Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29428 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, July 29, 2020 | |
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29428]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
2Kiwis | |
BD rating
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| Difficulty - ★★ | Enjoyment - ★★★★ |
Falcon's experience
┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐
███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ | |
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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
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Introduction
Today's puzzle may leave you with a hungry feeling.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 | |
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| Click here for further explanation and usage examples of markup conventions used on this blog. | |
Across
| 1a | Such ales come too refined /and/ sweet (9,6) |
Sweet[5] is used in a British sense meaning dessert.
| 9a | Affray regularly seen after prison // food like this (4-3) |
Stir[5] is an informal term for prison [on both sides of the Atlantic] ⇒
I’ve spent twenty-eight years in stir.
| 10a | A lot must be upset about management buyout /being/ a lottery (7) |
MBO[5] is the abbreviation for management buyout[5], the purchase of a controlling share in a company by its executive directors and/or managers.
Tombola[5] is a British term for a game in which people pick tickets out of a revolving drum and certain tickets win immediate prizes, typically played at a fete* or fair ⇒ (i)
entrance includes a tombola and raffle; (ii)
traditional games such as tombola or bingo.
* Fete[5] (also fête) is a British term for a public function, typically held outdoors and organized to raise funds for a charity, including entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments ⇒
a church fete.
| 11a | Near disastrous time invested in Virgin transport (9) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Virgin Group Ltd.[7] is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Sir Richard Branson and Nik Powell. Virgin has interests in an extensive range of business areas, many of which involve some form of transport such as motorbike taxis (Virgin Limobike), race cars (Virgin Racing), hot air balloons (Virgin Balloon Flights), trains (Virgin Rail Group), cruise ships (Virgin Voyages), aircraft (Virgin Atlantic Airways) and spacecraft (Virgin Galactic). |
| 12a | At the outset, such things even promote // progress (4) |
| 13a | Linen item -- // type mostly used after sleep (6) |
| 15a | Do nothing, // say about a gun being unloaded (8) |
| 18a | Quiet and strong, // showed indifference (8) |
| 19a | Maintain // a lock must be sent back (6) |
| 22a | Style // adopted by Michelangelo (4) |
Scratching the Surface
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Michelangelo[5] (1475–1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet; full name Michelangelo Buonarroti. (show more )
A leading figure of the High Renaissance, Michelangelo established his reputation with sculptures such as the Pietà (c.1497–1500) and David (1501–4). Under papal patronage he decorated the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome (1508–12) and painted the fresco The Last Judgement (1536–41), both important mannerist works. His architectural achievements include the completion of St Peter's in Rome (1546–64). hide |
| 23a | Leave high ground /for/ game bird (9) |
| 26a | Warning // troubled dictator after daughter goes missing (4,3) |
The Riot Act[5] is an Act passed by the British government in 1715 and repealed in 1967, designed to prevent civil disorder. The Act made it a felony for an assembly of more than twelve people to refuse to disperse after being ordered to do so and having been read a specified section of the Act by lawful authority.
| 27a | Father will accept pointless risk /gives/ spice (7) |
| 28a | Boy read brightly about // such extortion (8,7) |
Daylight robbery[5] is an informal British term* meaning blatant and unfair overcharging.
* although I believe British merchants may have lost their monopoly on this practice
Down
| 1d | Clip oddly put on rear // tank (7) |
| 2d | Going north nowhere is open supplying // coppice material (5) |
Coppice[5] (as a noun) denotes an area of woodland in which the trees or shrubs are periodically cut back to ground level to stimulate growth and provide firewood or timber and (as a verb) means to cut back (a tree or shrub) to ground level periodically to stimulate growth.
The osier[5] is a small Eurasian willow which grows mostly in wet habitats. It is usually coppiced, being a major source of the long flexible shoots (withies) used in basketwork.
| 3d | High season /for/ the children? (9) |
High[5] is used in the sense (said especially of food) of being unpleasantly strong-smelling because beginning to go bad ⇒
it's a type of preserved butter, used for cooking, smells a little high.
