Friday, October 28, 2011 - DT 26622

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26622
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, August 4, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26622]
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 █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

Upon solving 12d, I thought that this puzzle might have been created by RayT. However, Big Dave does not identify it as such and awards it only two stars for enjoyment (which would be abnormally low for a RayT puzzle). So I guess we have to assume that it is another effort by one of the mystery setters.

Today, there is a great deal of discussion on Big Dave's site regarding the rating given to puzzles. A good many writers seem to feel that the level of difficulty should be higher. Well, I would say that this puzzle was not a piece of cake for me - but, then, it was liberally sprinkled with Briticisms. Even when I have encountered them before, they do not necessarily pop quickly to mind. Sometimes they gradually rise to the surface, often only entering my consciousness on the fourth, fifth or sixth time I revisit the clue.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

1a    Jaunt in the direction of old city (4)

This "old city" has become a cryptic crossword convention. Ur⁵ was an ancient Sumerian city on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium bc, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium bc .

9a    British island shortly joined by a state abroad (4)

The Isle of Wight (IOW)⁵ is an island off the south coast of England, a county since 1974; population 131,700 (est. 2009); administrative centre, Newport. It lies at the entrance to Southampton Water and is separated from the mainland by the Solent and Spithead.

13a    Source of proclamations restraining very large crook (7)

Outsize (OS)⁷ is a designation used in the UK for what, in North America, would be called 'plus size' (ladies') or 'big and tall' (men's) clothing.

14a    Worker defending short aim before religious type, we hear, in game (4,3,4)

I failed to completely decipher the wordplay here, missing the fact that "defending" serves here as a containment indicator (presumably used in the sense of sheltering or protecting).

18a    Plant produced by sweetheart with varied luck in Home Counties (11)

The "Home Counties" are located around London in the SE of England.

21a    Elder maybe brought round a backward province cadet (7)

Northern Ireland (NI) is a province in the UK.

22a    Mythical horseman transmitted dread reportedly? (7)

This is a homophone (sounds like) clue that is based on the idiosyncrasies of British pronunciation. The expression 'sent awe' (transmitted dread) would be pronounced (in parts of Britain, at least) to sound like CENTAUR.

5d    Note last part of inquiry getting short-tempered (9)

In British music notation, a crotchet⁵ is a note having the time value of a quarter of a semibreve or half a minim, represented by a large solid dot with a plain stem.  Also called a quarter note.

6d    British woman with rock bun that’s littered battle site (11)

The Battle of Bannockburn⁵ was a battle which took place near Stirling in central Scotland in 1314, in which the English army of Edward II, advancing to break the siege of Stirling Castle, was defeated by the Scots under Robert the Bruce.

17d    Republican First Lady holds bible classes for Amnesty (8)

"Bible classes" here equates to 'religious instruction' (RI). Wikipedia, in an article on Religious education,  says "in England the term religious instruction would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with religious education referring to teaching about religions in general". In a second article, this one on Religious Education (note the subtle difference in capitalization of the titles of the two articles), Wikipedia states "Religious Education (RE) is a compulsory subject in the state education system in the United Kingdom. Schools are required to teach a programme of religious studies according to local and national guidelines.".

References: 
¹ - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
² - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
³ - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
⁴ - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
⁵ - Oxford Dictionaries Online (Oxford Dictionary of English)
⁶ - Oxford Dictionaries Online (Oxford American Dictionary)
⁷ - Wikipedia

Signing off for today - Falcon