Monday, March 14, 2011 (DT 26424)

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26424
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26424]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog

Introduction

I dipped into the Tool Chest with three clues left to solve. My electronic aids definitely helped in finding a solution to two of those clues, but ended up not being needed for the third as I was able to work out the solution on my own. However, for purposes of the chart above, I do record the number of clues left to solve at the point I resort to using the Tool Chest (rather than the number of clues for which the tools actually play a part in producing a solution).

The clues on which I stumbled were 19a, 1d and 8d. Missing 19a is understandable, given that the solution is hitherto unknown-to-me British real estate lingo. The solution to 1d came to me before I could apply my tools to it. As for 8d, while I correctly identified this as a containment-type clue, I was mistakenly looking for some sort of medical procedure as the container. However, with some help from my electronic aids, I was to discover that what we are seeking is literally a "medical application". Even here, I was thinking in terms of the version that Oxford deems to be "dated", rather than the modern British version.

To top things off, I discovered my guess of bread tin at 18a to be incorrect, the proper British expression being bread bin. In North America, it would be called a breadbox.

Today's Glossary

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

[Items marked with an asterisk are from a Cumulative Glossary of entries appearing, since the beginning of this year, in either this blog or its companion blog, the Ottawa Citizen Cryptic Crossword Forum.]

Appearing in Clues:

Meanings listed in this section may reflect how the word is used in the surface reading of the clue. Of course, that meaning may be contributing to the misdirection that the setter is attempting to create.

charlie - noun 4 a code word representing the letter C, used in radio communication

Appearing in Solutions:

back - noun 3 a player in a team game who plays in a defensive position behind the forwards

This definition is likely quite applicable to games such as soccer, rugby and field hockey which are characterised by continuous action. It does not work so well for American and Canadian football, episodic sports in which the action is discontinuous, and in which separate offensive and defensive units take the field depending on which team has possession of the ball. In these games, both the offensive and defensive units will include backs - with the role of the backs on the offensive unit being primarily offence. In hockey (or ice hockey as it is generally known outside North America), a different nomenclature is used, with the players who fulfill a primarily defensive role being called defencemen, rather than backs.

bread bin - noun British a container for keeping bread in [known in North America as a breadbox]

des res - noun British informal a desirable residence (used as a humorous allusion to the language used in housing advertisements)

*or² - noun gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture

plaster - noun 2 (also sticking plaster) British an adhesive strip of material for covering cuts and wounds.

• dated a bandage on which a poultice or liniment is spread for application.  See mustard plaster

In North America, what the British call a plaster would properly be called an adhesive strip or adhesive bandage. However, most people would simply refer to it as a band-aid, a trademark for one such product that - likely much to the consternation of its owner - has become a de facto generic term.

Signing off for today - Falcon