Thursday, September 30, 2021

Thursday, September 30, 2021 — DT 29727


Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29727
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29727]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
2Kiwis
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

From the wordplay and checking letters, I worked out what I considered to be a rather unlikely solution at 24d. However, a dictionary check confirmed that it is, in fact, correct.

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

1aLeaving party? (9)

The solver is clearly intended to be misdirected into interpreting the clue as denoting a "farewell party". However, one must actually interpret it to mean "[an instance of] leaving [a political] party". I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the correct interpretation as I was hung up on a "leaving party" being an individual who leaves or a defector.

6a A few heard leading // review (3,2)

9a Sound /of/ Queen once with low backing? (5)

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 Victoria was VR[5] — from the Latin Victoria Regina.

* 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.

10a Car // paint essentially must be in new emulsion (9)

11a Stroppy // pros, to be sure, may be retrained (12)

Stroppy[5] is an informal British term meaning bad-tempered and argumentative ⇒ Patricia was getting stroppy.

14a Suspend setter /for/ such an expression? (7)

The definition is interpreted as "a particular type of expression" with the solution being the adjective that describes this type of expression ⇒ And besides, in the majority of scenes you can plainly see that many a bystander are crying with laughter at the sight of Bill Murray's hangdog expression, thus indicating that the amused bafflement is mutual.

16a Fancy a blonde, // mate? (3,4)

In Britain, mate[5]—in addition to meaning a person’s husband, wife, or other sexual partner—can also be an informal term for a friend or companion ⇒ my best mate Steve. It is commonly used as a friendly form of address between men or boys ⇒ See you then, mate.

Old bean[5] is a dated informal British friendly form of address to a man ⇒ great to see you, old bean!.

17a Layer // seen in ozone hole reversed (3)

18a Identify personal problem /offering/ hopeful treatment (7)

20a Horse // always found around hospital department (7)

"hospital department " = ENT

Should you not have noticed, the ear, nose and throat (ENT[2]) department is the most visited section, by far, in the Crosswordland Hospital.

hide



Eventer[5] is a British term for a horse or rider that takes part in eventing[5], an equestrian sport in which competitors must take part in each of several contests, usually cross-country, dressage, and showjumping.

22a Lost all interest with the onset of rows // between stars (12)

26a Part of leg /that may be/ off in steak (5,4)

Off[10] (said of food or drink) means having gone bad, sour, etc. ⇒ this milk is off.

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.

27a Lord once // kept in privilege illegally rejected (5)

The term liege[10] can mean either a liege lord* or a liegeman** — in this clue, it is the former.

* Liege lord[10] is a historical term for a feudal lord [nobleman] entitled to allegiance and service.
** Liegeman[5] is a historical term for a vassal [holder of land by feudal tenure] who owed feudal service or allegiance to a nobleman [liege lord].

28a Utter // prerogative (5)

As the solution to the first part of the clue, right[5] is an informal British expression (used for emphasis) meaning complete or absolute ⇒ I felt a right idiot.

29a So indeed, desperately holding Victor, // fell sharply (9)

"Victor " = V [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

hide

Down

1d Singer /needing/ most of seat? (4)

2d Beat // current that's good for women (4)

"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

hide

"women " = W

The abbreviation for women or women's is W[2]. The latter designates a clothing size while the former might be seen on the door to the ladies' room.

hide

3d Accountant, politician and graduate teacher may find rest here (4-3)

"accountant " = CA

The official designation CA[5] for Chartered Accountant is used in Scotland—and was formerly employed in Canada. However, Canadian CAs—together with CGAs (Certified General Accountants) and CMAs (Certified Management Accountants)—have adopted the CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) designation.

Outside Scotland, the term "chartered accountant" is used by members of the accounting profession in the UK who belong to certain professional bodies.

In the UK (apart from Scotland) the designatory letters are ACA[10] (Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants) or FCA[10] (Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants). The designatory letters ACA and FCA are also employed in the Republic of Ireland although there I would presume that they stand for Associate of Chartered Accountants Ireland and Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland respectively—Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) being the Irish counterpart to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).[7]

In addition to the organizations already mentioned there are a plethora of other bodies representing accountants in the UK. In fact, in the UK there are no licence requirements for individuals to describe themselves or to practise as accountants. However, those who use the description "chartered accountant" must be members of one of the organisations mentioned above or a recognised equivalent body in another Commonwealth country.

hide

"politician " = MP

In Britain (as in Canada), a politician elected to the House of Commons is known as a Member of Parliament[10] (abbreviation MP[5]) or, informally, as a member[5].

hide

A Bachelor of Education[7] (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools.