Off[10] (said of food or drink) means having gone bad, sour, etc ⇒
this milk is off.
| 4d | A favela harbouring Yankee /finding/ refuge (6) |
A favela[5] is a Brazilian shack or shanty town; a slum.
| 5d | Request // access, needing to take food inside (8) |
| 6d | Units that show resistance // working for the government (4) |
The ohm[5] is the SI* unit of electrical resistance.
* SI[5] denoting the international system of units of measurement [from French Système International].
O.H.M.S.[7], which stands for On Her (or His) Majesty's Service, is a designation appearing on official letters from government offices in Britain and the Commonwealth realms.
| 7d | Change tack in coastal area /and get/ a snack? (9) |
Here and There
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| The British version of shortcake is quite a different item of food than the one with which we are familiar in North America. In Britain, shortcake[5] is another name for shortbread[5] which is (as in North America) a crisp, rich, crumbly type of biscuit [cookie]* made with butter, flour, and sugar. The illustration used by the 2Kiwis in their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog may show lemon shortbread (shortcake) bars. * The British use the term biscuit[3,4,11] to refer to a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or crackers in North America. A North American biscuit[5] is similar to what is known in Britain as a scone.  * In reference to pastry, short[5] denotes that it contains a high proportion of fat to flour and is therefore crumbly. On occasion, I have been served a dessert that was ostensibly "strawberry shortcake" which consisted of plain cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries. It not only clearly failed to meet the specifications given above but did not even come close to being in the same league as the real thing. |
| 8d | Former politician drowning in beer, /for/ instance (7) |
"politician " = MP
| 14d | Ordeal /of/ a Conservative supporting band set up without love (9) |
"Conservative " = TORY [member of British political party]
A Tory[10] is a member or supporter of the Conservative Party in Great Britain [or, for that matter, in Canada].
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.
* 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.
hide
A Tory[10] is a member or supporter of the Conservative Party in Great Britain [or, for that matter, in Canada].
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.
* 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.
hide
"love " = O [nil score in tennis]
In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).
hide
In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.
Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).
hide
Purgatory[5] is used in the sense of mental anguish or suffering ⇒
this was purgatory, worse than anything she'd faced in her life.
| 16d | Top grub as served here? (9) |
I would say that we must take the entire clue as a perhaps slightly cryptic* definition in which the wordplay is embedded.
* I have marked the clue as a cryptic definition as I find the wording a bit strange for a precise definition which is how I would have classified it had the wording been "Top grub is served here".
Gastropub[5] is a British term for a pub that specializes in serving high-quality food ⇒
we've built our reputation on searching out obscure ethnic restaurants, gastropubs, cutting-edge bars, and superlative food venues.
| 17d | Send off -- // case of damage and small repair (8) |
Despatch[3,4] is a variant (and less common) spelling of dispatch.
| 18d | Stripped // organ found in outhouse (7) |
In Britain, an outhouse[5] is a building such as a shed or barn that is built on to or in* the grounds of a house rather than an outside toilet (as the term would be understood in North America).
* note that Brits say "in the grounds" rather than "on the grounds"; they also say that a player is "in a team" rather than "on a team"
| 20d | Those people may accept charge /for/ treatment (7) |
From a British perspective, rap[5] is an informal North American term for a criminal charge ⇒
he's just been acquitted on a murder rap.
| 21d | Real // support on English right (6) |
I would say that real is used in the sense of not merely lip service.
| 24d | Push /for/ access to house (5) |
| 25d | Hitches a ride, revealing // dress (4) |
A sari[5] (also saree) is a garment consisting of a length of cotton or silk elaborately draped around the body, traditionally worn by women from South Asia.
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)
[15] - CollinsDictionary.com (Penguin Random House LLC/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd )
Signing off for today — Falcon
An enjoyable solve and for me it was also **/****. I was held up in the NW corner briefly when I mistakenly tried to divide 1A as 8,7 but it came together quickly when I saw the error of my ways.
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