Tuesday, July 13, 2010 (DT 26208)

This puzzle, created by Jay, was originally published in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Introduction

I completed about half the puzzle before flipping open the Tool Chest today. In hindsight, I can't believe that I wasn't able to solve more clues without aid.

Today's Glossary

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

Used in Solutions:

back - noun 6 sport a player whose usual position is behind the forwards (see forward noun), and who in most sports is a defender, but who (e.g., in rugby) may also attack.

esp. (or espec.) - abbreviation especially.

Football Association (abbreviation FA) - a governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

RAF - abbreviation Royal Air Force.

Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE) - the field engineering and construction corps of the British army.

Social Democrats - a U.K. political party which was founded in 1981 and dissolved in 1988 and again in 1990 but seems to keep springing back up.

Today's Links

Tilsit's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26208].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

24d Hotel employee showing quiet maturity (4)

Tilsit states that a page is "the UK equivalent of a bell-hop in the States." However, Chambers and Wikipedia both identify porter as the U.K. equivalent to bellhop. Maybe porter and page are interchangeable terms in Britain, or perhaps British hotels engage both porters and pages, the former to do the heavy lifting and the latter for lighter duties.

Signing off for today - Falcon