Thursday, August 23, 2012 - DT 26887

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26887
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, June 8, 2012
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26887]
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

Giovanni delivers a fairly typical offering today. There are a few British expressions I had not previously encountered, such as the soldiers at 1a and the overcharges at 24a.

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   Something bag-like carried by soldiers and pillagers (10)

In Britain, a ranker^[5] may be either (1) a soldier in the ranks; a private or (2) a commissioned officer who has been in the ranks.

9a   Like some American spellings unacceptable to snooty English? (3-1)

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective with respect to language or social behaviour meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes (U manners). The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956). Conversely, non-U indicates something that would be unacceptable to the upper social classes (the snooty English).

11a   Curved edge in the auditorium’s barrier (6)

In Britain, a groyne^[5] (US spelling groin) a low wall or sturdy timber barrier built out into the sea from a beach to check erosion and drifting. It sounds like groin^[5], which is the architectural term for a curved edge formed by two intersecting vaults.

12a   Town providing overnight resting place for daughter (7)

Bedford^[7] is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England.

21a   Maiden getting on and regarded as rich (7)

In cricket, a maiden^[5], also known as a maiden over, (abbreviation M)^[5] is an over in which no runs are scored. An over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

22a   Church member meeting the Queen is a smoothie (7)

By tradition, British monarchs use initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus Queen Elizabeth's initials are ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

Gazza's illustration for this clue is English actor Nigel Havers^[7] who starred in the 1987 British television series The Charmer^[7].

24a  Overcharges for plants (6)

Rush^[5] is an informal, dated British expression meaning to overcharge (a customer) • They rushed you, all right! It’s not worth a penny more than £120.

2d   A group of coppers becoming sour (4)

In Britain, the the detective division of a police force is known as the Criminal Investigation Department (or CID)^[10].

3d   Untidy person getting right into scrape (6)

In Britain, a person with a dirty or untidy appearance is known as a scruff^[5].

4d   Trick class to do as told (7)

In Britain, a form^[5] is a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number. Thus the fifth form would be the linguistic counterpart to the fifth grade in North America and Form 1 would be like saying Grade 1.

14d   Artist beginning to draw, as keen as mustard (5)

Jacques-Louis David^[7] (1748 – 1825) was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era.

Keen as mustard^[5] is a British expression meaning extremely eager or enthusiastic.

19d   Make off having eaten second sweet (7)

In Britain, a sweet^[5] may be either (1) a small shaped piece of confectionery made with sugar • a bag of sweets [in North America known as candy] or (2) a sweet dish forming a course of a meal; in other words, a pudding or dessert.

20d   No place for driver to hang about — it’s hell! (3,4)

The pit^[5] is a literary term for hell. The pits^[10] is slang for the worst possible person, place, or thing.

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