Monday, June 20, 2011 - DT 26511

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26511
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, March 28, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26511]
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
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26510 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, March 26, 2011

Introduction

Time is at a premium these days. After what has been - for the most part - a cold, wet spring in Ottawa, we have been enjoying glorious summer-like weather for the past couple of weeks. Between traveling to a family get-together, working in the yard (garden to the Brits), and spending time at the golf course and the lake, there has been scarce time to devote to puzzles and the blog. I now have nearly a full week of partially completed puzzles awaiting my attention.

I found today's puzzle to be quite a challenge - and I had to take full advantage of my electronic tools to solve it. A couple of missteps contributed significantly to my difficulty. I had put 'DO ANY AND ALL' at 1a, then changed it to 'DO ALL AND ANY' to accommodate 3d. I was eventually to discover (prior to resorting to my electronic assistants) that this was also incorrect. It took longer to discover my other error (at 8d) where I entered DOWNFALL which I only realized only after having called my electronic assistants into action. I needed Gazza's explanation for the wordplay at 9a, as I failed to see past the cricket imagery.

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.

Bow - an area of London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a built-up, mostly residential district located 4.6 miles (7.4 km) east of Charing Cross, and is a part of the East End.

bowl² - verb 2 [1^st entry] [with object] Cricket (of a bowler) propel (the ball) with a straight arm towards the batsman, typically in such a way that the ball bounces once: Lillee bowled another bouncer; [no object] Sobers bowled to Willis

maiden over - noun 2 (also maiden) Cricket an over in which no runs are scored.

over - noun Cricket a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

mundane - adjective 2 of this earthly world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one.

snick - verb [with object] 1 [a] cut a small notch or incision in (something): the stem can be carefully snicked to allow the bud to swell [b] Cricket deflect (the ball) slightly with the edge of the bat; deflect a ball delivered by (a bowler) in this way. noun 1 [a] a small notch or cut: he had several shaving snicks [b] Cricket a slight deflection of the ball by the bat.

wicket - noun 1 Cricket [a] each of the sets of three stumps with two bails across the top at either end of the pitch , defended by a batsman. [b] the prepared strip of ground between these two sets of stumps. [c] the dismissal of a batsman; each of ten dismissals regarded as marking a division of a side's innings: Darlington won by four wickets

Appearing in Solutions:

[David] Cameron - the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party.

CR - abbreviation King Charles (Charles Rex)

do¹ - verb 5 [4^th entry] British informal swindle: a thousand pounds for one set of photos — Jacqui had been done

*MB - abbreviation Bachelor of Medicine [from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus], the professional degree held by medical practitioners in Britain [equivalent to a North American MD (Medical Doctor, from Latin Medicinae Doctor]

scenic railway - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 1. a miniature railway used for amusement in a park, zoo, etc. 2. a roller coaster

Note: Oxford Dictionaries Online (Oxford Dictionary of English) and Search Collins (Collins 21st Century Dictionary) each list only the former of these definitions.

Sten [gun] - noun a type of lightweight British sub-machine gun.

*U³ - adjective British informal (of language or social behaviour) characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes: U manners. [consequently posh]

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.

9a   One may bowl a maiden over, or get a wicket (4,5)

Having failed to see past the cricket imagery, I needed Gazza's explanation to understand the wordplay here. On the surface the clue indicates that a cricket player may bowl an over in which no runs are scored (bowl a maiden over) or may dismiss a batsman (get a wicket). In the cryptic reading, the first part of the clue has nothing to do with cricket. Rather it indicates that we are looking for a term that would be someone who might very favourably impress a young lady. The second part of the clue tells us that this term must also mean to dismiss a batsman. One way to dismiss a batsman is to catch a ball hit by the batsman. Thus a GOOD CATCH satisfies both definitions.

13a   Subject matter about right for a mundane circle (6)

The wordplay is TOPIC (subject matter) containing (about) R (right) to give TROPIC. I believe the setter stretches the meaning of "mundane" (in the sense 'of this earthly world') such that "mundane circle" means a circle on the earth, namely tropic, 'the parallel of latitude 23 ° 26ʹ north ( tropic of Cancer ) or south ( tropic of Capricorn ) of the equator'.

Signing off for today - Falcon