Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29177 | |
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, October 9, 2019 | |
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch) | |
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29177] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
2Kiwis | |
BD Rating
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| Difficulty - ★★★ | Enjoyment - ★★★★ |
Falcon's Experience
┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐
███████████████████████████████████
└────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘
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
█ - solved but without fully parsing the clue
█ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog
█ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog
█ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog
█ - yet to be solved
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Notes
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This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, May 2, 2020 edition of the National Post.
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Introduction
The consensus from visitors to Big Dave's Crossword Blog appears to be that this puzzle is a bit more difficult than one typically expects from Jay.I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with 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.
| Markup Conventions | |
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| Click here for further explanation and usage examples of markup conventions used on this blog. | |
Across
| 7a | Son needs guts, ignoring a // cause of great suffering (7) |
| 8a | Irritation /caused by/ hollow cough and a smile (7) |
| 10a | Points at a silly // starter course (9) |
An antipasto[5] is an hors d'oeuvre in Italian cooking.
| 11a | Noise /from/ family group beginning to grate (5) |
| 12a | Common resources /may see/ sailing vessel return (5) |
A sloop[2] is a one-masted sailing boat with fore-and-aft sails.
| 13a | Shelter /from/ sun then is unusual (6,3) |
Nissen hut[5] is a British name for a tunnel-shaped hut made of corrugated iron with a concrete floor, named after Peter N. Nissen (1871–1930), the British engineer who invented it. This structure would seem to be similar to (and, given that Nissen died in 1930, likely predate) the American Quonset hut[5] (Trademark) from the Second World War which is named after Quonset Point, Rhode Island, where such huts were first made.
| 15a | Scold daughter about tiny // plant that causes hay fever (7) |
| 17a | An amount of money reportedly /for/ a dish? (7) |
Tenner[5] is an informal British name for a ten-pound note.
When pronounced in a non-rhotic accent (show explanation
) typical of dialects found in many parts of Britain (especially
southeastern England), the word "tenner" sounds like "TENNAH" — making the word combination "AN TENNER" sound like "ANTENNA".
Non-rhotic accents omit the sound < r > in certain situations, while rhotic accents generally pronounce < r > in all contexts. Among the several dozen British English accents which exist, many are non-rhotic while American English (US and Canadian) is mainly rhotic. This is, however, a generalisation, as there are areas of Britain that are rhotic, and areas of America that are non-rhotic. For more information, see this guide to pronouncing < r > in British English.
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Non-rhotic accents omit the sound < r > in certain situations, while rhotic accents generally pronounce < r > in all contexts. Among the several dozen British English accents which exist, many are non-rhotic while American English (US and Canadian) is mainly rhotic. This is, however, a generalisation, as there are areas of Britain that are rhotic, and areas of America that are non-rhotic. For more information, see this guide to pronouncing < r > in British English.
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| 18a | Commander-in-Chief must arrest poor inmate // filming? (9) |
CIC[1] is the abbreviation for Commander-in-Chief.
Perhaps the question mark following the definition is well-placed as the definition did raise a question mark in my mind. After some considerable thought, I did conclude that "cinematic" might be interchangeable with "filming" in the following instance ⇒
the cameraman's work demonstrated a unique cinematic technique.
| 20a | Notes // consequences (5) |
... these consequences must be faced.
| 21a | Article written by Channel island // statesman? (5) |
This clue might well have been solved more quickly had I only twigged earlier to the fact that the word "island" is not capitalized. That is the first bit of misdirection. The second is that "statesman" whimsically alludes to a resident of the USA.
The Isle of Wight[5] (abbreviation IOW[5]) is an island off the south coast of England. It lies at the entrance to Southampton Water[5], an inlet of the English Channel, and is separated from the mainland by the Solent (show more ) and Spithead (show more ).
