Introduction
I found this puzzle to be moderately difficult - probably mostly due to the British references.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
declaration - cricket decision by the captain to close a team's innings (turn over batting to the opposing team)
eyes down - Brit. (probably) a command to signal the start of a game of bingo
First Sea Lord - head of the British Naval Service (which includes the Royal Navy and other agencies)
hoarding - Brit. a billboard (noun, defn. 2)
SAS - abbrev. Special Air Service: a special forces regiment within the British Army
Today's Links
I found two questions on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle. They (together with the clues to which they relate) are:
- AnswerBank [DT 25895]-a: 23ac, 8d, 21d
- AnswerBank [DT 25895]-b: 23ac, 21d
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
13ac Club fail to declare (5)
Once a cricket team at bat has built up a sufficiently large lead, the captain may declare the team's innings closed, thereby turning the batting over to the opposing team. If the captain fails to declare, then his team will naturally "bat on".
14ac List of French and English articles (4)
This was easy - that is, once I got MENU out of my head.
18d Setting great store by a spot of publicity (8)
"Hoarding" does not carry the breadth of meaning in North America that it does in Britain. In North America, a large sign is called a "billboard", not a "hoarding". A "hoarding" here is a temporary fence around a construction site (a meaning which I believe it may also have in Britain). Despite this difference in meaning, there are enough advertising posters plastered on hoardings that I had little difficulty identifying hoarding as "a spot of publicity" in the sense of being a site where publicity may be found. Undoubtedly, this is a somewhat different image than what the setter had in mind, but it works.
Signing off for today - Falcon
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