in street addresses]

Pl.[5] (also pl.) is the abbreviation for Place (in street addresses) ⇒ 3 Palmerston Pl., Edinburgh.

hide

20d   Forty per cent of public lose trust /in/ Cabinet (6)

23d   Rent // one's shed, sadly -- that sounds different! (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]   - TheFreeDictionarycom (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

Saturday, August 29, 2020

Saturday, August 29, 2020 — Premature Delays

Introduction

The only delays one is likely to encounter with today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon are found in clue 28a.

Did someone at the National Post forget to press the Publish button today? As of 9:00 am Saturday, the ePaper was still not available online. However, when I checked a couple of hours or so later, it had finally appeared. As a result, I had to go "old school" with my preliminary post and scan the puzzle from the "dead tree" edition. I have now been able to replace the scanned version with a digital version.

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

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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
- yet to be solved

Symbols and Markup Conventions
  •  "*" - anagram
  • "~" - sounds like
  • "<" - indicates the preceding letters are reversed
  • "( )" - encloses contained letters
  • "_" - replaces letters that have been deleted
  •  "†" - indicates that the word is present in the clue
  • "//" - 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 the symbols and markup conventions used on this blog.

Across

1a   Death Star wrecked competitive advantage (4,5)

{HEAD START}* — anagram of (wrecked) DEATH STAR

6a   Landscaping material // left in a lot (5)

MU(L)CH — L(eft) contained in (in) MUCH (a lot)

9a   Say // "absolute and total" (5)

UTTER — double definition, the first a verb and the second an adjective

10a   Shake down stranger // with a bird-like beak (4-5)

{HAWK-NOSED}* — anagram of (stranger) SHAKE DOWN

11a   Call from a hunter // awfully hot about friend (5-2)

{T(ALLY)-HO}* — anagram of (awfully) HOT containing (about) ALLY (friend)

12a   Mounted soldier, // doctor, and a thug (7)

DR|A|GOON — DR (doctor) + (and) A (†) + GOON (thug)

13a   Wrangler, at times, // involved in computer operations (5)

_R|OPER_ — hidden in (involved in) computeR OPERations

14a   Incessant rum // cases (9)

INSTANCES* — anagram of (rum) INCESSANT

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

17a   Appraised bananas // go missing (9)

DISAPPEAR* — anagram of (bananas) APPRAISED

19a   Bee amid that lady's garden plants (5)

HER(B)S — B (bee) contained in (amid) HERS (that lady's)

20a   Scholarly // Shakespearean king animated Flanders (7)

LEAR|NED — LEAR (Shakespearean king) + NED (animated Flanders)

King Lear[7]* is a tragedy written in 1605 or 1606 by English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616).

* Lear[5], a legendary early king of Britain, is mentioned by the 12th century Welsh chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (circa 1139; first printed in 1508), an account of the kings of Britain.

Ned Flanders[7] is a recurring fictional character in the animated American television series The Simpsons.

23a   Boron found in most recent // chemical analysis (3,4)

LA(B) TEST — B ([chemical symbol for] boron) contained in (found in) LATEST (most recent)

25a  What thorniest pitching may produce? (2-7)

{NO-HITTER}* — anagram of (pitching) THORNIEST

This is an &lit. clue[7], a clue in which the entire clue is both the wordplay and the definition.

In baseball, a no-hitter[5] is a game in which a pitcher yields no hits to the opposing team.

26a   Shopping bag with mall's initial // symbol (5)

TOTE|M — TOTE (shopping bag) + (with) M (Mall's initial [letter])

27a   Two quintets, or // a barbershop quartet singer (5)

TEN|OR — TEN (two quintets) + OR (†)

28a   Forum orator, I agree, embraces // delays (9)

_M|ORATOR|I|A_ — hidden in (embraces) foruM ORATOR I Agree

Down

1d   Frequent // hit with someone in the family (5)

H|AUNT — H (hit; baseball term) + (with) AUNT (someone in the family)

2d   Grazing animals // run into stakes (9)

ANTE(LOPE)S — LOPE (run) contained in (into) ANTES (stakes)

3d   Mister // Smith's first appeal to a higher power (7)

S|PRAYER — S (Smith's first [letter]) + PRAYER (appeal to a higher power)

4d   Figure of beauty // sadly atrophied (9)

APHRODITE* — anagram of (sadly) ATROPHIED

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite[5] is the goddess of beauty, fertility, and sexual love. She is variously described as the daughter of Zeus and Dione, or as being born from the sea. Her equivalent in Roman mythology is Venus.

