Thursday, December 29, 2011 - DT 26680

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26680
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26680]
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 █ - 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

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   Initially arranged a wager with dodgy caliph outside (10)

There are two equally valid ways to parse this clue. One might interpret it as {A + BET} contained in (with ... outside) an anagram (dodgy) of CALIPH. On the other hand, it could also be A + {BET contained in (with ... outside) an anagram (dodgy) of CALIPH}.

9a   Master game and finally steal queen (5)

The game we are looking for is rugby union (RU)^[5] and ER^[5] (standing for Elizabetha Regina) is the royal monogram of Queen Elizabeth.

15a   Told fibs about American university being restrictive (7)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)^[7] is a well-known university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

21a   An example is a type of lorry by the French (7)

In Britain, artic^[5] is an informal term for an articulated lorry (truck).

30a   Risks coming with us to capture Royal Engineers (10)

The Royal Engineers (RE)^[5] is the field engineering and construction corps of the British army.

1d   Area surrounding river is outstanding (4)

I needed a gentle nudge from my electronic assistants in order to find the solution to this clue. I had originally considered AIRS, being A (area) + {IS containing (surrounding) R (river)}. While the wordplay seems a bit convoluted, I find that this type of inverted construction is actually seen quite frequently. However, this attempt at a solution failed to satisfy the definition - thus prompting a search for an alternative.

8d   Ladies’ skills? (10)

In Britain, a women’s public toilet might be referred to as the Ladies^[5]

21d   Break down changing lane, say (7)

Reader's with a predilection for American spelling should keep in mind that this is a British puzzle.

23d   Softly pulling up dead part of flower (5)

In music, the notation p (piano)^[5] means soft or softly.

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