Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011 - DT 26572

Puzzle at a Glance
Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number
DT 26572
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Setter
Shamus
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26572]
Big Dave's Review Written By
Gazza
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
This puzzle is a pangram (i.e., every letter of the alphabet appears in the solutions to the clues.

Introduction

Sometimes British expressions drive me round the twist - especially today. Not to mention words that are their own antonym like the one at 7a which can mean either superior (which I knew) or subject (which I didn't know). I also needed Gazza's explanation of the wordplay at 6d (which I should have seen) and 8d (tripped up by a cricket term). At 21d, I didn't believe that crocheting and knitting were the same thing - and a chorus of British ladies supported that view on Big Dave's blog. Finally, as usual, I failed to recognize that the puzzle is a pangram.

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.

bottle - noun 2 British informal the courage or confidence needed to do something difficult or dangerous: I lost my bottle completely and ran

*Home Counties - the English counties surrounding London, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire [which are located in south-eastern England].

*on - (also on side) noun Cricket the leg side (or, simply, leg) [see Appearing in Clues section below for a definition of leg]

riddle2 - verb 2 [a] pass (a substance) through a large coarse sieve: for final potting, the soil mixture is not riddled [b] remove ashes or other unwanted material from (something, especially a fire or stove) with a sieve: she heard Mr Evans riddling the fire noun a large coarse sieve, especially one used for separating ashes from cinders or sand from gravel.

Appearing in Solutions:

D or D. - [The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition] abbreviation Dutch

K3 - abbreviation 6 chess knight.
If we are to take Chambers at face value, then K is used in chess both as the abbreviation for knight (K3) and as the symbol for king (K4), while N is used as the symbol for knight (N3). Next question - how does one distinguish an abbreviation from a symbol?
Lab. - abbreviation British (following a politician’s name) Labour [a British political party].

*leg - noun 5 (also leg side, on or on side) Cricket the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball.  The opposite of off.

liege - noun [a] (also liege lord) a feudal superior or sovereign: the Scots obeyed him as their liege lord [b] a vassal or subject: the king’s lieges

round the twist - phrase British informal out of one’s mind; crazy: the games she plays drive me round the twist

salsa verde - noun 1 an Italian sauce made with olive oil, garlic, capers, anchovies, vinegar or lemon juice, and parsley. 2 a Mexican sauce of finely chopped onion, garlic, coriander, parsley, and hot peppers.

six - cardinal number [5th entry] Cricket a hit that reaches the boundary without first striking the ground, scoring six runs: he hit a six and seven fours Compare with four
four - cardinal number [5th entry] Cricket a hit that reaches the boundary after first striking the ground, scoring four runs: he hit a six and seven fours
*South East - in popular British parlance, a vaguely defined region consisting of London and surrounding areas, located in the south-eastern portion of England.
Officially, South East England is one of the nine regions of England, designated in 1994. It comprises counties situated to the south and west of London, but does not include London. As Wikipedia observes, "Before the creation of the current region, the idea that London was not in the south-east of England would have seemed ridiculous."
[Tom] Thumb - a character of English folklore. The History of Tom Thumb was published in 1621, and has the distinction of being the first fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangling with giants, and becoming a favourite of King Arthur.
[General Tom] Thumb - stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838 –1883), a dwarf who achieved great fame under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum.
Signing off for today - Falcon

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - DT 26571

Puzzle at a Glance
Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number
DT 26571
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, June 6, 2011
Setter
Rufus
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26571]
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 26570 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, June 4, 2011

Introduction

My Tool Chest got only a gentle workout today. I needed its help to find the synonym for reconnoitred  used in the wordplay at 8d as well as the London horse riding ground at 3d.

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.

*cave2 - exclamation British school slang, dated look out! [Origin: Latin, imperative of cavere 'beware']

fragile footing - probable reference to "feet of clay" (from Daniel 2:31-32 in the Bible).

stall - noun 3 a fixed seat in the choir or chancel of a church, enclosed at the back and sides and often canopied, typically reserved for a particular member of the clergy.

