Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29312 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, March 16, 2020 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29312]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
pommers | |
BD rating
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| Difficulty - ★★ | Enjoyment - ★★★ |
Falcon's experience
┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐
███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ | |
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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, November 7, 2020 edition of the National Post. | |
Introduction
A typical Campbell puzzle that first appeared eight months ago in the UK just as the COVID-19 lockdown began. I found it interesting that the solution to one of the clues in this puzzle also appears in the puzzle published today in The Daily Telegraph (which I reviewed for Big Dave's Crossword Blog). In the latter puzzle, the solution to 19d is clued:- 18d House harbouring a bad-tempered person (6)
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 | Issue returned by boy // at the last moment (4,2,4) |
| 6a | Somewhat obscene material // turning stomachs over (4) |
Tum[10] is an informal or childish word for stomach.
| 10a | Monk astride large // pack animal (5) |
A lama[10] is a priest or monk of Lamaism[10], the Mahayana form of Buddhism of Tibet and Mongolia.
| 11a | Laird, perhaps, /in/ an unhappy mood by end of tribunal (9) |
In Scotland, a laird[5] is a person who owns a large estate.
| 12a | Well-liked // university in London area (7) |
Poplar[7] is a historic, mainly residential area of East London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east of Charing Cross*.
* Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross[7] (a street junction in the City of Westminster) has generally been accepted as the notional "centre of London" and is the point from which distances from London are calculated.
| 13a | Bad lot, I suspect, /in/ newspaper (7) |
| 14a | What a crane may get, /and/ what one may get from a crane? (5-3,4) |
| 18a | Book // full of promise about Cochran's style of music? (8,4) |
Eddie Cochran[7] (1938 – 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody", and "Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. His image as a sharply dressed and attractive young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker, and in death* he achieved iconic status.
* Cochran was killed in April 1960 while travelling by taxi from Bristol to London following the last concert on a British tour. The driver lost control of the vehicle which crashed into a concrete lamp post. The driver, who was found to be speeding, was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50 (and in default of payment six months imprisonment), and disqualified from driving for 15 years. The driving disqualification was lifted in 1968 because the driver "had suffered considerable financial hardship". Excuse me! Isn't that the point of punishment.
Brighton Rock[7] is a novel by English writer Graham Greene (1904 – 1991), published in 1938 and later adapted for film in 1947 and 2010. The novel is a murder thriller set in 1930s Brighton, England. The title refers to a confectionery traditionally sold at seaside resorts, which in the novel is used as a metaphor for the personality of Pinkie, one of the main characters in the novel.
Post Mortem
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| I suspected the correct solution based on the pattern of the checking letters. However, the parsing eluded me. Not being familiar with the novel or the films based on it, I supposed that Brighton rock was a British music genre (like Merseybeat) and, although Eddie Cochran did enter my mind, I spent some considerable time searching for a British rocker named Cochran who might be associated with this non-existent genre. Thus I was left trying to somehow piece together B (book) and RIGHT ON (full of promise) to arrive at a solution defined by "Cochran's style of music". |
| 21a | Boyfriend, initially visiting model prison, /brings/ pot (4-3) |
The jug[5] is an informal term for prison ⇒
three months in the jug.
Pot[10] is used in the sense of a large mug or tankard, as for beer.
The term Toby jug[5] (or toby jug[2], often shortened to toby) is a British name for a beer jug or mug in the form of a stout old man wearing a three-cornered hat.
Origin: Mid 19th century: pet form of the given name Tobias, and said to come from an 18th-century poem about Toby Philpot (with a pun on fill pot), a soldier who liked to drink.
| 23a | Feeling // demonstrated by symbol Charlie left out (7) |
An emoticon[5] is a representation of a facial expression such as a smile or frown, formed by various combinations of keyboard characters and used to convey the writer's feelings or intended tone ⇒
flag your jokes with emoticons, such as a smiley face :-), to avoid misunderstandings.
"Charlie " = C [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]
In what is commonly known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet[7]*, Charlie[5] is a code word representing the letter C.
* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet
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In what is commonly known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet[7]*, Charlie[5] is a code word representing the letter C.
* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet
hide
| 24a | Revolutionary // tsar China crushed (9) |
| 25a | Crown // I found inside O'Hara's plantation (5) |
Scarlett O'Hara[7] is a fictional character and the main protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind. Tara[7] is the name of the fictional plantation on which she was born and raised.
| 26a | Changed course, reportedly, /showing/ diplomacy (4) |
| 27a | Old TV show for children /produced by/ drama group (4,6) |
Play School[7] was a British children's television series produced by the BBC which ran from 1964 until 1988.
Down
| 1d | Left work in American sucker/'s/ tin lizzie (6) |
According to The Chambers Dictionary, jay[1] is US slang* for a stupid, awkward or easily duped person.
* While two out of three US dictionaries do not support this contention, defining jay[3,11] as either (1) an overly talkative person or chatterbox or (2) a fop or dandy, a third dictionary does lend support, defining jay[12] as a foolish or talkative person. I can certainly see why a bluejay would epitomize a chatterbox or a dandy, but why it would exemplify stupidity is beyond me. I thought that bluejays, like other members of the crow family, have a reputation for intelligence.
| 2d | Smart, // agent snatching short sleep (6) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Is it a coincidence or might the surface reading be an allusion to Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) from the 1960s television series Get Smart[7] which parodied the secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of that decade with the release of the first James Bond films. |
| 3d | Maiden secured by one fairly good ball -- // never mind the others! (2,3,5,4) |
"maiden " = M [scoreless over in cricket]
In cricket, a maiden[5], also known as a maiden over and denoted on cricket scorecards by the abbreviation m.[10], is an over* in which no runs are scored.
* An over[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.
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In cricket, a maiden[5], also known as a maiden over and denoted on cricket scorecards by the abbreviation m.[10], is an over* in which no runs are scored.
* An over[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.
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A jack[5] is a small white ball in the game of bowls*[5], at which the players aim.
* known in North America as lawn bowling[5]
"I'm all right, Jack"[10] is an informal British expression indicating smug and complacent selfishness.
| 4d | Listener participation show // at RKO -- dial free (4,5) |
Scratching the Surface
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| RKO Pictures[7], an American film production and distribution company, was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The studio is renowned for its cycle of musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the mid-to-late 1930s as well as for producing two of the most famous films in motion picture history: King Kong and Citizen Kane. The company ceased production in 1957 and was dissolved two years later. A successor company, RKO Radio Networks[7], operated radio stations in the US up to 1985 at which time the company was sold. After a complex series of further sales and corporate restructurings, the stations appear to have become part of the Mutual Broadcasting System. After all this research, I failed to find any connection between RKO and British radio. |
| 5d | Mount enthralling solitary // landscape painter (5) |
Claude Monet[10] (1840–1926) was a French landscape painter and the leading exponent of impressionism. (show more )
His interest in the effect of light on colour led him to paint series of pictures of the same subject at different times of day. These include Haystacks (1889–93), Rouen Cathedral (1892–94), the Thames (1899–1904), and Water Lilies (1899–1906).
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His interest in the effect of light on colour led him to paint series of pictures of the same subject at different times of day. These include Haystacks (1889–93), Rouen Cathedral (1892–94), the Thames (1899–1904), and Water Lilies (1899–1906).
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| 7d | Guy, old, playing popular // instrument (8) |
| 8d | Go lower /and/ lower (4,4) |
| 9d | Puzzle // about circles circulated after party (6,8) |
A double acrostic[5] is an acrostic* in which the first and last letters of each line form a hidden word or words.
* An acrostic[5] is a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words.
| 15d | Seriously // ahead of time parked outside home (9) |
| 16d | Remove // a bishop's booklet (8) |
Abstract[5] (usually abstract something from) is used in the sense of to extract or remove (something) ⇒
applications to abstract more water from streams.
| 17d | Passing across note, Calvin ordered // something to drink in a Parisian bar (3,5) |
Vin blanc[8] is French for white wine.
| 19d | Domineering female // artist in Spanish port (6) |
"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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Vigo[5] is a port on the Atlantic in Galicia, northwestern Spain.
| 20d | Characters immersed in scandal lied, // as well as the rest (3,3) |
| 22d | Cook /taking/ breather round middle of afternoon (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] - 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
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