Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - DT 26541

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26541
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, May 2, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26541]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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 26540 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, April 30, 2011

Introduction

On the first read through, I was not able to solve a single across clue. The down clues proved less obstinate, and once I had established a foothold, the solutions began to fall into place. I did myself no favour by putting EMIGRES at 29a, making the southwest quadrant impossible until I discovered my error. I also had a hard time seeing that "look" in 3d is not evoking SEE. Furthermore, the Greek nymph at 20d is one with whom I was not familiar, and the party at 16d is known in North America as a dietary supplement to reduce flatulence.

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 Solutions:

beano - noun British informal a party.

Calypso - a nymph in Greek mythology, who lived on the island of Ogygia, and who is remembered most for her role in Homer's Odyssey, in which she keeps the fabled Greek hero Odysseus [Ulysses] on her island so she could make him her immortal husband. According to Homer, Calypso kept Odysseus hostage at Ogygia for seven years.

slur - noun 3 Music a curved line used to show that a group of two or more notes are to be sung to one syllable or played or sung legato.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

26a   A slight mark on the music (4)

Without giving a full explanation, Libellule indicates that the solution (SLUR) to the clue relates to a printing term meaning 'to blur or smear' and a music term meaning 'to glide over a series of notes smoothly without a break'. Try as I might, I cannot parse the clue to incorporate these elements (verbs). If one were to use the nounal equivalents of these verbs, I suppose one might consider the clue to be a semi & lit. (all-in-one) clue where the entire clue would be a definition of a musical slur ('a curved line used to show that a group of two or more notes are to be sung to one syllable or played or sung legato') and "a slight mark" might refer to a printing slur ("a blur or smear"). However, I don't like this explanation very much.

Like a few who commented at Big Dave's site, I saw this clue a bit differently - as a double definition. According to this line of thought, one definition would be "a slight" (meaning 'an insult caused by a failure to show someone proper respect or attention') which is akin to a slur ('an insinuation or allegation about someone that is likely to insult them or damage their reputation') in that both could be insults (although somewhat different in nature). The second definition would be "mark on the music" which would use slur as a the musical term (as above).

Signing off for today - Falcon