Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29230 | |
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, December 10, 2019 | |
Setter
Donnybrook (Paul Bringloe) | |
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29230] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
Mr K | |
BD Rating
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| Difficulty - ★★ | Enjoyment - ★★★★ |
Falcon's Experience
┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐
███████████████████████████████████
└────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘
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
█ - solved but without fully parsing the clue
█ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog
█ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog
█ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog
█ - yet to be solved
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Introduction
Today's gentle but highly enjoyable offering is from a compiler whom we've not seen before, Paul Bringloe who goes by the pseudonym Donnybrook when setting Toughie* puzzles for The Daily Telegraph. You can learn a bit about today's setter in a profile of Paul Bringloe written by The Daily Telegraph puzzles editor Chris Lancaster.* The Toughie is a second — and, as the name implies, more difficult — cryptic crossword puzzle published by The Daily Telegraph. Unlike the Cryptic Crossword which The Daily Telegraph publishes anonymously, the Toughie Crossword appears under the pseudonym of its creator.
I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.
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.
| Markup Conventions | |
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| Click here for further explanation and usage examples of markup conventions used on this blog. | |
Across
| 6a | Entertainer // in revolt quits dancing (13) |
| 8a | Jokes /from/ expert succeeded (6) |
| 9a | Artist in decline -- // depression causing this? (8) |
"artist " = RA
A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA[10]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts[5] (also Royal Academy; abbreviation also RA[10]), an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.
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A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA[10]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts[5] (also Royal Academy; abbreviation also RA[10]), an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.
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Depression[5] is used in the meteorological sense of a region of lower atmospheric pressure, especially a cyclonic weather system ⇒
hurricanes start off as loose regions of bad weather known as tropical depressions.
| 10a | Bitter perhaps // in General Election (3) |
Bitter[5] is a British name for beer that is strongly flavoured with hops and has a bitter taste ⇒ (i)
a pint of bitter; (ii)
the company brews a range of bitters.
Scratching the Surface
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| In the UK, this puzzle was published two days before the General Election held on December 12, 2019. |
| 11a | Care about church // ground (6) |
"church " = CE [Church of England]
The Church of England[10] (abbreviation CE[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.
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The Church of England[10] (abbreviation CE[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.
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| 12a | Unusual cave rite // showing imagination (8) |
| 14a | Admires refurbished // weapon (7) |
| 16a | Speaker's parentage /in/ dispute (7) |
Scratching the Surface
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| The Speaker[5] is the presiding officer in a legislative assembly, especially the House of Commons. Several of those posting comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog indicate that the clue brought to mind former Speaker of the British House of Commons John Bercow[7]. Bercow was well-known for his brusque, brook no nonsense manner in the Speaker's chair. Several members of his staff also levelled accusations of bullying and harassment against him. I can well imagine him being the frequent target of an epithet calling his parentage into question. |
| 20a | Light flickers? (8) |
A cryptic definition of the devices one uses to flick the lights on and off.
| 23a | Cattle worker // departs with rambler (6) |
| 24a | Handle finally attached to copper // pot with this (3) |
In billiards and snooker, pot[5] means to strike (a ball) into a pocket ⇒
he failed to pot a red at close range.
| 25a | Bullfighter // to bash in back (8) |
"bash " = DO [party]
Do[5,12] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[12] term* for a party or other social event ⇒
* although Webster’s New World College Dictionary[12] supports the contention by Oxford Dictionaries Online[5] that this usage is British, two other US dictionaries do not characterize do[3,11] used in this sense as a British term
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Do[5,12] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[12] term* for a party or other social event ⇒
the soccer club Christmas do.
* although Webster’s New World College Dictionary[12] supports the contention by Oxford Dictionaries Online[5] that this usage is British, two other US dictionaries do not characterize do[3,11] used in this sense as a British term
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A toreador[5] is a bullfighter, especially one on horseback.
| 26a | Dog // runs from mine worker (6) |
"runs " = R [cricket notation]
| 27a | On border, welfare /is/ perk (6,7) |
Down
| 1d | One going round on this bike? (8) |
A cryptic definition of a bike with only one wheel.
| 2d | Campaigner // less refined without it (8) |
It[2,5] (usually written in quotation marks, "it") is an informal term for sex appeal (show more).
