Thursday, October 4, 2012 - DT 26923

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26923
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, July 20, 2012
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26923]
Big Dave's Review Written By Pommers
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

Perhaps I can attribute my errors today to having burned the midnight oil last evening completing my review for Big Dave's Crossword Blog of the puzzle which appeared today in The Daily Telegraph in the UK. We can expect to see that puzzle in the National Post sometime in early January.

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   One of the Everly Brothers has drunk a bottle (5)

Don and Phil Everly, known as the Everly Brothers^[7], are country-influenced American rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing. The duo was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

11a   One saying no, resorting to anger (7)

"Resorting" here is used in the sense of sorting again or, in other words, changing the order.

12a   What water may be from plateau coming to river (7)

The Po^[5] is a river in northern Italy. Italy’s longest river, it rises in the Alps near the border with France and flows 652 km (405 miles) eastwards to the Adriatic.

21a   Female that’s left after lunchtime maybe given her cards? (5)

In Britain, to give someone their cards^[5] is to dismiss them from employment ⇒ the firm has just given 74,000 workers their cards. Similarly, to get one's cards^[5] is to be dismissed from one’s employment ⇒ he got his cards on his 50th birthday.

23a   British singer who partnered John in film in foreign country (7)

Olivia Newton-John^[7] is an English-born Australian singer and actress who co-starred with John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease, which featured one of the most successful film soundtracks in Hollywood history.

28a   Rapid writer (5)

Jonathan Swift^[5] (1667–1745) was an Irish satirist, poet, and Anglican cleric. He is best known for Gulliver’s Travels (1726), a satire on human society in the form of a fantastic tale of travels in imaginary lands.

2d   Hair on leg nasty, making you squirm (6)

I had incorrectly opted for TINGLE here, thinking that tin somehow might equate to "hair" (one never knows with British expressions, especially Cockney rhyming slang).

4d   School hospital indicated with pointer (6)

Harrow School^[5] is a boys' public school [which would be considered to be a private school under North American conventions] in NW London, founded under Queen Elizabeth I in 1571.

5d   Arrive outside place and run electronic machine (8)

On cricket scorecards, R^[5] appears as an abbreviation for run(s).

6d   Take up 17 yards by the look of it! (4)

I confess to initially falling into the trap of thinking that "17" was a cross-reference to clue 17d — which led me nowhere. I finally opted for KILT on the somewhat tenuous logic that such a garment (with all its pleats) might look like it contained 17 yards of material!

In actual fact, the definition is "take up" and the wordplay is LI (Roman numeral for 51) + FT (feet) as 17 yards = 51 feet (which, written in Roman numerals, looks like LI FT).

7d   Endless amusement and conspicuous wealth is a feature of Las Vegas (8)

Pommers says that the solution is "something that goes on in Las Vegas". I might add, ... in between games of strip billiards.

8d   Deplore being messed about before you had to be given new work? (10)

Pommers tries to make a case for the word "before" indicating that ye'd is an old form of you'd (you had). I would say that "before" is merely a charade indicator showing that the anagram of DEPLORE comes before YED.

15d   Artist takes dope before repose in wild wooded area (10)

RA^[5] is the abbreviation for Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. Gen^[5] (employed by Pommers in his hint) is British slang for information ⇒ you’ve got more gen on him than we have.

17d   Ought a Head of State to jostle? (8)

The Head of State of the United Kingdom (as well as Canada) is Queen Elizabeth II who uses the initials ER^[5] — from the Latin version of her name and title, Elizabetha Regina.

18d   Pulverised in can, my French spice (8)

Mon^[8] is the masculine, singular form of the French possessive adjective meaning my.

22d   Artist produces centrepiece of grey and black in Paris (6)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir^[7] (1841 – 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style.

26d   One born far too early for a birth certificate in Somerset House! (4)

Somerset House^[7] is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It was extended by classical Victorian wings to north and south. A building of the same name was first built on the site more than two centuries earlier. The East Wing of Somerset House forms part of King's College London.

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