Wednesday, December 16, 2020 — DT 29343

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29343
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Setter Unknown
Link to full review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29343]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by Mr K
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

My experience with this puzzle mirrors that reported by others on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — a fast start followed by a far more challenging stretch. I experienced a total mental block on 8d and, after staring at it blankly for a very long time, finally resorted to seeking electronic help.

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	Trendy drink I had? // Flavourless (7)

5a	Marine mammals circling for example -- sailors want them (3,4)

9a	Grand, perhaps // sanctimonious article by Oscar (5)

Pi^[5] is an informal British short form for pious.

"Oscar " = O [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

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^* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

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10a	PM // succeeding, with nobody finally going out (9)

Scratching the Surface
The surface reading is clearly an allusion to the phase one COVID-19 lockdown (which had been in force for just over a month when this puzzle was published in the UK in April) with the Prime Minister urging — or, perhaps, requiring — people to stay at home.

11a	Parole led criminal to bite bishop? // Disgraceful (10)

"bishop " = B [chess piece]

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

A bishop^[5] is a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a mitre. Unless obstructed by another piece, a bishop

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12a	Bonito shark eating // rubbish (4)

Tosh^[5] is an informal British term meaning rubbish^* or nonsense ⇒ it's sentimental tosh.

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^* in the sense of foolish words or speech

14a	I sat at home inhaling oxygen following, say, heart // concern (12)

The symbol for the chemical element oxygen is O^[5].

18a	Ended nice novel welcoming writer/'s/ impartiality (12)

The use of the word "writer" to clue PEN is likely to 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 person wielding 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 (a sense of the word not found in US dictionaries).

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21a	Follow // story on the radio (4)

22a	Doctor agreed aunt // swore (10)

25a	Is wearing shades /creating/ problems? (9)

26a	Start removing odd characters? Brilliant // suggestion! (5)

27a	Tense fisherman leaving river with end of rod // twisted (7)

"tense " = T [grammar term]

Grammatically speaking, t.^[10] is the abbreviation for tense.

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28a	On board, get rotten // seats (7)

"on board " = 'contained in SS'

In Crosswordland, you will find that a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[5]. Thus phrases such as "aboard ship" or "on board ship" (or sometimes merely "aboard" or "on board") are Crosswordland code for 'contained in SS'.

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Down

1d	Block // rogue editor and be without book (6)

"book " = B

The abbreviation for book is b^[1] (or b.^[1]) or B^[12].^*

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^* Although neither of the two dictionaries in which a listing for this abbreviation is found provide information on the context in which it is used, I would guess that it might be in publishing, in particular in bibliographies or footnotes and endnotes in academic works when referencing one or more books in a series of books ⇒ see b. 3, p. 233.

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2d	Seafood // terror on island (6)

3d	Picture // quietly stolen: old drawing by mathematician? (10)

"quietly " = P [music notation]

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

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"old " = O [linguistics]

In linguistics, O^[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i) OFr [Old French]; (ii) OE [Old English].

However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.

Another possibility arises from the British abbreviation OAP^[5] standing for old-age pensioner.

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4d	Drop American // play (5)

Dram^[5] is a Scottish term for a small drink of whiskey or other spirits ⇒ a wee dram to ward off the winter chill.

5d	Tea still brewed by eastern // attendant (9)

Satellite^[10] is used in the sense of a person, especially one who is obsequious, who follows or serves another.

6d	A wife getting lines // wrong (4)

"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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7d	Financial // company cutting income badly (8)

8d	Brown polish /for/ pal (8)

Sunshine^[5] is an informal British term used as a friendly or sometimes threatening form of address ⇒ hand it over, sunshine.

13d	Bizarre fast dance holding one // spellbound (10)

15d	Set forth // and must trap new wild cat (9)

"new " = N [abbreviation used on maps]

N^[5] is an abbreviation (chiefly in place names) for New ⇒ N Zealand.

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16d	Individual // Democrat is in court after tip from Trump (8)

"Democrat " = D [member or supporter of US political party]

A Democrat^[5] (abbreviation D^[5] or Dem^[5] or Dem.^[5]) is a member or supporter of the Democratic Party^[5], one of the two main US political parties (the other being the Republican Party), which follows a broadly liberal programme, tending to support social reform and minority rights.

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"court " = CT [in street addresses]

Ct^[2] is the abbreviation for Court (in street addresses ... and possibly in other contexts as well).

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17d	Heartlessly craving // something extra (8)

19d	The Queen's upset about everybody, remember (6)

"the Queen " = ER [regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth]

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

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^* A cipher^[5] (also cypher) is a monogram^[5] or motif of two or more interwoven letters, typically a person's initials, used to identify a personal possession or as a logo.

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"about " = C [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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20d	Shakes? Not Juliet/'s/ source of milk (6)

Judder^[5] is a British term meaning:

• (verb) especially of something mechanical, to shake and vibrate rapidly and with force ⇒ the steering wheel juddered in his hand.
• (noun) an instance of rapid and forceful shaking and vibration ⇒ the car gave a judder.

"Juliet " = J [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

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^* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

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23d	Grew small // flowers (5)

"small " = S [clothing size]

S^[5] is the abbreviation for small (as a clothing size).

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24d	Bowled? Bother -- // this drops (4)

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Mr K sees the entire clue as being the definition. That's fair enough. The bail may drop after the wicket is struck by a bowled ball causing the batsman to utter an expression of annoyance like "Bother" — if not something much stronger.

"bowled " = B [cricket term]

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation b.^[2,10] or b^[5] denotes bowled (by).

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In cricket, a bail^[5] is either of the two crosspieces bridging the stumps^*, which the bowler and fielders try to dislodge with the ball to get the batsman out ⇒ But something was wrong with the picture - the bails remained firmly on the wicket, despite the leaning leg stump.

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^* a stump^[5] is each of the three upright pieces of wood which form a wicket

Wicket (three stumps topped by two bails)

Misconfigured?

To my eye, one of the bails in the above photo appears to be improperly set. Each bail consists of a central wider cylinder called the barrel with a narrower cylinder called a spigot on each end. The spigots are unequal in length. The shorter spigots of the two bails rest on the centre stump and the longer spigots on the outside stumps. However, in the above photo (from Wikipedia) the bail to the left appears to be reversed.

Scratching the Surface
Bother[5] is a British exclamation used to express mild irritation or impatience ⇒ ‘Bother!’ she muttered.

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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]   - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Dictionary of English)

  ^[6]   - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (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