Tuesday, August 21, 2012 - DT 26885

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26885
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26885]
Big Dave's Review Written By Falcon
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

As I began to work through today's puzzle, an eerie feeling of déjà vu came over me. Slowly it dawned on me that I had reviewed this puzzle when it appeared in The Daily Telegraph in June.

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   Panics, pinching sailor’s biscuits (9)

In Britain, a flapjack is a sweet tray-baked oat bar made from rolled oats, butter, brown sugar and golden syrup. In 17th century England, flapjack meant pancake (as it does today in North America). It has been used as the name of the oat bar only since the mid-1930s. A British biscuit^[5] is what we in North America would call a cookie, and what we know as a biscuit would be a scone in Britain.

17a   Revenue for the writer on popular company (6)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as setter, compiler, author, or writer to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must usually substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used  in the clue.

25a   King Charles II’s lover’s ring (5)

Nell Gwyn (1650 – 1687) was a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England.

18d   Devices that stop Conservative and Unionist members of the upper classes (3-4)

A Unionist^[5] is a person, especially a member of a Northern Ireland political party, who is in favour of the union of Northern Ireland with Great Britain. In British slang, toff^[5] is a derogatory term for a rich or upper-class person.

20d   Queen wears rocks and jackets (7)

Reefer^[5] is short for reefer jacket^[5], a thick close-fitting double-breasted jacket.

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