Wednesday, March 3, 2012 - DT 26740

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26740
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26740]
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

Introduction

The puzzle today was not overly difficult, although I didn't find it to be quite the walk in the park that Gazza's review might suggest. Not only were there a few new (or long forgotten) Briticisms to contend with, my brain may not have been operating at peak efficiency as I had been up until the wee hours composing today's blog for Big Dave's site.

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   French PM and MP installing a decorative object in the House? (4,4)

Pierre Laval^[7] (1883 – 1945) was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France's Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government, signing orders permitting the deportation of foreign Jews from French soil to the death camps. After Liberation (1945), he was arrested, found guilty of high treason, and executed by firing squad.

23a   Cavalry force of yore — many lost (8)

In England, the yeomanry^[5] historically was a group of men who held and cultivated small landed estates. It is also the name of a volunteer cavalry force raised from the yeomanry (1794–1908).

25a   What’s made guy gay? Reversal in attitude (6,2,5)

I'm sorry to say that I missed the full significance of the first part of the wordplay - the part about changing the "heart" of the word 'guy' to get 'gay').

26a   The woman’s energy before crossing a cathedral city (8)

Hereford^[7] is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately 16 miles (26 km) east of the border with Wales. Any chance of progress here was long thwarted by an incorrect solution at 22d.

3d   Run in next race (5)

In cricket, an extra^[5] is a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited to the batting side rather than to a batsman.

17d   Object in lorry, extremely large (7)

In Britain, artic^[5] is an informal term for an articulated lorry (truck)^[5].

22d   Flag Group embodies hostility (5)

I initially had ANGER (which matched the definition, though not the wordplay). I eventually lost confidence in this selection when I was unable to solve 26a. Aggro^[5] is an informal British expression meaning (1) aggressive, violent behaviour • they do not usually become involved in aggro; or (2) problems and difficulties • he didn’t have to deal with aggro from the desk clerk.

The Flag Group^[7] was a British political party, formed in the 1980s from one of the two wings of the National Front^[7] (a far right, racial nationalist, whites-only political party whose heyday was the 1970s). Formed in opposition to the Political Soldier wing of the Official National Front it took its name from The Flag, a newspaper the followers of this faction formed after leaving and regrouping outside of the main and diminishing rump of the rest of the party.

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