Thursday, November 24, 2011 - DT 26646

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26646
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, September 1, 2011
Setter Ray T
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26646]
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 █ - 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

As Big Dave indicates, this is hardly one of Ray T's more difficult puzzles. I tackled it after a long day behind the wheel, so time was somewhat limited and my mind was definitely not as sharp as it might have been earlier in the day. I initially interpreted "getting" at 11a as a charade indicator (rather than a containment indicator), and thus tried to put the T at the end of the solution (instead of inside it). At 19d, I wrote the I and the E rather sloppily, making the I look like an L - which messed me up for quite some time on 23a.

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   Singer’s cadenza ends in very old record (8)

A cadenza^[5] is a virtuoso solo passage inserted into a movement in a concerto or other musical work, typically near the end. In South Africa, have a cadenza^[5] is an informal expression meaning to be extremely agitated (the party is having a cadenza about subliminal messages on the news) [said to be from Danny Kaye's The Little Fiddle, a humorous recording made in the 1940s]. However, no matter what meaning one ascribes to cadenza, the surface reading does not seem to make a lot of sense.

9a   Criminal after fine, one almost in jug (6)

In Britain, a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison might be referred to informally as a lag^[5] (both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment).

10a   Hamlet perhaps, desperate character chasing Ophelia’s heart (4)

Desperate Dan^[7] is a wild west character in the British comic The Dandy. He first appeared in its first issue, dated 4 December 1937. He is apparently the world's strongest man, able to lift a cow with one hand. Even his beard is so tough he has to shave with a blowtorch.

At first blush, the wordplay seems to be reversed with DAN following (chasing) E (Ophelia's heart). However, one must mentally insert a comma with the wordplay then having the sense 'desperate character[,] chasing [is] Ophelia's heart'.

15a   It’s hard when one’s out of luck! (6)

Hard cheese^[5] is an informal British expression used to express sympathy over a petty matter (jolly hard cheese, better luck next time!).

20a   Hitch cables to rock (8)

My objective was to find an anagram (hitch) of CABLES TO meaning "rock", but I ended up with just the opposite. Or did I - a rock can be an obstacle, n'est-ce pas?

24a   Criminal proclivity? (4)

In Britain, bent^[5] is an adjective used informally to mean dishonest or corrupt (a bent cop).

26a   Turn up record, ‘Endless Love’ by Queen (8)

'Endless' often indicates the deletion of the last letter of a word. However, here it signifies that both ends of the word "love" must be removed to produce OV. The wordplay is DISC (record) + OV (endless love) + (by) ER (the royal monogram of Queen Elizabeth, from the Latin Elizabetha Regina).

The inclusion of a reference to his favourite rock band (Queen) is a characteristic trademark of a Ray T puzzle. I'm not sure that Queen ever recorded Endless Love, but Diana Ross and Lionel Richie certainly did.



1d   Amorous and sensual, topless, embracing chap (8)

Another trademark of Ray T is the slightly risqué clue - although this one is definitely quite tame by his standards.

16d   …ergo sum initially includes case for philosopher (8)

If you thought Descartes, you had the wrong chap - not to mention an extra letter. Cogito ergo sum^[7] is the Latin expression of Descartes famous dictum 'I think, therefore I am'.

19d   Challenged, providing over in action (6)

I carelessly entered DENIED here.

21d   Opening of big estate for shoot (6)

Estate is probably not a word that most North Americans would use for a ranch, but it would seem to be one that the Brits might use.

22d   Nearly American on ‘Fifty-Second Street’ (6)

In the UK, mo^[5] is an informal term for a short period of time (hang on a mo!) [abbreviation of  moment].

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