Friday, February 10, 2012 - DT 26718

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26718
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, November 24, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26718]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
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

As you can see from the chart above, my electronic assistants enjoyed a day off today. Therefore, Big Dave's two stars for difficulty seems fair enough. However, I did think that only one star for enjoyment might be a tad harsh though.

Today's Nina

A Nina is a some hidden feature (such as a message) in the solution to a crossword puzzle. In today's puzzle, the letters in the top row of the grid are JKLMNO, or in other words 'J to O' (which, or course sounds like 'J two O'). J₂O^[7] is a still (non-carbonated) soft drink made from fruit juices which is sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was designed to provide an alternative solution for people who were going out to bars and clubs but weren't drinking. The name ‘J₂O’ is a pun on the chemical formula for water, H₂O, chosen due to the drink's 50% fruit juice content.

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.

12a   What minister regularly does, fine sort entertaining queen? (6)

If you were paying attention on Wednesday, you should know that Regina^[4] (Latin for queen, abbreviated as R^[5]) is part of the official title of a queen, now used chiefly in documents, legal proceedings, and inscriptions on coins. It may be used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, or ER, for Queen Elizabeth^[5]) or in the titles of lawsuits, e.g. Regina v. Jones: the Crown versus Jones [which would often be written simply as R. vs Jones].

15a   Send abroad ace having love for European (6)

This is a substitution type clue (indicated by the construction "having ... for ..."). The definition is "send abroad" and the wordplay tells us to start with EXPERT (ace) and put O (love, a score of zero in tennis) in place of E (European), to get EXPORT. As there are two Es in EXPERT, it is left to us to figure out which one to replace.

23a   I get ace pot for cooking dish (7,3)

In Britain, cottage pie^[4] is another name for shepherd's pie.

24a   Small article from Grasse among peripheral items of perfumery (4)

The arrondissement of Grasse^[7] is an arrondissement (district) of France, located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

3d   Free like a poodle? Not initially (6)

In the UK, a person or organization who is overly willing to obey another might be derogatorily referred to as a poodle^[5] • the council is being made a poodle of central government.

5d   By implication, learns nothing in US city? (3,7)

This is a reverse anagram clue. In a normal anagram clue, the clue would contain an anagram indicator and its fodder (the material on which the anagram indicator operates), while the solution contains the anagram result (the outcome of the anagram operation). In a reverse anagram clue, the placement of the pieces is reversed - with the anagram indicator and fodder being located in the solution and the anagram result in the clue. In this clue, the setter uses a question mark and the phrase "by implication" to indicate that this is not a regular cryptic clue. These indicators do not specify the precise nature of the irregularity - that is up to the solver to figure out. In the present example, the definition is "US city". The solution happens to be NEW ORLEANS, but in order to discover that, the solver must recognize that a part of the clue, LEARNS + O (nothing) could be the outcome of an anagram operation in which the anagram indicator and fodder would be 'new' and 'ORLEANS' respectively (and would form the solution to the clue).

Big Dave interprets the clue in a slightly different fashion, which involves inserting the letter O into an anagram of LEARNS (where "in" acts as the containment indicator). I, on the other hand, prefer to see "in" as a link word between the wordplay (on the left) and the definition (on the right). While I certainly wouldn't say that his explanation is wrong, I personally think that mine is a bit neater (but then I would be a bit biased, wouldn't I?).

6d   Perform better than university volunteers in autumnal period (6)

In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

8d   Leave exercise held up in river (6)

The River Dart^[7] is a river in Devon, England which rises high on Dartmoor, and releases to the sea at Dartmouth. Its valley and surrounding area is a place of great natural beauty.

Note: I may be wrong but I suspect that Big Dave may have intended to say "Physical Education" rather than "Physical Exercise" in his hint.

22d   Grim study almost embraced by hardline Conservative (6)

In Britain, to read^[5] means to study (an academic subject) at a university • I’m reading English at Cambridge or (with no object) he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics. In British politics, a dry^[5] is a Conservative politician in favour of strict monetarist policies. The term was particularly in vogue during the 1980s (which, by no coincidence, was the period during which Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the UK). On the other hand, a wet^[5] is a Conservative with liberal tendencies (and someone who would hardly find favour with the Iron Lady).

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)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Signing off for today - Falcon