Thursday, November 17, 2011 - DT 26640

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26640
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, August 25, 2011
Setter Petitjean (unconfirmed)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26640]
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

I was on the road for a good part of the day, and only had a chance to start the puzzle late in the day. I dabbled with it between doing other things but did not get very far. The following day (Friday), after completing that day's puzzle and posting my blog dealing with it, I once again picked up Thursday's puzzle. Strangely, what had seemed so difficult the evening before, suddenly began to fall into place quite readily. It was even more surprising - and quite gratifying - to see Big Dave rate this puzzle as ***/**** for difficulty with the comment that a few of the clues "are probably too convoluted for a regular daily puzzle". It just goes to prove the efficacy of Crypticsue's often repeated prescription of a good dose of cogitation.

I did think that a few of the clues had a bit of an American flavour.

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.

18a   Prepared to leave Chevrolet’s last station wagon (7)

In North America, this vehicle is known as a station wagon,^[5] but in the UK it is called an estate (or estate car).^[5]

21a   Killer dance finale changed following ban (5,5)

The mambo^[5] is a Latin American dance similar in rhythm to the rumba.The black mamba^[5] is a highly venomous slender olive-brown to dark grey snake that moves with great speed and agility. Native to eastern and southern Africa, it is the largest poisonous snake on the continent.

28a   Cleavage between Wales and the West Country? (7,7)

I knew I was not seeing the full picture here, as confirmed by Gazza's amply illustrated hint. The Bristol Channel^[5] is a wide inlet of the Atlantic Ocean between South Wales and the south-western peninsula of England (also known as the West Country^[5]), narrowing into the estuary of the River Severn. In the UK, bristols^[2] (or especially a pair of bristols) is slang for female breasts. The expression comes from Cockney rhyming slang Bristol city for titty. [Note: In the derivation of a replacement word in Cockney rhyming slang, one starts with a phrase that rhymes with the word for which a replacement is sought (in this case, the phrase Bristol city rhymes with titty). Then one drops the rhyming word from the phrase (i.e., drop city), leaving us with bristol meaning titty.] It is fairly easy to see (especially with Gazza's pictorial) how the setter might arrive at "bristol channel" as a cryptic description for cleavage.

Oops! The picture seems to have discombobulated me (see Gazza's comment below). Actually, in the process of blogging two puzzles on the same day, I appear to have gotten confused about which one I was working on. Of course, this picture was so typically Gazza, perhaps I may be excused for the error.

5d   Knock down student in brawl over 4′s workplace (6,4)

The cryptic crossword convention of L being a stand-in for student comes from the L-plate^[7] which British student drivers must display on their vehicles.

8d   George Martin’s so-called ‘amendment’ supported by Ringo for one (3,5,6)

The Fifth Amendment^[7] (Amendment V) to the United States Constitution (often referred to as simply 'the Fifth', as in "taking the Fifth"), which is part of the United States Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Although it has a number of other provisions, the one for which it is likely best known is that "No person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself".

Sir George Martin^[7] is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums.

15d   Discussion about problem student going off with antique found in bedroom (10)

The student from 5d does an encore.

26d   Vehicle in backyard (4)

The word backyard^[5] has a different meaning in Britain than it does in North America. What North Americans call a backyard, the Brits would refer to as a back garden. In the UK, a backyard would be a piece of uncultivated ground adjoining the back of a building, typically one enclosed by walls or other buildings (see yard^[5]).

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 (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6] - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7] - Wikipedia
^[8] - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)

Signing off for today - Falcon