Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 27032 | |
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, November 24, 2012 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27032-Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27032-Review] | |
Big Dave's Review Written By
Big Dave (Hints)crypticsue (Review) | |
BD Rating
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| 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
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Introduction
A comment left in response to yesterday's puzzle reminded me that it would likely be timely to once again provide a bit of background on the National Post Cryptic Crossword and this blog. I am sure there are many new readers (at least, I hope so) since the last time that I did so.The National Post Cryptic Crossword
From Monday to Friday, the National Post publishes a puzzle that is syndicated by The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper — although the National Post does not identify the source of these puzzles. The puzzles make their appearance in Canada approximately three months after their debut in the UK. I suspect that the reason the National Post carries puzzles from The Daily Telegraph may arise from the fact that both newspapers were, at one time, owned by Conrad Black.These puzzles are carried in The Daily Telegraph six days per week (Monday through Saturday) and are numbered sequentially (the sequence number does not appear in the National Post). While the Daily Telegraph does not publish the identity of the setters, many of the setters have become known — often through comments they have posted on Big Dave's Crossword Blog (more on that later). There is a definite pattern to the appearance of setters in The Daily Telegraph. Almost without exception, Rufus (Roger Squires) sets the Monday puzzle, Jay (Jeremy Mutch) the Wednesday puzzle, and Giovanni (Don Manley) the Friday puzzle. The setting duty on Tuesday is shared by a group of unknown setters, although Petitjean (John Pidgeon) is reliably numbered amongst them. On Thursday, about half the puzzles are set by RayT (Ray Terrell) with the remainder being set by unknown setters — although this group is known to include Shamus (Philip Marlow). The Saturday puzzle is usually — but apparently not always — set by Cephas (Peter Chamberlain).
Over the period of time that I have been solving these puzzles, I have seen the publication pattern in the National Post change several times. For a lengthy period last year, the National Post regularly skipped the puzzles that appeared in the UK on Saturday. This meant that every week we received five out of the six puzzles that had appeared in The Daily Telegraph during the corresponding week. Thus we fairly consistently received puzzles from the same setter on the same day of the week (although not necessarily on the same day of the week that they had appeared in the UK).
A few weeks ago, the pattern changed and we are now being presented with every puzzle in the series. Since the puzzles are generated at a rate of six per week and we receive them at a rate of five per week, every week a puzzle which appeared on a particular day in the UK shows up here one day later than it did in the previous week. Thus, last week, the "Saturday puzzle" appeared on Monday and this week it appears on Tuesday. Consequently, under the present publication pattern, the delay between the publication of a puzzle in the UK and its appearance in Canada will gradually increase. In the past, when this has happened, the National Post has — from time to time — skipped a block of puzzles in order to "catch up".
On Saturday, the National Post publishes a puzzle set by American compilers Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon. To the best of my knowledge, this puzzle is created specifically for the National Post. It sometimes has a distinctly Canadian theme.
A Note on This Blog
Getting back to the comment that sparked this piece, Megaculpa wrote yesterday "City of London's postal code? Give us colonials a break". That is precisely the raison d'être of this blog. When I started solving cryptic crossword puzzles (not all that long ago), I too was often mystified by the obscure Briticisms in the puzzles. Over time, I gradually became more and more familiar with many of these. I thought that if I could share this knowledge with other North Americans who were similarly perplexed, it would make their solving experience richer.When I first started my blog, there was no single source of information about the puzzles; I would compile bits and pieces of information from several British sites. This changed with the emergence of Big Dave's Crossword Blog, a British blog which reviews this puzzle as well as other puzzles appearing in The Daily Telegraph. However, sometimes even this excellent resource needs to be "translated" in order for it to make sense to North Americans.
At the top of my blog, I provide a table containing a standard set of "tombstone data" about the puzzle — largely gleaned from Big Dave's site. I also include a graph which shows how I fared in solving the puzzle (which sometimes mirrors the rating given to the puzzle by the Brits, and sometimes not). Of course, I provide a link to Big Dave's Crossword Blog which has a complete review of the puzzle.
I then pick a few clues to discuss in detail focusing especially on unusual wordplay or rarely seen types of clues. I aim to explain any British terms, expressions or place names which appear either in the clue itself or in the solution. As well, I also include information on people, works of art, literature, music, theatre or film; mythology; and specialized terms from a variety of fields.
My aim is not only to help readers understand how the solution is arrived at, but to enable them to appreciate the surface reading of the clues as well. Granted, it is often possible to decipher the wordplay of a clue even when the surface reading seems meaningless. In fact, in many cases, the misdirection in the clue arises from some British turn of phrase which a North American may totally miss — which can make the clue easier for a North American to solve since we may not fall into the trap that has been set for British readers. Still, I think reading the clues through British eyes adds enjoyment to the puzzle. Thus, I delight when I am able to do so — such as recognizing that the mention of a "bird" is not necessarily a reference to one of the feathered variety but might also be interpreted as a young woman or girlfriend.
I do hope that this blog makes the solving experience more enjoyable for readers.
