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