Friday, June 10, 2011 - DT 26503

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26503
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, March 18, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26503]
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

I was a bit unsure about how to score my performance today. I came up with solutions to 1d and 11a but did not feel confident with either one. However, my electronic assistants did not provide any better options. With a bit more thought, I did became more confident with my solution to 11a, but the solution to 1d still seemed a bit questionable in my mind. As I confirmed from Gazza's review, both solutions turned out to be correct.

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.

Hampshire¹ - a county on the coast of southern England; county town, Winchester.

Appearing in Solutions:

decree nisi - noun English Law an order by a court of law stating the date on which a marriage will end unless a good reason not to grant a divorce is produced.

*ER - abbreviation Queen Elizabeth. [from Latin Elizabetha Regina]

Hants - abbreviation Hampshire.

muckle (variant of mickle) - archaic or Scottish & Northern English noun a large amount. adjective very large. determiner & pronoun much ; a large amount. phrase many a little makes a mickle proverb many small amounts accumulate to make a large amount.

Op. (also op.) - abbreviation Music opus (before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication).

Signing off for today - Falcon