Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - DT 26613

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26613
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, July 25, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26613]
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 26612 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, July 23, 2011.

Introduction

Today's puzzle was like a stroll in a lovely park - not too demanding but, nevertheless, a very pleasant way to spend some time. At 18a, I did have to pull out the dictionary to confirm the placement of the vowels in the British sausage. Furthermore, the musical term at 22a was also new to me, though it was quite readily decipherable from the wordplay.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle.

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.

I'm sure virtually everyone knows that the pound (or pound sterling) [25a] is the basic monetary unit of the UK. The symbol for the pound is £ and the abbreviation is l. (a lower case letter L with a period). According to the Oxford Dictionary of English this latter usage is archaic.

Appearing in Solutions:

Eire [12a] is the Gaelic name for Ireland and was the official name of the Republic of Ireland from 1937 to 1949.

The National Union of Students (NUS) [14a] is Britain’s confederation of students’ unions whose membership comprises some 600 students’ unions accounting for more than 95 per cent of all higher and further education unions in the UK - representing the interests of more than seven million students.

A saveloy is a British foodstuff - a seasoned red pork sausage, dried and smoked and sold ready to eat.

Students of music will no doubt recognize a descant [22a] as an independent treble melody sung or played above a basic melody. Those of us who are musically challenged likely found the clue a bit more difficult.

Un [30a] is a French indefinite article, equivalent to the English "a" (clued as "a French").

"Red sky at night, shepherd's warning" [9d] is a bit of British weather lore.

In North America, we would say:

Red sky at night, sailor's delight,

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

However, in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the saying goes thus:

Red sky at night, shepherd's delight,

Red sky in morning, shepherd's warning.

Trenchermen [15d] are persons who enjoy food, in other words hearty eaters.

Signing off for today - Falcon