Friday, July 8, 2011 - DT 26526

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26526
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, April 14, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26526]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
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

This puzzle seemed to have a split personality. I solved the bottom half quite readily with no assistance, but was able to solve almost none of the top before breaking open my Tool Chest.

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.

sarnie - noun British informal a sandwich.

Hercule Poirot - a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie.

Tom Sharpe - English satirical author, best known for his Wilt series of novels.

Appearing in Solutions:

batty¹ - adjective informal, chiefly British mad; insane: you'll drive me batty!

*c - abbreviation Cricket (on scorecards) caught by: ME Waugh c Lara b Walsh 19

Ely - a cathedral city in the fenland of Cambridgeshire, eastern England, on the River Ouse; population 15,600 (est. 2009).

M² - abbreviation 3 Master.

State Enrolled Nurse (abbreviation SEN) - noun (in the UK) a nurse enrolled on a state register and having a qualification lower than that of a State Registered Nurse.

Presumably this official designation may sometimes be informally shortened to simply Enrolled Nurse.

ta - exclamation British informal thank you.

TT - abbreviation [3^rd entry] Tourist Trophy, a motorcycle-racing competition held annually on roads in the Isle of Man since 1907.

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   Keep silent about toboggan? On the contrary, one takes it on holiday (7)

I might have solved this clue sooner if I had remembered that the British term for a sled of almost any description seems to be toboggan. Thus a luge is a toboggan, a bobsled is a toboggan - but they don't appear to have real toboggans.

3d   Strain to keep holding last bit of lucre (5)

I made a strenuous attempt to make sieve fit here - but that turned out to be the wrong kind of strain.

5d   Crazy corner in motor race? Just the opposite? (5)

Here corner is used in the sense of "a location or area, especially one regarded as secluded or remote" and is used to clue bay which is used to mean a secluded place such as "a space created by a window line projecting outwards from a wall" or "a section of wall between two buttresses or columns, especially in the nave of a church". The motor race in question is the ubiquitous TT, or Tourist Trophy, motorcycle race held annually on the Isle of Man. Rather than insert BAY (corner) in TT (motor race), you do "just the opposite" (insert TT in BAY) to get BATTY (a not-entirely British expression meaning "crazy").

Signing off for today - Falcon