Thus, the Isle of Wight is a "Channel island" in that it is an island situated in the English Channel but it is not one of the Channel Islands[5], a group of islands in the English Channel off the northwestern coast of France.
| 23a | Caught short /and/ this may be beaten (5,4) |
Note the use of the pronoun "this" in the definition which one interprets as "something that can be beaten". This will not be the last time we see this sort of construction in today's puzzle.
Short[5] (noun) is a British term for a drink of spirits served in a small measure* or, as Collins English Dictionary puts it, a short[10] is a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer.
| 24a | Pay for // former head to tour Italy (7) |
| 25a | Sort of pigment /required by/ working lineman (7) |
Melanin[5] is a dark brown to black pigment occurring in the hair, skin, and iris of the eye in people and animals. It is responsible for tanning of skin exposed to sunlight.
Down
| 1d | Opening heart, perhaps, /and/ play this (5,5) |
Another use of the pronoun "this" in the definition which is a very terse expression of an idea that could be stated more verbosely as "something that can be played".
| 2d | Complaints // mature in case of grievances (6) |
| 3d | Argued with leader going for speakers ultimately // with experience (8) |
| 4d | Such clues /may be/ an affliction (6) |
| 5d | Wide bridges needing time /and/ funds (3,5) |
In cricket, a wide[5] (also called wide ball and denoted on cricket scorecards by the abbreviation w[5]) is a ball that is judged to be too wide of the stumps for the batsman to play, for which an extra is awarded to the batting side.
* An extra[5] is a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited (in most cases) to the batting side rather than to a batsman. The types of extra[7] are no ball, wide, bye, leg-bye, and penalty runs.
| 6d | Care assistants will accept // penalties given here (4) |
In this instance, the setter uses an adverb in the definition but the construction is similar to the earlier clues where a pronoun was used. One interprets the definition as "a location where a penalty is given".
In soccer [football to the Brits], the penalty area[5] is the rectangular area marked out in front of each goal, within which a foul by a defender involves the award of a penalty kick and outside which the goalkeeper is not allowed to handle the ball.
| 7d | Pointed performance included in cost /is/ cheating (5,8) |
Based on entries from several dictionaries, sharp practice is an old-fashioned term denoting dishonest or barely honest business or professional practices (show more ). Given the absence of this term from American dictionaries one would have to conclude that it is British.
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- unscrupulous dealing, verging on dishonesty (The Chambers Dictionary)[1]
- dishonesty or cheating; unscrupulous dealing (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)[2]
- dishonest or barely honest dealings ⇒
any kind of sharp practice will ruin a barrister's career
(Oxford Dictionaries Online)[5] - (old-fashioned) dishonest or unscrupulous behaviour in business ⇒ (i)
The report seems to be saying that certain sharp practices are very common in business
; (ii)He accused some solicitors of sharp practice
(Collins English Dictionary)[10] - an action or a way of behaving, especially in business or professional matters, that is clever but dishonest (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)[14]
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| 9d | Horologists must support free thing /for/ such workers (5-8) |
Here the definition "such workers" succinctly captures the notion "a specific type of workers".
| 14d | Writing bound /to be/ a feat of athleticism (10) |
| 16d | Strange metal boxes people /used for/ cheese (8) |
Emmental[5] (also Emmenthal) is a kind of hard Swiss cheese with many holes in it, similar to Gruyère.
| 17d | Welcomes // allegations -- under a cloud at first (8) |
| 19d | Form of street // canopy (6) |
A tester[5] is a canopy over a four-poster bed.
| 20d | Ponder broadcast and slip inside /for/ some breakfast (6) |
The solver is expected to interpret the definition here as "a particular breakfast food".
| 22d | Shed tears /seeing/ moderate Tory embracing party's leader (4) |
In British political circles, the name wet[5] is applied to a Conservative with liberal tendencies ⇒
the wets favoured a change in economic policy. It was a term frequently used by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for those to the left of her in the British Conservative Party [which must have been just about everyone].
Key to Reference Sources:Signing off for today — Falcon
[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 Advanced American Dictionary)
[7] - Wikipedia
[8] - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
[9] - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)
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