Friday, June 3, 2011 - DT 26497

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26497
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, March 11, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26497]
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

Today the puzzle was solved during several sessions spread over the day. I eventually managed to reduce it to  a lone unsolved clue (10d). While I quickly determined - with the help of my Tool Chest - that there seemed to be only a single possibility that fit the checking letters, it took a considerable period of wracking my brain to see the wordplay. I always find these substitution type clues to be difficult to figure out.

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.

agony aunt (or agony uncle) - noun British informal a person who answers letters in an agony column.

agony column - noun British informal a column in a newspaper or magazine offering advice on personal problems to readers who write in; dated a personal column.

Appearing in Solutions:

Au - symbol the chemical element gold.

bot. - abbreviation [2^nd entry] bottle

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

des [de + les] - French some

mall - noun 2 a public promenade, especially one that is broad and tree-lined.

Marne - a river of east central France, which rises in the Langres plateau north of Dijon and flows 525 km (328 miles) north and west to join the Seine near Paris. Its valley was the scene of two important battles in the First World War. The first battle (September 1914) halted and repelled the German advance on Paris; the second (July 1918) ended the final German offensive.

*RE - abbreviation (in the UK) Royal Engineers, the field engineering and construction corps of the British army

Signing off for today - Falcon