Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - DT 26626

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26626
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26626]
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 █ - 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 found the clues, for the most part, to be pretty easy. In fact, I would say that some of them were almost amateurish or mechanical. However, for the life of me I could not decipher 16d without help from my Tool Chest.

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   Imposing, most of place where the US Masters golf is played (6)

The Masters Tournament⁷, also known as The Masters (sometimes referred to as The U.S. Masters outside of the United States), is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Unlike the other major championships, the Masters is held each year at the same location, Augusta National Golf Club, a private golf club in the city of Augusta, Georgia, USA.

4a   One holding a sword, blackleg confronting poet (8)

Blackleg⁵ is a derogatory British term for a person who continues working when fellow workers are on strike.

24a   TV programme, extremely childish — so what’s new? (4,4)

The sort of TV programme that is called a talk show in North America would be known as a chat show in the UK.

26a   Parisian’s article in newspaper is classic (8)

The Times⁷ is a British daily national newspaper, which - together with its sister paper The Sunday Times - is published by a subsidiary of the News Corporation group, headed by Rupert Murdoch.

5d   Wren, perhaps, and others chirp away (11)

Sir Christopher Wren⁷ (1632 – 1723) is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. His greatest achievement is generally considered to be St. Paul's Cathedral, completed in 1710.

8d   Set off from college in time (8)

Eton College⁵ is a boys' public school (private school under North American definitions) in southern England, on the River Thames opposite Windsor, founded in 1440 by Henry VI to prepare scholars for King’s College, Cambridge.

12d   Irish train soon loaded with emergency supplies of food (4,7)

Iron rations² (which would appear to be a British term) means small quantities of food with a high energy value, carried for emergencies by climbers, walkers, military personnel, etc.

18d   Soldier, in consequence, left umbrella (7)

In the UK, para is an informal short form for paratrooper.

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