Wednesday, January 12, 2011 (DT 26368)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26368
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, October 11, 2010
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26368]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - *	Enjoyment - ***
Falcon's Performance *****
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26367 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, October 9, 2010

Introduction

I completed this puzzle quite readily - once I had managed to establish a toehold. I'm not surprised that Libellule found it easy, but - having struggled at the end with three or four stubborn clues - I might be tempted to give it an extra star for difficulty, over and above the single star that he awarded to it.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Clues:

birdie - noun 2 Golf a score of one stroke under par at a hole

jack¹ - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 2. a sailor

Appearing in Solutions:

draught - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun, verb & adjective Chiefly British Variant of draft.

draught - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 9. (also called draughtsman) any one of the 12 flat thick discs used by each player in the game of draughts; US and Canadian equivalent checker

dress sense - noun a good instinct for selecting garments which suit the wearer

[Judging by the specific dictionaries in which entries are found for this expression, it would appear that the term might be chiefly British. In North America, I think one would be more apt to hear something like 'a sense of style'.]

eagle - noun 2 Golf a score of two strokes under par at a hole

Mr. Midshipman Easy - 1836 novel by Frederick Marryat, a retired Captain in the 19th century Royal Navy. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Marryat himself served with distinction.

il - Italian the

ja - German yes

lightning strike - noun British a strike by workers after little or no warning, especially without official union backing.

Abbreviations, Acronyms and Symbols

AB² - abbreviation [1^st entry] able seaman, noun a rank of sailor in the Royal Navy above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman

E² - abbreviation [1^st entry] East or Eastern: 139 ° E

FA - abbreviation (in the UK) Football Association, a governing body of football [i.e., Association football or soccer] in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man

L³ - symbol the Roman numeral for 50

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.

11a   No acceptance of FA rules being broken (7)

Here FA clearly refers to the Football Association. However, FA is also used in Britain as a abbreviation for Fanny Adams, which is usually preceded by the word "sweet" in expressions such as "He knows sweet Fanny Adams (or sweet FA) about the subject". It takes little imagination to guess what the euphemism Fanny Adams might stand for (but should you not be able to divine it, Oxford will enlighten you.).

10d   Drinks provided for men on board (8)

In Britain, one may enjoy a draught over a game of draughts, while in the U.S., it would be a draft over a game of checkers. In Canada, although we might imbibe a draft, we would probably be more likely to partake of a draught  while playing checkers.

Signing off for today - Falcon