Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29269 | |
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, January 25, 2020 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29269 – Hints]Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29269 – Review] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
Mr K (Hints)crypticsue (Review) | |
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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As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.
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Introduction
A nice, gentle British weekend puzzle for a Canadian midweek solve.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 | Completely fill // it at sea when stormy (7) |
| 5a | Cool drink setter had /in/ flat (7) |
"setter had " = ID
It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.
Today, the creator of the puzzle has made the scenario more complicated by combining "setter" with the past tense of the verb "to have" producing "setter had" which must be replaced by "I'd" (a contraction of "I had").
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It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.
Today, the creator of the puzzle has made the scenario more complicated by combining "setter" with the past tense of the verb "to have" producing "setter had" which must be replaced by "I'd" (a contraction of "I had").
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Scratching the Surface
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| In the surface reading, flat[5] is the British term for what would be called an apartment[5] in North America. |
| 9a | Journey to the bar and back? (5,4) |
| 10a | English lake // strange and disturbing (5) |
| 11a | Pancake containing a lot of fish // sauce (7) |
I would think that the pancake is the tortilla from which the taco is made, and not the taco per se.
British dictionaries typically describe a tortilla[5] as a thin, flat pancake; US dictionaries, on the other hand, characterize a tortilla[3,11] as a thin disk of unleavened bread.
Tabasco[5] (also Tabasco sauce) is the trademark for a pungent sauce made from the fruit of a capsicum pepper.
Origin: named after the state of Tabasco in south-eastern Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico
| 12a | One to resist change /as/ Hera did somehow (7) |
Scratching the Surface
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| In Greek mythology, Hera[10] (or Here) is the queen of the Olympian gods and sister and wife of Zeus. |
| 13a | Male lacking finesse /becomes/ cruel (9) |
| 16a | Horse // cooked in casserole wife chucked out (5) |
| 17a | Firm support /for/ lethal striker (5) |
| 18a | Last on tap drunk // following the birth (9) |
| 21a | TV show about female // with fine prospects (3,4) |
In Britain, the phrase be set fair[5] (said of the weather) means to be fine and likely to stay fine for a time ⇒
The weather is set fair for this weekend's Radcliffe carnival. The expression may also be used in a figurative sense in other contexts ⇒
conditions were set fair for stable political and economic development.
| 22a | Sort out drink /for/ public platform (7) |
| 25a | Keep away from // an abyss (5) |
| 26a | Beer after milk drink good -- // hurry (5,1,3) |
| 27a | Stadium, large, accommodates second // team (7) |
Arsenal Football Club[7] is an English professional association football [soccer] club based in Islington, London that plays in the Premier League (the top level in the English football league system).
| 28a | Foreign currency earners /in/ old harbour towns? (7) |
Down
| 1d | Mark // caught rodent in school (7) |
"caught " = C [cricket notation]
In cricket, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out[5], that is for a player on the opposing team to catch a ball that has been hit by the batsman before it touches the ground.
On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c[5] or c.[2,10] denotes caught (by).
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In cricket, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out[5], that is for a player on the opposing team to catch a ball that has been hit by the batsman before it touches the ground.
On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c[5] or c.[2,10] denotes caught (by).
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| 2d | One opposed to other manual workers? (5) |
| 3d | Mountains // in Patagonian Desert (5) |
The Andes[5] are a major mountain system running the length of the Pacific coast of South America. Its highest peak is Aconcagua, which rises to a height of 6,960 m (22,834 ft).
Scratching the Surface
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| Patagonia[5] is a region of South America, in southern Argentina and Chile. Consisting largely of a dry barren plateau, it extends from the Colorado River in central Argentina to the Strait of Magellan and from the Andes to the Atlantic coast. |
| 4d | Nobleman given award /for/ organ piece? (7) |
An earl[5] is a British nobleman ranking above a viscount and below a marquess [in other words, the third highest of the five ranks of British nobility — duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron].
