Thursday, September 10, 2020 — DT 29270

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29270
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, January 27, 2020
Setter Campbell (Allan Scott) [unconfirmed]
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29270]
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

The review of today's puzzle on Big Dave's Crossword Blog is written by Miffypops under the pseudonym Earl Tolloller^[7], a character from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Iolanthe (a fact that may prove significant to solvers). Tim Vine^[7], mentioned by Miffypops in his intro, is an English comedian known for his one-liner jokes.

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	Plant // imitation jewel (8)

5a	Some brief is called /in/ relating to financial matters (6)

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, I suspect that brief[5] is used in an informal British sense of a solicitor or barrister ⇒it was only his brief's eloquence that had saved him from prison.

10a	Street band likes playing, /giving/ pleasure (4,3,8)

Beer and skittles^[5] (often used with a negative) is a British expression meaning amusement or enjoyment ⇒ life isn’t all beer and skittles.

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^* Skittles^[3,4,5,11] is the British name for a game played with wooden pins, typically nine in number, set up at the end of an alley to be bowled down with a wooden ball or disc (also known, especially in the US, as ninepins).

11a	Withdraw // religious education pamphlet (7)

In the UK, religious education^[10] (abbreviation RE^[5]) is a subject taught in schools which educates about the different religions of the world.

A tract^[5] is a short treatise in pamphlet form, typically on a religious subject.

12a	Suggest // operation in writing (7)

Op^[5] is an informal short form for:

• a surgical operation ⇒ a minor op
• (ops) military operations ⇒ the ops room

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops refers to a purple piece of writing. Purple prose[5] is prose that is too elaborate or ornate ⇒ Wordy and redundant, the document wandered in and out of various verb tenses, stumbled over boilerplate prepositional phrases, and sank into quagmires of purple prose.

13a	Conservative with round middle /is/ source of jokes (8)

"Conservative " = C [member of British political party]

The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.^[10] or Con.^[10].

The Conservative Party^[5] is a major right of centre British political party promoting free enterprise and private ownership that emerged from the old Tory Party^* under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s.

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^* Historically, a Tory^[10] was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.

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15a	Business // rated badly (5)

18a	Former monarch and husband rejected // hair dye (5)

Anne^[7] (1665–1714) became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a single sovereign state, the United Kingdom of Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death.

"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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20a	Get beaten by mug, // be humiliated (4,4)

Mug^[10] is British slang for a person's face or mouth ⇒ get your ugly mug out of here!.

23a	Broadcasting organisation /in/ King's Cross, say (7)

King's Cross railway station^[7], also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is one of the busiest stations in the United Kingdom and the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to North East England and Scotland. Adjacent to King's Cross station is St Pancras International, the London terminus for Eurostar services to continental Europe. Beneath both main line stations is King's Cross St Pancras tube station on the London Underground; combined they form one of the country's largest transport hubs.

25a	Finish with awfully sore // back (7)

26a	Even leading /may be/ child's play (15)

27a	Difficult question /from/ guy by river (6)

Guy^[3,4,11] is used in the sense of to make fun of, to hold up to ridicule, or to mock.

28a	Short joke // about English ship (3-5)

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops writes ...and a type of large cruise liner offering ghastly Butlin’s at sea holidays. Not for me they don’t. (See page 7) “I saw this bloke chatting-up a cheetah and I thought: ‘He’s trying to pull a fast one.'” I expect Miffypops intended to write "large ship" rather than "large cruise liner" — and if that wasn't his intention, it should have been (as he has used the word he is attempting to hint)! Butlin's[7] is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom that aims to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. To the best of my knowledge, Butlin's does not operate cruises. My interpretation is that Miffypops is suggesting that a cruise experience parallels that at a Butlin's resort (apparently very organized and regimented). The significance of "(See page 7)" escapes me. The joke is a double entendre, where pull[5] is used in an informal British sense meaning to succeed in attracting sexually ⇒ I used my sense of humour to pull girls.

Down

1d	Bribe // reserve with gold nuggets, initially (6)

A reserve^[5] is an extra player in^* a team, serving as a possible substitute ⇒ he was reserve hooker [a position on a rugby team] for the World Cup team.

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^* Note that the Brits say "in a team" rather than "on a team"

"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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2d	One representing another sister ringing old // employer, perhaps (5,4)

An agent noun^[5] is a noun denoting someone or something that performs the action of a verb, usually ending in -er or -or, e.g. worker, accelerator.

3d	All are crazy about English // beer (4,3)

Real ale^[7] is the name coined by the British consumer group Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)^* in 1973 for a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide". The heart of the definition is the maturation requirements. If the beer is unfiltered, unpasteurised and still active on the yeast, it is a real ale; it is irrelevant whether the container is a cask or a bottle.

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^* The Campaign for Real Ale^[7] (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub. It is now the largest single-issue consumer group in the UK, and is a founding member of the European Beer Consumers Union (EBCU).

