Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29252 | |
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, January 6, 2020 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29252] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
Miffypops | |
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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Notes
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This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, August 15, 2020 edition of the National Post.
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Introduction
A relatively easy Monday workout — both in the UK and Canada.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
| 1a | Problem over // Japanese sport (4) |
| 3a | Whole // game in a day seen by a Parisian (10) |
| 9a | Support // rear end (4) |
| 10a | Cut, // beaver, a bit flustered (10) |
| 11a | Warm // weather Malta enjoys (7) |
As a hidden word indicator, enjoy[5] is used in the sense of possess and benefit from ⇒
the clergy enjoys some benefits not given to others.
Thermal[5] is used as an adjective meaning (of a garment) made of a fabric that provides exceptional insulation to keep the body warm ⇒
thermal underwear.
| 13a | Siren/'s/ obscure wind instrument (7) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Does it say something about my preoccupations that my first thought on seeing the word siren[5] was an alluring but dangerous woman? |
| 14a | Shopkeeper // could be fresh and more vulgar, when heard (11) |
Greengrocer[5] is a British term for a retailer of fruit and vegetables ⇒
white cabbage was selling for 12p* a lb at the greengrocer's.
* 12p = 12 pence
| 18a | To remain in force, a guy /in/ command on the parade ground (5,2,4) |
Guy[3,4,11] is used in the sense of to make fun of, to hold up to ridicule, or to mock.
| 21a | Motor inside explosive // missile (7) |
Motor[5] is used as a verb meaning to travel in a motor vehicle ⇒
I fired it up effortlessly and proceeded to motor around the yard*.
* The usage example is particularly apropos if one imagines the vehicle in question to be a motorcycle.
The Trident missile[7] is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). Trident missiles are carried by fourteen US Navy Ohio-class submarines, with US warheads, and four Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarines, with British warheads.
| 22a | Stick around old dock, primarily /to find/ swimmer (7) |
"old " = O [linguistics]
In linguistics, O[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i)
However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.
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In linguistics, O[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i)
OFr[Old French]; (ii)
OE[Old English].
However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.
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Diverging from the explanation given by Miffypops on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, I would say that the D is not an abbreviation for "dock" but rather the word "primarily" indicates that we are to use the initial letter of "Dock".
A codling[5] is an immature cod.
| 23a | Furnish new church /in/ state capital (10) |
"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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Providence[5] is the state capital of Rhode Island, a port on the Atlantic coast. It was founded in 1636 as a haven for religious dissenters.
| 24a | Garment // reflecting earlier time (4) |
| 25a | Thief // pilfers hot pants (10) |
As an anagram indicator, pants[5] is used in an informal British sense meaning rubbish or nonsense ⇒
I thought I'd give it a go. Unfortunately, I'd not looked at the reviews..........boy, do I wish I had! It's pants. It really is a poor program.
| 26a | Touchy having failed to finish // exam (4) |
Down
| 1d | Learned about weird boat // wreck (8) |
| 2d | Fish, // medium-sized -- a kilo in creel, wriggling (8) |
| 4d | Philanthropic scientist // born during Christmas (5) |
Alfred Bernhard Nobel[5] (1833–1896) was a Swedish chemist and engineer. He invented dynamite (1866), gelignite, and other high explosives, making a large fortune which enabled him to endow the prizes that bear his name.
| 5d | Flagrant /in/ pub, editor pinching mug (9) |
| 6d | Fashionable Spanish city judged /as/ 'revitalised' (11) |
Vigo[5] is a port on the Atlantic in Galicia, northwestern Spain.
| 7d | Target includes week round // desert, perhaps (2,4) |
| 8d | Chaperone // expected to accompany girl over (6) |
A duenna[5] is an older woman acting as a governess and companion in charge of girls, especially in a Spanish family; in other words, a chaperone.
| 12d | Short series of episodes involving leader in thrall // of a government department (11) |
The term miniserial may be a self-explanatory invention of convenience by the setter (in that I was unable to find it in any of the reference sources that I consulted). In actual practice, the British seem to use the term miniseries[5] just as we do in North America.
| 15d | Bake grouse /in/ a meat dish (5,4) |
| 16d | Singer // in boater, dancing (8) |
Scratching the Surface
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| In the surface reading, boater[5] refers to a flat-topped hardened straw hat with a brim. |
| 17d | Officer // dispatched to collect bent gear (8) |
| 19d | Finishes ringing European // pioneer of birth control (6) |
"European " = E [as in E-number]
E[1,2] is the abbreviation for European (as in E number*).
* An E number[1,4,10,14] (or E-number[2,5]) is any of various identification codes required by EU law, consisting of the letter E (for European) followed by a number, that are used to denote food additives such as colourings and preservatives (but excluding flavourings) that have been approved by the European Union.
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E[1,2] is the abbreviation for European (as in E number*).
* An E number[1,4,10,14] (or E-number[2,5]) is any of various identification codes required by EU law, consisting of the letter E (for European) followed by a number, that are used to denote food additives such as colourings and preservatives (but excluding flavourings) that have been approved by the European Union.
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Marie Stopes[5] (1880–1958) was a Scottish birth-control campaigner. Her book Married Love (1918) was a frank treatment of sexuality within marriage. In 1921 she founded the pioneering Mothers' Clinic for Birth Control in London.
| 20d | Hired escort /in/ carriage, unaccompanied, heading off (6) |
A gig[5] is a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse.
| 22d | 100 hurt /in/ store (5) |
Key to Reference Sources:
[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
[2] - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
[3] - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
[4] - TheFreeDictionarycom (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)
Signing off for today — Falcon
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