Appearing in Solutions:

allotment - noun 1 [1st entry] British a plot of land rented by an individual for growing vegetables or flowers.

*CH - abbreviation  [1st entry] (in the UK) Companion of Honour.

Rotten Row - a broad track running along the south side of Hyde Park in London, leading from Hyde Park Corner to the Serpentine Road. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Rotten Row was a fashionable place for upper-class Londoners to be seen. Today it is maintained as a place to ride horses in the centre of London, but it is little used.

*tyre - noun automotive U.K. spelling of  tire3

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.

18d   I entered dream-home - in Spain suitably enough (7)

The definition is "in Spain (suitably enough)" and indicates that the solution is the name of a place in Spain. The wordplay is I contained in (entered) CASTLE (dream-home) which produces CASTILE. The "suitably enough" portion of the clue is a reference to the expression 'castle in Spain' (usually seen as part of the phrase 'building castles in Spain') meaning to daydream (an equivalent expression being 'building castles in the air'). An article on "Castles in Spain" has this to say:
Nowadays, ‘castles in Spain’ means something splendid but non-existent. “Fashionable adventurers in France used to impose on the credulous and get money and social advantages out of them by telling tales of their ‘castles in Spain’, which, needless to say, they did not possess,” is the explanation of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
The expression appears to have entered the English language from French where the expression is "bâtir Châteaux en Espagne".

Signing off for today - Falcon

Monday, August 29, 2011

Monday, August 29, 2011 - DT 26569

Puzzle at a Glance
Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number
DT 26569
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Friday, June 3, 2011
Setter
Giovanni
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26569]
Big Dave's Review Written By
Gazza
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
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page of the Saturday, August 27, 2011 edition of the National Post

Introduction

For myself, this puzzle proved to be quite a bit more challenging than the two stars for difficulty that Gazza awarded it. In large measure, I would attribute that to the fairly extensive number of British expressions in the puzzle - especially the abbreviation of the Roman name for York which today is used as a post-nominal abbreviation for the University of York. On the other hand, perhaps I'm just having an off day.

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.

cheers - exclamation informal 3 chiefly British expressing gratitude or acknowledgement for something: Billy tossed him the key . ‘Cheers, pal.’

china - noun 2 British informal a friend. [from rhyming slang china plate ‘mate’]

*maiden - noun 2 (also maiden over) Cricket an over in which no runs are scored [see definition of over in Appearing in Solutions section below]

prosy - adjective (especially of speech or writing) showing no imagination; commonplace or dull: he junked most of the prosy script his handlers had written for him
Note: The setter uses a bit of cryptic licence in today's puzzle. As Gazza points out in his review, "Prosy, which actually means commonplace or dull, is used here in the cryptic sense of prose-like."
[The University of] York (informally York University, or simply York, abbreviated as Ebor. for post-nominals) - an academic institution located in the city of York, England.

Appearing in Solutions:

[Sir Henry] Bessemer - (1813–98), English engineer and inventor. By 1860 he had developed the Bessemer process, the first successful method of making steel in quantity at low cost.

crib - verb 1 [a] British informal copy (another person’s work ) illicitly or without acknowledgement: [i] he was doing an exam and didn’t want anybody to crib the answers from him [ii] he often cribbed from other researchers [b] archaic steal: a brace of birds and hare, that I cribbed this morning out of a basket of game

creek - noun [a] chiefly British a narrow, sheltered waterway, especially an inlet in a shoreline or channel in a marsh: a sandy beach in a sheltered creek [b] North American & Australian/NZ a stream or minor tributary of a river

*Cu - Symbol the chemical element copper

cumber - verb dated [a] hamper or hinder: they were cumbered with greatcoats and swords [b] obstruct (a path or space): the road was clean and dry and not still cumbered by slush

ENT - abbreviation ear, nose, and throat (as a department in a hospital).

