Friday, February 24, 2012 - DT 26730

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26730
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, December 8, 2011
Setter Petitjean (possibly)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26730]
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
Notes   Although the identity of the setter has not been confirmed, Big Dave tentatively identifies the puzzle as being "probably from Petitjean".

Introduction

I had sensed that the recent sequence of easy puzzles that we have seen was surely setting us up for a more difficult challenge - and today we get it.

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   Like wheat from the West Country? (7)

The West Country^[3,4] is the southwestern part of England, especially Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. Cornish^[5] means relating to Cornwall or its people or language.

8a   Room for a mule maybe, but not to swing a cat! (7)

No (or not) room to swing a cat^[5] is a humorous way to describe a very confined space • there’s not even room to swing a cat!. [Note: I suspect that cat lovers might consider 'barbaric' to be a more fitting descriptor than 'humorous'; if so, please direct any comments to Oxford!]

10a   Ray the first to savour superior Friday treat? (4,6)

According to Chambers 21st Century Dictionary (although I didn't find it in The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition), a fish supper is a Scottish term for fish and chips^[5], a meal consisting of a fillet of fish deep-fried in batter, served with potato chips [french fries], and traditionally bought ready cooked at a fish and chip shop or chip shop. However, Wikipedia states "In Northern Ireland, cod, plaice or whiting appear most commonly in 'fish suppers' - 'supper' being Northern Irish chip-shop slang for a food item accompanied by chips"^[7].

14a   Leaders of Brighton’s unsung Rossetti League all produce canvas (6)

Brighton^[7] is a well-known seaside resort in Sussex, England. I could find no evidence of the existence of a Rossetti League in the real world, thus it may be an invention of the setter.

19a   Some of CAMRA’s ideas rejected and put out of action (6)

While the Rossetti League may be fictional, CAMRA is certainly real enough. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)^[7] is an independent voluntary consumer organisation based in St Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub. It is now the largest single-issue consumer group in the UK.

Real ale^[7] is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1973 for a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide". The heart of the definition is the maturation requirements. If the beer is unfiltered, unpasteurised and still active on the yeast, it is a real beer; it is irrelevant whether the container is a cask or a bottle. If the yeast is still alive and still conditioning the beer, it is "real".

22a   …that might be Irish dressing? (4)

County Mayo^[7] is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht.

23a   Unusual bile upset a withdrawn Surrealist film-maker (4,6)

Luis Buñuel^[7] (1900 – 1983) was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the United States and whose films were famous for their surreal imagery.

25a   Proposal to surround hotel with a variable formation of soldiers (7)

Hotel^[5] is a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication.

26a   Rustically simple window trim put back after DIY botch-up (7)

In Britain, cill^[4] is a variant spelling (used in the building industry) for sill.

1d   Small amount of 1960s teen music is pointless and discordant (7)

In Britain (especially in the early 1960s), a mod^[5] was a young person of a subculture characterized by a smart stylish appearance, the riding of motor scooters, and a liking for soul music.

2d   Island race? Hardly (4)

Chiefly found in Scottish place names, inch^[5] means a small island or a small area of high land.

4d   Revolutionary cubist adopting different basis for what a look of innocence can be (8)

Ernesto "Che" Guevaro^[7] (1928 – 1967), commonly known as El Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist who was a major figure of the Cuban Revolution

5d   Sore head gets compassion (10)

Usually found in place names, ness^[5] means a headland or promontory • Orford Ness.

6d   Glum character with Homeric expression declaimed poem (7)

The Glums^[7] was a regular sketch featured on Take It From Here^[7], a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1948 and 1960. The premise of The Glums was the long engagement between Ron Glum and his long-term fiancée Eth. As a result of post-war austerity, long engagements were common in 1950s Britain.

9d   Caribbean paella? (7,4)

The Spanish Main^[3,4] is a historical term that referred to either (1) the mainland of Spanish America, especially the north coast of South America from the Isthmus of Panama to the mouth of the Orinoco River, Venezuela or (2) the Caribbean Sea, the southern part of which in colonial times was the route of Spanish treasure galleons and the haunt of pirates. Paella^[5] is a Spanish [main course] dish of rice, saffron, chicken, seafood, etc., cooked and served in a large shallow pan. For those who are not regular followers of Big Dave's blog, Pommers regularly contributes reviews to the site on Wednesday. He and his wife, known on the blog as Pommette, reside in Spain.

13d   Floating melody in tavern song left echo (10)

A barcarolle^[5] is a song traditionally sung by Venetian gondoliers. Echo^[5] is a code word representing the letter E, used in radio communication.

17d   The cause of angler’s foot being in unusual pain on hot afternoon? (7)

According to The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition, a is the abbreviation for afternoon - together with some twenty other possibilities.

18d   Fourth and fifth from Lionel Messi with late positional change for deadly rival (7)

Lionel Messi^[7] is an Argentine footballer [soccer player] who plays in La Liga for FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team, mainly as a forward.

24d   New university students amounting to nothing (4)

The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate^[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various countries (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.

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