"award " = OBE [Officer of the Order of the British Empire]
OBE[5] is the abbreviation for Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
The Order of the British Empire[5] is an order of knighthood applicable to the United Kingdom and certain Commonwealth realms which was instituted in 1917 and is divided into five classes, each with military and civilian divisions. The classes are: Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight or Dame Commander (KBE/DBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE). The two highest classes entail the awarding of a knighthood.
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OBE[5] is the abbreviation for Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
The Order of the British Empire[5] is an order of knighthood applicable to the United Kingdom and certain Commonwealth realms which was instituted in 1917 and is divided into five classes, each with military and civilian divisions. The classes are: Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight or Dame Commander (KBE/DBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE). The two highest classes entail the awarding of a knighthood.
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| 5d | Mischievous child crushed seed /in/ hampers (7) |
| 6d | Be sensible // before arriving in time (3,6) |
| 7d | Enduring // exercises with chap in charge (9) |
"chap " = MAN
Chap[3,4,11] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[3] term for a man or boy — although a term that is certainly not uncommon in Canada. It is a shortened form of chapman[3,4,11], an archaic term for a trader, especially an itinerant pedlar[a,b].
[a] Pedlar is the modern British spelling of peddler[14] which, in most senses, is considered by the Brits to be a US or old-fashioned British spelling. The exception is in the sense of a dealer in illegal drugs which the Brits spell as drug peddler.
[b] The current meaning of chap[2] dates from the 18th century. In the 16th century, chap meant 'a customer'. The dictionaries do not explain how a shortened form of 'chapman' (pedlar) came to mean 'customer'.
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Chap[3,4,11] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[3] term for a man or boy — although a term that is certainly not uncommon in Canada. It is a shortened form of chapman[3,4,11], an archaic term for a trader, especially an itinerant pedlar[a,b].
[a] Pedlar is the modern British spelling of peddler[14] which, in most senses, is considered by the Brits to be a US or old-fashioned British spelling. The exception is in the sense of a dealer in illegal drugs which the Brits spell as drug peddler.
[b] The current meaning of chap[2] dates from the 18th century. In the 16th century, chap meant 'a customer'. The dictionaries do not explain how a shortened form of 'chapman' (pedlar) came to mean 'customer'.
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| 8d | Much disliked // -- as lurgy! (7) |
Lurgy[5] is a humorous British term for an unspecified or indeterminate illness ⇒
I had caught the dreaded lurgy. As in the usage example, it is very frequently described as "dreaded".
| 14d | Impressive winger/’s/ successful long shot? (9) |
In golf, albatross[5] is another term for double eagle[5], a score of three strokes under par at a hole.
In the vast majority of cases, an albatross will be achieved by holing a long shot. While a golfer might reach the green on a par 5 in two shots and have a short putt for an albatross, this would hardly be a common occurrence.
In expect that crypticsue, in her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, may have intended to write "An impressive bird with large wings ..." (rather than "wingers").
| 15d | Wild rage Dante /exhibited in/ restaurant (3,6) |
| 17d | Starch // idiot put into sparkling wine (7) |
Cava[5] is a Spanish sparkling wine made in the same way as champagne.
Cassava[5] is the starchy tuberous root of a tropical tree, used as food in tropical countries.
| 18d | Soldiers look up /for/ overhead protection (7) |
Para[4,11] (short for paratrooper) is a soldier in an airborne unit.
| 19d | Expert beneath waves that break // skin (7) |
| 20d | Stories about cat /in/ French city (7) |
In this clue, it greatly helped that the French city has a namesake in Eastern Ontario.
Mog[5], another term for moggie (also moggy), is an informal British term for a cat, typically one that does not have a pedigree or is otherwise unremarkable ⇒
I have three other cats (two moggies and one Bengal/Tonkinese cross).
Limoges[5] is a city in west central France, the capital of Limousin; population 139,026 (2006). Famous in the late Middle Ages for enamel work, it has been noted since the 18th century for the production of porcelain.
| 23d | Excessive // energy used in part of flight (5) |
| 24d | Monarch /has/ regret about Left and Right (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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