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary considers this sense to be an "old use" (Chambers' terminology for archaic, obsolete or old-fashioned).
"It"[7] (written in quotation marks) is a term that has come to mean sex appeal — although, in its earliest manifestation, it seems that the term pertained more to personality than to glamorous looks. Despite having been used as early as 1904 by Rudyard Kipling, the term was popularized in the 1927 film It starring Clara Bow (who became known as the "It Girl").
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Chambers 21st Century Dictionary considers this sense to be an "old use" (Chambers' terminology for archaic, obsolete or old-fashioned).
"It"[7] (written in quotation marks) is a term that has come to mean sex appeal — although, in its earliest manifestation, it seems that the term pertained more to personality than to glamorous looks. Despite having been used as early as 1904 by Rudyard Kipling, the term was popularized in the 1927 film It starring Clara Bow (who became known as the "It Girl").
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SA[5] is an informal, dated abbreviation for sex appeal.
| 3d | Coleridge renouncing identity excited // painter (2,5) |
El Greco*[5] (1541–1614) was a Cretan-born Spanish painter whose portraits and religious works are characterized by distorted perspective, elongated figures, and strident use of colour.
* Spanish for 'the Greek' (he was born Domenikos Theotokopoulos)
Scratching the Surface
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| Samuel Taylor Coleridge[5] (1772–1834) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher. His Lyrical Ballads (1798), written with William Wordsworth, marked the start of English romanticism and included ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. Other notable poems: ‘Christabel’ and ‘Kubla Khan’ (both 1816). |
| 4d | Son folded sheets /for/ landowner (6) |
A quire[5] is four sheets of paper or parchment folded to form eight leaves, as in medieval manuscripts ⇒
Pages printed on one or both sides, gathered into quires or folios, superseded papyrus and parchment rolls in the fourth century CE.
A squire[5] is a man of high social standing who owns and lives on an estate in a rural area, especially the chief landowner in such an area.
| 5d | Film about F1 // maverick (6) |
Scratching the Surface
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Formula One[7] (also Formula 1 or F1 and officially the FIA Formula One World Championship) is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The "formula", designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, to which all participants' cars must conform. The F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix (from French, meaning grand prizes), held worldwide on purpose-built circuits and public roads. |
| 6d | Author // American state predator quoted (8,5) |
Virginia Woolf[5] (1882–1941) was an English novelist, essayist, and critic. (show more )
A member of the Bloomsbury Group, she gained recognition with Jacob's Room (1922). Subsequent novels, such as Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927), characterized by their poetic impressionism, established her as an exponent of modernism.
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A member of the Bloomsbury Group, she gained recognition with Jacob's Room (1922). Subsequent novels, such as Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927), characterized by their poetic impressionism, established her as an exponent of modernism.
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| 7d | Tell agents I've upset // preacher on box? (13) |
The appliances referenced in the clue are no longer as box-shaped as they once were.
| 13d | Blockhead // starts with amazingly silly speech (3) |
| 15d | Line // used in smear campaign (3) |
| 17d | Unseemly // dent nice when repaired (8) |
| 18d | Take stock? (8) |
A cryptic definition of walking off with goods without paying.
| 19d | Credit /to/ ace writer (7) |
| 21d | Which letter is doubled in dissertation? (6) |
The entire clue provides the wordplay in which the definition is embedded. The definition is marked with a double underline as it is also part of the wordplay.
Split (3,1,2), the solution provides the answer to the question asked by the clue.
| 22d | Tried // God with AA for treatment after hospital (3,1,2) |
Scratching the Surface
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| AA[5] is the abbreviation for Alcoholics Anonymous[5] (trademark in the US), a self-help organization for people fighting alcoholism, founded in the US in 1935 and now having branches worldwide. |
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 Advanced American Dictionary)
[7] - Wikipedia
[8] - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
[9] - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)
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