DT 30101 (full review)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30101

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 24^th Sep 2022

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***

Greetings from Kolkata. A friendly and straightforward Saturday puzzle from X-Type that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and valuable feedback.

Gladioli, part of the outcome of the wordplay to the clue of 12a, are sometimes called ‘sword lilies’ due to their blade-like leaves. In fact, gladiolus, the singular of gladioli, itself comes from Latin gladius, meaning sword. Gladiolus is one of the August birth flowers. I discovered from the net that gladioli are the flowers associated with the fortieth wedding anniversary, which CS and Mr CS, of late, celebrated.

I further learnt that coda, the answer to the clue of 1d, has come from the Latin word cauda meaning ‘tail’, ‘edge’ or ‘trail’ that is used to study ‘conductus’ of the 12^th and 13^th centuries. The cauda was a long melisma on one of the last syllables of the text that was repeated in each strophe. ‘Coda’ is the Italian word for ‘tail’ and its plural is ‘code’. It refers to a passage that brings a piece or a movement to an end.

The nounal test tube, the answer to the clue of 4d, reminded of the adjectival test-tube and the name of Louise Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby who was a female and born to Lesley and Peter Brown at Oldham General Hospital, Lancashire, England. Sir Robert Geoffrey Edwards, the man behind this achievement, was hailed as the father of human in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and later, in 2010, honoured with the Nobel Prize in Physiology for the development of IVF therapy. I had to revisit the net to know about Louise’s date of birth that I found was July 25, 1978. To my utter surprise, I further found out that the second test-tube baby, Kanupriya Agarwal, also a female, was from India! She was born to Provat and Bela Agarwal just around 70 days later, on October 3, 1978 at Pune. It became possible due to the endeavours of Dr Subhash Mukherjee who, thus, came to be regarded as the first-ever person in India and the second in the world to create a baby through the IVF procedure. In 2006, Louise Brown gave birth to a boy who was conceived naturally. Since the birth of the first test-tube baby, over 8 million babies have born from the IVF procedure.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.

Across

1a    Company vehicle covered by MOT in shot, burning (10)
COMBUSTION: CO (Company) as the abbreviation for Company followed by BUS (vehicle) as a large motor vehicle carrying passengers by road, typically one serving the public on a fixed route and for a fare is surrounded by an anagram (shot) of MOT IN, arriving at the definition of a noun referring to an act or instance of burning

6a    King Edward perhaps, returning in mood: upset (4)
SPUD: Part of or hidden inside (in) mooD UPSet coming back (returning) as a reversal in the across clue, taking to the definition of an informal term for a potato, a variety of which is King Edward that is grown in the United Kingdom since 1902, making it one of the oldest cultivars still grown commercially

9a    Protest, with one-third of listed building knocked down (10)
DEMOLISHED: DEMO (protest) as a colloquial short form of demonstration that is a public meeting or march protesting against something or expressing views on a political issue followed by two of the six (one-third) letters of LI[STED] and SHED (building) as a single-storied building with one or more sides unenclosed, leading to the definition of a verb in the past tense meaning pulled or knocked down, especially a building or any other structure

10a    Part of ship found in English city (4)
HULL: Double definition; the first referring to the main body of a ship or other vessel, including the bottom, sides and deck but not the masts, superstructure, rigging, engines and other fittings that leads to the second being the abbreviated name for a port city of Kingston upon Hull that is a unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England

12a    Really pleased with flowers, half missing (4)
GLAD: GLAD[IOLI] (flowers) as the flowers of any plant of genus Gladiolus of the iris family, with sword-shaped leaves and long spikes of brightly-coloured flowers having 50 percent or four out of eight letters (half) not available (missing), arriving at the definition of an adjective meaning happy and pleased about something

13a    Youngsters eat greens at sea (9)
TEENAGERS: An anagram (at sea) of EAT GREENS leads to the definition of young persons from thirteen to nineteen years old inclusive

15a    Swan beset by problems with feet and inner ears? (8)
CORNCOBS: COB (swan) as a male swan enclosed (beset) also known as cob-swan by CORNS (problems with feet) as small, painful areas of thickened skin on the feet, especially on the toes, caused by pressure and friction, taking to the definition of the central cylindrical woody cores of the maize ears to which the grains are attached

