Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Wednesday, September 9, 2020 — DT 29269

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29269
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Setter
Unknown
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29269 – Hints]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29269 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
Mr K (Hints)
crypticsue (Review)
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
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

A nice, gentle British weekend puzzle for a Canadian midweek solve.

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   Completely fill // it at sea when stormy (7)

5a   Cool drink setter had /in/ flat (7)

"setter had " = ID

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

Today, the creator of the puzzle has made the scenario more complicated by combining "setter" with the past tense of the verb "to have" producing "setter had" which must be replaced by "I'd" (a contraction of "I had").

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Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, flat[5] is the British term for what would be called an apartment[5] in North America.

9a  Journey to the bar and back? (5,4)

10a   English lake // strange and disturbing (5)

11a   Pancake containing a lot of fish // sauce (7)

I would think that the pancake is the tortilla from which the taco is made, and not the taco per se.

British dictionaries typically describe a tortilla[5] as a thin, flat pancake; US dictionaries, on the other hand, characterize a tortilla[3,11] as a thin disk of unleavened bread.



Tabasco[5] (also Tabasco sauce) is the trademark for a pungent sauce made from the fruit of a capsicum pepper.

Origin: named after the state of Tabasco in south-eastern Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico

12a   One to resist change /as/ Hera did somehow (7)

Scratching the Surface
In Greek mythology, Hera[10] (or Here) is the queen of the Olympian gods and sister and wife of Zeus.

13a   Male lacking finesse /becomes/ cruel (9)

16a   Horse // cooked in casserole wife chucked out (5)

"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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17a   Firm support /for/ lethal striker (5)

18a   Last on tap drunk // following the birth (9)

21a   TV show about female // with fine prospects (3,4)

In Britain, the phrase be set fair[5] (said of the weather) means to be fine and likely to stay fine for a time ⇒ The weather is set fair for this weekend's Radcliffe carnival. The expression may also be used in a figurative sense in other contexts ⇒ conditions were set fair for stable political and economic development.

22a   Sort out drink /for/ public platform (7)

25a   Keep away from // an abyss (5)

26a   Beer after milk drink good -- // hurry (5,1,3)

"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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27a   Stadium, large, accommodates second // team (7)

"large " = L [clothing size]

L[5] is the abbreviation for large (as a clothing size).

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Arsenal Football Club[7] is an English professional association football [soccer] club based in Islington, London that plays in the Premier League (the top level in the English football league system).

28a   Foreign currency earners /in/ old harbour towns? (7)

Down

1d   Mark // caught rodent in school (7)

"caught " = C [cricket notation]

In cricket, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out[5], that is for a player on the opposing team to catch a ball that has been hit by the batsman before it touches the ground.

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c[5] or c.[2,10] denotes caught (by).

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2d  One opposed to other manual workers? (5)

3d   Mountains // in Patagonian Desert (5)

The Andes[5] are a major mountain system running the length of the Pacific coast of South America. Its highest peak is Aconcagua, which rises to a height of 6,960 m (22,834 ft).

Scratching the Surface
Patagonia[5] is a region of South America, in southern Argentina and Chile. Consisting largely of a dry barren plateau, it extends from the Colorado River in central Argentina to the Strait of Magellan and from the Andes to the Atlantic coast.

4d   Nobleman given award /for/ organ piece? (7)

An earl[5] is a British nobleman ranking above a viscount and below a marquess [in other words, the third highest of the five ranks of British nobility — duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron].

"award " = OBE [Officer of the Order of the British Empire]

OBE[5] is the abbreviation for Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

The Order of the British Empire[5] is an order of knighthood applicable to the United Kingdom and certain Commonwealth realms which was instituted in 1917 and is divided into five classes, each with military and civilian divisions. The classes are: Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight or Dame Commander (KBE/DBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE). The two highest classes entail the awarding of a knighthood.

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5d   Mischievous child crushed seed /in/ hampers (7)

6d   Be sensible // before arriving in time (3,6)

7d   Enduring // exercises with chap in charge (9)

"exercises " = PE [physical education]

PE[5] is an abbreviation* for physical education.

* In my experience, phys ed[3,11,12,14] is the more common shortened form in North America.

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"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'.

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8d   Much disliked // -- as lurgy! (7)

Lurgy[5] is a humorous British term for an unspecified or indeterminate illness ⇒ I had caught the dreaded lurgy. As in the usage example, it is very frequently described as "dreaded".

14d   Impressive winger/’s/ successful long shot? (9)

In golf, albatross[5] is another term for double eagle[5], a score of three strokes under par at a hole.

In the vast majority of cases, an albatross will be achieved by holing a long shot. While a golfer might reach the green on a par 5 in two shots and have a short putt for an albatross, this would hardly be a common occurrence.

In expect that crypticsue, in her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, may have intended to write "An impressive bird with large wings ..." (rather than "wingers").

15d   Wild rage Dante /exhibited in/ restaurant (3,6)

17d   Starch // idiot put into sparkling wine (7)

Cava[5] is a Spanish sparkling wine made in the same way as champagne.



Cassava[5] is the starchy tuberous root of a tropical tree, used as food in tropical countries.

18d   Soldiers look up /for/ overhead protection (7)

Para[4,11] (short for paratrooper) is a soldier in an airborne unit.

"look " = LO [archaic]

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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19d   Expert beneath waves that break // skin (7)

20d   Stories about cat /in/ French city (7)

In this clue, it greatly helped that the French city has a namesake in Eastern Ontario.

Mog[5], another term for moggie (also moggy), is an informal British term for a cat, typically one that does not have a pedigree or is otherwise unremarkable ⇒ I have three other cats (two moggies and one Bengal/Tonkinese cross).



Limoges[5] is a city in west central France, the capital of Limousin; population 139,026 (2006). Famous in the late Middle Ages for enamel work, it has been noted since the 18th century for the production of porcelain.

23d   Excessive // energy used in part of flight (5)

"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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24d   Monarch /has/ regret about Left and Right (5)



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

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