Friday, January 21, 2011 (DT 26376)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26376
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26376]
Big Dave's Review Written By Crypticsue
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ***	Enjoyment - ***
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┐ ████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┘

Introduction

It seems that I could not get my brain out of first gear this morning. As a result, my Tool Chest was called into action early and often. On top of that, I needed to look at Crypticsue's review to understand the wordplay in a couple of clues - only to find that it was quite trivial. Isn't it amazing how much clearer everything appears in the rear view mirror.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Clues:

Kent - a county in southeast England, widely known as "The Garden of England" because of its abundance of orchards and hop gardens.

paddy² - noun [in singular] British informal a fit of temper: John drove off in a paddy

Appearing in Solutions:

Financial Times (FT) - a British international business newspaper.

hunter - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 5 a watch with a hinged metal lid or case (hunting case) to protect the crystal Also called hunting watch. See also half-hunter.

oast - (or oast house) a farm building for drying hops

Offa's Dyke - a massive linear earthwork, roughly following some of the current border between England and Wales, which, in the 8th century, formed some kind of delineation between the Anglian kingdom of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys.

strop² - noun [usually in singular] British informal a bad mood; a temper: Nathalie gets in a strop and makes to leave

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.

8d   A way team's deal is reported (4,6)

This is a partial homophone (sounds like) clue, having the definition "a way", which gives us SIDE STREET as a solution, and the wordplay is SIDES (team's) + TREET, which sounds like (is reported) TREAT. Supposedly, "deal" is a synonym for 'treat'. However, to the best of my knowledge, 'deal' on its own does not have this meaning, but only when it occurs in the phrase 'deal with'.

24a   Reported bids finally ended, with key changes, for ancient fortification (5,4)

This is another partial homophone clue - that depends on the soft British 'r' for effect. As pronounced by a Brit (or, likely more accurately, by some Brits) offers would sound like Offa's. Thus we have OFFAS {which sounds like (reported) OFFERS (bids)} + D {finally (ende)D} + YKE {an anagram (changes) of KEY). This all produces OFFAS DYKE (Offa's Dyke), an "ancient fortification".

I had encountered this ancient fortification in at least one previous puzzle which partially helped me and partially hindered me. I did recall the first part (Offa's). However, in a previous clue the word 'dyke' in the solution had been clued by "ditch" (in Britain, strangely, a dyke can be either an embankment or a ditch) and that somehow left 'Offa's Ditch' registered in my memory banks, rather than 'Offa's Dyke'. Try as I might, I could not get past this obstacle until I googled for help.

25a   Newspaper robbery? (5)

I failed to see the wordplay in this clue, which is a reference to the British newspaper The Financial Times (or FT). The clue could probably be considered a double definition where one definition is "newspaper" (THE FT) and the second is "robbery" (THEFT).

27a   Drink given to judge meets requirements (8,2)

The definition is " meets requirements" for which the solution is MEASURES UP. I got that easily enough. However, it took forever for the wordplay to dawn on me. I was thinking that a " drink"  could be a measure (as in this example given by Oxford Dictionaries Online, "heavy drinking may be five measures of spirits per day"). Eventually, the penny dropped, and I saw that the wordplay is MEASURE (judge) + SUP (drink).

22d   Something from the herb garden for your setter (5)

This is another case where the wordplay eluded me. The definition is " something from the herb garden" or THYME. That much I got. The wordplay is simply THY (your) + ME (setter). Doh! Do I feel stupid.

Signing off for today - Falcon