Friday, February 17, 2012 - DT 26724

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26724
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, December 1, 2011
Setter Ray T
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26724]
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

Although this puzzle is not nearly as difficult – or as risqué – as Ray T can sometimes be, it nevertheless has the tell-tale reference to Queen and a few clues with mildly suggestive wordings. Based on the speed with which I raced through this puzzle, I was more than a bit surprised to find that it had been awarded three stars for difficulty by Big Dave.

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.

9a   Old rubbish assumed by socialist is spun (7)

Tat^[5] is an informal British expression meaning tasteless or shoddy clothes, jewellery, or ornaments • the place was decorated with all manner of gaudy tat.

11a   Former scheme providing skill after time off (7)

Restart^[7] was a programme in the United Kingdom for people who were long-term unemployed. The aim was to encourage them to find work. Although I had never heard of it before, the wordplay was certainly pretty obvious.

14a   Hardy girl, least upset inside, getting vulgar (9)

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented^[7], also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by English novelist Thomas Hardy^[7], first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic. It is Hardy's penultimate novel, followed by Jude the Obscure. Though now considered an important work of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardy's day.

26a   Spies and creates commotion facing public toilet (6,6)

The Gents^[5] is a [chiefly] British way to refer to a men’s public toilet.

1d   Birds can be bitches! (7)

... and so can typos. I am sure that Big Dave intended to say "unfortunately these birds are the same in the plural as they are in the singular ...". That is, a single bird is a grouse and several birds are still grouse (similar to deer and sheep, where the singular and plural are the same). Perhaps if one were referring to several birds from different genera of grouse, one could refer to them as grouses. This would be similar to the practice with fish, where two trout would be referred to as fish but a trout and a salmon could be called fishes.

3d   Observer magazine (9)

In the UK (in the online version of the puzzle, at least), the clue had single quotation marks around Observer (‘Observor’ magazine). The surface reading is no doubt intended to make us think of The Observer^[7], the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, which is a sister paper to the daily The Guardian^[7] and takes a similar liberal or social democratic line on most issues. The Spectator^[7] is a conservative-leaning weekly British magazine owned by the same people who own The Daily Telegraph^[7].

This clue is virtually a mirror image of one which appeared in DT 26638 (which was published in The Daily Telegraph on August 23, 2011 and appeared in the National Post on November 15, 2011):

• 14a   Spectator, or Sunday newspaper? (8)

about which I wrote:

In the UK, the clue had single quotation marks around Spectator (‘Spectator’, or Sunday newspaper?). The surface reading is no doubt intended to make us think of The Spectator^[7], a conservative-leaning weekly British magazine owned by the same people who own The Daily Telegraph^[7]. The Observer^[7], the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, is a sister paper to the daily The Guardian^[7], and takes a similar liberal or social democratic line on most issues.

5d   Military no-go area? On the contrary! (7)

For me, this was the last clue to be solved and I could not help but chuckle when the solution finally came to me - especially considering where I happened to be sitting at the time!

6d   Somebody generous accepting thanks (7)

In the UK, ta^[5] is an informal manner to say thank you • ‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully.

7d   Queen in arena, diva’s perhaps showing range (6,6)

Sierra Nevada^[7] is a Spanish phrase meaning "snow-covered mountain range". For Big Dave, it was the Spanish range^[7] that came to mind, whereas I thought of the US range^[7]. There is also a range by that name in Mexico^[7], as well as similarly named ranges in Columbia^[7], Venezuela^[7] and on the border between Chile and Argentina^[7].

19d   Final performance, almost, for film star (7)

Gloria Swanson^[7] (1899 – 1983) was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era. In 1929, Swanson successfully transitioned to talkies with The Trespasser. However, personal problems and changing tastes saw her popularity wane during the 1930s when she moved into theater and television. Today she is best known for her role as Norma Desmond, a faded silent film star, in the critically acclaimed film Sunset Boulevard (1950).

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