Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - DT 26836

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26836
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26836]
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

I threw in the towel with two clues left to solve and called in my electronic assistants. Perhaps if I'd "perservated" (in Mary's terminology) long enough, I could have finished. However, other duties were calling.

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.

10a   Bony, a maltreated langur (7)

Although this bit of knowledge is not really needed to solve the clue, a langur^[5] is a long-tailed arboreal Asian monkey with a characteristic loud call.

17a   Small mollusc in sink (7)

In Britain, the word cuttlefish^[4] is sometimes shortened to cuttle.

19a   Truncheon around back of hip brought to work in police station (7)

A cosh^[3,4] is a British weapon similar to a North American blackjack^[3,4].

21a   Lock in criminal at chokey (5)

Chokey^[5] is dated British slang for prison • they sent old Polgar to the chokey then?

23a   Hedonist, tense after examination in German city (3,6)

In Britain, a viva voce (often shortened to viva^[5]) is an oral examination, typically for an academic qualification • (i) candidates may be called for a viva voce; (ii) assessment of the PhD is by thesis and viva voce. Viva can also be used as a verb meaning to subject (someone) to an oral examination • facing them sat the youth who was being vivaed.

Viva voce may also be used as an adjective indicating (especially of an examination) oral rather than written • a viva voce examination or as an adverb signifying orally rather than in writing • we had better discuss this viva voce. This term is used in North America as an adjective and adverb. I suspect that the these forms predate its usage as a noun, and that this is just one more example of the British propensity to turn adjectives into nouns.

1d   Artist not finished? Blow me! (7)

In the surface reading, British solvers are likely to see blow^[5] as a euphemism for damn • ‘Well, blow me’, he said, ‘I never knew that.’ rather than the vulgar meaning that, I am sure, was the first idea to enter the minds of many North American readers.

4d   Sounds like Twist, for example, revolting Dickensian character? (7)

The solution is a character from a novel by English writer Charles Dickens – not Oliver Twist, but Ebenezer Scrooge.^[7]

5d   Praise expert on horseback (5,2)

The expression "crack up" (in the sense in which it appears here) generated a howl of protest from readers of Big Dave's blog when it last appeared just over a week ago. To crack something up^[2] means to to praise it extravagantly, giving the impression that it is better than it is • This job is not all it's cracked up to be. I stand to be corrected, but I believe that the expression exists in this sense only in the phrase given as an example.

6d   A head of Rugby understood slang (5)

In Britain, head is short for for headmaster (a man who is the head teacher in a school), headmistress (ditto for a woman), or head teacher (the teacher in charge of a school).^[5] Rugby School^[7] is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. The game of Rugby owes its name to the school.

8d   Garden centre in Surrey, busy after noon (7)

Surrey^[5] is a county of SE England.

14d   Footwear item, the type Venus Williams might wear? (5,4)

In Britain, a court shoe^[5] is a woman’s plain, lightweight shoe that has a low-cut upper, no fastening, and typically a medium heel. The footwear illustrated by Gazza would appear not to match this description on almost all counts – with the possible exception of 'lightweight'. But I suppose no one will notice – they won't see past the legs.

16d   Carpet salesman, guy let in free (9)

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

17d   Gag made by the Italian during comic scene (7)

In Italian, the masculine form of the definite article is il^[8].

22d   Opening of historical play inaccurately portrayed? It may be (5)

Haply^[4] is an archaic word for perhaps. The use of the word "historical" in the clue may be a deliberate hint to the archaic nature of the answer (after all, the setter could have used any word starting with the letter H).

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