Monday, September 3, 2012 - DT 26896

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26896
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26896]
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, September 1, 2012 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Similarly to Gazza, it was 9a which gave me difficulty. TEA SET occupied this space for a while until the solution to 3d finally ruled it out. I then needed help from my electronic assistants to find an alternative.

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   Farmhouse in grand set of mountains (6)

In Britain, a grange^[10] is a farm, especially a farmhouse or country house with its various outbuildings.

9a   Sounds like place for driver to obtain drinks holder? (3,3)

I suppose it is not surprising to discover that, in Britain, tea is served from urns. Here, it is coffee that is served from urns. Those of us who order tea would consider ourselves fortunate to get it in a teapot — and, more often than not, we receive merely a cup of hot water and a teabag.

11a   Fine facing a London college linked to criminal lie (9)

The London School of Economics and Political Science (informally the London School of Economics or LSE)^[7] is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London.

17a   Set of bars, we hear, linked to a jolly among teenagers in resort (5,8)

Jolly^[4] is British slang for a member of the Royal Marines (RM)^[5], a British armed service (part of the Royal Navy) founded in 1664, trained for service at sea, or on land under specific circumstances.

Great Yarmouth^[7], often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is located at the mouth of the River Yare, 20 miles (32 km) east of Norwich.

21a   Educate artist in money (5)

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. Tin^[5] is dated British slang for money • Kim’s only in it for the tin.

23a   Fellow embracing woman briefly in the Spanish athletics event (9)

At Oxford and Cambridge universities, a fellow^[10] is a member of the governing body of a college who is usually a member of the teaching staff. A don^[10] is a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge. El^[8] is the masculine, singular form of the Spanish definite article.

24a   Patient group after backing managed to get into film (8)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg that tells the story of Elliott, a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. Elliott and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

26a   Castle perhaps attended by top celebrities — one defending establishment? (8)

Roy Castle^[7] (1932 – 1994) was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician.

1d   Escape from extremely grave swell (3,3)

Swell^[5] is dated slang for a fashionable or stylish person of wealth or high social position • a crowd of city swells. In British slang, toff^[5] is a derogatory term for a rich or upper-class person.

2d   A hollow area around island from the South is within reach (9)

In Britain, different clues appeared in the on-line and print versions of the puzzle. We have received the one that appeared in the printed edition of the paper. The alternative clue was:

• Broadcasting via a label — that’s handy (9)

It took me three attempts before I got the correct island. The definition is "within reach" with the solution being AVAILABLE. In my first attempt, I was looking for something along the lines of A (from the clue) + VALE (hollow area) containing (around) {I/IS (island) + ? (from the south)}. In my second attempt, I tried to find a way to use a reversal (from the south) of ELBA (island). I eventually realized that I should be in the Java Sea and not the Mediterranean.

3d   Aromatic plant, not hot, consumed in good time — or another plant? (7)

A gerbera^[5] is a tropical Old World plant of the daisy family, with large brightly coloured flowers, cultivated under glass in cooler regions. I think that this is likely what I have commonly heard called a Gerber daisy.

6d   Support old city and island with food on the sidelines (7)

In Crosswordland, an "old city" is very likely to be Ur^[5], an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium bc, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium bc. In Britain, nosh^[5] is an informal term for food • filling the freezer with all kinds of nosh.

12d   Various pieces in peculiar study about hospital with discontented doctors (4,3,4)

San^[5] is a shortened form for sanatorium^[5] (Britain) or sanitarium^[5] (US), an establishment for the medical treatment of people who are convalescing or have a chronic illness.

15d   Supply fittings for hotel fringed by river in part of Ireland (9)

Hotel^[5] is a code word representing the letter H, used in radio communication. The Po^[7] is a river that flows eastward across northern Italy, from the Cottian Alps to the Adriatic Sea near Venice.

19d   Old actor in American theatre’s opening soon after end of Oct? (7)

Peter Ustinov^[7] (1921 – 2004) was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter. A noted wit and raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. He was also a respected intellectual and diplomat who, in addition to his various academic posts, served as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and President of the World Federalist Movement.

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