Wednesday, April 13, 2011 (DT 26451)

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26451
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, January 17, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26451]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26450 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, January 15, 2011

Introduction

I solved today's puzzle in two sittings. On the first, I was able to complete the bottom half, but made very little headway in the top half. However, when I picked up the puzzle a bit later, the solutions to one or two of the missing clues came to me - and then the rest quickly followed.

My Tool Chest gained a new addition today, as a brand new copy of the big red book (Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition) was delivered to my door. I will now be able to authoritatively proclaim "It's in Chambers!" However, I was a bit disappointed to find that today's puzzle did not provide much of a call to utilise my new tool.

Today's Glossary

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

[An asterisk beside an entry merely indicates that it has been taken it from a Cumulative Glossary of entries which have previously appeared, in either this blog or its companion blog, the Ottawa Citizen Cryptic Crossword Forum.]

Appearing in Solutions:

*con⁴ - archaic study attentively or learn by heart (a piece of writing): the girls conned their pages with a great show of industry

*don¹ - noun 1 British a university teacher, especially a senior member of a college at Oxford or Cambridge

wind (someone) up - phrasal verb 1 British informal tease or irritate someone: she's only winding me up

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.

18a   Bob indicates a more direct route (8)

As Libellule points out, "Chambers has [the solution] as two words (5,3)" - a fact I was able to confirm in my new copy of the "bible". However, Oxford does have it as a single word (8) as shown in the clue.

21a   Fast sailing ships take the wool crops (8)

Is wool a "crop"? Well, certainly not in the sense that wheat is - but perhaps in the sense 'an abundance of something, especially a person's hair: he had a thick crop of wiry hair' [Oxford Dictionaries Online, crop noun 1, 3^rd entry].

26a   Hastily made and hoisted a flag (3,2)

The solution, RAN UP, for some reason did not resonate with me, so I wondered if it might be a British expression. However, it would seem not as it is to be found in an American dictionary "to sew rapidly: She ran up some curtains." [Random House Unabridged Dictionary, run verb transitive 69. run up. a.]

Signing off for today - Falcon