Friday, November 18, 2011 - DT 26641

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26641
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, August 18, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26641]
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 █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

I did fairly well today, although a mistake at 18a hampered progress for a while and I needed Gazza's hint to find the British income tax collection provision at 13a. Now, I must have another go at yesterday's puzzle, which is still a work in progress.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

7a   Where road branches off north in Italian city by front of garage (7)

While the solution may not be entirely a Briticism, it is not the way I would say it. A turning^[2] may be either a place where one road branches off from another or a road which branches off from another. Oxford Dictionaries^[5] gives as a usage example, "take the first turning on the right". I would have used either turn for the first sense or side road for the second.

13a   Money-collecting scheme brings pence always (4)

In the UK and certain other jurisdictions, pay as you earn or PAYE refers to a system of withholding of income tax and social benefit taxes from payments to employees. In North America, this would be called tax withholding or deduction at source.

Aye^[5] is an archaic or Scottish word meaning always or still. In Britain, pence^[5] is a plural form of penny. Both pence and pennies have existed as plural forms of penny since at least the 16th century. The two forms now tend to be used for different purposes: pence refers to sums of money (five pounds and sixty-nine pence) while pennies refers to the coins themselves (I left two pennies on the table). The use of pence rather than penny as a singular (the chancellor will put one pence on income tax) is not regarded as correct in standard English.

1d   Cambridge maybe can offer model when there’s change all around (7)

Varsity as a synonym for university is a dated term in Britain, but seemingly still current in South Africa and New Zealand.

3d   A good forward-looking type, PRO out to be combative (10)

Here, PRO^[5] is more likely intended to stand for Public Relations Officer than the Public Record Office (PRO)^[5], an institution in the UK where official archives are kept for public inspection.

7d   Piece of office equipment made to look fantastic by rep in letter (11)

A teleprinter^[5] is the British name for a rather outdated piece of office equipment that Americans would call a teletypewriter^[5]. I think either name might have been used in Canada.

15d   Unknown pub in place devoted to luxury (8)

A sybarite^[5] is a person who is self-indulgent in their fondness for sensuous luxury. The word comes form a term originally denoting an inhabitant of Sybaris, an ancient Greek city in southern Italy, noted for luxury.

17d   Liven up a part of the UK with chum (7)

Northern Ireland (NI)^[5] is a province of the United Kingdom occupying the NE part of Ireland. Mate^[5] is an informal British term meaning a friend or companion.

19d   Bundle of papers, one collected by rough sleeper (7)

In Britain, dosser^[5] is an informal and derogatory term for a tramp or someone who 'sleeps rough' - a British expression meaning to sleep in uncomfortable conditions, typically out of doors ("he spent the night sleeping rough on the streets").

Having originally entered DEAL at 18a (it seems that there is more than one word lurking in the phrase "briDE ALways" - one that also attracted the eye of many others beside myself), I tried to make ESPELIER [I (one) contained in (collected by) an anagram (rough) of SLEEPER] be the solution to this clue - only to discover that there is no  such word.

23d   Priest in short trousers? (4)

Whether or not Levi^[4] was himself a priest, he was the progenitor of a tribe of priests. According to Gazza, levi is "a slang term for a clergyman.", although I could find no other source to confirm this.

References: 
^[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2] - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3] - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5] - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6] - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7] - Wikipedia
^[8] - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)

Signing off for today - Falcon