Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - DT 26981

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26981
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26981]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
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

Today's puzzle should appeal to those with a sweet tooth, as it is well-laden with all sorts of sweets and desserts - among them, cakes, cookies, and puddings. I must say that I questioned whether this puzzle was really crafted by Jay, as it did not seem to have the feel of one of his typical creations. I did have to consult the dictionary to confirm that some of my solutions either actually existed or could take on the meaning seemingly attributed to them (8d and 26d, for instance); and likewise for the dessert which traditionally is an accompaniment to wine found in the clue at 21a.

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   Biscuits and scrambled eggs in turn (6,4)

Cookies^[5] are known as biscuits^[5] in Britain. However, as we shall see later in the puzzle, the word biscuit applies to more than just cookies. I wonder if Sesame Street is carried on British television; and, if so, does Cookie Monster become the Biscuit Monster?

In Britain, ginger nut^[5] is another name for a ginger snap, a hard ginger-flavoured biscuit [cookie]. In North America, it would be known by the latter name, but would likely be spelled gingersnap^[3].

6a   Dessert's no good (4)

A duff^[5] is a flour pudding boiled or steamed in a cloth bag ⇒ a currant duff. Furthermore, in British slang, duff^[5] is an adjective meaning (1) of very poor quality ⇒ duff lyrics or (2) incorrect or false ⇒ she played a couple of duff notes. The 's (a contraction for is in the cryptic reading as well as in the surface reading) serves as a link word (expressing equality) between the two definitions.

12a   Winner has one in front of a queen (8)

Queen Victoria^[7] (1819 – 1901) was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India. Of course, she was queen of Canada by virtue of Canada being part of the British Empire during her reign.

13a   The best swot welcomes start of exams (5)

In Britain, swot^[5] (used as a verb) means to study hard ⇒kids swotting for GCSEs [General Certificates of Secondary Education^[7]].  As a noun, it is a derogatory term for a person who studies very hard.

17a   People who can absorb information are parasites (7)

I wonder how a person who lives at someone else’s expense came to be known as a sponge^[5] since (to the best of my knowledge) sponges themselves are not parasites.

19a   Goes to a restaurant in castle at Southport (4,3)

Southport^[5] is a town on the Irish Sea coast in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England — 16.5 miles (26.6 km) to the north of the city of Liverpool. Southport today is still one of the most popular seaside resorts in the UK. It hosts varied events including an annual air show on and over the beach, and the largest independent flower show in the UK in Victoria Park. The town is at the centre of England's Golf Coast and has hosted The Open Championship [which those of us outside of the UK would refer to as the British Open] at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club.

21a   Biscuit from Madeira, say, on vessel with clipped prow (7)

Unlike what we saw in 1a, this biscuit is a type of cracker, rather than a cookie. In Britain, cookies would be called sweet biscuits and crackers would be known as savoury biscuits.

An oatcake^[7] is a type of cracker [savoury biscuit in UK terminology] or pancake, made from oatmeal, and sometimes flour as well. Oatcakes are cooked on a griddle (girdle in Scotland) or baked in an oven.

In Britain, Madeira cake^[5] is a close-textured, rich kind of sponge cake [so named because it was eaten as an accompaniment to a glass of Madeira (wine)].

22a   Misses sleep on board ship (5)

In Britain, kip^[5] means sleep, either as a noun ⇒ (i) I might have a little kip; (ii) he was trying to get some kip or as a verb ⇒ he can kip on her sofa. As is almost invariably the case in Crosswordland, the ship is a steamship (abbreviation SS^[5]).

24a   Quietly cut down by soldiers, having got ready (8)

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either soft or quiet (as an adjective) or softly or quietly (as an adverb). The field engineering and construction corps of the British army is known as the Royal Engineers (RE)^[5]. 

30a   Hamlet, for example, gets mainly faithful worker to skive (4,6)

Hamlet^[7], of course, referring to The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, a tragedy by William Shakespeare.

Skive^[5] is British slang which, as a verb, means to avoid work or a duty by staying away or leaving early or, in other words, shirk ⇒ (i) I skived off school ; (ii) she used to skive lessons and, as a noun, an instance of avoiding work or a duty by staying away or leaving early.

1d   Animal from Indian state east of Gujarat (4)

Gujarat^[5] is a state in western India, with an extensive coastline on the Arabian Sea; capital, Gandhinagar. Formed in 1960 from the northern and western parts of the former state of Bombay, it is one of the most industrialized parts of the country. Goa^[5] is a state on the west coast of India; capital, Panaji. Formerly a Portuguese territory, it was seized by India in 1961. It formed a Union Territory with Daman and Diu until 1987, when it was made a state. In the real world, Goa is more south than east of Gujarat, separated from it by the state of Maharashtra.

4d   Lad getting up on time with strange remedy (7)

Rum^[5] is dated British slang meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

5d   Flipping good service in the best digital coverage (7)

In the surface reading, flipping^[5] is an informal British expression used for emphasis or to express mild annoyance ⇒ (i) are you out of your flipping mind?; (ii) [as submodifier] it’s flipping cold today. Of course, in the cryptic interpretation, it becomes a reversal indicator.

7d   Heartily pull and eat leg bones (5)

The definition is "bones" and the wordplay is a charade of the middle letters (heartedly) of {pULl + aNd + eAt + lEg}.

8d   The arsonist's foe ties farmer in knots (4-6)

In Scotland, a firemaster^[5] (or fire master^[10] or fire-master^[1]) is the chief officer of a fire brigade^[5], a British term for an organized body of people trained and employed to extinguish fires ⇒ neighbours smelt smoke and called the fire brigade.

14d   Pudding? Own cheeky alcoholic preparation (10)

In Britain, afters^[5] is the sweet course following the main course of a meal; pudding • there was apple pie for afters.

16d   Act on gold measure threshold (8)

Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture. In heraldry, a tincture^[5] is any of the conventional colours (including the metals and stains, and often the furs) used in coats of arms.

18d   A distraught mate held in unfinished prison camp in part of America (9)

Gulag^[2] refers to (1) a network of political prisons or labour camps that formerly existed in the Soviet Union; (2) one of these prisons or camps; or (3) the government department responsible for their administration. The word is a Russian acronym, from glavnoe upravlenie ispravitelno-trudovykh lagerei main administration for corrective labour camps, made familiar by writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago.

23d   Drive leaves member in poor lie (5)

The "member" referred to would sit in the House of Commons — either at Westminster or in Ottawa.

25d   Irritation comes from linking of exchange rates (5)

My interpretation is somewhat different from Big Dave. I would say that the hidden word indication is "comes from" and that "linking" is a charade indicator making the wordplay hidden (comes from) a charade of (linking of) {EXCHANGE + RATES}.

26d   Bill's child (4)

In Britain, chit^[4,5] is a facetious or derogatory term for a pert, impudent, arrogant, or self-confident girl or young woman ⇒ she is a mere chit of a girl. Despite being characterized as British by Oxford Dictionaries Online, the term does appear in The American Heritage Dictionary^[3].

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