Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - DT 26571

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26571
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, June 6, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26571]
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 26570 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, June 4, 2011

Introduction

My Tool Chest got only a gentle workout today. I needed its help to find the synonym for reconnoitred  used in the wordplay at 8d as well as the London horse riding ground at 3d.

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.

*cave² - exclamation British school slang, dated look out! [Origin: Latin, imperative of cavere 'beware']

fragile footing - probable reference to "feet of clay" (from Daniel 2:31-32 in the Bible).

stall - noun 3 a fixed seat in the choir or chancel of a church, enclosed at the back and sides and often canopied, typically reserved for a particular member of the clergy.

Appearing in Solutions:

allotment - noun 1 [1^st entry] British a plot of land rented by an individual for growing vegetables or flowers.

*CH - abbreviation  [1^st entry] (in the UK) Companion of Honour.

Rotten Row - a broad track running along the south side of Hyde Park in London, leading from Hyde Park Corner to the Serpentine Road. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Rotten Row was a fashionable place for upper-class Londoners to be seen. Today it is maintained as a place to ride horses in the centre of London, but it is little used.

*tyre - noun automotive U.K. spelling of  tire³

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.

18d   I entered dream-home - in Spain suitably enough (7)

The definition is "in Spain (suitably enough)" and indicates that the solution is the name of a place in Spain. The wordplay is I contained in (entered) CASTLE (dream-home) which produces CASTILE. The "suitably enough" portion of the clue is a reference to the expression 'castle in Spain' (usually seen as part of the phrase 'building castles in Spain') meaning to daydream (an equivalent expression being 'building castles in the air'). An article on "Castles in Spain" has this to say:

Nowadays, ‘castles in Spain’ means something splendid but non-existent. “Fashionable adventurers in France used to impose on the credulous and get money and social advantages out of them by telling tales of their ‘castles in Spain’, which, needless to say, they did not possess,” is the explanation of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

The expression appears to have entered the English language from French where the expression is "bâtir Châteaux en Espagne".

Signing off for today - Falcon