Monday, February 20, 2012 - DT 26725

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26725
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, December 2, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26725]
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
Notes This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page of the National Post edition published on Friday, February 17, 2012

Introduction

I completed this puzzle in several sittings and the interruptions seemed to provided ample time for fruitful cogitation as I was able to find the solutions to all but one clue before calling in my electronic assistants. I guess I've read too many recent newspaper articles on FIFA shenanigans.

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   One of the FIFA bosses, say, in an advantageous position? (5,2,3,4)

I needed some electronic assistance to overcome my firmly held conviction that the solution must surely end with "... ON THE TAKE".

15a   Not all sleep, it seems, in beds (4)

Pit^[5] is British slang for a person’s bed.

25a   Duke has Barnaby as a servant (6)

Barnaby Rudge^[7] is a novel written by Charles Dickens.

28a   Plant producing metalloid element — a thousand laid off (8)

My first thought was that the plant described by Gazza bears no resemblance to any geranium that I have ever encountered. With a little research, I learned that the plant commonly called a geranium^[7] is not a geranium at all, but a pelargonium^[7]. And here I have always thought that if there was one plant in this world that I could properly identify, it would surely be the geranium!

2d   Got very hot over a woman (6)

Gazza illustrates the clue with a picture of Frieda Hughes, daughter of English poet Ted Hughes^[7] and his wife Sylvia Plath^[7]. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death. Hughes and Plath had two children, Frieda Rebecca^[7] (1960) and Nicholas Farrar^[7] (1962). In the summer of 1962 Hughes began an affair with Assia Wevill^[7]. Under a cloud of his affair, Hughes and Plath separated in the autumn of 1962 and she set up life in a new flat with the children. Beset by depression, and with a history of suicide attempts, Plath took her own life on 11 February 1963 by asphyxiation from a gas stove. On 25 March 1969, six years after Plath's suicide, Assia Wevill committed suicide in the same way. Wevill also killed her child, Alexandra Tatiana Elise (nicknamed Shura), the four-year-old daughter of Hughes.

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