Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - DT 26685

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26685
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, October 17, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26685]
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
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26684 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, October 15, 2011

Introduction

I had difficulty with the northeast corner today, and needed substantial assistance from my electronic helpers in that area of 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.

10a   Salesman’s untruthful answers (7)

In the surface reading, the 's is used to form the possessive form of salesman. However, in the cryptic reading, it is interpreted as is with the wordplay being REP (salesman) + LIES (is untruthful).

13a   Salary increased to get out of debt (3,2)

Note that, in his review, Libellule speaks of a "a rise in your salary". In Britain, an increase in pay is known as a rise^[5], whereas, in North America, it is called a raise^[5].

17a   Pardon sailor’s love affair (7)

In the Royal Navy, able seaman (abbreviation AB)^[5]. is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

26a   Toiletry any local chemist may supply initially (4)

In the UK, a pharmacist - or, for that matter, a pharmacy - is known as a chemist^[5].

31a   Master pleaded for change of ship (6,7)

A paddle steamer^[5] is a boat powered by steam and propelled by paddle wheels. In North America, such a vessel would most likely be called a paddle-wheeler.

2d   Clamp down on work force (7)

Initially, I had entered REPRESS here. Not only could I not justify the wordplay - it made 1a very difficult to solve.

6d   Man in jug? (4)

British Toby Jug

American Whiskey Jug

Characterised by the Oxford Dictionary of English as being chiefly a British term, a Toby jug^[5] is a beer jug or mug in the form of a stout old man wearing a three-cornered hat. Note that a jug^[5] in Britain would be a small pitcher^[5] rather than a US style jug with a narrow mouth and stopper or cap (like those traditionally used to hold whiskey). In Canada, we use the word jug to describe containers of either type.

16d   They are used for cheating and lying (5)

The Oxford Dictionary of English characterises the word crib^[5], meaning a child’s bed, as being chiefly a North American term - the usual British name being cot^[5].

27d   Common complaint of many of advanced years (4)

Here we encounter a cryptic crossword convention where the word "many" is used to indicated a large (but not specified) Roman numeral. It can be any of L (fifty), C (one hundred), D (five hundred) or M (one thousand). Other expressions, such as the phrase "a large number", may also be used in this way.

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