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 Lid for a kipper, hot after cooking (4-3,3)
6a Returned coats in swindle (4)
Since the raincoat in the clue was named after Scottish inventor Charles Macintosh, it does seem rather strange to observe that all my dictionaries seem to list it under mackintosh (with macintosh as an alternate spelling).[2,3,4,5,10] Again the dictionaries fail to agree on a key fact. Collins English Dictionary shows Charles Macintosh being born in 1760, whereas all the other sources have his year of birth as 1766.
9a Having regular parts in opera, one singer's a temperamental type (5,5)
While I got the correct solution, how did I fail to recognize the reference to American singer Madonna[7] hiding in the clue?
13a Retreat over rising water is setback for leader (9)
There is clearly an error in crypticsue's review of this clue. The wordplay should be a reversal (setback) of LAIR (retreat) O (over in cricket) and TIDE (rising water).
In cricket, an over (abbreviation O)[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.
Leader[10] (or leading article) is a mainly British term for the leading editorial in a newspaper.
16a Exemplar of drunkenness regarding famous physicist (6)
In Britain, the phrase (as) pissed as a newt (or fart)[5] means very drunk. This would seem to be one level of inebriation below (as) drunk as a lord (or skunk)[5] which means extremely drunk. The latter expressions are certainly used in North America, but I've never heard the former.
Sir Isaac Newton[5] (1642 – 1727) was an English mathematician and physicist, considered the greatest single influence on theoretical physics until Einstein. In his Principia Mathematica (1687), Newton gave a mathematical description of the laws of mechanics and gravitation, and applied these to planetary motion. Opticks (1704) records his optical experiments and theories, including the discovery that white light is made up of a mixture of colours. His work in mathematics included the binomial theorem and differential calculus.
23a Tie up hospital department with attention to detail (9)
I sometimes wonder if any other departments exist in the Crosswordland hospital.
24a Cattle without water (4)
I can assure you (because I examined the HTML code) that crypticsue did not place a single underline beneath the entire clue. Unless one uses exceptional measures, Wordpress (the blogging software used by Big Dave's site) will cause two adjacent bits of underlined text to run together.
27a Seduction ruined eminent 'tec (10)
Possibly a British term (based on its appearance in dictionaries), tec (or 'tec)[2,4,5,10] is an informal, dated term for a detective.
29a A German artist holding opening, one who loves to take risks (10)
Albrecht Dürer[5] (1471 – 1528) was a German engraver and painter. He was the leading German artist of the Renaissance, important for his technically advanced woodcuts and copper engravings and also noted for his watercolours and drawings.
1d Poet's page to begin poetically (4)
This clue gives rise to a rather topical solution — though not in the sense intended by the setter.
Alexander Pope[5] (1688 – 1744) was an English poet. A major figure of the Augustan age, he is famous for his caustic wit and metrical skill, in particular his use of the heroic couplet. Notable works: The Rape of the Lock (1712; enlarged 1714); An Essay on Man (1733-4).
2d Making a mockery of barrier (7)
Most dictionaries define rail[10] in a manner similar to Collins English Dictionary; i.e., (when followed by at or against) to complain bitterly or vehemently ⇒
to rail against fate. However, a clue to the meaning intended by the setter can be found in the origin of the word which comes "from Old French railler to mock". The Chambers Dictionary defines rail as to scoff; to use vigorously or mockingly reproachful language; to banter; to revile (usually with at or against).
5d A free broadcaster (6)
This was one of my last ones in with the solution eluding me until I remembered that the Brits affectionately refer to their state broadcaster, the BBC, as Auntie[5].
7d Piece of Purcell is taxing musician (7)
Henry Purcell[5] (1659 – 1695) was an English composer. Organist for Westminster Abbey (1679–95), he composed choral odes and songs for royal occasions. His main interest was music for the theatre; he composed the first English opera Dido and Aeneas (1689) and incidental music for many plays.
8d Greek character, police officer, last person to abuse (3-7)
Mu[5] is the twelfth letter of the Greek alphabet (Μ, μ).
A detective sergeant (abbreviation DS)[10] is a police officer who investigates crime and who ranks above a detective constable but below a detective inspector.
11d Pressman's only one right person in divorce case (2-10)
Pressman[3,4] is a chiefly British term for a newspaper reporter. North Americans would be more likely to think of it in its other meaning; namely, a person who operates a printing press.
14d Immature adult hands out foreign coin (10)
... a foreign coin, that is, from a British perspective.
The A (Adult) certificate is a former film certificate[7] issued by the British Board of Film Classification. This certificate existed in various forms from 1912 to 1985, when it was replaced by the PG (Parental Guidance) certificate.
17d Take up imposing position on themepark's top attraction (8)
After bashing my brain against this clue for far too long, I sought some outside help. My wordfinder tool quickly returned a list of only seven possible matches for the checking letters — from which it was a cinch to select the correct solution.
21d Enthusiast takes a friend to ancient city (7)
Ur is an ancient Sumerian city that formerly existed 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.
Key to Reference Sources:Signing off for today — Falcon
[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)
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