Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - DT 26638

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26638
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26638]
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 again got off to a slow start, but the puzzle progressed rapidly once a few solutions were in place. However, everything ground to a halt with two intersecting clues (9a and 6d) remaining in the northeast. I feared that I would have to throw in the towel and look at the hints at Big Dave's Blog. However, with a bit more effort (quite bit more, to be precise), I eventually prevailed. I likely spent as much time on these two clues as I did on the remainder of the puzzle.

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.

9a   Wild mare in picture viewed (6)

I wasted a lot of time trying to incorporate an anagram (wild) of MARE into the solution. As it turns out, wild mare is an archaic name for a seesaw. To ride the wild mare is to play at see-saw [Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs from the Fourteenth Century by James Orchard Halliwell, p. 931, published in London by John Russell Smith in 1847].

11a   Queen consort taken round one Egyptian city (10)

Queen Alexandra was the wife of King Edward VII. The Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge^[7] between Ottawa and Gatineau is named in her honour.

14a   Spectator, or Sunday newspaper? (8)

In the UK, the clue had single quotation marks around Spectator (‘Spectator’, or Sunday newspaper?). The surface reading is no doubt intended to make us think of The Spectator^[7], a conservative-leaning weekly British magazine owned by the same people who own The Daily Telegraph^[7]. The Observer^[7], the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, is a sister paper to the daily The Guardian^[7], and takes a similar liberal or social democratic line on most issues.

17a   An endless task for presenter (6)

In Britain, the anchor of a news broadcast or the host of television or radio programme is known as a presenter^[5].

22a   Girl taken on by a posh couple? (2,4)

In the UK, language and social behaviour may be described as either U^[5] or non-U, with the former indicating that it is characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes.

5d   University lecturers found with joint in circulation (10)

In British universities, a reader^[5] is a lecturer of the highest grade below professor.

24d   Scottish island, reportedly excellent according to Australian (4)

Bute^[3] is an island of southwest Scotland in the Firth of Clyde. In Australia and New Zealand, something that is very good or beautiful might be described as beaut^[5] ("a beaut view").

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