heath - noun 1 chiefly British [1st entry] an area of open uncultivated land, typically on acid sandy soil, with characteristic vegetation of heather, gorse, and coarse grasses: [i] horses were being exercised on the heath; [ii] the marshland gave way to heath and sandy scrub

ladder - noun 2 British a vertical strip of unravelled fabric in tights or stockings: one of Sally’s stockings developed a ladder verb British (with reference to tights or stockings) develop or cause to develop a ladder: (as adjective laddered) [i] her tights were always laddered; [ii] they laddered the minute I put them on

laver1 (also purple laver) - noun an edible seaweed with thin sheet-like fronds of a reddish-purple and green colour which becomes black when dry. Laver typically grows on exposed shores, but in Japan it is cultivated in estuaries. [Porphyra umbilicaulis, division Rhodophyta]

laver2 - noun archaic or literary [a] a basin or similar container used for washing oneself. [b] (in biblical use) a large brass bowl used by Jewish priests for ritual washing.

mantua - noun a woman’s loose gown of a kind fashionable during the 17th and 18th centuries.

over - noun Cricket a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end [see also definition of maiden in Appearing in Clues section above].

RU - abbreviation 2 Rugby Union.

sheath - noun [5th entry] chiefly British a condom.

ta - exclamation British informal thank you: ‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully

*Tommy - noun (plural Tommies) informal 1 a British private soldier [pet form of the given name Thomas; from a use of the name Thomas Atkins in specimens of completed official forms in the British army during the 19th century]

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   Performer frowning in the auditorium? (4)

This is yet another homophone clue that does not transport well across the Atlantic. The definition is "performer" with the solution being DOER. The wordplay is sounds like (in the auditorium) DOUR (frowning). In the U.K., the two words are pronounced similarly - with doer being pronounced [ˈduːə] and dour [dʊə] (or [ˈdaʊə]). In North America, doer is pronounced [dr] (do-er) while dour is pronounced [dr] (rhymes with tour) or [dour] (rhymes with sour). For those of you who don't read phonetics, just follow the links and listen to the speech samples (although, to my Canadian ear, the American pronunciation of doer found there seems to sound more like door than doer).

Regarding the North American pronunciation of dour, the American Heritage Dictionary states " The word dour, which is etymologically related to duress and endure, traditionally rhymes with tour. The variant pronunciation that rhymes with sour is, however, widely used and must be considered acceptable. In a recent survey, 65 percent of the Usage Panel preferred the traditional pronunciation, and 33 percent preferred the variant."

4d   Choose not to join in, being top maybe (3,3)

The wordplay here is a reverse anagram. In a regular anagram type clue, the clue contains an anagram indicator and fodder (the letters on which the anagram indicator operates) and the answer to the anagram is found in the solution to the clue. In a reverse anagram, the answer to the anagram is part of the clue and the anagram indicator and fodder are contained in the solution to the clue.

In case at hand, the definition is "choose not to join in" with the solution being OPT OUT. The phrase "top maybe" suggests that the word "top" could be an anagram of OPT - which might be clued in a cryptic crossword as "opt out". Thus the answer to the anagram (top) is found in the clue and the anagram itself (opt out) is contained in the solution - in fact, in this case, it constitutes the entire solution.

By the way, readers of yesterday's blog dealing with the London Sunday Times cryptic crossword published in the Ottawa Citizen may recognize that I have shamelessly recycled text from that posting. That puzzle also contained a reverse anagram clue.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Saturday, August 27, 2011 - On a First Name Basis

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon does not appear to have any particular theme - unless I have overlooked something.













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:

amp - [Collins English Dictionary] verb Australian informal to excite or become excited See also amp up
amp up - [Collins English Dictionary] verb informal 3. to excite, arouse, or work up (a person, emotions, etc.)
Archimedes - (circa 287–212 bc ), Greek mathematician and inventor, of Syracuse. He is famous for his discovery of Archimedes‘ principle (legend has it that he made this discovery while taking a bath, and ran through the streets shouting 'Eureka!'); among his mathematical discoveries are the ratio of the radius of a circle to its circumference, and formulas for the surface area and volume of a sphere and of a cylinder.

