Puzzle at a Glance
| |
|---|---|
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29288 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, February 17, 2020 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29288]
| |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Miffypops | |
BD rating
| |
| 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
| |
Introduction
Today's puzzle is a rather easy mental workout from Campbell.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 | |
|
|
| Click here for further explanation and usage examples of markup conventions used on this blog. | |
Across
| 1a | Shakespearean actress? (4,8) |
This clue, which alludes to two women who share the same name, takes the form of a cryptic definition with an embedded precise definition.
Anne Hathaway[7] (1556 – 1623) was the wife of William Shakespeare, the English poet, playwright and actor.
Anne Hathaway[7] is an American actress who won the 2012 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Les Misérables.
| 9a | Article with advice regarding // a cocktail snack (9) |
An antipasto[2] is any of a variety of cold food such as marinated vegetables and fish, pork sausage, mushroom salad, etc served either as a cocktail snack or at the beginning of a meal to sharpen the appetite.
| 10a | Brownie/'s/ photographs I initially enlarged (5) |
A brownie[5] is a benevolent elf that supposedly haunts houses and does housework secretly.
A pixie[5] is a supernatural being in folklore and children's stories, typically portrayed as small and humanlike in form, with pointed ears and a pointed hat.
As pointed out in the comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, a Brownie[5] is a member of the junior branch of the Guide Association, for girls aged between about 7 and 10, wearing a brown uniform. Each Brownie pack is divided into "sixes" (groups of six girls) with names such as Pixie, Elf, Gnome, and Sprite.
Scratching the Surface
| |
|---|---|
| The surface reading alludes to the Brownie camera[7], a long-running popular series of simple and inexpensive cameras made by Eastman Kodak. The original Brownie, introduced in 1900, was a basic cardboard box camera with a simple meniscus lens that introduced the snapshot to the masses. The Brownie in various incarnations continued to be produced into the latter part of the 1960s. |
| 11a | Use // device to track me on the way back (6) |
A comment on Big Dave's Crossword Blog questions the use of "to track" in this clue. Track means to follow so the synonym for device follows (tracks) the reversal of ME.
| 12a | Figure of speech // that's upset mother, about father retiring (8) |
| 13a | Country // club, briefly after game (6) |
"game " = RU [rugby union]
Rugby union[10] (abbreviation RU[5]) is a form of rugby football played between teams of 15 players (in contrast to rugby league[5], which is played in teams of thirteen).
Rugby union[7] is the national sport in New Zealand, Wales, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Madagascar.
hide
Rugby union[10] (abbreviation RU[5]) is a form of rugby football played between teams of 15 players (in contrast to rugby league[5], which is played in teams of thirteen).
Rugby union[7] is the national sport in New Zealand, Wales, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Madagascar.
hide
| 15a | Fantastic article about new // musical instrument (8) |
| 18a | Unlawful occupant, // stockier (8) |
| 19a | Monstrous female /and/ two sons therefore turned back (6) |
In folklore, an ogress[5] is a female ogre[5] (a man-eating giant).
| 21a | Army unit/'s/ diet close to front (8) |
| 23a | Despicable person, that woman? // On the contrary (6) |
| 26a | Power in early // woodenheaded golf club (5) |
Spoon[5] is a dated term for a golf club with a slightly concave wooden head.
| 27a | Complicated // tale a bore spun (9) |
| 28a | Easy to understand // addict attending pre-season game? (4-8) |
Friendly[5] is a British term for a game or match that does not form part of a serious competition ⇒
Exhibition games are the NFL equivalent of football's [soccer's] meaningless pre-season friendlies.
Down
| 1d | Friend invested in gold rings, originally // a dabbler (7) |
| 2d | Don raised // tennis umpire's call? (3,2) |
In tennis, "not up"[7] is a call given by the umpire when a player plays a ball that has already bounced twice, i.e. the ball was out of play when the player played it.
| 3d | Stage entertainer /is/ tense after python uncoiled (9) |
| 4d | Job /of/ Tut, primarily, when king (4) |
Scratching the Surface
| |
|---|---|
| Tutankhamen[5] (also Tutankhamun) (died c.1352 BC) (colloquially known as King Tut[7]) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, reigned c.1361–c.1352 BC. His tomb, containing a wealth of rich and varied contents, was discovered virtually intact by the English archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922. |
| 5d | A lovable rogue, // especially (5,3) |
| 6d | Greek character // employed by local pharmacy (5) |
Alpha[5] is the first letter of the Greek alphabet (Α, α).
| 7d | Brief argument /in/ place where shares are traded? (8) |
| 8d | Hide mostly // hidden (6) |
| 14d | Supplier of caviar, // one who operates across heart of Vietnam (8) |
| 16d | Cook married a character /in/ a long complicated procedure (9) |
| 17d | Check on reportedly pricey // animal (8) |
| 18d | Force // small lock (6) |
| 20d | Apologetic about church /suggesting/ witchcraft (7) |
"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.
hide
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.
hide
| 22d | Below zero // in America after end of snowstorm (5) |
| 24d | Difficult to carry round // store (5) |
| 25d | Couple/'s/ piano tune (4) |
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] - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Dictionary of English)
[6] - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.