Friday, December 23, 2011 - DT 26675

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26675
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26675]
Big Dave's Review Written By Pommers
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
Notes This puzzle appears on the Friday Diversions page in the National Post edition of Friday, December 23, 2011

Introduction

With lots of activities happening over the Christmas period - not to mention house guests - I fell a bit behind on the blog. Therefore this post is appearing more than a tad late.

I did fairly well on it until I arrived in the southwest corner, where I needed to call for assistance from my electronic aids.

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.

9a   Ditch worker for cutting (9)

Although workers in cryptic crossword puzzles may sometimes be straightforward options such as men, hands or crew, they are often ants or bees.

10a   What a warbler might do in source of trout stream? (5)

In his hint, Pommers alludes to Warbler, the nom de plume of one of the setters of the Toughie - another cryptic crossword puzzle that is published in the Daily Telegraph (and one that is, as its name implies, more difficult than the one appearing in the National Post).

21a   In what way is a lemon sweet? (8)

A rather obtuse anagram indicator (in what way) combined with a Briticism (sweet) and a dessert I had never heard of (semolina) made this clue more than a little bit of a challenge. In Britain, one meaning of sweet^[5] is a pudding or dessert. Semolina^[5] is (1) the hard grains left after the milling of flour, used in puddings and in pasta, or (2) a pudding made of semolina. I've never eaten this dessert - and judging by Pommers assessment of it, I haven't missed much.

26a   One dries a tear finally, swallowing anger (5)

In Britain, a frame or stand for airing or drying clothes is known as an airer^[5].

6d   Run over? (5)

In cricket, an extra^[5] is a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited to the batting side rather than to a batsman.

8d   One King George invading American state becomes a headache (8)

The abbreviation for King George is GR^[5] (from Latin Georgius Rex).

14d   Fox exposes rise of public transport vehicle (8)

Although there seems to be nothing particularly noteworthy or difficult about this clue, I did require the services of my trusty electronic assistants.

16d   Key service elevators getting cosmetic alterations (9)

Lift^[5] is the British term for an elevator^[5]. Despite the fact that elevator is a North American term, the setter obviously expects that the term will be well-known in the UK. The word is probably familiar there through American movies and television programs - just as we are acquainted with the British word lift through films and television programmes from Britain.

18d   A way to support bankrupt flyer (7)

I was able to solve this clue only after filling in all the checking letters. The solution is a bird not found in North America.

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)
^[9] - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)

Signing off for today - Falcon