Ares - Greek Mythology the Greek war god, son of Zeus and Hera.

el - Spanish the

Irving [Berlin] - (1888–1989), Russian-born American songwriter; born Israel Baline. Notable works : the songs ‘God Bless America’ (1939) and ‘White Christmas’ (1942) and the score for Annie Get Your Gun (stage, 1946; film, 1950).

seis - Spanish six

signorina - Italian young woman

Susan [Sontag] - (1933–2004), American writer and critic. She established her reputation as a radical intellectual with Against Interpretation (essays, 1966). Other notable works: On Photography (1976) and Illness as Metaphor (1979).

Isaac Stern - (1920–2001), US violinist; born in Russia. He made his New York debut in 1937 at Town Hall. In 1956, he was the first American to perform in Russia after World War II, and he was invited to China in 1979. He served as president of Carnegie Hall from 1960.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend: "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

1a   AM|PED - AM (in the morning) + PED (pedestrian)

4a   SHE|L|LACKED - SHE (the ship; it is traditional to give women's names to ships and refer to them as female) + L (left) + (and) LACKED (was missing)

9a   LOCUS|T - LOCUS (place) + (and) T (time)

10a   INDUS|TRIAL - INDUS (river important to Pakistan) + TRIAL (test)

11a   TENDER - double definition; "sensitive" & "offer of money"

12a   MARSEILLES* - anagram (in disarray) of MESSIER ALL

16a   REINS~ - sounds like (announced) RAINS (showers)

17a   CA(R)VE - R (right) contained in (inside) CAVE (grotto)

18a   HONDA* - anagram (convertible) of HAD NO

19a   NIGH|T - NIGH (near) + T {the edge of T(own)}

22a   CHART|REUSE - CHART (keep track of) + (and) REUSE (recycle)

26a   {MORE SO}* - anagram (shaken) of ROMEOS

27a   TRIPLICATE* - anagram (busted) of PARTICLE IT

28a   _D|ANCES_ - hidden in (embraced by) venerateD ANCESters

29a   RETROGRESS* - anagram (mixed up) of GETS ERRORS

30a   S(US)AN - {S (small) + AN (article)} containing US

Down

1d   A(DOLE)SCENT - DOLE (welfare) contained in (in) ASCENT (process of going up)

2d   PL|UNDERAGE - PL {pair of pliers; i.e., first two letters of PL(iers)} + UNDERAGE (not old enough)

3d   DETER|GENTS - DETER (check) + GENTS (men's)

4d   SEIS|M - SEIS (Mexico's #6; i.e., the Spanish word for 'six') + M (male)

5d   ENDUR*|E (or E|NDURE*) - anagram (bananas) of UNDER + (by) E (error)

6d   LESSEN - sounds like (of the voice) LESSON (exercise)

7d   CORAL* - anagram (turned) of CAROL

8d   EL|ATE - EL (the Mexican; i.e., the Spanish word for 'the') + ATE (dined)

13d   AR(CHIMED)ES - CHIMED (rung) contained in (gripped by) ARES (war-like immortal)

14d   SIGNORINAS* - anagram (distressed) of RAISING SON

15d   {ISAAC STERN}* - anagram (shot) of ACTRESS IN A

20d   I|RVING - I ([Roman numeral for] one) + RVING (travelling in a motorhome; rv-ing)

21d   HU(MAN)E - MAN (fellow) contained in (found in) HUE (shade)

23d   HORSE - sounds like (sounding) HOARSE (laryngitic)

24d   _ROPER - [P]ROPER (right) with the first letter deleted (after the start)

25d   EVENS* - anagram (different) of SEVEN

Signing off for today - Falcon

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Thursday, August 25, 2011 - DT 26567

Puzzle at a Glance
Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number
DT 26567
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Setter
Jay
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26567]
Big Dave's Review Written By
Falcon
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

Introduction

Today we have a relatively easy offering from Jay, one which I reviewed in June for Big Dave's blog. Strangely, on my first read through this morning, I was able to solve only a handful of clues. However, as I continued to work on it, the solutions which must have been buried deep in my subconscious gradually percolated to the surface.

