Tuesday, December 14, 2010 (DT 26342)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26342
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, September 10, 2010
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26342]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ****	Enjoyment - ***
Falcon's Performance ***

Introduction

As you can see from my performance rating in the table above, I had to resort to my Tool Chest a bit earlier today than has recently been the case. I thought perhaps my brain had been frozen while clearing the snow from my driveway following our first significant snowfall of  the season. I was therefore relieved to see that Gazza rates the puzzle as 4* for difficulty. I did need to rely on Gazza to explain the wordplay for 20d (chemistry never being my forte) and why 19d requires an adjective for a solution.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Clues:

Haymarket - a street in the St. James's district of the City of Westminster, a London Borough. It runs from Piccadilly Circus at the north to Pall Mall at the south.

Appearing in Solutions:

DD - abbreviation: Divinitatis Doctor (Latin), Doctor of Divinity.

Denis Diderot (1713 – 1784) - French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment and is best-known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie.

able seaman - noun a rank of sailor in the Royal Navy above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

largo - Music adverb & adjective (especially as a direction) in a slow tempo and dignified in style; noun a passage , movement, or composition marked to be performed in this way.

John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873) - British philosopher and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control.

nutter - noun British informal a mad or eccentric person.

Parliament Hill - an area of open parkland in the south-east corner of Hampstead Heath in north-west London, England. The hill is notable for its excellent views of the capital's skyline. Unlike Parliament Hill in Ottawa, which is the site of the Canadian Houses of Parliament, the London counterpart is not home to the British Houses of Parliament which are located a few miles to the south in the City of Westminster.

John Whitaker (Jack) Straw - a British Labour Party politician who served in British Cabinets under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

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.

22a Philosopher's ism is rejected - bad! (4)

Having spelled the entry at 19d incorrectly, I was stymied here until I realized the error. With the incorrect checking letters _E_L, the only philosopher that I could find matching this pattern was 20^th century French philosopher Simone Weil. Of course, this obviously did not satisfy the wordplay.

We are indeed looking for a philosopher; however, it is 19^th century British philosopher John Stuart Mill.The wordplay is M {ISM with IS deleted (rejected)} + ILL (bad) giving us MILL.

Signing off for today - Falcon