Thursday, July 5, 2012 - DT 26845

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26845
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, April 20, 2012
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26845]
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 did well today, considering that this puzzle was rated at three stars for difficulty by Gazza. I missed one clue due to my ignorance of the finer points of British geography and pop sociology.

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.

11a  Name of a square youngster affecting upper-class attitudes (6)

Sloane Square^[7] is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the fashionable London districts of Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Chelsea, located 2.1 miles (3.4 km) southwest of Charing Cross [considered to be the centre of London], in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The square lies at the east end of the trendy Kings Road and at the south end of the more conventionally smart Sloane Street linking to Knightsbridge. In the early 1980s, it lent its name to the "Sloane Rangers", the young underemployed, often snooty and ostentatiously well-off members of the upper classes.

A Sloane Ranger^[5] (also called Sloane) is an informal term (clearly British) for a fashionable upper-class young woman, especially one living in London • she speaks more like an Essex girl than a Sloane. The term was coined in the 1970s by combining Sloane Square and Lone Ranger (the name of a fictitious cowboy hero).

16a   Unfortunately philosopher has no time for one like Palin (7)

Sarah Palin^[7] is a former governor of Alaska and the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election. She was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice presidency. I wanted to enter either maverick or rogue as a solution – but neither fit the space available.

Immanuel Kant^[5] (1724–1804) was German philosopher. Michael Palin [mentioned by Gazza in his review] is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter [host] best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.

Of course, my photo of Sarah Palin is hardly in the same class as the one chosen by Gazza in that it clearly fails to display some of her outstanding features. I found the original of Gazza's photo using Google Images and present it at the right for comparison purposes. On close inspection of his offering, I have to wonder if it is really Sarah Palin (or, more accurately, how much of it is really Sarah Palin)? Methinks the picture may be Sarah Palin's head (from the upper photo) reversed and pasted on someone else's body?

26a   Relish added to artist’s stew (6)

RA^[5] is the abbreviation for Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

Goût^[8] is a French word meaning taste. Apparently, the word has entered British English, since my copy of The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition has the following entry:

gout or properly goût /goo/ n taste; relish. [Fr goût, from L. gustus taste]

1d   The fellow needing rest, worker reluctant to get going (8)

Yesterday, the ant was a "six-footer" – today it's a "worker". "Needing" is being used as a charade indicator. The clue is, in effect, a terse statement of what could be expressed more verbosely as:

A word meaning 'fellow' needs to have words meaning 'rest' and 'worker' appended to it to produce a word meaning 'reluctant to get going'.

2d   From an Italian city, motorway leading to roads east (8)

The M1^[7] is a north–south motorway (controlled access highway) in England connecting London to Leeds.

5d   Red-top offering faithful representation! (6)

In Britain, a tabloid newspaper is known as a red top^[5] (from the red background on which the titles of certain British newspapers are printed). The Daily Mirror^[7] (informally The Mirror) is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Its Sunday sister paper is the Sunday Mirror.

7d   Naturalist not working for heritage organisation (8,5)

In Britain, the National Trust (abbreviation NT)^[5] is a trust for the preservation of places of historic interest or natural beauty in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, founded in 1895 and supported by endowment and private subscription. The National Trust for Scotland was founded in 1931.

13d   Age of Cockney goddess (3)

A cockney^[5] is a native of East London, traditionally one born within hearing of Bow Bells. Cockney is also the name of the dialect or accent typical of cockneys, which is characterised by dropping the H from the beginning of words and the use of rhyming slang^[5]. St Mary-le-Bow is an historic church in the City of London, off Cheapside. According to tradition, a true Cockney must be born within earshot of the sound of the church's bells.

15d   Writer producing short piece of verse (3)

Edgar Allan Poe^[7] (1809–1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

19d   Paddington’s welcoming gesture? (4,3)

Paddington Bear^[7] , a polite immigrant bear from Deepest, Darkest Peru, with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffle coat and love of marmalade sandwiches, has become a classic character from English children's literature. In the first story, Paddington is found at Paddington railway station in London by the Brown family, sitting on his suitcase (bearing the label "WANTED ON VOYAGE") with a note attached to his coat which reads, "Please look after this bear. Thank you." Author Michael Bond has said that his memories of newsreels showing trainloads of child evacuees leaving London during the war, with labels around their necks and their possessions in small suitcases, prompted him to do the same for Paddington.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel^[7] (1806–1859) [mentioned by Gazza in his review] was an English mechanical and civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering. Paddington Station^[7] was the London terminus of the Great Western Railway.

21d   Old Bob doesn’t have casual trousers (6)

In the UK, a shilling (abbreviation s)^[2] was a monetary unit and coin, in use prior to the introduction of decimal currency in 1971, worth one twentieth of a pound or 12 old pence (12d). Bob^[2] is an informal term for a shilling. The word "old" alludes to the fact that the shilling is no longer in circulation since the introduction of decimal currency.

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