Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - DT 26512

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26512
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26512]
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

Despite having completed the puzzle, I didn't get around to preparing the review on Tuesday as it was my turn to write the review on Big Dave's blog for the puzzle that appeared in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday. Like many of the Brits, I initially had the wrong cricket position at 5d. While I eventually realized the error, it did markedly prolong my solving time.

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.

Alvin Stardust (born Bernard William Jewry) - English pop singer and stage actor.

The Dandy Annual - current name of a book that has been published in the U.K. every year since 1938, to tie in with the British children's comic The Dandy.

[Rod] Hull - (1935 – 1999), a popular entertainer on British television in the 1970s and 1980s. He rarely appeared without Emu, a mute, highly aggressive arm-length puppet of the flightless emu bird.

Appearing in Solutions:

b - abbreviation [3^rd entry] Cricket (on scorecards) bowled by: AC Hudson b Prasad 146

c - symbol Physics the speed of light in a vacuum: E = mc²

Emu - a puppet emu that frequently appeared with British television entertainer Rod Hull (1935 – 1999). While on stage, the character had a mischievous persona and often attacked the celebrity guests for comic effect.

fine leg - noun Cricket [a] a fielding position behind the batsman on the leg side, between long leg and square leg. [b] a fielder at fine leg.

greatcoat - noun a long heavy overcoat.

lour (also lower) - verb look angry or sullen; scowl: the lofty statue lours at patients in the infirmary noun a scowl.

onze - French eleven

Taffy - noun British informal, often offensive a Welshman.

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.

3d   Pre-tax report on royal purveyor (6)

In his review, Gazza had a change of heart concerning the wordplay in this clue. The definition is "purveyor" which - in this case - happens to be a GROCER. It is a homophone clue in which something sounds like (report) GROSS (pre-tax). The something may be GROC or GROCE. Initially, Gazza had opted for the former, making the wordplay GROC + ER (royal; Elizabeth Regina). However, prompted by a comment from a reader, he subsequently changed his choice to the latter, making he wordplay GROCE + R (Rex [king] or Regina [queen]).

6d   Vivid constant scowl adopted by foul drink (9)

This is not the first time that I have seen "constant" used to denote the symbol c (the speed of light in a vacuum) - and also not the first time that the wording of the clue would seem to imply that the setter is unaware that this is not the only constant that exists in the fields of science and mathematics.

Signing off for today - Falcon