CAMRA does not support the promotion and sale of keg^* based craft beer. CAMRA's Internal Policy document states that real ale can only be served from cask without the use of additional carbonation. This policy means that "any beer brand which is produced in both cask and keg versions" is not admitted to CAMRA festivals or supported by CAMRA.^[7]

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^* Here keg is used — not in the sense of a small barrel — but in the sense of a pressurized metal barrel with a valve at one end, used to store and dispense beer or other carbonated drinks.

4d	Greek character's dropped off French wine /for/ trainee (5)

Mu^[5] is the twelfth letter of the Greek alphabet (Μ, μ).

Muscadet^[5] is a dry white wine from the part of the Loire region in France nearest the west coast.

6d	Hymn // trendy trio jazzed up after time (7)

In the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England, an introit^[10] is a short prayer said or sung as the celebrant is entering the sanctuary to celebrate Mass or Holy Communion.

7d	Instrument /in/ hermit's place, nothing in addition (5)

Historically, a cell^[2] was a tiny one-roomed dwelling used by a hermit.

8d	Audience member // somehow riles number inside (8)

9d	Exclude workers /in/ tightly-fitting trousers (3,5)

"worker " = ANT

The terms "worker" and "social worker" are commonly used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue ANT or BEE.

A worker^[5] is a neuter or undeveloped female bee, wasp, ant, or other social insect, large numbers of which do the basic work of the colony.

In crossword puzzles, "worker" will most frequently be used to clue ANT and occasionally BEE but I have yet to see it used to clue WASP. Of course, "worker" is sometimes also used to clue HAND or MAN.

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Ski pants^[5] refers not to trousers worn for skiing but to women's trousers made of stretchy fabric, having tapering legs and an elastic stirrup under each foot.

Surely, it's all pants!

It is surprising to me that Brits use the term "ski pants" given that, in Britain, the word pants[5] does not mean trousers* as it does in North America. Rather, it refers to underwear — specifically men's undershorts or women's panties (the latter otherwise known as knickers[5] to the Brits). * Then again, this may not have always been the case or may not be true in all parts of the UK as evidenced by the following observation made by Lincoln Latic in a comment on my review of DT 28909 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog: I didn’t see this [pants used as a synonym for trousers] as an Americanism. I grew up in the northwest of England (before the big influx of Americanisms into the language) and ‘pants’ was the usual term for trousers. You had short pants as a real youngster then progressed into long pants as you got older which for most of us was when you were nearly at the end of primary school probably around aged 9 or 10. What most people consider ‘pants’ refers to now, were called underpants because they went under your pants. The idea of consistent British usage could well be described as pants[5] — an informal British term meaning rubbish or nonsense ⇒ (i) It's not art - it's pants.; (ii) I thought I'd give it a go. Unfortunately, I'd not looked at the opinions of others..........boy, do I wish I had! It's pants. It really is a poor programme.

14d	A hotline out of order /in/ comic opera (8)

Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri^[7] is an 1882 comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and libretto by W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911).

16d	Get to know // when sure (9)

17d	Musical group // that's needed for board meeting? (5,3)

Chess^[7] is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and lyrics by Tim Rice.

Delving Deeper

The play involves a politically driven, Cold War-era chess tournament between two men—an American grandmaster and a Soviet grandmaster—and their fight over a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other. The show opened in London's West End in 1986 where it played for three years. A much-altered U.S. version premiered on Broadway in 1988, but survived only for two months. The play is obviously far better known in the UK than in North America. Chess placed seventh in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the U.K.'s "Number One Essential Musicals".

19d	Stupid // offence, one committed by an employee at the start (7)

As a containment indicator, commit^[5] (in the past tense committed) is used in the sense of to consign (someone) to prison, especially on remand ⇒ he was committed to prison for contempt of court.

21d	Wild about editor/'s/ form of government? (7)

22d	Guide /showing/ king round centre of Aden (6)

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

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^* 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.

Scratching the Surface
Aden[5] is a port in Yemen at the mouth of the Red Sea. Aden was formerly under British rule, first as part of British India (from 1839), then from 1935 as a Crown Colony. It was capital of the former South Yemen from 1967 until 1990.

24d	Main artery /forming/ part of that road heading north (5)

25d	Petite // female engulfed by rising river (5)

The Nile^[5] is a river in eastern Africa, [disputably (show more )] the longest river in the world, which rises in east central Africa near Lake Victoria and flows 6,695 km (4,160 miles) generally northwards through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt to empty through a large delta into the Mediterranean.

There are many factors, such as the source, the identification or the definition of the mouth, and the scale of measurement of the river length between source and mouth, that determine the precise meaning of "river length"^[7]. As a result, the length measurements of many rivers are only approximations. In particular, there has long been disagreement as to whether the Nile or the Amazon is the world's longest river. The Nile has traditionally been considered longer, but in recent years some Brazilian and Peruvian studies have suggested that the Amazon is longer by measuring the river plus the adjacent Pará estuary and the longest connecting tidal canal.

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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