Friday, April 1, 2011 (DT 26441)

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26441
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26441]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog

Introduction

I needed to invoke the services of my electronic aids on a couple of clues (19a and 20d). Being unfamiliar with the British expression for a sweater, I found the definition in 19a to be woolly in more ways than one.

Today's Glossary

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

[Items marked with an asterisk are from a Cumulative Glossary of entries appearing, since the beginning of this year, in either this blog or its companion blog, the Ottawa Citizen Cryptic Crossword Forum.]

Appearing in Clues:

Meanings listed in this section may reflect how the word is used in the surface reading of the clue. Of course, that meaning may be contributing to the misdirection that the setter is attempting to create.

bolshie (also bolshy) - noun (Bolshie) British informal, dated a Bolshevik or socialist

Appearing in Solutions:

cob¹ - noun 4 a powerfully built, short- legged horse

*D² - abbreviation [7^th entry] Germany (international vehicle registration) [from German Deutschland]

Neath - an industrial town in South Wales on the River Neath; population 46,800 (est. 2009).  Welsh name Castell-Nedd

*prep¹ - noun informal British (in an independent school) schoolwork that is set to be done outside normal school hours [Note: an independent school is one that has traditionally been known in Britain as a public school, but would be called a private school in North America]

*RE - abbreviation (in the UK) Royal Engineers, the field engineering and construction corps of the British army

ult. - abbreviation 1 ultimate or ultimately

woolly - noun 1 chiefly British a garment made of wool, especially a pullover [Note: In Canada, woollies (nearly invariably used in the plural) usually means thermal underwear]

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.

19a   Woolly headed, ultimately taken in by a caring doctor (8)

Depending on whether they bought the printed edition of the paper or subscribed to the online edition, the Brits got a different version of this clue. We received the version that appeared in the printed edition of The Daily Telegraph.

Signing off for today - Falcon