Monday, December 13, 2010 (DT 26341)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26341
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, September 9, 2010
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26341]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - **	Enjoyment - ***
Falcon's Performance ***

Introduction

Big Dave thought this puzzle was easy. However, I had more problems with it than I did with several puzzles last week which were rated more difficult by Big Dave and his colleagues. I finally hauled out the Tool Chest with four clues remaining to be solved, although it actually did not help me. I eventually solved three of the four remaining clues without the help of my electronic aids, in the process discovering that one of my existing entries was incorrect. As for the final unsolved clue, my electronic aids pointed me to an incorrect solution.

By the way, after my experience last week, I have adjusted the scale I use to rate my performance on the puzzle. Now one star is 0%-39%, two stars is 40%-69%, three stars is 70%-89%, four stars is 90%-99%, and five stars is 100%. With the old scale, I thought I might never get anything but four stars - making the scale pretty useless. One side effect of starting the rating system is that I have noticed that I am now more reluctant to throw in the towel early.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues:

bespoke - [Collins English Dictionary] adjective Chiefly British

1. (especially of a suit, jacket, etc.) made to the customer's specifications
2. making or selling such suits, jackets, etc.: a bespoke tailor

Appearing in Solutions:

British Airways plc (BA) - the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom and the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

6a Cunning tramp miles away (4)

I thought that cunning, in addition to meaning shrewdness (the use of clever methods to get what you want, especially methods that involve tricking or cheating people), might also possibly refer to such methods themselves (e.g., a trap). Thus, I had presumed that the wordplay might be TRAP, TRAMP with "M(iles) away". However, the wordplay is actually ARCH, MARCH with "M(iles) away". This error presented a major obstacle to solving 8d, although I eventually saw the light.

12a Free bar (4)

The checking letters narrowed the solution down to _A_E. A check for words matching this pattern and meaning both "free" and "bar" turned up only a single candidate, EASE (although I was not entirely confident that I understood why). However, I should have concentrated on another near match, "safe" and "save" - as EASE turned out to be incorrect.

Signing off for today - Falcon