Thursday, February 16, 2012 - DT 26723

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26723
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26723]
Big Dave's Review Written By Falcon
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

I quickly recognized today's puzzle as being one that I had reviewed on Big Dave's Crossword Blog when it originally appeared in the UK. Then again, given the the rather memorable theme, it would be hard not to recognize it. The puzzle was published in the Daily Telegraph on Saint Andrew's Day, the national day of Scotland.

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    Cross when back legs start to get weary (7)

In heraldry, a saltire^[5] is a diagonal cross (i.e., one in the shape of an X). The cross of Saint Andrew^[7] is a saltire, as is the flag of Scotland.

8a   Order new titles with hope at first (7)

The thistle is the national flower of Scotland. The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle^[7] is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The patron saint of the Order is Saint Andrew.

12a   Instruments played by smoker wearing trousers? (8)

Bags^[5] is a dated British name for loose-fitting trousers • a pair of flannel bags.

15a   Andrew perhaps is not partisan in dispute (6,5)

Not only is Saint Andrew^[7] the patron saint of the Order of the Thistle, he is also the patron saint of Scotland.

19a   Burns food for 20? (6)

The numeral "20" is a cross reference to the solution for clue 20a. Having made the substitution, we see that the clue is "Burns food for SCOTLAND", a cryptic definition for HAGGIS.

Robert Burns^[7] (1759 – 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard) was a Scottish poet and a lyricist who is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland.

The haggis^[7] is a traditional Scottish dish, considered the national dish of Scotland as a result of Robert Burns' poem Address to a Haggis of 1787. Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: Swedish turnip and potato, boiled and mashed separately) and a "dram" (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky), especially as the main course of a Burns supper^[7].

20a   Bed left in smooth state once (8)

My hint at Big Dave's site might be a bit confusing to North Americans. In the UK, a cot^[5] may be either a a small bed with high barred sides for a baby or very young child (called a crib^[5] in North America) or a plain narrow bed (as I am familiar with the use of the word in Canada).

Word History: People might assume that there is nothing particularly exotic about the history of the word cot. However, cot is a good example of how some words borrowed from other cultures become so firmly naturalized over time that they lose their émigré flavor. The British first encountered the object denoted by cot, a light frame strung with tapes or rope, in India, where their trading stations had been established as early as 1612. The word cot, first recorded in English in 1634, comes from the Hindi name for the contrivance. During subsequent years, cot has been used to denote other types of beds, including in British usage a crib. - American Heritage Dictionary^[3]

22a   Food like this has a good filling (4)

Sago^[5] is an edible starch which is obtained primarily from the sago palm [Metroxylon sagu, family Palmae] as well as from any of a number of other palms or cycads. The pith inside the trunk is scraped out, washed, and dried to produce a flour or processed to produce the granular sago (sago 'pearls') used in the West. Sago pudding (which may also be called simply sago) is a sweet dish [i.e., dessert] made from sago and milk. While I am personally not familiar with sago, I am certainly well acquainted with tapioca which is apparently very similar.

2d   Mix the ingredients for porridge (4)

According to The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition, porridge^[1] is British slang meaning a jail or a jail sentence, especially in the phrase do porridge meaning to serve a jail sentence. This is the only source in which I found the word could mean "jail". The online editions of Chambers 21st Century Dictionary^[2], Collins English Dictionary^[4,10] , and the Oxford Dictionary of English^[5] all show the word as meaning only a 'jail sentence'.

6d   Former police station is the cause of all evil (3,4)

Nick^[5] is yet another British slang term for either a prison (he’ll end up in the nick for the rest of his life) or police station (he was being fingerprinted in the nick).

13d   Where children might enjoy quiet wager on good game of golf? (10)

Piano (abbreviation p)^[5] is a direction used in music to mean either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

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