Friday, October 5, 2012 - DT 26925

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26925
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, July 23, 2012
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26925]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
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 The National Post has skipped DT 26924 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, July 21, 2012.

Introduction

There is nothing too difficult in today's puzzle from Rufus, although I did need some assistance to identify the African flower.

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.

9a   A bit of land is being given to the French (4)

Le^[8] is the masculine singular form of the French definite article.

10a   Where to view great partnership? (10)

In cricket, a partnership^[5] is the number of runs added by a pair of batsmen before one of them is dismissed or the innings ends ⇒ their 176-run third-wicket partnership. While scoring a century (100 runs) is probably fairly common, to score 1000 runs is no doubt quite a rare accomplishment.

12a   The S African flag (7)

Freesia^[5] is a genus of around 16 species of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (Iris family), native to the eastern side of southern Africa, from Kenya down to South Africa. A flag^[4] is any of various plants that have long swordlike leaves.

15a   Fruitless tries converted by the French (7)

See comment at 9a.

16a   Relative’s somewhere in S France, we hear (5)

Nice^[5] is a resort city on the French Riviera, near the border with Italy.

18a   Betray mum and ring head of police (4)

Shop^[5] is British slang meaning to inform on (someone) ⇒ she shopped her husband to bosses for taking tools home.

8d   Choose to pay the bill produced by cricket side (6,4)

In cricket, the  on^[5] (also called the on side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. Another term for this side of the field is the leg side^[5] (also called just the leg).

The wordplay is a charade of SETTLE UP (to pay the bill produced) + (by) ON (cricket side). For instance, at a restaurant a bill might be produced (delivered to your table) by a waiter at the end of your meal.

19d   Preserve Victoria, say, over embarrassing situation (4,3)

In Britain, a Victoria plum^[5] is a plum of a large red dessert variety.

26d   He’s a reformed Wimbledon champion (4)

Arthur Ashe^[7] (1943 – 1993) was a former American World No. 1 professional tennis player, who was the Wimbledon champion in 1975.

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