Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - DT 26795

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26795
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26795]
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

I was originally scheduled to review this puzzle when it appeared in February in The Daily Telegraph, but some crossed wires prevented that from happening. Too bad, as it turns out to be a fairly gentle offering.

The Brits likely had a bit of a head start on solving this puzzle, as they would no doubt have been aware that the day on which it appeared in the UK was Ash Wednesday.

I also found out when I read Big Dave's review that I had invented a new word. Well, perhaps I only rediscovered it, as several of the Brits seem to have been there first.

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   Tight and loose (4)

I saw fairly quickly that "tight" could be FAST or TAUT but I was slow to figure out which one meant "loose".

In case you might be wondering why the Brits thought the answer might be prop or head, these are rugby terms. A prop^[5](also prop forward) is a forward at either end of the front row of a scrum. A scrum^[5] is an ordered formation of players, used to restart play, in which the forwards of a team form up with arms interlocked and heads down, and push forward against a similar group from the opposing side. The ball is thrown into the scrum and the players try to gain possession of it by kicking it backwards towards their own side. Scrummage^[5] is just another word for scrum. The scrum half^[5] is a half back^[5] (a player whose position is between the forwards and full backs) who puts the ball into the scrum and stands ready to receive it again. A hooker^[5] is the player in the middle of the front row of the scrum, who tries to hook the ball^[5](gain control of the ball and pass it backwards with the foot in the scrum). The loose head^[5] is the forward in the front row of a scrummage who is nearest to the scrum half as the ball is put in^[5]. The tight head^[5] is the prop forward supporting the hooker on the opposite side of the scrum from the loose head.

15a   Crushed ice — chunk of iceberg ran it aground (7)

Granita^[7] (in Italian also granita siciliana) is a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavorings.

Originally from Sicily, although available all over Italy (but granita in Sicily is somewhat different from the rest of Italy), it is related to sorbet and italian ice. However, in most of Sicily, it has a coarser, more crystalline texture. Food writer Jeffrey Steingarten says that "the desired texture seems to vary from city to city" on the island; on the west coast and in Palermo, it is at its chunkiest, and in the east it is nearly as smooth as sorbet. This is largely the result of different freezing techniques: the smoother types are produced in a gelato machine, while the coarser varieties are frozen with only occasional agitation, then scraped or shaved to produce separated crystals.

In Britain, water ice (a term used by Big Dave in his hint) is another name for sorbet^[5] - although it would probably be more correct to state this the other way around, as water ice seems to be the more common term.

16a   City then floundered following first of goals (5)

In Britain, the surface reading of this clue would likely be seen as a reference to the Manchester City F. C.^[7], an English Premier League football [soccer] club based in Manchester.

30a   Burning a couple of thousand, absorbed by general increase in prices (12)

Taking a page from Mary's book (Mary being a regular visitor to Big Dave's blog who is well-known for inadvertently coining new words), I invented a new word, INFLAGRATION, which is INFLATION containing GR (a couple of grand; grand being a slang term for a thousand). I did wonder at the time if this indirect wordplay was allowed - thinking that it might be in the same league as an indirect anagram which was soundly panned recently on Big Dave's site. It turns out that the word I was thinking of is conflagration (which, of course, does not fit).

7d   The origin of ‘Dig for victory’ in regular garden (4)

Dig for Victory was a campaign instituted by the British government during the Second World War to encourage the British people to plant vegetable gardens to supplement the food supply. A similar initiative in North America was known as Victory Gardens^[7] (a term that may not have been used in Britain, despite what Wikipedia has to say).

8d   Noisy exhaust — new one in the boot? (4)

This clue does not work very well on this side of the Atlantic. In Britain, the trunk of a car is known as the boot^[5] and the spare tire found there would be spelled tyre^[5].

25d   Broadcasting side with first-class runs (2,3)

In cricket, the  on^[5] (also called the on side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. Another term for this side of the field is the leg side^[5] (also called just the leg). On cricket scorecards, R^[5] is used as an abbreviation for run(s).

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