Wednesday, November 17, 2010 (DT 26320)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26320
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, August 16, 2010
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26320]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - **	Enjoyment - ***
Note The National Post has skipped DT 26319 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, August 14, 2010

Introduction

Today's puzzle was not overly difficult - and contained a minimum of Briticisms.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Clues:

agency - noun 2 a thing or person that acts to produce a particular result: the movies could be an agency moulding the values of the public [Note: perhaps not the sense of the word that most readily comes to mind]

flat 2 - noun chiefly British a set of rooms forming an individual residence, typically on one floor and within a larger building containing a number of such residences: a block of flats

Appearing in Solutions:

rag ² - noun British (usually used as a modifier) a programme of stunts, parades, and other entertainments organized by students to raise money for charity: rag week [or rag day]

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

9a In which a boxer may drop his guard? (3,6)

I think I initially took the bait, thinking we were looking for a place where a prizefighter might remove his mouth guard. I made a couple of attempts, such as HIS CORNER or THE CORNER, before realizing that today's boxer is not a pugilist at all.

13a When students may collect on the streets (3,3)

Libellule asks "How cryptic is this?". The setter intends us to read "collect" as congregate. However, like Libellule, I readily saw through the intended deception. Most North Americans, even if they interpreted the clue correctly, would likely have difficulty coming up with the British term 'rag day'. I only managed to get it without much delay as I had encountered it in a previous puzzle.

19a Drive to a meeting place? (6)

In addition to the wordplay pointed out by Libellule - namely, A + VENUE (meeting place) - Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition gives avenue and meeting place as synonyms for both forum and concourse. Thus, if we can reasonably assume that words that are the synonyms of the same word are also synonyms of each other, avenue is a synonym of meeting place.

3d Crude, but in a gentle fashion (9)

I totally missed the anagram that Libellule points out, thinking instead that this might be a charade of IN + ELEGANT (in a gentle fashion). I know elegant actually means 'in a graceful fashion', so perhaps it was a bit of a stretch on my part to equate gentle to graceful.

Signing off for today - Falcon