Thursday, March 1, 2012 - DT 26735

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26735
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26735]
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

Today we have a puzzle from Jay that leans slightly toward the less difficult end of the scale. It is one that I reviewed for Big Dave's Crossword Blog when it first appeared in The Daily Telegraph in December.

About The National Post Cryptic Crossword and This Blog

For the benefit of visitors who are new to this site, it may be timely to provide some background about the site as well as the cryptic crossword puzzles appearing in the National Post.

On weekdays, the National Post publishes a puzzle syndicated by The Daily Telegraph in the UK (although it is not identified as such). Currently, the puzzles appear in the National Post roughly nine weeks after their original appearance in The Daily Telegraph – and one day later than the day of the week on which they appeared in the UK. For some time, it has been the practice of the National Post to skip puzzles which were printed in Saturday editions of The Daily Telegraph.

On Saturday, the National Post publishes a puzzle created by American setters Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon. These puzzles would appear to be created specifically for the National Post and often have a timely – as well as distinctly Canadian – theme.

In my blog, I provide a link to the review of weekday puzzles at Big Dave's Crossword Blog (a British blog that reviews the puzzles when they first appear in the UK) as well as a few key facts about each puzzle (the puzzle number and date that it was published in The Daily Telegraph, the name of the setter, and the name of the reviewer at Big Dave's Crossword Blog – as well as the ratings for difficulty and enjoyment that they bestowed on the puzzle). I also include a bar graph to show how well I fared with the puzzle.

About once a month I review a puzzle for Big Dave's blog. Since I have already seen those puzzles when they appear in the National Post, I do not show a performance graph for them (or, rather, show only a solid green bar). Other than the specific puzzles that I review for Big Dave's site, it is my practice to avoid looking at either the puzzles or their reviews until they are published in the National Post.

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.

16a   Carpet made from skin by head of class (5)

In Britain, carpet^[5] is an informal term meaning to reprimand severely • the Chancellor of the Exchequer carpeted the bank bosses.

17a   One shoots beer drinkers drinking last of ale (6)

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".

21a   Ship carrying white wine causes a sensation (6)

In Britain, hock^[5] is a dry white wine from the German Rhineland.

24a   England manager with girl — one man who’s a control freak! (8)

Sven-Göran Eriksson^[7] is a Swedish football [soccer] manager who managed the national team of England from 2001-2006..

5d   Right deal includes a good supplier of clobber (3,5)

In Britain, clobber^[5] is an informal term for clothing, personal belongings, or equipment • I found all his clobber in the locker.

14d   Flat section in area — people start tipping (9)

The word apartment^[5] has a somewhat different meaning in the UK than it does in North America. What we think of as an apartment, the Brits would call a flat. In Britain, only a certain specific type of flat would be called an apartment - typically one that is well appointed or used for holidays (thus, seemingly, an upscale flat). In the plural, the term apartments refers to a set of private rooms in a very large house.

15d   Where one may get off scot-free? (3,5)

Scot^[5] is an archaic term meaning a payment corresponding to a modern tax, rate, or other assessed contribution.

19d   Pair, say, up in pain (6)

In this clue, "pair" needs to be interpreted as a verb in the cryptic reading.

20d   Bug? (6)

In Britain, earwig^[5] (used as a verb) means to eavesdrop on a conversation • he looked behind him to see if anyone was earwigging.

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