Tuesday, October 12, 2010 (DT 26290)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26290
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, July 12, 2010
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26290]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ***	Enjoyment - ****

The National Post has skipped DT 26288 and DT 26289 which were published in The Daily Telegraph on Friday, July 9 and Saturday, July 10, 2010

Introduction
Seven hours behind the wheel today returning from a weekend trip left little time for doing puzzles. I did manage to complete this puzzle after arriving home. I nearly threw in the towel with the lower right hand largely uncompleted, but a final push produced success.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Solutions:

collier - noun chiefly British

• 1 a coal miner
• 2 a ship carrying coal

ward of court - noun British (in Britain and Ireland) someone placed under the protection of a court; in the United States, Australia and New Zealand the term is ward of the court, and in Canada it is Crown ward.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a Sort of stone sink (4)

Like Jcal, who leaves a comment on Big Dave's blog, my first attempt here was DROP, which can describe the shape of a gemstone and also means sink. This error seriously held me up in getting the two intersecting down clues.

23a Its launchers hope it will sink (7)

SUBMARINE might have been a good solution if the space available in the grid had been larger. However, rather than this underwater military craft, we need a weapon it might fire.

29a They're given to those who beg for weapons, we hear (4)

Presumably the soft British R causes arms to be pronounced the same as alms. Although Gazza questions this point in his review, if you follow the links and listen to the British pronunciation of these two words, you might be inclined to side with the setter. If you listen to the American pronunciation, you will clearly see that the homophone fails on this side of the Atlantic (although not provided, the American pronunciation of alms is similar to the British pronunciation).

12d Wrong way to make wealth (5,3,3)

I supposed that this was simply a cryptic definition, missing the fact that it is a reverse anagram.

15d Determined for son to go to public school (3,2)

Keep in mind that what the Brits call a "public school" would be a private school in North America.

25a Pretentious person has a job at last (4)

Gazza informs us that snob is "an old word for a cobbler (someone working at a last)". While I didn't find the word explicitly defined thus, Oxford does give the following as the origin of the word snob:

late 18th century (originally dialect in the sense ‘cobbler’): of unknown origin; early senses conveyed a notion of ‘lower status or rank’, later denoting a person seeking to imitate those of superior social standing or wealth.

Signing off for today - Falcon