16a    Tipsy choir hiding violent person (6)
PSYCHO: Part of or hidden inside (hiding) tiPSY CHOir guides to the definition of the colloquial term for a psychopath or someone suffering from a behavioural disorder resulting in inability to form personal relationships and in indifference to or ignorance of his or her behaviour such as acts of violence, sexual perversion etc

18a    Manly Victor: one to get your hackles up? (6)
VIRILE: A charade of V (Victor) as the letter represented by Victor in the NATO phonetic alphabet, I (one) as the Roman numeral for one and RILE (to get your hackles up) as to make your hackles rise or to make you annoyed or irritated, taking to the definition of an adjective meaning having the qualities of a mature male human being

20a    Wild consumers for a very long time eating rook! (8)
FORAGERS: FOR from the clue followed by AGES (a very long time) as an informal term for a very long time taking inside (eating) R (rook) as the abbreviation for rook in chess notation, leading to the definition of persons or animals who hunt for food and provisions, often in the wild

23a    The take-home pay of fisherfolk? (3,6)
NET INCOME: The definition of a noun meaning the take-home money of a salaried person after their gross salary has been deducted for taxes, health insurance and retirement contributions is cryptically arrived at from INCOME (pay) as the earnings got through the NET or a device made from fabric or rope stitched together or fibres woven into a grid-like structure that helps in catching fish for the people, as of a coastal community, engaged in fishing as a living (fisherfolk), that is ‘income through net’ or NET INCOME

24a    Grand cooker? That’s mad! (4)
GAGA: A charade of G (Grand) as the abbreviation for Grand as GM in Grand Master or GP in Grand Prix and AGA (cooker) as a type of heavy heat-retaining stove or range used for cooking and heating leads to the definition of an adjective meaning no longer in possession of all one’s mental faculties, especially on account of old age

26a    I could be given three directions for hostelries (4)
INNS: I from the clue followed by (could be given) N, N and S (three directions) as the abbreviation for North, North and South respectively, taking to the definition of hotels or pubs where travellers can have food and drink and stay for the night, usually in the countryside

27a    Detach case of machine in hollow unit (10)
DEPARTMENT: A combo of PART (detach) as to separate or leave someone’s company and the outermost letters (case) of M[ACHIN]E is placed inside DENT (hollow) as a hollow in a surface, caused by a blow or pressure, arriving at the definition of a unit or division of a large organisation such as a government, university or business, dealing with a specific area of activity

28a    Cut good timber (4)
GASH: The definition of a verb meaning to cut deeply into is arrived at from a charade of G (good) as the abbreviation for good and ASH (timber) as the hard pale wood of the ash tree

29a    Soldiers by the hundred? (10)
CENTURIONS: A cryptic way of defining commanders in the ancient Roman army, each of which commanded a century or a hundred soldiers

Down

1d    Fish with a tail end (4)
CODA: COD (fish) as a large marine fish of the genus Gadus having a small barbel on the chin followed by (with) A from the clue, leading to the definition of the final passage of a piece of music

2d    One’s unclear about heartless Liberal turning up after old woman (7)
MUMBLER: A combo of RE (about) as a commercial jargon used to indicate ‘with reference to’, ‘concerning’ or ‘about’ and L[I]B (Liberal) as the abbreviation for Liberal or a member of the Liberal Party of the United Kingdom that is seen without its inner letter (heartless) going upwards (turning up) as a reversal in the down clue and preceded by or coming after (after) MUM (old woman) as an elderly female person, taking to the definition of a person whose speech is not clear enough to be understood

3d    Fairytale character now swanning around? (4,8)
UGLY DUCKLING: The definition of a despised or overlooked member of a family or group who later proves to be the most successful, attractive etc is arrived at from ‘The Ugly Duckling’, a literary fairy tale by Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen in which one of the ducklings, after one of the eggs hatched by a mother duck, turns out to be an ugly creature and undergoes uninterrupted period of sufferings in various surroundings until a time arrives when he, now having fully grown and matured, decides to throw himself at a flock of wild swans, feeling it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to live a life of ugliness, but is shocked to find that the flock has really welcomed and accepted him, only to realise later by looking at his reflection in the water that he had been not at all a duckling but a swan since birth, and when the flock takes to the air, he spreads his wings to take flight with the rest of the members of his new family

