Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - DT 26704

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26704
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26704]
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

Although Gazza awards this puzzle 3 stars for difficulty, I would say (based on my performance) that it would rank at the lower end of the 3 range.

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   Casual tuna Niçoise salad with no end of mayonnaise (10)

Niçois (feminine Niçoise)^[5] means, as a noun, a native or inhabitant of the city of Nice (a city in France) and, as an adjective, relating to Nice or its inhabitants. A salade niçoise^[5] is a salad typically including tuna, black olives, hard-boiled eggs, and tomatoes.

6a   ‘Wrack’ is Emerson, Lake and Palmer touching rock bottom (4)

Wrack^[5] is any of a number of coarse brown seaweeds which grow on the shoreline, frequently each kind forming a distinct band in relation to high- and low-water marks. Many have air bladders for buoyancy. [Genera Fucus, Ascophyllum, and Pelvetia, class Phaeophyceae]

10a   Gold coin in circulation (5)

Bit is used here according to its British definition, not its North American meaning. In British usage (and, according to the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, an old use), bit^[2] (in compounds) means a coin, especially a small coin • threepenny bit. In North America, bit is used to mean an amount of 12½ cents (used only in multiples of two, two-bits, four bits, six bits - meaning a quarter, a half, and three-quarters of a dollar respectively).

11a   Rail about peers turning out criminal (9)

Technically, a dado^[5] is the lower part of the wall of a room, below about waist height, when decorated differently from the upper part. However, dado^[5] is also used as a shortened version of dado rail^[5], a decorative waist-high moulding round the wall of a room, which also protects the wall from damage. A dado rail^[7], which is also called a chair rail (the name by which I know it), is traditionally part of a dado but is also sometimes applied to a wall without the full dado treatment.

12a   Loud organ gets a little frightening (8)

In musical notation, the direction for loud is forte (f)^[5].

13a   Always available for panto performance (2,3)

Panto^[5] is short for pantomime^[5], a British theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas.

15a   Silly me sing badly? By gum, that’s got about (7)

Muggins^[5] is an informal British expression meaning a foolish and gullible person (often used humorously to refer to oneself) • muggins has volunteered to do the catering.

17a   Transport service following in sudden movement (7)

The reference by Gazza to "one of our armed services" is, of course, to the Royal Air Force (RAF)^[5].

21a   Commotion involving amateur sailors ordered about in hurricane (7)

I guess to the Brits tornado and hurricane are just two names for a violent storm (but then, they probably don't experience these weather events). North Americans would consider them to be quite different phenomena. This seems a bit like saying that a Lamborghini is a Porsche because they both happen to be cars.

The clue also includes a reference to another of the British armed services, the Royal Navy (RN)^[5].

29a   ‘Repast’ is regularly ‘nosh’ (4)

In Britain, nosh^[5] is an informal term for food • filling the freezer with all kinds of nosh. Apparently in North American nosh can be used as a noun to mean a snack or small item of food, although I must say I am only familiar with the word as a verb (meaning to eat food enthusiastically or greedily).

30a   The orchids flourish in a part of London (10)

Shoreditch^[7] is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross. [Charing Cross^[7] is considered to be the centre of London and sections of the city are frequently described in terms of their location relative to this landmark (which actually no longer exists).]

Although I solved this clue, it was really achieved through a guess constrained by the checking letters.

3d   Absolute lunatic losing head (5)

Nutter^[5] is British slang for a mad or eccentric person.

9d   Carefree broadcasting under leadership of Digital European Bureau (8)

The Digital European Bureau seems to be the convenient invention of the setter.

14d   Note that is about 40% of Mancunians consuming fortified wine (10)

A Mancunian^[5] is a native or inhabitant of Manchester. As an adjective, the term means relating to Manchester.

18d   Pulse of unfinished Follett novel capturing era (9)

This is yet another case where I merely tried to place the left-over letters in the most likely pattern possible amongst the checking letters.

21d   Appropriate time to wake up — right? (7)

Trouser^[5] is a British slang synonym for pocket, meaning to receive or take (something, especially money) for oneself.

23d   Naïve beginner appearing in sketch is poor (5)

In British slang, skint^[5] is an adjective that would be used to describe a person having little or no money available • I’m a bit skint just now.

26d   Could be goat starts to meander over the heath (4)

The goat moth^[5] (Cossus cossus)  is a large greyish moth, the caterpillar of which bores into wood and has a goat-like smell.

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[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