Wednesday, October 19, 2011 - DT 26614

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26614
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26614]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
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 very nearly needed to call on my Tool Chest for help on 5a, but I noticed the solution hiding in the clue at the very last moment. This oriental language is not a word that is in my regular vocabulary, nor is the synonym for agreement at 7d. However, I expect I must have encountered both of them at sometime or other in the past. I certainly had never heard of the West Sussex town at 15a but was able to work the name out correctly based on the wordplay. Finally, the use of "nervous" as an anagram indicator at 22a is a new one to me.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

5a   Manchu is the Tungusic language of the Manchus, still spoken by a few thousand people in Xinjiang, a region in northwest China, though most Manchus now speak Chinese. The Manchus are a people, originally living in Manchuria, who formed the last imperial dynasty of China (1644–1912).

12a   Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953) was an American dramatist who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his first full-length play, Beyond the Horizon (1920). Other notable works include The Iceman Cometh (1946) and Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956, posthumously).

15a   East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England.

18a   Father Ted is a comedy series set in Ireland that was aired by British broadcaster Channel 4 from 1995 until 1998. Set on the remote fictional Craggy Island off Ireland's west coast, the show was about the titular Father Ted Crilly and two other priests who had all been exiled on the island for various past incidents. The priests live together in the Parochial House (Irish Catholic name for a clergy residence) with their housekeeper Mrs. Doyle.

23a   A satrap is a provincial governor in the ancient Persian empire.

26a   Sir Alan Ayckbourn (b.1939) is an English dramatist known chiefly for comedies dealing with suburban and middle-class life, such as Relatively Speaking (1967) and Absurd Person Singular (1973).

1d   Hanover was the British royal house from 1714 to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.

4d   Clubs (abbreviation C) are one of the four suits in a deck of cards.

7d   A concordat is an agreement or treaty, especially one between the Vatican and a secular government relating to matters of mutual interest. Concord is the state capital of New Hampshire.

19d   In cryptic crosswords, worker is often a clue for ant (or sometimes bee).

20d   Une is the feminine form of the French pronoun meaning one. One meaning of describe is to move in a way which follows the outline of (an imaginary geometrical figure). Thus one might say that a compass describes a circle. In cryptic crossword puzzles, saying that one word describes another means that the first word surrounds the second one (i.e., the first word is a container for the second).

Signing off for today - Falcon