Tuesday, July 5, 2011 - DT 26523

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26523
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, April 11, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26523]
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 26522 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, April 9, 2011

Introduction

It seems that I must have fried a few brain cells by being out in the midday sun (trying to emulate an Englishman - or a mad dog), as I needed to peek at Libellule's hints to solve a couple of clues (29a and 26d). I felt a bit sheepish when I saw that he had rated the difficulty level of the puzzle as merely two stars. Furthermore, I felt more than a bit silly when I realized what the solutions were - especially since I had the first two words of 29a correct. My problem stemmed - in part - from mistakenly thinking that "state" must refer to a US state, rather than a nation state.

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.

beater - noun 1 a person who hits someone or something, in particular: [1^st entry] a person employed to raise game birds for shooting by striking at the ground cover.

Appearing in Solutions:

kit¹ - noun 2 British the clothing used for an activity such as a sport: a football kit

*L² - abbreviation [5^th entry] British (on a motor vehicle) learner driver.

*lo - exclamation archaic used to draw attention to an interesting or amazing event: and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them

meet² - adjective archaic suitable or proper: it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour

mete¹ - verb [with object] (mete something out) [a] dispense or allot justice, a punishment, or harsh treatment: he denounced the maltreatment meted out to minorities [b] (in biblical use) measure out: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again

moorhen - noun 1 a small aquatic rail with mainly blackish plumage. Family Rallidae: two genera and four species, in particular the widespread common moorhen or common gallinule (Gallinula chloropus), with a red and yellow bill. 2 British a female red grouse.

*pi² - adjective British informal short for pious.

pull someone up - phrase [2^nd entry] British reprimand someone.

*RA - abbreviation [3^rd entry] (in the UK) Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy

Royal Academy of the Arts (also Royal Academy) - an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose was to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

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.

12a   Lower forms of French newspapers (7)

I struggled for some time to figure out the role of "forms" in this clue. Eventually, I realized that it serves as a link word between the definition ("lower") and the wordplay ("of French newspapers"). Essentially, the sense of the clue is 'DEPRESS (lower) produces (forms) DE (of French) + PRESS (newspapers)' when split (2,5).

19d   In fact, graduates are devalued (7)

Even with Libellules explanation, the wordplay in this clue does not really resonate for me. The definition is "devalued" for which the solution is DEBASED - which I got correctly. However, the wordplay is BAS (graduates; i.e., Bachelors of Arts or BAs) contained in (in) DEED (fact). It is the link between deed and fact that perplexes me.

In his hint, Libellule alludes to a deed being a signed legal document. Oxford Dictionaries Online (Oxford Dictionary of English) gives one meaning of fact as 'chiefly Law the truth about events as opposed to interpretation'. Therefore, is a deed to be considered a fact (not open to interpretation) merely because it is signed. It seems to me that many court cases are fought over conflicting interpretations of signed documents. Perhaps Libellule intended this reference to a a signed legal document as merely a hint rather than an implication that 'deed' (in this sense) is synonymous with 'fact'.

Perhaps the answer lies in a definition from Search Chambers (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary) which says that fact may mean 'truth or reality, as distinct from mere statement or belief'. Thus a deed (something someone has done) would seem to be a fact (as opposed to a "mere statement of belief").

I find it difficult to embrace a clue if I have to jump through this many hoops to justify the wordplay.

Signing off for today - Falcon