Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26372 | |
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, October 15, 2010 | |
Setter Giovanni | |
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26372] | |
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza | |
Big Dave's Rating | |
| Difficulty - *** | Enjoyment - **** |
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┐ ████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┘ | |
Introduction
Seeing that I needed to dust off the Tool Chest today (after it sat idle yesterday), I clearly found this puzzle a bit more difficult than the one yesterday. However, for the Brits, it seems it may have been the other way around.
Today's Glossary
Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle
Appearing in Clues:
The City or City of London (not to be confused with London) - a small area within Greater London, United Kingdom which is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial.
East Anglia - a region of eastern England consisting of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and parts of Essex and Cambridgeshire
Hastings - a coastal town in south-east England, in East Sussex. The Battle of Hastings, which took place on 14 October 1066, was the decisive victory in the Norman Conquest of England, in which the Norman army of Duke William II of Normandy defeated the English army of King Harold II.
Appearing in Solutions:
Diss - a town in Norfolk, England close to the border with the neighbouring East Anglian county of Suffolk. [At best, the wording here fails to convey the fact that Norfolk is part of East Anglia and, at worst, might lead one to conclude that it isn't.]
fosse - noun Archaeology a long, narrow trench or excavation, especially in a fortification
Abbreviations & Symbols:
OB - abbreviation 1 old boy, noun
- British a former male student of a school or college
- a former male member of a sports team or company
- informal an elderly man
- chiefly British an affectionate form of address to a boy or man
E2 - abbreviation 8 English
EC (Eastern Central) postcode area (also known as the London EC postcode area) - a group of postcode districts in central London, England which includes almost all of the City of London and parts of several other London Boroughs.
ER - abbreviation Queen Elizabeth. [from Latin Elizabetha Regina]
EST - abbreviation estate [the entry here, the 11th of 51, is actually estates]
F2 - abbreviation [5th entry] female
G (3) - abbreviation 3. education good (used as a grade)
H2 - abbreviation 4 hospital
N - abbreviation name [no source found]
r - abbreviation [2nd entry] (giving position or direction) right: l to r: Evan, Nic, and David
R2 - abbreviation [13th entry] Cricket [not to mention baseball] (on scorecards) run(s)
s - abbreviation [6th entry] (in genealogies) son(s)
SE - abbreviation south-east or south-eastern
v - abbreviation [4th entry] versus
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.
1a Despot in a terrible land the other side of the world (9)
I valiantly tried to shoehorn ANTIPODAL in here, formed from TIPO (despot?) contained in (in) A + an anagram (terrible) of LAND. The definition certainly appears to work, as antipodal does mean '[on] the other side of the world'. The stumbling block, of course, was TIPO which I was unable to account for - the closest match seemingly being Tito, the former Yugoslav dictator.
The actual solution, ANTIPODES, may work better in Britain than it does for me personally. From a geometrical perspective, an antipode is a point on the opposite side of the globe, so one would think that "land the other side of the world" would be an antipode, with antipodes being 'lands located on opposite sides of the world'. However, in his hints, Gazza suggests a different twist to the word in referring to it as "a term that we use in the UK for countries which are on the opposite side of the planet to us". This notion is further supported by Search Chambers (and other dictionaries) which defines antipodes as 'plural noun (usually the Antipodes) two points on the Earth's surface that are diametrically opposite each other, especially Australia and New Zealand as being opposite Europe'. Actually, this usage may not be entirely British as a similar definition for Antipodes (when capitalized) is to be found in The American Heritage Dictionary. Therefore, if one were to consider Australia and New Zealand as being collectively "land" located on the other side of the world, then the solution would be ANTIPODES under this definition.
9a Information from computer that could be dear (4-3)
I saw the anagram possibility here, but must confess that I failed to detect that the clue is actually a reverse anagram. However, this point did not escape Gazza.
To help in understanding the concept of a reverse anagram, let's first review what is meant by the term anagram. An anagram consists of an anagram indicator (sometimes referred to as an anagrind) together with material (the fodder) on which one must perform the anagram operation to produce a result which is the solution to the clue. For example, in 1a the anagram indicator is "playing with" and the fodder is "GENUINE CLASS", with the result (i.e., the required anagram of the fodder) being ALEC GUINNESS which is the solution to the clue.
In a reverse anagram, on the other hand, the result of the anagram operation is given in the wordplay together with an indication that we are looking for an anagram (anagram indicator plus fodder) as the solution to the clue. Thus, in this clue, the definition is "information from computer" and the wordplay is "that could be dear", which tells us that we are looking for something that could produce the result DEAR. One thing that could produce this result is an anagram of READ. The solution to the clue is READ-OUT, which Oxford Dictionaries Online defines as 'a visual record or display of the output from a computer or scientific instrument'. In accordance with cryptic crossword practice, 'read out' could signify an anagram (out) of READ with the result being DEAR. Thus, 'read out' could be dear - just as the clue said.
10a Hunted animal trapped by senior person with a lot of experience (3,6)
Here, "senior" is an adjective (OLDER) and not a noun (OLDSTER). Thus we have STAG (hunted animal) contained in (trapped by) OLDER (senior) for OLD STAGER, a British term meaning "person with a lot of experience".
Should the setter have wished to use senior as a noun, the clue might have been crafted as 'Silver hoarded by senior person with a lot of experience'.
21d Fish I managed to get into kitchen vessel when chopped (6)
Many of the Brits commented on the name of the fish being spelled pirana, when the normal spelling is piranha or piraña (with a tilde over the n). I did find a few sources listing pirana, with each and every one able to be traced back to Princeton University's Wordnet. I suppose that piraña would be entered into the grid as PIRANA. After all, wouldn't resumé be entered as RESUME? Or, even more to the point, entrée as ENTREE (found at 8d today).
Signing off for today - Falcon
Greetings, Falcon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with D = 3 rating.
Needed some help from Google (6a, 10a) and atlas (18d).
Like you, I found 1a and 9a a bit questionable.
10a was a new term for me.
Filled in 25a with no idea why after getting all the checking letters. Good explanation on BD, fave clue for many!
Last was the NE corner, with 6a, 10a, 7d, 5d last in. I just could not get 8d, left it blank.
Notice that there is not a word shorter than 6 letters?!
I liked 4d, 13a, 14d, and 16d, but 22a was my favorite.
14d reminds me of one of my all-time favorite clues:
Not a good place for Harold, as things turned out (8) :-)
Cheers
- Pete
Hi Pete,
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by to leave a comment.
As for 1a and 9a, personally I wouldn't call them questionable - just unfamiliar to a North American. Actually, 'the Antipodes' (1a) as a term for Australia and New Zealand does not even appear to be a specifically British term - it is found in the American Heritage Dictionary (Antipodes). It may just be an old term that happens to have survived better in Britain than here.
As for 9a, it is a fairly rare type of clue - and one which many solvers (myself included) seem to find difficult to spot. As I have said before (in response to comments by visitors to Big Dave's site that were negative toward a 'non-standard' clue), like bird watchers spotting a rare species, we should celebrate these unusual clue types rather than complain that there aren't more crows.
Your final comment (re 14d) goes to show that there is more than one way to skin a cat, or clue a solution.
Falcon