Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - DT 26727

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26727
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, December 5, 2011
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26727]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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 The National Post has skipped DT 26726 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, December 3, 2011

Introduction

Today we have a fairly gentle offering from Rufus. I managed to find the solutions to all clues, save one, before calling in the electronic reinforcements. However, my overconfidence may have made me a bit careless, as I also had a couple of errors. I gave myself a gentle kick when I found the solution to the lone unsolved clue (18a), as it surely must have been one of the easier clues in the puzzle. I then gave myself a much more vigorous kick when I discovered that I had made a mistake at 9a. However, I was a bit more forgiving of myself in relation to the error at 7d (the solution being, after all, a Briticism).

The appeal of puzzles set by Rufus is that the clues, although rarely very difficult, are still immensely entertaining. It has been pointed out by several commentators - and I believe by Rufus himself - that it is often more difficult to put together a simple (but still entertaining) clue than it is to create a difficult one. Rufus is also renowned for his superb cryptic definitions, such as those found today at 23a and 27a.

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   Certainly not like Thomas (9)

I failed to recognize that the clue was in reference to the Apostle. I had put in DAUNTLESS, thinking that Thomas might be some timid character in Britain.

2d   Drinks and a sandwich (5)

In Britain, a round^[5] may mean (1) a slice of bread • two rounds of toast; or (2) the quantity of sandwiches made from two slices of bread.

7d   One who smashes cars — on the circuit? (7)

In Britain, a breaker^[5] is a person who breaks up disused machinery • those steam engines were now gone to the breaker’s yard. The North American equivalent would be a wrecker^[5] - ironically, a word that also fits the grid, if not the wordplay. However, opting for the latter choice did wreck my performance stats.

17d   He’s been willing to try to set up roster (8)

In Britain, a rota^[5] is a list showing when each of a number of people has to do a particular job • a cleaning rota.

I think that there must be a typo in Libellule's hint which surely should read (with additional annotations in square brackets) "Someone who has made a legally valid will before death [he's been willing] is constructed from TEST (willing to try) and then another word for a register of names or duties [rota] reversed (set up)."

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