Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Wednesday, June 16, 2021 — DT 29640


Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29640
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Setter
chalicea (Shirley Curran)
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29640 – Hints]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29640 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Tilsit (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

While I am quite sure this is far from the first puzzle we have seen from this setter, I do believe it is the first time that I have seen her identified on Big Dave's Crossword Blog as the setter of a puzzle. chalicea is a pseudonym of Shirley Curran. You can find out more about her in the following article: Meet the Setter – Chalicea.

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
  • "wavy underline" - whimsical and inferred definitions
Click here for further explanation and usage examples of markup conventions used on this blog.

Across

1a Close entertaining lawsuit // wrapped up (7)

5a Commanded // European to wear gold, diamonds and crimson? (7)

Note: In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Tilsit surely intended to write Around the abbreviation for European goes ....

"European " = E [as in E number]

E[1,2] is the abbreviation for European (as in E number*).

* An E number[1,4,10,14] (or E-number[2,5]) is any of various identification codes required by EU law, consisting of the letter E (for European) followed by a number, that are used to denote food additives such as colourings and preservatives (but excluding flavourings) that have been approved by the European Union.

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"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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"diamonds " = D [card suit]

Diamonds[2] (abbreviation D[2]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

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9a Replying to // a call containing bad news (9)

Here and There
Ring[5] is an informal — more or less British (show more ) — term for:
  • (noun) a telephone call I'd better give her a ring tomorrow
  • (verb) to call by telephone she rang to tell him the good news

In North America, the word would seem to be more accepted as a noun (I'll give you a ring) than as a verb (I'll ring you). According to various dictionaries, the word ring used in this sense is:
  • (noun) British[2,5], chiefly British[4], mainly British[10,14], or not specified as being British[1,3,11,12]
  • (verb) British[5], chiefly British[2,3,4,12], mainly British[10,14], or not specified as being British[1,11]

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10a Outlaw eating commanding officer/'s/ food (5)

CO[5] is the abbreviation for Commanding Officer.

11a Experience // defeat, as team hides (5)

12a Garden /with/ lights on head? (9)

13a Company with million quid /making/ chemicals (9)

Quid[5] (plural quid) is an informal British term for one pound sterling we paid him four hundred quid.

16a Cold periods /in/ prisons (5)

17a Pens, we're told, // ceremonial forms (5)

18aWhat superhero might have on the outside? (9)

20a Puts on coat perhaps /and/ disappears crossing river (9)

23a Carefully move front of loose // supporting framework (5)

25a Tolerate // some of India's tandooris (5)

Note: While unlikely to cause confusion, there is a minor typo in the solution given by crypticsue in her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.

Scratching the Surface
A tandoori[5] is a restaurant serving food cooked in a tandoor*.

* A tandoor[5] is a clay oven of a type used originally in northern India and Pakistan.

26a Refurbished library accepts computers etc // with bad temper (9)

IT[5] is the abbreviation for information technology.

27a Some admitting blame /for/ treatment (7)

28a Setter maybe returning with post /is/ a stroke of luck (7)

Down

1dFeature of laciest pants? (7)

The entire clue is the definition in which the wordplay is embedded.

As an anagram indicator, pants[5] is used in an informal British sense meaning rubbish or nonsense ⇒ I thought I'd give it a go. Unfortunately, I'd not looked at the reviews..........boy, do I wish I had! It's pants. It really is a poor program.

2d Expenses /of/ Greek island trips on vacation (5)

Cos is an alternative spelling of Kos[5], a Greek island in the southeastern Aegean, one of the Dodecanese group.

The phrase "on vacation" is an indication to remove the contents (interior letters) from the word "T(rip)S". Vacation[10] is used in the sense of the act of departing from or abandoning property, etc. Thus the setter would seem to be suggesting that the interior letters pack up and leave.

3d Lacking wings, asked all vets for any small // bones (9)

Note: In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, crypticsue has neglected to include the final letter of the solution.

"small " = S [clothing size]

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

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4d Training // medic badly (5)

5d Arranged // grandiose changes (9)

6d Society girls getting to grips with tango? /They're/ liabilities! (5)

"tango " = T [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

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7d Shape // reportedly ruined view (9)

8d Ultimately uncontrolled rage over son/'s/ threats (7)

"son " = S [genealogy]

In genealogies, s[5] is the abbreviation for son(s) m 1991; one s one d*.

* married in 1991; one son and one daughter.

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14d Worried actor taken in by fashion /for/ fleet of cars (9)

15d Mischievously /and/ proudly dropping husband after first bit of nookie (9)

"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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16dPut right, I might stand thus? (9)

I think the entire clue is a cryptic definition in which a precise definition is embedded.

17d Cleric with kinship to regularly // call again (7)

19d Journalist supporting race // broadcast (7)

21d Home help upset // country (5)

Scratching the Surface
Home help[5] is a British term for a person employed, especially by a local authority*, to help in another's home.

* Local authority[5] is a British term for an administrative body in local government ⇒ (i) you will need planning permission from your local authority; (ii) local authority housing.

22d Shoot // southern puritan (5)

24d Blade, // black, changing hands (5)

Sable[5] is a literary or heraldic term for black.



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

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