Friday, March 9, 2012 - DT 26742

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26742
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, December 22, 2011
Setter Ray T
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26742]
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

This is unmistakeably a Ray T puzzle - but one of his less challenging ones.

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.

11a   Advance over in push for glory (9)

Found on cricket scorecards, O^[5] is the abbreviation for over^[5], a division of play in cricket consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

12a   Element of Japanese comics seen abroad (9)

Manga^[5] is a Japanese genre of cartoons and comic books, having a science-fiction or fantasy theme and sometimes including violent or sexually explicit material. [origin: Japanese, from man 'indiscriminate' + ga 'picture']

16a   Caribou were predominant here, reportedly (8)

The wordplay is sounds like (reportedly) REIGNED (were predominant) HERE (explicit in the clue). Of course, the homophone effect is definitely enhanced when pronounced in a Cockney accent "reigned 'ere".

20a   Fiddle with gong for the audience (6)

Gong^[5] is an informal British term for a medal or award.

4d   Painter maybe hurried to get sanded (6)

RA^[5] is the abbreviation for Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

6d   Old lady eager to be seen in buff (7)

Nan^[5] is an informal British term for one’s grandmother. Nankeen^[5] is a yellowish cotton cloth and (as an archaism) the yellowish-buff colour of nankeen.

17d   Legacy of Queen in beat generation (8)

Here is Ray T's trademark reference to his favourite band. By tradition, British monarchs use initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus Queen Elizabeth's initials are ER^[5] - from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

22d   Mates before midpoint of chess contest (6)

I was well aware that mate^[5] is an informal British term (1) for a friend or companion • my best mate Steve or (2) used as a friendly form of address between men or boys • ‘See you then, mate.’ However, I did not know that oppo is also an informal British term for a colleague or friend • an old oppo of mine [origin: abbreviation of opposite number]. Nevertheless, I was able to work it out from the definition and checking letters and then confirm it by looking it up in the dictionary.

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