Monday, April 4, 2011 (DT 26442)

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26442
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, January 6, 2011
Setter Ray T
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26442]
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 did need a bit of help from my electronic aids today. In hindsight, the clues for which I relied on assistance did not necessarily seem to be the most difficult clues in the puzzle.

Errata for Today's Puzzle

The National Post has faithfully reproduced the error which appeared in the printed version of the puzzle in the U.K.

26d   Unearth ancestry (5)

When I solved this clue, I had presumed that this was merely a very poorly executed cryptic definition based around the expression 'trace one's roots' meaning to construct one's family tree. However, I discover from Big Dave that we - like the readers of the print edition of The Daily Telegraph - are missing half the clue, which should have read:

• 26d   Unearth ancestry following start of tree (5)

Today's Glossary

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

[An asterisk beside an entry merely indicates that it has been taken it from a Cumulative Glossary of entries which have previously appeared, 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.

face - noun

• [American Heritage Dictionary] 7. Effrontery; impudence: had the face to question my judgment
• [Collins English Dictionary] 7. Informal impudence or effrontery

park - noun 1 [2^nd entry] a large enclosed piece of ground attached to a country house: the house is set in its own park

Toffees - nickname of the Everton Football Club (see below)

Appearing in Solutions:

estate - noun 4 British  short for estate car, noun British a car with a large carrying area behind the seats, accessed by a door at the rear [North American station wagon]

Everton Football Club - a professional English Football league club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football.

Everton's most widely recognised nickname is "The Toffees" or "The Toffeemen", which came about after Everton had moved to Goodison. There are several explanations for how this name came to be adopted, the most well known being that there was a business in Everton village ... named Mother Noblett's, a toffee shop, which advertised and sold sweets, including the Everton Mint. It was also located opposite the lock up which Everton's club crest is based on.The Toffee Lady tradition (alluded to by a visitor to Big Dave's blog) in which a girl walks around the perimeter of the pitch before the start of a game tossing free Everton Mints into the crowd symbolises the connection.

grange - noun [usually in names] British a country house with farm buildings attached: Biddulph Grange

H² - abbreviation [1^st entry] hard (used in describing grades of pencil lead): a 2H pencil

larrup - [Collins English Dictionary] verb Dialect to beat or flog

*ness - noun [usually in place names] a headland or promontory: Orford Ness

*RA - abbreviation [3^rd entry] (in the UK) Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy

Royal Academy of Arts (also Royal Academy) - an institution whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

SAS - abbreviation Special Air Service, (in the UK) a specialist army regiment trained in commando techniques of warfare, formed during the Second World War and used in clandestine operations, frequently against terrorists

shebeen - noun (especially in Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa) an unlicensed establishment or private house selling alcohol and typically regarded as slightly disreputable

*TA - abbreviation (in the UK) Territorial Army, a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency

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.

5a   Compiler supplies standards of perfection (6)

You might call this a 'reflexive' clue, one in which the creator of the puzzle refers to himself. In these type of clues, the words "compiler" or "setter" must be replaced by either "I" or "me" to find the solution.

Signing off for today - Falcon