Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29313 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29313]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Mr K | |
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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Introduction
It is interesting to read the comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog relating to the first week of the lockdown.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 | Reason for yawning /in/ bedroom, unsound (7) |
| 5a | Cancel // a British language, but not initially (7) |
| 9a | Butterfly // mark (5) |
The comma[5,7] (also comma butterfly) is a widespread butterfly that has orange and brown wings with ragged edges, and a white comma-shaped mark on the underside of the hindwing. It is found in Europe, North Africa, and Asia.
| 10a | Vaudeville // is making a comeback, much on the periphery, everything considered (5,4) |
Music hall[5] is a form of variety entertainment popular in Britain from c.1850, consisting of singing, dancing, comedy, acrobatics, and novelty acts. Its popularity declined after the First World War with the rise of the cinema.
| 11a | Writing skill // happens in novel about maiden (10) |
"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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| 12a | But one /is/ a monster! (4) |
The yeti[5] (also called Abominable Snowman[5]) is a large hairy creature resembling a human or bear, said to live in the highest part of the Himalayas.
| 14a | Mission in embracing old gospeller // ? (8,4) |
"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.
Another possibility arises from the British abbreviation OAP[5] standing for old-age pensioner.
hide
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.
Another possibility arises from the British abbreviation OAP[5] standing for old-age pensioner.
hide
Mark[5] is the second Gospel in the Christian Bible, traditionally ascribed to St Mark*, an Apostle, companion of St Peter and St Paul.
* Most scholars now regard the Gospel According to Mark as the earliest written gospel and some also reject the tradition which ascribes it to Mark the Evangelist and regard it as the work of an unknown author[7].
The definition is the question mark symbol. Note that, unlike the usual positioning, it is separated from the rest of the clue by a space.
| 18a | Where many miles are covered, // eventually (2,3,4,3) |
| 21a | Cheese // prepared on the turn? (4) |
Edam[5] is a round Dutch cheese, typically pale yellow with a red wax coating.
| 22a | Control // quota to include backing of winter sport (10) |
If you look in a British dictionary, I am sure you will be surprised to see luge[5] defined as a light toboggan for one or two people, ridden in a sitting or supine position. To Brits, the term toboggan encompasses sleds* (a vehicle with runners) as well as proper toboggans (a vehicle without runners). The French borrowed the name toboggan from the Algonquin language and the English borrowed it from French. I can only guess that some clueless colonial administrator took the word back to England, in the process garbling its meaning.
* which Brits would call sledges[5]
| 25a | Knowing // conga isn't unusual (9) |
| 26a | Small picture // I placed beside leader in newspaper (5) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Leader[10] (also called leading article) is a mainly British term for the leading editorial in a newspaper. |
| 27a | English county formerly, // until, oddly, getting into foreign currency (7) |
The rand[5] (abbreviation R[10]) is the basic monetary unit of South Africa,
Rutland[10] is an inland county of central England: the smallest of the historical English counties, it became part of Leicestershire in 1974 but was reinstated as an independent unitary authority in 1997*.
* I interpret this to mean that Rutland lost its county status for close to a quarter century but regained it in 1997. However, even after wading through articles on historical counties, ceremonial counties, metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, postal counties, lieutenancies and shrieval counties, I really am still not certain — and perhaps the setter isn't either. [Note: Several comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog confirm that Rutland has indeed had its county status reinstated. The comments also show that some Brits were seemingly having as much difficulty as myself in attempting to determine the status of Rutland.]
| 28a | In majestic style, // series of tennis shots entertaining for example (7) |
Down
| 1d | Pecs I suspect under top of big // muscle (6) |
| 2d | Bloke in crimson /gets/ place in custody (6) |
| 3d | Short piece about a // person who's overly emotional (5,5) |
Short[5] (noun) is a British term for a drink of spirits served in a small measure* or, as Collins English Dictionary puts it, a short[10] is a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer.
Dram[5] is a Scottish term for a small drink of whiskey or other spirits ⇒
a wee dram to ward off the winter chill.
A piece[5] is a figure or token used to make moves in a board game ⇒
a chess piece.
| 4d | Parent has final word /in/ complaint (5) |
One is seldom wrong in assuming that a complaint in Crosswordland is medical in nature.
| 5d | While on the water, // launching an attack (9) |
| 6d | Head scratched, contact // that hurt! (4) |
| 7d | Easy raid, botched // probably (1,4,3) |
| 8d | For a bit, Rachel's in Kigali, // capital city (8) |
Helsinki[5] is the capital of Finland, a port in the south on the Gulf of Finland.
Scratching the Surface
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| Kigali[5] is the capital of Rwanda[5], a landlocked country in central Africa, to the north of Burundi and the south of Uganda. |
| 13d | Covering // article, rude about it (10) |
| 15d | Where runs are registered, // twenty and ten, perhaps? (9) |
| 16d | Attachment to arm // when bent, reclines (8) |
As an anagram indicator, bent[5,10] is likely being used in the (presumably British*) sense of crazy or mad.
* Although Lexico does not list this sense of the word 'bent', it does list the other senses grouped with it in Collins English Dictionary, designating all of them as British.
| 17d | Tidy, // possible deal? (8) |
| 19d | Listen out /for/ something sparkling? (6) |
| 20d | Tricky to negotiate -- // like a reef? (6) |
| 23d | State // total (5) |
| 24d | Italian city // is in middle of campaign (4) |
Pisa[5] is a city in west central Italy, in Tuscany, on the River Arno. It is noted for the ‘Leaning Tower of Pisa’, a circular bell tower which leans about 5 m (17 ft) from the perpendicular over its height of 55 m (181 ft).
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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