Monday, August 8, 2011 - DT 26551

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26551
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, May 13, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26551]
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
Notes This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page of the Saturday, August 6, 2011 edition of the National Post

Introduction

I did myself no favours by guessing RUNNING WILD at 15a & 16a. According to Wikepedia, there is a German rock band by that name - but they don't seem to be a trio. Once I eventually found the solutions to some of the down clues in the northeast quadrant, the folly of my ways was revealed.

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.

*nob¹ - noun British informal a person of wealth or high social position.

Appearing in Solutions:

Athene (also Athena) - Greek Mythology the patron goddess of Athens, typically allegorized into a personification of wisdom.  Also called Pallas. Roman equivalent Minerva.

*brass - noun 4 British informal money: they wanted to spend their newly acquired brass

country seat - noun British a large country house and estate belonging to an aristocratic family.

lose one's rag - phrase British informal lose one's temper.

musicale - [Collins English Dictionary] noun Music, US and Canadian a party or social evening with a musical programme [shortened from French soirée musicale musical evening]

*paddy² - noun [in singular] British informal a fit of temper: John drove off in a paddy

ringtail - noun 2. Nautical A light sail set abaft and beyong (sic) [beyond] the leech of a boom-and-gaff sail; -- called also ringsail. Ringtail boom Nautical a spar which is rigged on a boom for setting a ringtail.

ringtail - [The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition] noun Nautical [a] a studding-sail set upon the gaff of a fore-and-aft sail. [b] a light sail set abaft and beyond the spanker.

*tin - noun 1 [3^rd entry] British informal, dated money.

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.

15a & 16a   What could be trio behaving in unrestrained fashion (7,4)

The definition is "behaving in unrestrained fashion", for which the solution is RUNNING RIOT. The wordplay is a reverse anagram. In a regular anagram the clue contains a phrase consisting of an anagram indicator plus the fodder on which the indicator operates and the solution to the clue is the result of performing the anagram operation. On the other hand, in a reverse  anagram the clue contains the result of the anagram operation and the solution to the clue is the anagram phrase (indicator plus fodder) that would produce this result. Thus we are to interpret "what could be trio" as telling us that we are looking for something that could produce the result TRIO,  which we are expected to recognize as being an anagram of RIOT - and which might be clued in a regular cryptic crossword clue by the phrase RUNNING RIOT (which is the solution to this clue).

Signing off for today - Falcon