Monday, June 6, 2011 - DT 26499

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26499
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, March 14, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26499]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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 █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26498 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, March 12, 2011

Introduction

Today we are presented with a highly enjoyable puzzle from Rufus that is full of lovely cryptic definitions. Rufus is surely the master of this genre of clue - and today he is at the top of his form. I worked on this puzzle intermittently throughout the day between other activities. I eventually solved all but one clue without electronic assistance - and the lone holdout quickly succumbed when I called my Tool Chest into action. Nevertheless, I did feel a bit chagrined to have solved all those fairly difficult cryptic definitions only to stumble over a simple, straight-forward charade.

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 Solutions:

master¹ - noun 2 a man in charge of an organization or group, in particular:.

• British a male schoolteacher: the games master

*RA - abbreviation [5^th entry] (in the UK) Royal Artillery

[Sir] Winston [Churchill] - (1874–1965), British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1940-5 and 1951-5; full name Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.

He served as Home Secretary (1910–11) under the Liberals and as First Lord of the Admiralty 1911–15, but lost this post after the unsuccessful Allied attack on the Turks in the Dardanelles. A consistent opponent of appeasement between the wars, he replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister of the coalition government in 1940 and led Britain throughout the war, forging and maintaining the alliance which defeated the Axis Powers. His writings include The Second World War (1948–53) and A History of the English - Speaking Peoples (1956-8); he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953

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.

20d   Small party in southern courtyard (5)

I spent a good deal of time searching for a charade of S (small) plus a four-letter word meaning party that might be a southern courtyard. With the aid of my Tool Chest, I identified a list of only five words that match the checking letters. It was then evident that I should have been looking for a charade of S (southern) plus a four-letter word meaning courtyard that would be a small (military) party.

Signing off for today - Falcon