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.

bloomer2 - noun British informal, dated a serious or stupid mistake: he never committed a bloomer [Origin: (late 19th century) equivalent to blooming error]

bloomer3 - noun British a large loaf with diagonal slashes on a rounded top.

*Home Counties - the English counties surrounding London, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. [They are located in south-east England].

queen - noun 5 an adult female cat that has not been spayed.

train - noun 2 [2nd entry] a retinue of attendants accompanying an important person: a minister and his train of attendants

Appearing in Solutions:

ait (also eyot) - noun British a small island in a river: Raven’s Ait

cargo cult - noun (in the Melanesian Islands) a system of belief based around the expected arrival of ancestral spirits in ships bringing cargoes of food and other goods.

Harry Houdini - (1874–1926), Hungarian-born American magician and escape artist; born Erik Weisz. In the early 1900s he became famous for his ability to escape from all kinds of bonds and containers, from prison cells to aerially suspended straitjackets.

*L2 - abbreviation [5th entry] British (on a motor vehicle) learner driver.

*South East - in popular British parlance, a vaguely defined region consisting of London and surrounding areas, located in the south-eastern portion of England.

Officially, South East England is one of the nine regions of England, designated in 1994. It comprises counties situated to the south and west of London, but does not include London. As Wikipedia observes, "Before the creation of the current region, the idea that London was not in the south-east of England would have seemed ridiculous."
suite - noun 3 a group of people in attendance on a monarch or other person of high rank: the Royal Saloon was built for the use of the Queen and her suite

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.

4d   Facilities for reporting on train? (2,5)

When I first reviewed this puzzle for Big Dave's blog, I failed to decipher the wordplay in this clue - appealing to Big Dave to come to my rescue. The definition is "facilities" (lavatory) with the solution being EN SUITE for which the wordplay is EN {sounds like (reporting) ON} + SUITE (train; in the sense of 'retinue').

Signing off for today - Falcon

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - DT 26566

Puzzle at a Glance
Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number
DT 26566
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Setter
Unknown
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26566]
Big Dave's Review Written By
Gazza
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

Introduction

Gazza awarded this puzzle three stars for difficulty only due to the presence of two plants that he had never heard of. I had heard of the one at 5d, or at least one variety of it - purple loosestrife, an invasive species not native to North America but which has been introduced here virtually creating an environmental disaster. The other plant was unknown to me and I needed help from my electronic aids to identify it. I also needed Gazza's explanation to fully understand the wordplay at 13a.

By the way, Gazza illustrates his hint with a picture of purple loosestrife and comments that loosestrife is "a plant of the primrose family". Well, some types of loosestrife do belong to the primrose family - but not the one he has chosen to feature. Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) belongs to the family Lythraceae.
Wikipedia cautions "[purple loosestrife] should not be confused with other plants sharing the name loosestrife that are members of the family Primulaceae" (the family to which the primrose belongs).

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.

Parkhurst (in full HMP Isle of Wight - Parkhurst Barracks) -  a prison situated in Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

Appearing in Solutions:

Arden - an area, mainly located in Warwickshire, England, traditionally regarded as stretching from the River Avon to the River Tame, ... [which] was formerly heavily forested and known as the Forest of Arden.

clobber2 - noun British informal clothing, personal belongings, or equipment: I found all his clobber in the locker

il - Italian the

monstera - noun a large tropical American climbing plant of the arum family, which typically has divided or perforated leaves and corky aerial roots . Several kinds are cultivated as indoor plants when young. [Genus Monstera, family Araceae: several species, including the Swiss cheese plant]

on the nail (North American also on the barrelhead) - phrase informal (of payment) without delay: not paying on the nail could be extremely expensive

prosit - exclamation an expression used in drinking a person’s health. [Origin: German, from Latin, literally 'may it benefit']

