Wednesday, December 22, 2010 (DT 26350)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26350
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, September 20, 2010
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26350]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - **	Enjoyment - ***
Falcon's Performance ****
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26349 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, September 18, 2010

Introduction

We have quite an enjoyable puzzle today from Rufus. Well-recognized as a master of the cryptic definition, he certainly does not disappoint with this offering. He did initially stump me on a couple of clues (23a and 28a), forcing me to resort to my Tool Chest. However, in each case, the solution was immediately obvious once I had whittled down the possibilities to a list of words matching the checking letters.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Solutions:

conger eel (or conger) - noun a vernacular term used for a number of different species of fish, mostly eels of the family Congridae, and especially the genus Conger.

Desert Rats - nickname for the 7th Armoured Division, a British armoured division which saw service during the Second World War. It initially saw service in the North African Campaign, hence the nickname.

eleven - noun cardinal number a sports team of eleven players: at cricket I played in the first eleven

Epsom Downs - a racecourse near Epsom, Surrey, England, best known for hosting the Epsom Derby, the United Kingdom's premier thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old colts and fillies, run over a distance of a mile and a half.

Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807 – 1870) - a career United States Army officer and combat engineer who became the commanding general of the Confederate army in the American Civil War.

Magic Circle - [Collins English Dictionary] noun

1. the British association of magicians, traditionally forbidden to reveal any of the secrets of their art
2. (not capitals) a group of influential people involved in a conspiracy

rat - verb 2 (usually rat on someone) colloquial to betray their trust or desert them.

resolve - verb

• 3 chiefly Chemistry separate or cause to be separated into constituent parts or components.

► (resolve something into) reduce a subject, statement, etc. by mental analysis into (separate elements or a more elementary form): the ability to resolve facts into their legal categories
► Physics analyse (a force or velocity) into components acting in particular directions.

• 4 (of something seen at a distance) turn into a different form when seen more clearly: the orange light resolved itself into four roadwork lanterns

► (of optical or photographic equipment) separate or distinguish between (closely adjacent objects): Hubble was able to resolve six variable stars in M31

► separately distinguish (peaks in a graph or spectrum).

wagtail - [Collins English Dictionary] noun any of various passerine songbirds of the genera Motacilla and Dendronanthus, of Eurasia and Africa, having a very long tail that wags when the bird walks: family Motacillidae

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.

15a Eleven taken singly (3,2,3)

Even when one sees the general intent of the setter, one can get into trouble on the details. Is the solution to this clue ONE ON ONE or ONE TO ONE? Actually, neither of those prepositions is correct - as I was to eventually realize.

27a Run away twice? Not this soldier! (6,3)

I have never thought of rat (as a verb) in the sense of "run away", although I do know that rats are known for deserting a sinking ship. Rat is defined in The American Heritage Dictionary as:

• verb 2. Slang To betray one's associates by giving information: ratted on his best friend to the police 

which matches my understanding of the word. However, the British dictionaries list an additional  meaning:
Search Chambers - verb 2 (usually rat on someone) colloquial to betray their trust or desert them.
Collins English Dictionary - 1. Informal a.  to divulge secret information (about); betray the trust (of) b.  to default (on); abandon: he ratted on the project at the last minute.
Oxford Dictionaries Online - verb 2 informal desert one's party, side , or cause; phrasal verb rat on (also North American rat someone out) informal inform on (someone): he refused to rat on his buddies; break (an agreement or promise): he accused the government of ratting on an earlier pledge.

7d To break up requires courage (7)

Libellule's definition of "to cause to go into a solution" sounds suspiciously like dissolve, rather than resolve. However, there are meanings for resolve in several fields of endeavour (see Today's Glossary) which could be interpreted as "to break up".

20d Major currency of China (7)

Here we encounter an invented meaning for the word "currency" - one which exists only in the world of cryptic crosswords. The setter supposes that a currency is something that has a current (i.e., a river). This is analogous to the Cryptic Crosswordland definitions of flower being 'something that flows' or a banker as 'something that has banks' (two terms which also refer to rivers). I would guess that this play on words is based on examples in the English language in which nouns ending in -ency are formed from nouns or adjectives ending in -ent - examples being regency (from regent) and proficiency (from proficient).

Signing off for today - Falcon