4d Stretch of water /requiring/ popular permit (5)

5d Principal // uniform worn by fighting men born on base (6,3)

"uniform " = U [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

hide

In mathematics, e[5] is the transcendental* number that is the base of Napierian or natural logarithms, approximately equal to 2.71828.

* A transcendental number[5] is a number such as e or π that is real but not a root of an algebraic equation with rational coefficients.

6d Used -- and ate -- nuts // lightly fried (7)

7d Partner accepting no site free /for/ place to live (10)

We have already encountered this partner today in 16a.

Maisonette[3,4,11] is a chiefly British term for self-contained living accommodation often occupying two floors of a larger house and having its own outside entrance.

8d Nice case of rivalry /generating/ casual remark (10)

12d Criminal type // who might hold up a store (10)

The latter part of the clue is a whimsical interpretation of the solution.

13d Revealing // close call supporting United? (10)

"United " = U

In the names of sports clubs, U[5] is the abbreviation for United[5] which, in Britain is a word commonly used in the names of soccer and other sports teams formed by amalgamation ⇒ Man U [Manchester United].

hide

15d Guest gutted about landlord with private // place that's empty (5,4)

A landlord[5] is a man who keeps lodgings, a boarding house, or a pub.

Host[2] is an old-fashioned term for an innkeeper or publican [proprietor of a pub].

19dNot a sound will be heard out of this! (7)

21d Contacted // regulars of team and suffered (7)

23d City // shelter dropouts left empty (5)

Leeds[5] is an industrial city in West Yorkshire, northern England. (show more )

It developed as a wool town in the Middle Ages, becoming a centre of the clothing trade in the Industrial Revolution.

hide

24d Somewhat undervalued // fuel (4)

Derv[5] (also DERV) is a British term for diesel oil for road vehicles.

Origin: 1940s (apparently Second World War forces' slang): acronym from diesel-engined road vehicle

25d Drink /made from/ bananas, full of energy (4)

"energy " = E [symbol used in physics]

In physics, E[5] is a symbol used to represent energy in mathematical formulae ⇒ E = mc2.

hide



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

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 — DT 29726


Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29726
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Setter
Unknown
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29726]
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

I found this puzzle quite straightforward—both to solve and to review.

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 About to lose strength, daughter // went to bed (7)

"daughter " = D [genealogy]

In genealogies, d[5] is the abbreviation for daughter Henry m. Georgina 1957, 1s 2d*.

* Henry married Georgina in 1957. Their marriage produced 1 son and 2 daughters.

hide

5a Hates // day before English exams (7)

9a Native Americans quietly, // stealthily advance (5)

The Cree[3] are a Native American people inhabiting a large area from eastern Canada west to Alberta and the Great Slave Lake. Formerly located in central Canada, the Cree expanded westward and eastward in the 17th and 18th centuries, the western Cree adopting the Plains Indian life and the eastern Cree retaining their woodland culture.

"quietly " = P [music notation (piano)]

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.

hide

10a Throw mud // at grenade -- it goes off (9)

11a Found // dance music very electronic and revolutionary (10)

"very " = V [context uncertain]

The abbreviation* v (or v.)[1,2,5,10] stands for very.

* Although this abbreviation is found in most of my British dictionaries, it does not appear in any of my American dictionaries. Unfortunately no explanation is given as to the specific context in which one might encounter this usage. The only possibility that I can imagine is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments.

hide

12a Mark // heads back (4)

14a Europe stops bananas retaining curve, centrally? // Absurd (12)

Scratching the Surface
It would appear from the hidden illustration in Mr K's review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog [you have to click on the picture of the banana-wearing protesters to see the second, hidden illustration] that at some time an erroneous rumour circulated stating that Europe had banned "overly curved or small bananas".

18a Instinctive tendency // to support the environment (6,6)

21a Weak female's abandoned // bar (4)

22a Criminal in jail but keeping old // feeling of joy (10)

25a Uniform returned by marines, nothing by engineers -- // not again! (9)

"marines " = RM [Royal Marines]

The Royal Marines[5,10] (abbreviation RM[5]) is a British armed service (part of the Royal Navy) founded in 1664. It is a corps of soldiers specially trained in amphibious warfare.

hide

"engineers " = RE [Royal Engineers]

The Corps of Royal Engineers[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

hide

26a It might be used to cut // some flipping beef in kitchen (5)

Scratching the Surface
Flipping[5,10] (adjective or adverb) is an informal British term used for emphasis or to express mild annoyance ⇒ (i) are you out of your flipping mind?; (ii) it’s flipping cold today.

