Thursday, January 12, 2012 - DT 26692

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26692
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26692]
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 needed a hand with one or two clues today - and, in hindsight, they do not even appear to rank among the more difficult clues in the puzzle.

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.

7a   Bank policy results in second job (8)

This was my last one in, although I can see no apparent reason why that should be the case. It is certainly not a difficult clue. Strangely, the list of words matching the checking letters which was generated by my WordFinder program did not include the solution. However, when I took another look at the grid, the solution suddenly seem to jump right off the page.

15a   Keep terriers in check (6)

I had a question mark beside this clue regarding the association between "terriers" and TA. In the UK, Terrier^[5] is an informal name for a member of the Territorial Army (TA)^[5], a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

17a   Quickly secure photograph at college (4,2)

In Britain, up^[5] may mean at or to a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge • they were up at Cambridge about the same time.

20a  Baffle scoundrel with dog (8)

A hound^[5] is an informal, dated term for a despicable or contemptible man.

24a   Drive second towards flag (4)

I must admit that I overlooked the motoring theme in this clue. I had thought that there might somehow be a cricket connection, although "drive" would seem to refer to a ball that has been hit by a batsman and "spin" to one delivered by a bowler.

25a   Outlaw group’s Italian (6)

In the UK, "it^[5]" is an informal, dated term for Italian vermouth • he poured a gin and it [a cocktail containing gin and Italian vermouth].

1d   Senior nurse nursing home finds menacing (8)

In a British hospital, a sister^[5] (often Sister) is a senior female nurse, typically in charge of a ward. Gazza gives us a picture of a Sister guaranteed to raise one's heart rate.

This is a variation on a clue that I first encountered in DT 26016 (published in The Daily Telegraph on August 25, 2009 and which appeared in the National Post on December 15, 2009). Here is what I wrote then:

9d Nursing home's senior nurse left (8)

A couple of Briticisms in this clue did me in. In Britain, a senior female nurse is a Sister. While I knew that "home" is IN (as "at home"), I didn't recognize "nursing" as a container indicator. Furthermore, I was working on the mistaken notion that "left" was an instruction to delete some letters. All the British dictionaries provide a definition for nurse along the lines of "to hold carefully or protectively", a sense of the word that I did not find in American dictionaries. My best effort attempt at a solution was MINISTER, on the basis that nurses minister to the needs of their patients (although in North America, one might be more apt to use this word in relation to a member of the clergy than to a nurse). Of course, I learned from Gazza's review that the right solution ironically is SINISTER.

 As you can see, apparently I am learning.

3d   Page one, suggestive of plagiarism (6)

Again, not a difficult clue - but one that I could not seem to find without a gentle push from my electronic assistants.

2d   Skinny person’s tiny daughter (4)

Definitions of weed (in the sense seen here) vary somewhat from one dictionary to another, with Chambers 21st Century Dictionary listing it as "Derogatory a skinny, feeble or ineffectual man"^[2], Collins English Dictionary having it as "Informal a thin or unprepossessing person"^[4], and the Oxford Dictionary of English stating "British informal a contemptibly feeble person"^[5]. As for American dictionaries, the Random House Unabridged Dictionary gives it as "a thin, ungainly person or animal"^[9] and the American Heritage Dictionary does not include this sense of the word^[3].

6d   Iron Lady’s felt hat? (6)

Fe^[5] is the symbol for the chemical element iron. Dora Bryan^[7] (who appears in Gazza's hint) is an English actress appearing on stage, film and television. The nickname "Iron Lady" was given to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher^[7] on the basis of her strict conservative policies, hard line against trade unions and tough rhetoric in opposition to the Soviet Union.

13d   Hear angry talk, then cues for actors (10)

Catchword (in the sense used here) appears in only two of my commonly consulted dictionaries. The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition lists it as "an actor's cue" and the Collins English Dictionary has it as "Theatre an actor's cue to speak or enter"^[4] .

21d   Nothing different — always moving in a single direction (3-3)

Failing to notice the charade that is pointed out by Gazza, I split the clue at the dash - thinking that the two parts were merely meant to be different definitions of the solution. After all, if one is allowed to do "nothing different", then one must do things "one way".

22d   Disturbing experience in river in old Kentish town (6)

Deal^[7] is a town in Kent England, on the English Channel eight miles north-east of Dover.

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