Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - DT 26644

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26644
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26644]
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

Although the puzzle contains a fair dose of Briticisms, it is relatively easy and I did complete it unaided. However, I'm sure I took far longer to solve it than did most of the Brits.

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   Shop in African country without a pointer to policy (9)

Guinea is a country on the west coast of Africa; population 10,058,000 (est. 2009); languages, French (official), Fulani, Susu, Malinke, and others; capital, Conakry. Part of a feudal Fulani empire from the 16th century, Guinea was colonized by France, becoming part of French West Africa. It became an independent republic in 1958.

13a   Established English author backed for honour (6)

I have often seen the creator of a puzzle refer to himself or herself in a clue as "setter" or "compiler". However, whoever fashioned today's offering apparently prefers to be referred to as "author". These usages usually indicate that either 'ME' or 'I' must be substituted for whatever title the person producing the puzzle has chosen to employ.

15a   Delightful soul getting tipsy around Channel Islands with American (8)

The wordplay in this clue could almost be parsed two ways. As Gazza seems to have seen it initially, it might be {soul getting tipsy} around {Channel Islands with American} or it might be (as he appears to have converted to on second thought) {soul getting tipsy around Channel Islands} with {American}. In the former instance, "American" would be replaced by the first occurrence of US in the solution while, in the latter, it would be the second occurrence. The latter choice might be slightly preferred, as this interpretation makes "with" a straight-forward charade indicator. In the former choice, "with" would need to imply 'preceded by' - a meaning which I think is certainly not out of the question.

The Channel Islands (CI)^[5] are a group of islands in the English Channel off the NW coast of France, of which the largest are Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney; population 200,000 (est. 2007). Formerly part of the dukedom of Normandy, they have owed allegiance to England since the Norman Conquest in 1066, and are now classed as Crown dependencies.

24a   Tense and quiet game held in rickety hut (7)

In Britain, tig^[5] is another name for the children's game of tag. Piano (p)^[5] is a musical direction meaning soft  or quiet.

29a   Worthy Irish county and river (5)

Mayo^[5] is a county in the Republic of Ireland, in the north-west in the province of Connacht; county town, Castlebar.

1d   Cheshire VIP? (3,6)

Cheshire^[5] is a kind of firm crumbly cheese, originally made in Cheshire^[5], a county of west central England; county town, Chester.

2d   Dispossess six entering a form of therapy (5)

In psychiatry, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)^[4] is the treatment of certain psychotic conditions by passing an electric current through the brain to induce coma or convulsions. It is also called electroshock therapy.

5d   Retired fellow showing appeal in elaborate resume (8)

While I hardly think that "It"^[7] can be considered an abbreviation (as Gazza describes it), it is a term that has come to mean sex appeal - although, in its earliest manifestation, it seems that the term pertained more to personality than to glamorous looks. Although the term had been used as early as 1904 by Rudyard Kipling, it was popularized  in the 1927 film It starring Clara Bow (who became known as the It Girl).

6d   Note volunteers on largely pleasant ship (7)

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

8d   Flower that’s charmingly old-fashioned close to shed (5)

The Tweed^[5] is a river which rises in the Southern Uplands of Scotland and flows generally eastwards, crossing into NE England and entering the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed. For part of its lower course it forms the border between Scotland and England. Twee^[5] is a British expression denoting excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental (although the film’s a bit twee, it’s watchable). Finally, "flower" takes on its fanciful cryptic crossword meaning of river (something that flows) - a cryptic crossword convention that I discussed in yesterday's blog.

14d   Criticism following article on special rural parts (3,6)

In informal British speech, stick^[5] means severe criticism or treatment (I took a lot of stick from the press).

17d   Educational institute with good group, one linguistically talented (8)

In the UK, poly^[5] is used as a short form for polytechnic^[5], an institution of higher education offering courses at degree level or below, especially in vocational subjects. In Britain the term polytechnic has largely dropped out of use. In 1989 British polytechnics gained autonomy from local education authorities and in 1992 were able to call themselves universities.

19d   Artist in East supporting this country — and another (7)

A Royal Academician (RA)^[5] is a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose was to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. Also, when solving this clue, keep in mind that the puzzle was originally published in the United Kingdom.

22d   Clumsily move logs (6)

According to several dictionaries, lumber^[4] meaning "logs" is a North American usage, not British. In my experience, the term invariably means sawn timber but the dictionaries do say that it can mean simply logs. In Britain, lumber^[5] means articles of furniture or other household items that are no longer useful and inconveniently take up storage space. In Scotland, lumber^[5] is used informally (as a verb) to mean casually strike up a relationship with a prospective sexual partner (he lumbered her from a pub in London) or (as a noun) to denote a person regarded as a prospective sexual partner (they end the evening in a disco where they wait for a lumber).

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