Roneo - [Thesaurus (WordNet 3.0)] noun [British] a rotary duplicator that uses a stencil through which ink is pressed. (trade mark Roneo Co.)
Wikipedia, in an article on mimeographs, states "In Britain the machines [mimeographs] were most often referred to as "duplicators", though the predominance of Gestetner and Roneo in the UK market meant that some people referred to the machine by one of those two manufacturers' names."
baba1 (also rum baba) - noun a small, rich sponge cake, typically soaked in rum-flavoured syrup: the cooked babas are hollowed out and filled with confectioners' custard

tea caddy - noun chiefly British a small tin in which tea is kept for daily use.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - DT 26565

Puzzle at a Glance
Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number
DT 26565
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, May 30, 2011
Setter
Rufus
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26565]
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 26564 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, May 28, 2011

Introduction

I completed the puzzle without assistance. However, the solution for one clue (31a) was an outright guess based on matching the checking letters. I did conclude from the wordplay that I needed the name of a fairground ride - but I had never heard of this one. I only knew the solution as the name of a song by The Beatles and also as being associated with Charles Manson. At 3d, I was torn between TUNE (adjust the pitch) and TONE (pitch).

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:

box the compass - phrase chiefly Nautical 1 recite the compass points in correct order. 2 make a complete change of direction.

doublet - noun 2 a man’s short close-fitting padded jacket, commonly worn from the 14th to the 17th century: they were wearing red velvet doublets and hose

dun1 - adjective [2nd entry] literary dark or dusky: when the dun evening comes

Grand National - an annual horse race established in 1839, a steeplechase run over a course of 4 miles 856 yards (about 7,200 metres) with thirty jumps, at Aintree, Liverpool, in late March or early April.

helter-skelter - noun 1 British a fairground amusement consisting of a tall spiral slide winding around a tower.

*kirk - noun Scottish & Northern English 1 a church

*OB - abbreviation 1 old boy, noun 1 British [a] a former male student of a school or college: an old boy of Banbury County School [b] a former male member of a sports team or company: the White Hart Lane old boy squared the ball to present an easy chance from 12 yards 2 [a] informal an elderly man: he slipped a shilling into the old boy’s palm [b] chiefly British an affectionate form of address to a boy or man: ‘Look here, old boy,’ he said

proud - adjective 3 [predicative] British slightly projecting from a surface: balls standing proud of the fabric

*sup1 - verb dated or Northern English take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls: [i] she supped up her soup delightedly; [ii] he was supping straight from the bottle noun [a] a sip of liquid: he took another sup of wine [b] Northern English & Irish alcoholic drink: the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery

Trot - noun informal, chiefly derogatory a Trotskyist or supporter of extreme left-wing views: [i] a band of subversive Trots; [ii] he declared that the Corporation was a ‘nest of long-haired Trots’

Wren - noun (in the UK) a member of the former Women’s Royal Naval Service. [Origin: (early 20th century) originally in the plural, from the abbreviation  WRNS]

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.

16a   Sadly drop out of university, though outstanding (5)

While I was able to find the correct solution based on the definition and checking letters, I had to think long and hard before the wordplay became clear. It is PROD {an anagram (sadly) of DROP} out[side] of U (university) giving PROUD (outstanding). It was the leap from "out" to "outside" that stymied me for such a long time. The word "though" is used to link the wordplay to the definition. Proud here is used in a British sense meaning "slightly projecting from a surface", such as a nail that hasn't been fully hammered in (or one that has "popped out").

Signing off for today - Falcon

Monday, August 22, 2011

Monday, August 22, 2011 - DT 26563

Puzzle at a Glance
Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number
DT 26563
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Friday, May 27, 2011
Setter
Giovanni
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26563]
Big Dave's Review Written By
Gazza
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
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page of the Saturday, August 20, 2011 edition of the National Post

Introduction

My Tool Chest sat idle on the shelf today, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the puzzle rated three stars for difficulty from Gazza. My brain certainly must have been tuned to the right frequency today.