5d   Dragged // to get married (5)

TO|WED — TO (†) + WED (get married)

6d   Odd man, to an // Alberta neighbour (7)

MONTANA* — anagram of (odd) MAN TO AN

7d   Large, like this // rodeo prop (5)

L|AS|SO — L(large; clothing size) + AS SO (like this)

8d   Peculiarly dishonest // people looking for a good time (9)

HEDONISTS* — anagram of (peculiarly) DISHONEST

13d   Mars // ground replanted (3,6)

{RED PLANET}* — anagram of (ground) REPLANTED

As an anagram indicator, ground is used as the past tense or past participle of the verb grind[5]. An anagram indicator is typically a word that denotes movement or transformation. Grind denotes transformation, for example, in the sense of grain being ground into flour.

15d   Rose's role: playing // bad sport (4,5)

{SORE LOSER}* — anagram of (playing) ROSES ROLE

16d   Builder of structures // fish go in (9)

CARP|ENTER — CARP (fish) + ENTER (go in)

18d   Football kicker keeps close to this // joker (7)

PUN(S)TER — PUNTER (football kicker) containing (keeps) S (close [final letter] to thiS)

19d   Headwear covers somewhat // typical place for a thing (7)

H(A|BIT)AT — HAT (headwear) containing (covers) A BIT (somewhat)

21d   Off-white // article worn by that woman (5)

A(SHE)N — AN (article) containing (worn by) SHE (that woman)

22d   Imagine // 500 sheets of paper (5)

D|REAM — D ([Roman numeral for] 500) + REAM (sheets of paper)

Although a ream is, in fact, 500 sheets of paper, in this clue it is merely an unspecified number of sheets of paper as the 500 is needed to clue the letter D.

24d   Pack a // Florida city (5)

TAMP|A — TAMP (pack) + A (†)

Epilogue

The title of today's review is inspired by 1a and 28a.



Key to Reference Sources: 

  [1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
  [2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
  [3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
  [4]   - TheFreeDictionarycom (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

Friday, August 28, 2020

Friday, August 28, 2020 — DT 29261

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29261
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Setter
Unknown
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29261]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
pommers
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

A number of terms that have quite different meanings in the UK than they do in North America likely make this puzzle a stiffer challenge on this side of the pond than it would have been for British solvers.

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   Tempting woman /with/ dresses cut outrageously (10)

6a   What is soothing // in herbal mixture (4)

10a   Some dismal sins recalled /in/ religion (5)

11a   Bird /got by/ sailor -- mighty, not half! -- in vessel (9)

"sailor " = TAR

Tar[5] is an informal, dated nickname for a sailor. The term came into use in the mid 17th century and is perhaps an abbreviation of tarpaulin, also used as a nickname for a sailor at that time.

hide

Rock Ptarmigan
The ptarmigan[5] is a northern grouse of mountainous and Arctic regions, with feathered legs and feet and plumage that typically changes to white in winter.

Origin: Late 16th century: from Scottish Gaelic tĆ rmachan. The spelling with p- was introduced later, suggested by Greek words starting with pt-.

12a   Dress /has/ fixture at the front (8)

Here and There
 The dress that North Americans call a jumper[5] is known to the Brits as a pinafore[5] — defined in British dictionaries as a collarless sleeveless dress worn over a blouse or jumper*.

* In Britain, a jumper[5] is a knitted garment typically with long sleeves, worn over the upper body (in other words, a 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.

13a   Piece of isolated territory // is rented out (5)

Let[5] is a British* term meaning to allow someone to have the use of (a room or property) in return for regular payments ⇒ (i) she let the flat [apartment] to a tenant; (ii) they’ve let out their house.