Origin: a euphemism for the taboo word f**king

27a Go beyond // ravine after second ancient city (7)

"ancient city " = UR

Ur[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC. Ur[7] is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.

hide

Synonyms? You Be The Judge
A ravine[5] is a deep, narrow gorge with steep sides.

A pass[5] is a route over or through mountains.

28a Little swine maybe // drops rubbish (7)

Down

1d Grow less // edelweiss, initially, after Charlie cuts grass (6)

"Charlie* " = C [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

hide

Scratching the Surface
Edelweiss[5] is a European mountain plant which has woolly white bracts around its small flowers and downy grey-green leaves.

2d Is male supporting article/'s/ religious belief? (6)

Theism[2] is the the belief in the existence of God or a god, especially one revealed supernaturally to humans.

3d Tear with crying /that's/ wild and noisy (3-7)

4d Move out of the way /of/ American car (5)

Dodge[7] is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above Plymouth.

* Stellantis N.V.[7] is a Dutch-domiciled multinational automotive manufacturing corporation formed in 2021 on the basis of a 50-50 cross-border merger between the Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

5d Rinsed ten damaged // plates and dishes (6,3)

Dinner set is another name for dinner service[5], a set of matching crockery* for serving a meal.

* Crockery[5] denotes plates, dishes, cups, and other similar items, especially ones made of earthenware or china.

6d Became upset with small // clothes (4)

"small " = S [clothing size]

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

hide

7dCleaning liquids for mops? (8)

8d Most friendly // tsetse flies guarding wren, oddly (8)

Scratching the Surface
The tsetse[5] (also tsetse fly) is an African bloodsucking fly which bites humans and other mammals, transmitting sleeping sickness and nagana*.

* Nagana[5] is a disease of cattle, antelope, and other livestock in southern Africa, characterized by fever, lethargy, and oedema, and caused by trypanosome parasites transmitted by the tsetse fly.

13d Where prices drop, // one might buy a teddy here? (4,6)

A literal interpretation of the solution might whimsically suggest that it denotes a place to buy a soft cuddly toy.

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, teddy[5] might also refer to an item of intimate women's clothing.

15d Strange sound up elm -- 1000 leaves // drooping (9)

16d Golf series -- // they don't provide much coverage (1-7)

"Golf " = G [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

hide

17d Winner // -- a Greek character, always (8)

Chi[5] is the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet (Χ, χ).

19d Eat evening meal around six? // Heavenly! (6)

20d Annoys // fishermen heartlessly (6)

23d Perfect // fish on a lake (5)

Ide[5] is another name for the orfe[5], a silvery freshwater fish of the carp family, which is fished commercially in eastern Europe.

24d Region // in Far East (4)



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

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 — DT 29725


Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29725
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, July 12, 2021
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott)
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29725]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
pommers
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

It was a bit of GK (general knowledge)—although it could equally well stand for geographical knowledge—that did me in today. I did not know the South American port or the other meaning for the name of the garden ornament. I did know the old English court and the part of the sundial (although spelling it incorrectly messed me up).

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 Trim // tree (6)

4a Eavesdrop, // I wager, craftily (6)

Earwig[5] is an informal British term meaning to eavesdrop on a conversation ⇒ he looked behind him to see if anyone was earwigging.

8a Tight young lady // narrowly avoided collision (4,4)

Near[5] is an archaic term denoting mean [stingy] or miserly.

10a Cured ham, /and/ tripe (6)

Gammon[5] is a British term that can denote either:
  • ham which has been cured or smoked like bacon gammon steaks
  • the bottom piece of a side of bacon, including a hind leg a whole gammon on the bone



Tripe[5] is an informal term* meaning nonsense or rubbish ⇒ you do talk tripe sometimes.

* "Formally", tripe is the first or second stomach of a cow or other ruminant used as food.

Gammon[3,5,11] is a dated informal British term for nonsense or rubbish.

11a Gem /in/ ring presented to friend (4)

12a Fight dishonest sailor /in/ South American port (4,6)

In Britain, the word bent[5] has the same connotation (dishonest or corrupt) as does the word crooked[5] in North America*.

* It would appear that Brits use both crooked and bent in this sense.

Ordinary seaman[5] (abbreviation OS[5]) is the lowest rank of sailor in the Royal Navy, below able seaman.



Fray Bentos[5] is A port and meat-packing centre in western Uruguay.

