Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - DT 26559

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26559
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, May 23, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26559]
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 26558 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, May 21, 2011

Introduction

I definitely found this puzzle from Rufus to be a notch or two above his usual fare on the difficulty scale. I needed copious amounts of help from my electronic assistants in the southwest quadrant - and even they were not able to crack 17d, forcing me to use Libellule's hint. As I was to discover, I had entered an incorrect solution at 16a, thereby turning the relatively easy clue at 17d into an insurmountable obstacle.

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.

assume - [American Heritage Dictionary] verb 4. To put on; don: The queen assumed a velvet robe.

King Charles [spaniel] - noun a spaniel of a small breed, typically with a white, black, and tan coat.

Cavalier King Charles [spaniel] - another name for Cavalier [spaniel], noun 3 a small spaniel of a breed with a long snout [a breed of dog that resembles, but is a bit larger than, a King Charles spaniel].

many - cryptic crossword convention any large Roman numeral, such as L (fifty), C (one hundred), D (five hundred) and M (one thousand).

shanty - (British also sea shanty; archaic or US chantey or chanty) noun a song with alternating solo and chorus, of a kind originally sung by sailors while performing physical labour together. [Note: Canada, in my experience, follows the British spelling]

Appearing in Solutions:

boot¹ - noun 3 British an enclosed space at the back of a car for carrying luggage or other goods. [North American trunk]

put in the boot - alternative form of put the boot in

• put the boot in (or into) someone - [Oxford Dictionary of English]  [a] kick someone hard when they are on the ground. [b] treat someone vulnerable in a cruel way.
• put the boot in or put in the boot - [The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition] informal to resort to physical or verbal bullying; to bring a situation to an end brutally.

cavy - noun (plural cavies) a South American rodent with a sturdy body and vestigial tail. [Family Caviidae: five genera and several species, in particular the guinea pig]

Dee - 1 a river in NE Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen. 2 a river which rises in North Wales and flows past Chester and on into the Irish Sea.

Dresden² (also Dresden china) - noun porcelain ware with elaborate decoration and delicate colourings, made originally at Dresden and (since 1710) at nearby Meissen.

nick¹ - verb 3 British informal arrest (someone): Stuart and Dan got nicked for burglary

public bar - noun British the more plainly furnished bar in a pub.  Compare with lounge bar

stir² - noun informal prison: I've spent twenty-eight years in stir

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.

16a   He has the best time of anyone (6-6)

I solved this puzzle in numerous sessions spread over a couple of days. While this allows plenty of time for cogitation (as Crypticsue often prescribes), it also produces opportunity for lapses in the thought process. Thus the fact that I had written in a rather sketchy solution here at 16a during an early solving session had largely slipped my mind several sessions later. Consequently, I was totally stymied on 17d.

The solution here is RECORD-HOLDER. However, I had put in SECOND-GRADER, which I was a bit leery about as I suspected that it might not even be a term that is used in Britain. The equivalent British expression would probably be something along the lines of 'a student in the second form'. I made a mental note (big mistake) to check this with the British dictionaries later.

My rationale for this solution was that if the term were read (in a fanciful way, as Rufus often does) as someone who was engaged in grading (rating) seconds (units of time), then they would obviously be able to select the "best time". I realized that this seemed to be a bit of a stretch - but then I have seen clues that I consider to be even more of a stretch!

Signing off for today - Falcon