Wednesday, July 6, 2011 - DT 26524

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26524
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26524]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gnomethang
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

Today's puzzle - with its heavy dose of British expressions - is surely a bit more challenging on this side of the Atlantic than it would have been for the Brits. I managed to work out a couple of obscure terms (1a and 18d) from the wordplay. However, there were quite a large number of words - most of which were Briticisms, with some even being archaic Briticisms - that caused me to seek assistance from my trusty Tool Chest.

The clue at 14d almost made me suspect that this puzzle was set by Ray T. However, if it had been one of his, I am sure that the (apparently) vulgar term (wedding tackle) would have appeared as the solution and not in the clue.

Finally, I spent far too much time trying to decipher the wordplay for 17a - totally missing the reversed hidden word (even though I had got the correct solution based solely on the definition and checking letters).

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.

century - noun 2 a score of a hundred in a sporting event, especially a batsman's score of a hundred runs in cricket.

*henry - (abbreviation: H) noun Physics the SI unit of inductance, equal to an electromotive force of one volt in a closed circuit with a uniform rate of change of current of one ampere per second

tackle - noun 1 [a] the equipment required for a task or sport: fishing tackle [b] (also wedding tackle) British vulgar slang a man's genitals.

top flight - noun (the top flight) the highest rank or level.

Appearing in Solutions:

bairn - noun chiefly Scottish & Northern English a child.

doublet - noun 2 a man's short close-fitting padded jacket, commonly worn from the 14th to the 17th century.

dutch - noun (usually one's old dutch) British informal (especially among cockneys) one's wife.[Origin:
(late 19th century) abbreviation of duchess]

Dutch barn - noun British a farm building with a curved roof set over a steel, timber, or concrete frame without walls, used for storing hay.

Everton Football Club - an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool which competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football.

introit - noun a psalm or antiphon sung or said while the priest approaches the altar for the Eucharist.

landgrave - noun [1^st entry] historical a count having jurisdiction over a territory.

lurcher - noun 1 British a cross-bred dog , typically a retriever, collie, or sheepdog crossed with a greyhound, of a kind originally used for hunting and by poachers for catching rabbits.

New Forest - an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire.

O² - symbol the chemical element oxygen.

R² - abbreviation [4th entry] Regina [Queen] or Rex [King]: Elizabeth R

real ale - noun British cask-conditioned beer that is served traditionally, without additional gas pressure.

ton¹ - noun 4 British informal a hundred, in particular a speed of 100 mph, a score of 100 or more , or a sum of £100: he scored 102 not out , his third ton of the tour

W³ - abbreviation 2 Welsh.

wonga - noun British informal money: you want to earn a lot more wonga

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.

27a   What's found in tatty old garment? (7)

The definition is "old garment" for which the solution is DOUBLET (a man's short close-fitting padded jacket, commonly worn from the 14th to the 17th century). Gnomethang points out that "what's found in taTTy" is TT or DOUBLE-T. I missed this, observing instead that TT forms a DOUBLET (a pair of similar things).

5d   Henry has information about oxygen and iodine, perhaps (7)

As pointed out by Gnomethang in his comment, my observation regarding his review of this clue turns out to be totally incorrect. I will let it remain solely to show what prompted the exchange of comments below - and as a lesson to myself to be a bit less careless in future.

In his review, Gnomethang gives no indication that henry is the SI unit of inductance. In fact, he seems to imply (by capitalizing Henry) that the H is merely the initial letter of the proper name Henry (rather than the scientific symbol for the henry). Henry has a capital in the clue because the setter has contrived to place the word at the beginning of the sentence. I speak from experience, having made exactly this same misinterpretation in one of my early reviews - a misstep for which I was roundly taken to task by a knowledgeable reader.

Signing off for today - Falcon