Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - DT 26645

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26645
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26645]
Big Dave's Review Written By Pommers
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

After a slow start, I seemed to get tuned into the right wavelength today and was able to finish without help from my Tool Chest.

I failed to notice the Nina in this puzzle. A Nina consists of a word, words or phrase hidden within a pattern of cells in the completed grid. Look at the "light" squares along the outer edges of the grid and you will see that they contain the words LIGHT and SHADE (each of which appears twice). Presumably, these refer to the shaded and unshaded (light) spaces in a crossword grid. In Britain, a light is a blank space in a crossword puzzle to be filled by a letter. You can read more on this subject at What is a Nina?

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   Hanging around, admits love for housework (9)

In the UK, hoover^[5] (a genericized version of the trade name Hoover) means (as a noun) a vacuum cleaner (from any manufacturer) and (as a verb) to clean (something) with a vacuum cleaner (he was hoovering the stairs). The Hoover Company^[7] started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name became synonymous with vacuum cleaners and vacuuming in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The extra O comes from "love", a score of zero in tennis. The numeral "0" resembles the letter "O", giving rise to this substitution in cryptic crosswords.

13a   Theatre audience chase complimentary drinks — here? (4,5)

In Britain, a free house^[5] is a pub not controlled by a brewery and therefore not restricted to selling particular brands of beer or spirits.

20a   Muzzle new crew? (4)

For this clue to work, one must interpret "muzzle" as 'put a gag on' and not merely 'gag'.

4d   Food for a politician sheltering in bothy? (7)

In Scotland, a bothy^[5] is a small hut or cottage, especially one for housing farm labourers or for use as a mountain refuge. A Lib.^[5] is a member of the Liberal Party^[5], a British political party.

5d   Keep tabs on regular time for race (5,5)

This version of the clue also appeared in the printed edition of The Daily Telegraph in Britain. However, the version that appeared online in the UK was:

• Follow regular source of trouble for mile maybe (5,5)

13d   Dreams supporters welcome volunteers with measurements (10)

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

14d   I lengthen edited composition, free from prejudice (9)

Despite the discussion on Big Dave's blog on this matter, I would say that the anagram indicator is "edited composition". This I would interpret to mean I LENGTHEN with its composition edited (i.e., with its makeup changed).

15d   Refuge assists these council employees (4,5)

In the UK, a home help^[5] is a person employed, especially by a local authority, to help in another’s home.

26d   Region where soldiers are protected by motorists (4)

The Automobile Association (AA^[5]) is the British counterpart to the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) or American Automobile Association (AAA). The Royal Engineers (RE)^[5] is the field engineering and construction corps of the British army.

28d   Pleasant corner of market lacks hotel (4)

Hotel^[5] is a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication.

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