* However, based on its appearance in US dictionaries, I seriously doubt that this word is quite as British as Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) would have us believe.[3,11]

15a   A new game in shed // where folk meet (4-3)

Go is played on a grid of black lines
(usually 19×19). Game pieces, called stones,
are played on the lines' intersections.
Go[7] is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day. (show more )

From China the game spread, first to Korea and Japan, and eventually worldwide. Despite its relatively simple rules, Go is very complex. Compared to chess, Go has both a larger board with more scope for play and longer games, and, on average, many more alternatives to consider per move. In a simple and anecdotal way of explaining the rules of Go, a teacher simply says to a student "you may place your stone (playing piece) on any point on the board, but if I surround that stone, I may remove it." The name Go is derived from the Japanese name of the  game "igo".

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17a   Bad person // that can bring great destruction (7)

In Britain, twister[5] is an informal term for a swindler or a dishonest person she's a back-stabbing, double-dealing twister.

19a   Top // music group given external support (7)

R.E.M.[7] was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. The group disbanded amicably in September 2011.

21a   More than one flashy guy // passes away --and must get buried (7)

22a   Lily /is/ superior, hugged by many people? (5)

"superior " = U [upper class]

In Britain, U[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners.

The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable).

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Lotus[2] is the name of several species of water lily:
  • a species of water lily sacred to the ancient Egyptians and often depicted in Egyptian art
  • either of two species of water lily belonging to a separate genus, widely cultivated as ornamental plants, one native to Asia, with pink flowers and traditionally associated with Buddhism and Hinduism, and the other native to southern USA, with yellow flowers
The lotus of Greek mythology was not a water lily but the fruit of the jujube shrub, used by the ancient Greeks to make bread and wine, consumption of which was thought to produce a state of blissful and dreamy forgetfulness.

24a   Mum unhappy about article // that is printed in big type (8)

Here and There
British Masthead
In Britain, masthead[5] denotes the title of a newspaper or magazine at the head of the first or editorial page.

North American Masthead
In North America, masthead[5] refers to the listed details in a newspaper or magazine referring to ownership, editorial staff, advertising rates, etc. From the illustration, the masthead in a British publication would seem to be known as a nameplate in North America.

27a   Equivocate /as/ casual worker with zero extra money (9)

Here and There
Rise[5] is the British* term for an increase in salary or wages ⇒ non-supervisory staff were given a 5 per cent rise.

* The equivalent term in North America is raise[5] he wants a raise and some perks.

28a   Drink husband imbibed /brings/ complaint (5)

"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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29a   European // worker treated badly meeting premature end (4)

A Slav[5] is a member of a group of peoples in central and eastern Europe speaking Slavic languages.

30a   Repeats // Easter rite in new arrangement (10)

Down

1d   Step to get rid of a // commotion (4)

2d   Playful behaviour /brings/ end of old association (9)

3d   Mark /is/ male in very deep sleep (5)

4d   Music and drink /bringing/ resonance (7)

"drink " = PORT

Port[5] (also port wine) is a strong, sweet dark red (occasionally brown or white) fortified* wine, originally from Portugal, typically drunk as a dessert wine. The name is a shortened form of Oporto, a major port from which the wine is shipped.

* having had spirits added

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5d   Least fresh // beer served in street twice (7)

7d   Girl not wanting a // financial backer (5)

8d   I'm a monster for putting out // economic theory (10)

Monetarism[5] is the theory or practice of controlling the supply of money as the chief method of stabilizing the economy.

9d   Cherished desire? // A doctor has it, one needing to get on (8)

"doctor " = MB

In Britain, the degree required to practice medicine is a Bachelor of Medicine[7] (MB, from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus), which is equivalent to a North American Doctor of Medicine (MD, from Latin Medicinae Doctor). The degree of Doctor of Medicine also exists in Britain, but it is an advanced degree pursued by those who wish to go into medical research. Physicians in Britain are still addressed as Dr. despite not having a doctoral degree.

