Tuesday, May 10, 2011 (DT 26473)

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26473
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, February 11, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26473]
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

Introduction

Despite not needing to call my electronic assistants into action, I still found this puzzle to be fairly challenging. The solution to 1a is a word I had never before seen, but I was able to figure it out from the wordplay. However, I then failed to find the word in several dictionaries. Fortunately, I keep searching and did eventually find it. Another difficult-to-find word was the synonym for pilfer that appears in the solution to 9d.

Finally, at 14a, my first thought was cabbage roll, but I quickly realized that this choice would give me indigestion.

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.

perch³ - noun historical, chiefly British

1. a measure of length, especially for land, equal to a quarter of a chain or 5 ¹/₂ yards (approximately 5.029 m).  Also called pole, rod
2. (also square perch) a measure of area, especially for land, equal to 160th of an acre or 30 ¹/₄ square yards (approximately 25.29 sq. metres). Also called pole, rod, square pole, square rod

see² - noun the place in which a cathedral church stands, identified as the seat of authority of a bishop or archbishop.

Appearing in Solutions:

*(Diocese of) Ely - a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely.

finger - [The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition] verb to pilfer

moulder¹ (US molder) - verb [no object] (often as adjective mouldering) slowly decay or disintegrate, especially because of neglect: the smell of mouldering books; [figurative] I couldn't permit someone of your abilities to moulder away in a backwater

point - noun 10 [a] Cricket a fielding position on the off side near the batsman. [b] a fielder at the point position.

pole¹ - noun 2 historical, chiefly British another term for perch (sense 1); (also square pole) another term for perch (sense 2).

polemise - [The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition] verb to engage in polemics, the practice or art of controversy and debate.

sausage roll - noun British a piece of sausage meat wrapped in pastry and baked.

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   Being controversial male, I celebrate on perch (10)

The definition is "being controversial" for which the solution is POLEMISING. The wordplay is M (male) + I + SING (celebrate) following (on) POLE (perch). Pole and perch are both British names for an old measure of length which might be recognized by some North Americans by its other name, rod. I recall having encountered this measure in a previous puzzle, and thus was able to work out the solution from the wordplay. However, finding the word polemise in a dictionary proved even more difficult than solving the clue.

Note that Gazza has a different explanation of the perch and pole connection.

Signing off for today - Falcon