Friday, May 27, 2011 - DT 26491

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26491
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, March 4, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26491]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
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 █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

After having little work to do so far this week, my Tool Chest received a good workout today. I was therefore somewhat heartened to see that the Brits (for the most part) also found this puzzle to be relatively difficult.

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 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.

Harry [Potter] - an adolescent wizard who is the title character of a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling which chronicles the adventures of Harry and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Nelson [Mandela] - (b.1918), South African statesman, President 1994-9; full name Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 as an activist for the African National Congress (ANC). Released in 1990, as leader of the ANC he engaged in talks on the introduction of majority rule with President F. W. de Klerk, with whom he shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. He became the country's first democratically elected President in 1994.

Soho - an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable transformation. It now is predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues.

spiv - noun British informal a man, typically a flashy dresser, who makes a living by disreputable dealings.

Appearing in Solutions:

alehouse - noun dated an inn or public house.

Anton [Bruckner] - (1824 – 1896), Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets.

bee-eater - noun a brightly coloured insectivorous bird with a large head and a long downcurved bill, typically having long central tail feathers. Family Meropidae: three genera, in particular Merops, and including the European bee-eater (M. apiaster)

Note: Although the numeration in the puzzle indicates that the name of this bird is two words, in the entry cited above from Oxford Dictionaries Online (Oxford Dictionary of English), it is shown as a single hyphenated word, as it is at the TheFreeDictionary.com (in entries from both The American Heritage Dictionary and Collins English Dictionary) as well as in The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition.

[Robert] Burns - (1759–96), Scottish poet, best known for poems such as ‘The Jolly Beggars’ (1786) and ‘Tam o’ Shanter’ (1791), and for old Scottish songs which he collected, including ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Burns Night celebrations are held in Scotland and elsewhere on his birthday, 25 January.

*CE - abbreviation [1^st entry] Church of England

la - definite article (feminine) French the

lepidopteran - noun Entomology [a member of] an order of insects that comprises the butterflies and moths. They have four large scale-covered wings that bear distinctive markings, and larvae that are caterpillars.

*ness - noun [usually in place names] a headland or promontory: Orford Ness

[Loch] Ness - a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 37 km (23 mi) southwest of Inverness. Its surface is 15.8 m (52 ft) above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the Cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, also known as "Nessie".

NT - abbreviation [2^nd entry] New Testament

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

*p³ - [American Heritage Dictionary] abbreviation 1. piano² adverb & adjective Music in a soft or quiet tone (used chiefly as a direction). [or, by extension, gentle]

Robben Island - a small island off the coast of South Africa, near Cape Town. It is the site of the former prison used for the detention of political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela.

Ron [Weasley] - a fictional character and in the Harry Potter book series written by British author J. K. Rowling which chronicles the adventures of adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers - a novel by Henry Williamson relating the experiences of an otter, first published in 1927.

tout¹ - noun 1 (also ticket tout) British a person who buys up tickets for an event to resell them at a profit [North American scalper]; a person soliciting custom or business, typically in a direct or persistent manner. 2 North American a person who offers racing tips for a share of any resulting winnings.

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.

26a   The way we hear Genesis (4)

The definition is "genesis" for which the solution is ROOT, with the wordplay telling us that we are seeking something that sounds like (we hear) ROUTE (the way).

Signing off for today - Falcon