Historically, Bachelor of Medicine was also the primary medical degree conferred by institutions in the United States and Canada. Throughout the 19th century, North American medical schools switched to the tradition of the ancient universities of Scotland and began conferring Doctor of Medicine rather than Bachelor of Medicine.

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14d   Sausages /with/ palish coat getting cooked (10)

A chipolata[5] is a small thin sausage.

16d   Little old colonial outpost /making/ mistake? (8)

18d   A-List Brit sadly // narrow in outlook (9)

20d   Lettuce /and/ fish eggs -- most important for inclusion (7)

Here and There
As pommers alludes in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, romaine[10] is not the usual British name for this salad green.

Cos* (or cos lettuce)[5,10] is a British name for a variety of lettuce with a long slender head and crisp leaves (usual US and Canadian name: romaine).

* Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) explicitly states this to be a British term while Collins English Dictionary implies that to be the case. However, the word cos[3,11] is found in both The American Heritage Dictionary and the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary — although it is clear from the entries in these US dictionaries that this is not the preferred term in North America.

Cos is an alternative spelling of Kos[5], a Greek island in the southeastern Aegean, one of the Dodecanese group. It is the home of cos lettuce[5].

21d   Journey down /is/ fair with hint of sun breaking in (7)

23d   Cap on the old man /in/ American city (5)

25d   Hard container /for/ one chopping wood? (5)

"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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26d   Hardy girl /in/ the empty ship (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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Tess of the d'Urbervilles[7] (extended title: Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented) is a novel by English writer Thomas Hardy (1840–1928). (show more )

The novel initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891 and in book form in 1892. Though now considered a major nineteenth-century English novel and possibly Hardy's masterpiece, Tess of the d'Urbervilles received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England.

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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]   - TheFreeDictionarycom (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

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Thursday, August 27, 2020 — DT 29260

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29260
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29260]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
KiwiColin
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 couldn't think of a word to match the checking letters in 11a and so, after wracking my brain for what seemed an eternity, I threw in the towel and resorted to relying on the assistance of a wordfinder program.

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   Place to keep one good // plug (6)

"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.

[a] Collins English to Spanish Dictionary

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Spigot[10] can take any of several meanings, including:
  • a stopper [plug] for the vent hole of a cask
  • a tap, usually of wood, fitted to a cask
  • a US name for a tap [faucet]
I was unaware of the first meaning and had to consult a dictionary to confirm the solution I had constructed from the wordplay. I think that KiwiColin may have been labouring under the same lack of awarenes as, in his hint on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, he appears to have illustrated the second meaning.

5a   Free trader should cover empty college // houses like this (8)

Terraced house[10] is the British term for what is known in Canada and the US as a row house or town house, a house that is part of a row of houses, usually identical and having common dividing walls.

9a   Cleaner // range kept by nameless woodworker (6,7)

A carpet sweeper[5] is a manual household implement used for sweeping carpets, having a revolving brush or brushes and a receptacle for dust and dirt.

10a   Male ego /of/ Scot confronting his doctor (8)

In Crosswordland, Mac is a common name for a Scotsman — surpassed in popularity only by Ian.

"doctor " = MO [medical officer]

A medical officer[5] (abbreviation MO[5]) is a doctor in charge of the health services of a civilian or military authority or other organization.

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11a   Short // temper (6)

Short[5] (noun) is a British term for a drink of spirits served in a small measure* or, as Collins English Dictionary puts it, a short[10] is a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer.

* A measure[5] is a container of standard capacity used for taking fixed amounts of a substance.

12a   Recall ignoring case of role /for/ elected representative (6)

14a   Generosity /of/ types accepting needs intermittently (8)

16a   Arrange again to incorporate first of cases /for/ part-time judge (8)

In England and Wales, a recorder[5] is a barrister appointed to serve as a part-time judge.

19a   Wife gives aid to // impudent youths (6)

"wife " = W [genealogy]

The abbreviation for 'wife' is w[1,2,12] or w.[3,4,10,11] [although no context is provided, it likely comes from the field of genealogy].