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.

jimmy - [Collins English Dictionary] the US word for jemmy, noun a short steel crowbar used, especially by burglars, for forcing doors and windows verb to prise (something) open with a jemmy
Jimmy - noun British informal 1 an act of urination. [Origin: (1930s) from Jimmy Riddle, rhyming slang for ‘piddle’] - note Gazza's reference to "Master Riddle".
queue - noun 3 archaic a plait of hair worn at the back.

queue - noun 1. (heraldry) An animal's tail.

Appearing in Solutions:

c. - abbreviation 1 cricket caught.

CoS - [The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition] abbreviation Chief of Staff

melatonin - noun Biochemistry a hormone secreted by the pineal gland which inhibits melanin formation and is thought to be concerned with regulating the reproductive cycle.

Michael Foot - (1913 – 2010), British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992. He was deputy leader of the Labour Party 1976 to 1980, and later became the Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. ... A passionate orator, he was Labour leader at the 1983 general election when the party received its lowest share of the vote since 1918.

*Financial Times (FT) - a British international business newspaper [conspicuously published on pink newsprint]

fromage frais - noun [seemingly British] a type of smooth soft fresh cheese, with the consistency of thick yogurt. [Origin: French, literally 'fresh cheese']

kinase - noun [usually with modifier] Biochemistry an enzyme that catalyses the transfer of a phosphate group from ATP to a specified molecule.

kine - plural noun archaic cows collectively.

MO - abbreviation [2nd entry] Medical Officer.

OC - abbreviation [1st entry] Officer Commanding.

prise - verb [British] (US prize) use force in order to move, move apart, or open (something): I tried to prise Joe's fingers away from the stick [In my experience, this word is seldom used. Instead, one would almost invariably hear "I tried to pry Joe's fingers away from the stick."].

tail1 - noun 2 a thing resembling an animal's tail in its shape or position , typically extending downwards or outwards at the end of something: the tail of a capital Q

Tess - noun a female given name, form of Theresa [or Teresa].

twee - adjective British excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental: although the film‘s a bit twee, it’s watchable

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

23a   Shop? One's about to join queue with hesitation (8)

The wordplay here is RE (about) + (to join) TAIL (queue) + (with) ER (hesitation) producing RETAILER (shop). It might seem that the setter could have merely clued this as:
  • 23a   Shop is about to join queue with hesitation (8)
but the surface reading would not make much sense. By structuring the clue to start "Shop? One's ..." the setter not only makes the surface reading more meaningful, but adds the idea that we are looking for a particular type of shop as the clue effectively says "One type of shop is about to join queue with hesitation".

I had supposed that queue was being used in the sense of a hairstyle consisting of a single long braid (which resembles an animal's tail). However, Gazza suggests that queue is used in the heraldic sense and literally means an animal's tail. In any event, the word queue comes to us from French where it means (what else) tail.

19d   Hairstyle of doctor, one inclined to be aggressive (6)

I had little difficulty with this clue, where the wordplay is MO (doctor; Medical Officer) + HAWK (one inclined to be aggressive) giving MOHAWK (hairstyle). It may have been a little more difficult for British solvers, given that this hairstyle in the U.K. is known as a Mohican (rather than a Mohawk, the name it goes by in North America).

Oxford Dictionaries Online (which is based on the Oxford Dictionary of English) seems to have erred in its statement regarding the origin of the British name (Mohican) which it says is "erroneously associated with the American Indian people". In fact, warriors from the Mohican tribe apparently did wear their hair in a roach style (see definition below), as did warriors from a number of other Eastern North American tribes including those comprising the Iroquois Confederacy (which included the Mohawk) and the Huron.
roach3 - noun 2. A hairstyle especially among certain Native American peoples in which the head is shaved except for a strip from front to back across the top.
By an odd coincidence, the London Sunday Times puzzle (ST 4442) that appeared yesterday in the Ottawa Citizen had the following clue:
  • 8d   After a short time husband with one tin is cut (7)
with the solution being MOHICAN.

Signing off for today - Falcon