Friday, October 21, 2011 - DT 26616

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26616
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, July 28, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26616]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
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

I got off to a slow start, but progress picked up once the grid starting filling in. The last clue to be solved was 7a. I thought at first that the bird I was looking for would likely be a mascot of the Hull Football Club. This proved to be a false lead, although I did discover that Hull FC is a rugby league club from Hull, England that is nicknamed the Airlie Birds (the stadium in which they play being located on Airlie Street). It was only after I had twigged to the solution based on the checking letters that I recalled having encountered Rod Hull and Emu in a previous puzzle. The meaning appearing here for emulate was also unfamiliar to me. I think emulate has lost much of its original meaning and come to mean simply copy.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

1a   Rod Hull (1935 – 1999) was a popular entertainer on British television in the 1970s and 1980s who rarely appeared without Emu, a mute, highly aggressive arm-length puppet of the flightless emu bird. Apparently, the full meaning of emulate is to match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically by imitation (not merely copy).

2a   Enid Blyton (1897 – 1968) was an English children's writer. Among her best known works is The Famous Five series of books (mentioned by Big Dave in his review). In the real world, however, she did not write a novel titled In Particular.

3a   The Old Kent Road is a road in South East London, England and forms part of Watling Street, the Roman road which ran from Dover to Holyhead. The street is famous as the equal cheapest property on the London Monopoly board and as the only one in South London. Being located in East London, it presumably runs through an area inhabited by Cockneys - who are noted for dropping their h'aitches.

14a   Cum, meaning 'combined with' or 'also used as', is used to describe things with a dual nature or function (for example, a study-cum-bedroom). Cum is Latin for with and is found in expressions such as summa cum laude (with the highest distinction).

19a   The French phrase quelque part means somewhere.

2d   Miles Davis (1926 – 1991) was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. In the early 1950s, Davis developed a new form of jazz that became known as cool jazz (the name derives from an album, Birth of the Cool, that Davis released in 1956). However, the style did not prove to be a commercial success - at least for Davis. According to Wikipedia, "[t]his was bitterly noted by Davis, who claimed the invention of the cool style and resented the success that was later enjoyed—in large part because of the media's attention—by white "cool jazz" musicians ([Gerry] Mulligan and Dave Brubeck in particular)."

9d   David Triesman, Baron Triesman is a former Chairman of the Football Association ( the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man), a British politician, a Labour member of the House of Lords and previously a minister in the Labour government under Tony Blair.

13d   Où is the French word for where.

17d   Brussels is the capital of Belgium and hosts the headquarters of the European Union (EU). Brussels is frequently used as a synonym for the EU, in the same way that London, Washington and Ottawa are used to mean the governments of the UK, US and Canada respectively. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88" was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll.

21d   Captain Fantastic was a regular feature of the British children's television series Do Not Adjust Your Set from 1967 to 1968, appearing as a filmed insert between the videotaped sketches. Do Not Adjust Your Set was, in many respects, a precursor to Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Signing off for today - Falcon