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Whelp[5] is an archaic term for a boy or young man (often as a disparaging form of address) too high and mighty to call her ‘Mam’—isn't that so, whelp?.

21a   Shut /as result of/ muggy day (6)

23a   Substitutes // put up with error (6,2)

25a   Statement // church intended for broadcast by me, for example (13)

"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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26a   Make another judgement // about girls going topless in front of son (8)

"son " = S [genealogy]

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

* married in 1991; one son and one daughter.

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27a   Quality /of/ magazine about Britain (6)

Time[7] (often written in all-caps as TIME) is an American weekly news magazine founded in 1923. In addition to the US edition, Time also publishes several regional international editions. A so-called "Canadian edition" which was essentially the US edition with Canadian advertising and a token amount of Canadian editorial content was discontinued in 2008.

Down

2d   Sort of deal // cards on time (7)

3d   Sort out right // measurement for trousers? (5)

4d   Step across certain /to be/ appreciated (9)

5d   Bit of grass // scouts lost on summit of Kilimanjaro (7)

Scratching the Surface
Mount Kilimanjaro[5] is an extinct volcano in northern Tanzania. It has twin peaks, the higher of which, Kibo (5,895 m, 19,340 ft), is the highest mountain in Africa.

6d   Hears about // birds unable to fly (5)

The rhea[5] is a large flightless bird of South American grasslands, resembling a small ostrich with greyish-brown plumage.

7d   Husband leaving chain rattling in fruit // machine (9)

"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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Here and There
Fruit machine[5] is the British name for what is known in North American as a slot machine[5], a coin-operated gaming machine that generates random combinations of symbols (typically representing fruit) on a dial, certain combinations winning varying amounts of money for the player.

In the UK, the term slot machine[5] denotes a vending machine selling small items Near the back of the pub is a slot machine that sells sex toys, erotic lingerie, massage oil and condoms.

8d   Regularly repair rugs, /finding/ bugs (7)

13d   Charges on skips /for/ such retail outlets (9)

Charge[5] is used in the sense of to formally accuse (someone) of something, especially an offence under law He was also charged with the offence of disobeying a lawful order.

15d   Supplier /of/ fresh green nuts ignoring us (9)

17d   Obscure // European Community borders with Spain (7)

"European Community "  = EC

The European Community was the predecessor of the European Union.

Achieving European Union occurred in three stages.

Stage 1: The European Economic Community[5] (abbreviation EEC), an institution of the European Union, is an economic association of western European countries set up by the Treaty of Rome (1957). The original members were France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Stage 2: The European Community[5] (abbreviation EC) is an economic and political association of certain European countries, incorporated since 1993 in the European Union. The European Community was formed in 1967 from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom); it comprises also the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Court of Justice. Until 1987 it was still commonly known as the EEC. The name ‘European Communities’ is still used in legal contexts where the three distinct organizations are recognized.

Stage 3: The European Union[5] (abbreviation EU) is an economic and political association of certain European countries as a unit with internal free trade and common external tariffs. The European Union was created on 1 November 1993, with the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty. It encompasses the old European Community (EC) together with two intergovernmental ‘pillars’ for dealing with foreign affairs and with immigration and justice. The terms European Economic Community (EEC) and European Community (EC) continue to be used loosely to refer to what is now the European Union. The European Union consists of 28 member states, 19 of which use the common currency unit, the euro.[7]

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"Spain " = E [IVR code]

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Spain is E*[5] (from Spanish EspaƱa).

Spanish Licence Plate Format
(The IVR code is on the left below the EU flag emblem)

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18d   Begrudges // lack of parking in awards (7)

 "parking " = P [symbol on street signs]

20d   Indication /of/ complex protein (7)

22d   Go on and on // in given order travelling north (5)

24d   Hope /to have/ drive and energy in the morning (5)

"drive " = DR [in street names]

Dr[5] (in street names) is the abbreviation for Drive.


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"energy " = E [symbol used in physics]

In physics, E[5] is a symbol used to represent energy in mathematical formulae ⇒ E = mc2.

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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]   - TheFreeDictionarycom (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