Friday, May 4, 2012 - DT 26793

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26793
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, February 20, 2012
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26793]
Big Dave's Review Written By Digby
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 26792 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, February 18, 2012

Introduction

I felt quite pleased with my performance today - that is, until I saw that Digby had awarded this puzzle merely a single star for difficulty. Based on that standard, my performance would seem to be rather mediocre.

According to the discussion at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, there was an error in the puzzle when it was published in the UK with the word "exchange" in 18a appearing as "exchenge". For a change, the error was corrected in the syndicated version of the puzzle.

Happy Belated Birthday to Rufus

The compiler of this puzzle is Roger Squires – who sets under the pseudonym Rufus. This puzzle appeared in The Daily Telegraph on February 20, 2012 - two days before his 80th birthday. The puzzle is a reprint of his very first Daily Telegraph puzzle that first appeared on November 28, 1986. Rufus – who sets puzzles for a number of British publications – is certainly an institution in the British crossword world and this milestone birthday was celebrated in style, as you can see here.

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.

1a   Respectable girls — or tarts? (5,2,6)

In Britain, maid of honour^[5] is the name of a small tart filled with flavoured milk curds. Of course, its principal meaning is an unmarried noblewoman attending a queen or princess. The meaning with which I am familiar – a principal bridesmaid – is apparently strictly a North American usage.

12a   Spell it out to me (4)

Okay, let me spell it out. This clue contains the shortest anagram that I have ever encountered.

The word "to" is a charade indicator, meaning "pushed against" as in the expressions "nose to the grindstone" and "shoulder to the wheel".

14a   Music circle? (4)

My first attempt here was RING – as in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen^[7] (The Ring of the Nibelung). It turned out to be the wrong circle. Fortunately, 7d quickly set me straight.

22a   Able to pay back in five pound notes, perhaps (7)

As Jezza points out on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the definition is "able to pay back", "in" is a linkword between the definition and wordplay, and the wordplay is an anagram (perhaps) of {V(five) + L (pound) + NOTES}.

Like Mary (another visitor to Big Dave's site), I had thought that the definition was "able to pay back" which made the wordplay appear to say pretty much the opposite of what is intended. That interpretation would call for a reversal (back) of an anagram (perhaps) of NOTES contained in (in) {V (five) + L (pound)}. Granted the reversal of an anagram would certainly seem to be a redundant operation.

This interpretation would have worked had one appended "? No, just the opposite." to the end of the clue, indicating that what is really meant is a reversal of {V + L} contained in an anagram of NOTES.

24a   Fire an employee for drinking, maybe (4)

Sack^[5] is a historical term for a dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from Spain and the Canaries.

29a   It takes pluck to remove it (7)

Again, I momentarily veered down the wrong path by entering FEATHER here.

2d   Looking pale coming out of a cinema (7)

Anaemic^[5] is the British spelling of what Americans would spell as anemic.

3d   Welshman’s platform (4)

Dai^[5] is the Welsh diminutive form of David or its Welsh equivalent Dafydd.

6d   Money the school raised (4)

Eton College^[7], often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor". It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, and is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868.

9d   No racehorse alive is one! (4,9)

Although I failed to find a dictionary entry for DEAD CERTAINTY (at least, in full), I'm dead certain that I might well use a variant of this phrase. The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition does have an abbreviated version of this expression, dead cert^[1], which it defines as a slang term for something absolutely certain, e.g. a certain winner in a horse race. A racing certainty^[5] (mentioned by Digby as having the same meaning) is something that is regarded as certain to happen • it seems a racing certainty that the next hearing will attract even greater media interest.

16d   Match label (5)

A new term to me, a tally^[3] is a label, ticket, or piece of metal or wood used for identification or classification, especially in gardens and greenhouses.

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