4d    Experimental glassware needed? Try underground (4,4)
TEST TUBE: The definition of a common piece of laboratory glassware used in chemistry, consisting of a finger-like length of glass or clear plastic tubing and open at the top and closed at the bottom is arrived at from a charade of TEST (try) as to try or examine someone or something critically and TUBE (underground) as the underground railway system in London

5d    Cricketer, one that’s often seen on the bottle? (6)
OPENER: Double definition; the second being a device or tool that is often used on the bottle to pry up bottle caps that leads to the first referring to a batsman who opens the batting in cricket

7d    Disturbed couple imprisoning Northern composer (7)
POULENC: An anagram (disturbed) of COUPLE putting inside (imprisoning) N (Northern) as the abbreviation for Northern as in NI or Northern Ireland takes to at the definition of Francis Jean Marcel POULENC, the French composer and pianist whose compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets and orchestral concert music

8d    Fancy he’s so loud touring student’s small dwelling (5,5)
DOLLS HOUSE: An anagram (fancy) of HE’S SO LOUD is going round (touring) L (student) as appearing in an L-plate denoting a learner driver, leading to the definition of a small and miniature dwelling in the form of a toy house used by children for playing with and keeping dolls

11d    The sound of someone happy with killing? (12)
MANSLAUGHTER: MAN’S LAUGHTER (the sound of someone happy) as the sound heard of a male as an outburst of his happiness guides to the definition of the crime of killing a human being without malice aforethought or in circumstances not amounting to murder

14d    Second Conservative settling old scores: dealing in filth? (10)
SCAVENGING: A charade of S (second) as the abbreviation for second, C (Conservative) as the abbreviation for Conservative and AVENGING (settling old scores) as taking vengeance on someone or something for a wrong done takes to the definition of a verb in the continuous form meaning searching for and collecting anything usable from discarded waste

17d    Spelling group, perhaps, with a National Trust agreement (8)
COVENANT: COVEN (spelling group, perhaps) as a group or meeting of witches believed to often gather at night to make potions and cast spells and (with) A from the clue and NT (National Trust) as the abbreviation for National Trust take to the definition of a usually formal, solemn and binding agreement between two people, companies or even countries

19d    Navy personnel‘s scores on TripAdvisor? (7)
RATINGS: Double definition; the second referring to the system of scores or measures of how good or popular TripAdvisor is after updation of popularity index that takes to the first defining of sailors in the navy who holds neither commissioned nor warrant rank

21d    Artist regularly cried about entering Lego building (2,5)
EL GRECO: A combo of the even letters (regularly) of cRiEd and C (about) as the abbreviation for the Latin word circa meaning ‘about’ or ‘around’ going inside (entering) an anagram (building) of LEGO takes to the definition of the nickname of a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the ‘Spanish Renaissance’, whose real name was Doménikos Theotokópoulos

22d    Charlie and Oscar, in this place, stick together (6)
COHERE: C (Charlie) and O (Oscar) as the letters represented by Charlie and Oscar respectively in the NATO phonetic alphabet followed by HERE (in this place) as in, at or to this place or position in a charade that guides to the definition of a verb meaning to hold or stick together firmly as parts of the same mass

25d    First of all, used trucks easily sell as such vehicles (4)
UTES: The first or initial letter each of all the words (first of all) of U[SED] T[RUCKS] E[ASILY] S[ELL] guides to the definition of pick-up trucks or utility vehicles in Australia and New Zealand that are having an open part at the back in which goods can be carried and that can travel over rough ground

There were several clues that I liked in this puzzle such as 15a, 20a, 23a, 29a, 3d, 4d, 11d, 14d and 17d; the best of the lot being 11d. Many thanks to X-Type for the entertainment, to BD for the encouragement and to Gazza for the assistance. Would be happy to be here again. Have a nice day.