Tuesday, August 9, 2011 - DT 26553

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26553
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, May 16, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26553]
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 26552 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, May 14, 2011

Introduction

I thought that this puzzle was a bit more difficult than the usual fare from Rufus, as I needed a fair amount of assistance from my electronic aids today. Libellule also seems to have considered it to be "A little trickier than normal?" - however, apparently not tricky enough to warrant three stars for difficulty. My mistake occurred at 25d.

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.

blackleg - noun 1 British derogatory a person who continues working when fellow workers are on strike.

Estella Havisham (best known in literature simply as Estella) - a significant character in Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations.

flag³ - noun 1 (also flagstone) a large flat stone for paving.

Appearing in Solutions:

back - noun 3 a player in a team game who plays in a defensive position behind the forwards.

ben¹ - noun Scottish (especially in place names) a high mountain or mountain peak: Ben Nevis

[St] Benedict - (circa 480 - circa 550), Italian hermit. He established a monastery at Monte Cassino and his Regula Monachorum (known as the Rule of St Benedict) formed the basis of Western monasticism.

*con⁴ - archaic study attentively or learn by heart (a piece of writing): the girls conned their pages with a great show of industry

cotoneaster - noun a small-leaved shrub of the rose family, cultivated as a hedging plant or for its bright red berries which often remain on the plant throughout the winter. [Genus Cotoneaster, family Rosaceae]

in - adjective 4 [predicative] Cricket batting: which side is in?

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

Pip - the protagonist of Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. Throughout the novel, he romantically pursues Estella (Havisham).

pipit - noun a mainly ground-dwelling songbird of open country, typically having brown streaky plumage. [Family Motacillidae: three genera, in particular Anthus, and many species, e.g. the meadow pipit]

side - noun 9 (also sidespin) horizontal spinning motion given to a ball. chiefly British spin given to the cue ball in snooker and billiards by hitting it on one side.

SP - abbreviation starting price.

sweep - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 7. short for sweepstake (especially US, sweepstakes), noun 1. a.  a lottery in which the stakes of the participants constitute the prize b.  the prize itself.  2. any event involving a lottery, especially a horse race in which the prize is the competitors' stakes. Often shortened to sweep.

treat - verb 5 [no object] negotiate terms with someone, especially an opponent: propagandists claimed that he was treating with the enemy

*U³ - adjective British informal (of language or social behaviour) characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes: U manners.

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.

2d   Observed to rise, without many shortcomings (5)

The definition is "shortcomings" for which the solution is NEEDS. The wordplay is SEEN (observed) reversed (to rise, in a down clue) around (without) D (many). Here "without" means 'outside of' rather than 'lacking'. "Many" and similar terms (such as 'a large number') are sometimes used to clue a large Roman numeral - including L (fifty), C (one hundred), D (five hundred, and M (one thousand).

25d   Odds on batting side (4)

I got my sports confused today, leading to a mistake here. I had UPON as my solution, where "batting" = UP (in baseball) and "side" = ON (in cricket). As for the definition, I had no suitable explanation. The correct solution is SPIN, where "odds" = SP (starting price) and "batting" = IN (in cricket). The definition is "side" witch is a billiards term.

Signing off for today - Falcon