Wednesday, August 5, 2020 — DT 29244

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29244
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, December 27, 2019
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29244]
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 one respect, this puzzle from Giovanni is a bit of a cliff-hanger. The Quick Crossword which accompanied it in The Daily Telegraph (also set by Don Manley whose pseudonym in The Daily Telegraph is Giovanni) contained the following message "No more Fridays here ... Don Giovanni". The final across clue in this cryptic crossword also hints at the coming of a change.

Who knows what that change will be? (I haven't peeked ahead to find out.) Is this a signal that the Don is retiring or merely an indication that his puzzles will be moving to another day? However, neither Giovanni nor Telegraph Puzzles editor Chris Lancaster drop by to throw light on what these hints mean. Stay tuned.

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

6a	Social difficulty /with/ mum and boy meeting decent chaps taking time (13)

8a	Author /of/ 'Yellow Spring' (6)

"gold " = OR [heraldic tincture]

Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture.

In heraldry, a tincture^[5] is any of the conventional colours (including the metals and stains, and often the furs) used in coats of arms.

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George Orwell^[5] (1903–1950) was a British novelist and essayist, born in India; pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair. Orwell’s work is characterized by his concern for social injustice. His most famous works are Animal Farm (1945), a satire on Communism as it developed under Stalin, and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a dystopian account of a future state in which every aspect of life is controlled by Big Brother.

9a	Boat /that's/ smart with name of island group (8)

The Aran Islands^[5] are a group of three islands, Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer, off the west coast of the Republic of Ireland.

10a	Something disturbing? // Notice nothing (3)

11a	Burden // beginning to worry crew (6)

An eight^[5] is an eight-oared rowing boat or its crew.

12a	Dogs /making/ row interrupting church service (8)

14a	Notice // eccentric character at the end of short drama (7)

16a	A crime rocking a // country (7)

20a	Dame's pet let loose, // running out of control (8)

23a	Stop // rude sister needing wings clipped (6)

24a	Side no good -- what it won't get? (3)

The entire clue provides the definition in which the wordplay is embedded. The portion of the clue marked with a double underline is the wordplay as well as part of the definition.

The word "side" takes one meaning in the wordplay and a second in the definition where side^[5] is used in a particularly British sense meaning a sports team ⇒ there was a mixture of old and young players in^* their side. (show more )

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^* 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.

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25a	Like bees /in/ sun initially getting hot (8)

26a	Attack // route towards city centre, say? (6)

An inroad^[5] is a hostile attack or raid ⇒ the inroads and cross-border raiding of the Grahams.

27a	Our delight not wavering, /giving/ end-of-year message (4,3,3,3)

Scratching the Surface
This puzzle appeared in The Daily Telegraph on December 27, 2019, four days prior to New Years Eve.

Down

1d	Travel in France -- US soldier getting cold /is/ hypersensitive (8)

In French, aller^[8] can be either a verb meaning 'to go' or a noun denoting 'outbound journey'.

"US soldier " = GI

A GI^[5] is a private soldier in the US army ⇒ she went off with a GI during the war.

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Origin: Contrary to popular belief, the term apparently is not an abbreviation for general infantryman, but rather derives from the term government (or general) issue (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces).

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2d	One impressed by false image, // I had nothing subsequently (8)

3d	Traditions /of/ border location? (7)

4d	Sheds garments /making/ journey aboard ship (6)

5d	English friend entering province // of Asian country (6)

"province " = NI [Northern Ireland]

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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What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat describes the province in question as part of the UK but not of Great Britain. Although the terms Great Britain and United Kingdom are commonly used synonymously — the UK Olympic Team is even officially branded as Team GB[7] rather than Team UK — strictly speaking, the terms do have different meanings. From a political perspective, Great Britain[5] comprises the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales, although the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom. From a geographical perspective, Great Britain[7] is the island on which the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales are largely situated (these countries extend beyond the boundaries of geographical Great Britain to take in other nearby islands). Most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island. The term "Great Britain" often extends to include surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales, and is also sometimes loosely applied to the UK as a whole. The United Kingdom[5] is a political unit that includes the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales and the province of Northern Ireland. Full name United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The British Isles[5,7] is a geographical term for the archipelago comprised of the island of Great Britain, the island of Ireland, and over 1000 surrounding smaller islands such as the Hebrides and the Channel Islands.

6d	What could make remote wall rot /in/ fort (8,5)

A Martello tower^[10] is a small circular tower for coastal defence, formerly much used in Europe.

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Origin: named after Cape Mortella in Corsica, where the British navy captured a tower of this type in 1794

This type of fortification is very familiar to me, having grown up in Nova Scotia and studied in Kingston, Ontario — both being places where examples still exist. According to one source, the British built sixteen Martello towers in Canada — five in Halifax, Nova Scotia, one in Saint John, New Brunswick, four in Quebec City, and six in Kingston, Ontario. Other sources exclude from the count the two towers which form part of Fort Henry in Kingston, perhaps because these towers are not standalone structures but elements of a larger fortification.

Three of the Kingston Martello towers can be seen in the photo below (the third is in the far background through the triangle formed by the white poles):

7d	See Cardiff install mostly new // safety measure for pedestrians (7,6)

Scratching the Surface
Cardiff[5] is the capital of Wales, a seaport on the Bristol Channel.

13d	Restriction // that denies team a 24 (3)

The numeral "24" is a cross reference indicator to clue 24a (show more ).

To complete the clue, a solver must replace the cross reference indicator with the solution to the clue starting in the light^* identified by the cross reference indicator.

The cross reference indicator may include a directional indicator but this is customarily done only in situations where there are both Across and Down clues originating in the light that is being referenced.

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^* light-coloured cell in the grid

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15d	Spring sees the uprising of a // snake (3)

17d	Twelve /using/ power to restrict awful din (8)

18d	Californian can, maybe! (4,4)

From a British perspective, restroom^[5] is a North American term^* for a toilet in a public building.

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^* the editors of the dictionary appear to have an aversion to the use of the word 'euphemism'

A restroom^[5] in the UK is quite a different entity, being a room in a public building for people to relax or recover in. Don't ask to use the restroom when in Britain; you might be directed to a room with a cot but no toilet.

19d	Fresh group of spectators /in/ a stir once (7)

Newgate^[5] was a former London prison whose unsanitary conditions became notorious in the 18th century before the building was burnt down in the Gordon Riots of 1780. A new edifice was erected on the same spot but was demolished in 1902 to make way for the Central Criminal Court.

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat informs us that this former London prison is now the site of the Old Bailey. The Old Bailey[10] is a common name for the Central Criminal Court of England which is the chief court exercising criminal jurisdiction in London.

21d	Jolly type /from/ India diving into French river (6)

"India " = I [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

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^* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

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The Marne^[5] is a river of east central France, which rises in the Langres plateau north of Dijon and flows 525 km (328 miles) north and west to join the River Seine near Paris. Its valley was the scene of two important battles in the First World War. The first battle (September 1914) halted and repelled the German advance on Paris; the second (July 1918) ended the final German offensive.

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Jolly^[10] is British slang for a member of the Royal Marines^[5], a British armed service (part of the Royal Navy) founded in 1664, trained for service at sea, or on land under specific circumstances.

22d	One wanting journalist's article // travelled north to collect it (6)

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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)

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Signing off for today — Falcon