Monday, May 17, 2010 (DT 26149)

This puzzle was originally published Thursday, January 28, 2010 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

It was a relatively easy, but quite enjoyable, offering today. For a while, I thought that I might actually complete it unaided. Alas, a minor Shakespearean character proved to be my undoing and I had to crack open the Tool Chest to finish the southwest quadrant.

In the last few days, you may have noticed a minor refinement in the Today's Glossary section, which now has separate lists for entries that appear in clues and solutions. The former list may help readers better understand the clues without giving away the solutions. The glossary is a compilation of items that may be unknown to readers (in particular, those from North America). You may find contained therein explanations for obscure or archaic words or expressions, Briticisms, British geographical references, personalities, etc. I sometimes include personalities (as today with Fred Astaire and Loretta Young) who I consider well-known, as I've discovered that names that are familiar to one generation are not necessarily known to other generations.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Appearing in clues:

Fred Astaire - an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor

Portia - the heroine of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Appearing in solutions:

Richard Estes - an American painter who is best known for his photorealistic paintings

Eton College - British independent school for boys [Note: It seems that boys in Crosswordland have little choice in where to pursue their education]

golden hello - Informal a payment made to a sought-after recruit on signing a contract of employment with a company (see also Wikipedia article on Golden hello)

OM - abbreviation (in the UK [and Commonwealth realms]) Order of Merit: an honour bestowed by the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms upon citizens of those countries

Nerissa - Portia's waiting maid in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

NT - abbreviation 1 National Trust: in full, the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, a conservation organisation in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Reigate - a historic market town in Surrey, England

Bertie Wooster - a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse

Loretta Young - an American film and television actress who performed from 1917 to 2000

Today's Links

Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26149].

Anniversaries

The day that this puzzle appeared in the U.K. marked the One Year Anniversary of Big Dave's Crossword Blog. I would like to offer Big Dave and his team my somewhat belated congratulations on having reached this milestone. May your outstanding website enjoy a successful future (and I'll continue to ride your coat-tails as long as I can).

On seeing that Big Dave's site had celebrated its first year of operation, I realized that the one year anniversary of my own site had slipped by unnoticed earlier this month. The first edition of my blog appeared on May 2, 2009.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

24a Well-known college rejected daughter (5)

As is almost always the case, the "well-known college" is ETON. Eton was once known as a public school which is "(in the UK) a private fee-paying secondary school", quite different from the meaning of the term in North America ("a school supported by public funds"). It seems that these schools now prefer to style themselves as independent schools. In his comments on Big Dave's blog, Yoshik says "I am English, public school educated, and detest the adulteration of the language" which means he attended what we would call a private school.

6d Strongly disliked bowler, English, opener for Derbyshire? (5)

The surface reading of this clue relies on at least a passing knowledge of the game of cricket. A bowler is a cricket player, the one who delivers the ball to the batsman. The opener is the first player to bowl in the match. The opener, or opening bowler, would be akin to the starting pitcher in baseball. The clue suggests that a player, an Englishman who is the opening bowler for the Derbyshire cricket team, is not very popular.

Signing off for today - Falcon