13a Section of society // running study group (7,5)

16a Ventilation aid /in/ vehicle kept by former supporter (9,3)

Extractor fan[10] is the British name for a fan used in kitchens, bathrooms, workshops, etc, to remove stale air or fumes.

North American name: exhaust fan

20a There's much talk from me // about fight involving milliner (10)

"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.

hide

21a Shrewd // signal saving time (4)

22a Leader of delegation is member // to win over (6)

23a Plumper son's // game (8)

Rounders[5,7] is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. It is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a cylindrical wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running a circuit around four bases on the field.

Gameplay centres on a number of innings, in which teams alternate at batting and fielding. Points (known as 'rounders') are scored by the batting team when one of their players completes a circuit past four bases arranged in the shape of a diamond without being put 'out'. The batter must strike at a good ball and attempt to run a rounder in an anti-clockwise direction around the first, second, and third base and home to the fourth, though they may stay at any of the first three. A batter is out if the ball is caught; if the base to which they are running to is touched with the ball; or if, while running, they are touched with the ball by a fielder.

The game is popular among British and Irish school children, particularly among girls. [Sound at all familiar?] (read on )]

The game of rounders[7] has been played in England since Tudor times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book where it was called base-ball. In 1828, William Clarke in London published the second edition of The Boy's Own Book, which included the rules of rounders and also the first printed description in English of a bat and ball base-running game played on a diamond. The following year, the book was published in Boston, Massachusetts.

Rounders is played under slightly different rules in Britain and Ireland. Rounders is also linked to British baseball, which is still played in Liverpool, Cardiff and Newport. Although rounders is assumed to be older than (British) baseball, literary references to early forms of 'base-ball' in England pre-date use of the term rounders.

Both the 'New York game' [from which modern (American) baseball evolved] and the now-defunct 'Massachusetts game' versions of baseball, as well as softball, share the same historical roots as rounders and bear a resemblance to the Irish version of the game.

hide

Who knew that baseball—the quintessential American game—was, in fact, imported from Britain!

24a Expected // Dutch portrait painter to accommodate current king (6)

Sir Peter Lely[5] (1618–1680) was a Dutch portrait painter, resident in England from 1641; Dutch name Pieter van der Faes. He became principal court painter to Charles II. Notable works include Windsor Beauties, a series painted during the 1660s.

"current " = I [symbol for electric current in physics]

In physics, I[5] is a symbol used to represent electric current in mathematical formulae.

hide

"king " = K [playing card or chess piece]

K[5] is an abbreviation for king that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

hide

25a Attacked outside by // church worker (6)

"by " = X [multiplication sign]

In arithmetic, the preposition by[10] denotes multiplied by ⇒ four by three equals twelve.

hide



A sexton[5] is a person who looks after a church and churchyard, typically acting as bell-ringer and gravedigger.

Down

1d So hedge built to keep in initially pugnacious // farm animal (8)

2d Starts to rig up ropes at location // in the countryside (5)

3d Female cutting inch of woven // material (7)

Chiffon[5] is a light, transparent fabric typically made of silk or nylon.

5d Lab gear reassembled /for/ school subject (7)

6d Philanderer, // better advised around sultanate (9)

Oman[5,7], officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country at the southeastern corner of the Arabian peninsula.

7d Short maxim about // part of sundial (6)

A gnome[5] is a short statement encapsulating a general truth; in other words, a maxim.



A gnomon[5] is the projecting piece on a sundial that shows the time by the position of its shadow.

9d Old English court /in/ leading dictionary (abridged version) (4,7)

The Chambers Dictionary—affectionately known on Big Dave's Crossword Blog as the BRB (Big Red Book)—is a British dictionary which is regarded as the "Bible" for this and other crosswords published by The Daily Telegraph.


The Star Chamber[5] was an English court of civil and criminal jurisdiction that developed in the late 15th century, trying especially those cases affecting the interests of the Crown. It was noted for its arbitrary and oppressive judgements and was abolished in 1641.

14d Follow // part of castle path (4,5)

A keep[5] is the strongest or central tower of a castle, acting as a final refuge.

15d Very strong, // all the players with club (4-4)

In golf, an iron[2] is any of various clubs with an angled iron head, used for shorter distance shots of about 100-200 yards.

17d Another malt, partly // responsible for getting you warm (7)

18d Message about welcoming uniform // consistency (7)

"uniform " = U [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]

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

* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

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19d Excitement /caused by/ the short stream (6)

21d Trainee // forced to spend minutes in court (5)

"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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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