Monday, August 6, 2012 - DT 26872

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26872
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26872]
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
Notes This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, August 4, 2012 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

After getting off to a slow start, I was able to pick up the pace as solutions to clues began to fall into place. As Gazza points out, this is four tiny puzzles linked only by the four three-letter entries at the centre of the grid. Consequently, each quadrant must be dealt with on its own. Finding the solution to a clue in one quadrant does absolutely nothing to further one's efforts in any other quadrant.

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.

13a   Cavort in cut-off dress around centre of Carlisle (6)

Carlisle^[7] is the county town of Cumbria, a county in North West England on the border with Scotland.

21a   Numb bottom following half-hour back massage (3)

We can safely assume that Gazza, in his hint, meant to say "the last letter ... of (num)B" rather than "the last letter ... of (ru)B".

29a   In France she volunteers to talk about trifle (9)

Elle^[8] is a French pronoun meaning "she". In the UK, the Territorial Army (TA)^[5] is a volunteer force locally organized to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined manpower for use in an emergency.

2d   Greek feta with rocket salad starters and pudding (6)

In Britain, a starter^[5] is the first course of meal and afters^[5] are the dessert course. Rocket^[5] is the British name for arugula^[5].

My eyebrows raised a bit at seeing "Greek" being used as an anagram indicator, but Gazza explains the rationale in his review.

17d  Race course sounds a breeze (3)

Ayr^[7], a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland, is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town. Ayr Racecourse is the racing venue with the largest capacity in Scotland for horse racing. Notable events held there include the Scottish Grand National and Ayr Gold Cup.

18d   Channel swimmer losing head in adverse tide (3)

This swimmer may not have lost his head in the Channel tide, but he did lose his life in a Niagara whirlpool. Captain Matthew Webb^[7] (1848 – 1883) was the first recorded person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aids. In 1875, he swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours. Eight years later, Webb died in a failed attempt to swim through the Whirlpool Rapids on the Niagara River below Niagara Falls.

26d   Brogue not even the French sport (6)

Les^[8] is the plural form of the definite article in French. Boules^[10] is a game, popular in France, in which metal bowls [balls] are thrown to land as near as possible to a target ball. It is played on rough surfaces.

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