Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29353 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, May 2, 2020 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29353]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Tilsit | |
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 Friday Diversions page in the Thursday, December 24, 2020 edition of the National Post. As of March 28, 2020, The Daily Telegraph suspended the contests associated with its Saturday (and Sunday) puzzles due to logistical issues created by the COVID-19 situation. As a result, effective with the April 4, 2020 puzzle (published in the National Post on November 30, 2020) and continuing until such time as the contests are reinstated, you will find only a single post on Big Dave's Crossword Blog related to the Saturday puzzle. During this period, the post for the Saturday puzzle will be a full review in the same format as the posts for weekday puzzles. | |
Introduction
Merry Christmas everyone. With gatherings discouraged, many of us may be looking for something to do on Christmas Day to pass the time so the puzzle will likely be welcome in some quarters.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
| 7a | Russian poet // to practise nepotism? (7) |
Aleksandr Pushkin[5] (1799–1837) was a Russian poet, novelist, and playwright. (show more )
He wrote prolifically in many genres; his first success was the romantic narrative poem Ruslan and Ludmilla (1820). Other notable works include the verse novel Eugene Onegin (1833) and the blank-verse historical drama Boris Godunov (1831).
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He wrote prolifically in many genres; his first success was the romantic narrative poem Ruslan and Ludmilla (1820). Other notable works include the verse novel Eugene Onegin (1833) and the blank-verse historical drama Boris Godunov (1831).
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| 8a & 10a | Poet // leaving document, one that's equivalent to a picture, it's said? (7,10) |
It's said "a picture is worth a thousand words".
William Wordsworth[5] (1770–1850) was an English poet. (show more )
Much of his work was inspired by the Lake District. His Lyrical Ballads (1798), which was composed with Coleridge and included ‘Tintern Abbey’, was a landmark in romanticism. Other notable poems: ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ (sonnet, 1815) and The Prelude (1850). He was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1843.
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Much of his work was inspired by the Lake District. His Lyrical Ballads (1798), which was composed with Coleridge and included ‘Tintern Abbey’, was a landmark in romanticism. Other notable poems: ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ (sonnet, 1815) and The Prelude (1850). He was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1843.
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| 10a | See 8a |
| 11a | Soldiers in street // establish order (4) |
"soldiers " = OR [other ranks]
In the British armed forces, the term other ranks[5] (abbreviation OR[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.
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In the British armed forces, the term other ranks[5] (abbreviation OR[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.
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| 12a | More than one Trump // enthusiast gets on (8) |
Trump[5] is an archaic term for a trumpet or a trumpet blast.
"A trumpet blast" is an apt name for one who delights in blowing their own horn, don't you think?
| 14a | Old film star catches end of finger /in/ mangle (6) |
Clark Gable[5] (1901–1660) was an American actor, famous for films such as It Happened One Night (1934), for which he won an Oscar, and Gone with the Wind (1939).
Scratching the Surface
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| In the surface reading, mangle[5] is used in a British sense meaning a machine having two or more rollers turned by a handle, between which wet laundry is squeezed to remove excess moisture. * In Britain, such a device is also known as a wringer[10] which, to my knowledge, is the only name that it goes by in North America. |
| 15a | Had an accident /while/ jogging for sport in the Lake District? (4-7) |
The Lake District[5] is a region of lakes and mountains in Cumbria[5], a county in north-western England.
A fell[5] is a hill or stretch of high moorland, especially in northern England.
Fell running[5] (or fell-running[1,2]) is the sport or activity of running over fells or hilly terrain, especially in north-west England.
| 19a | Chat // about following in taxi (6) |
| 20a | Lower-class gentleman /producing/ blower in car (8) |
The term "lower-class" in the clue alludes to the two lowest categories in the NRS social grades[7], a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. The categories were originally developed by the National Readership Survey to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider applications and have become a standard for market research. They were developed over 50 years ago and achieved widespread usage in 20th Century Britain. The classifications, which are based on the occupation of the head of the household, are shown in the following table.
| Grade | Social class | Chief income earner's occupation |
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| A | upper middle class | Higher managerial, administrative or professional |
| B | middle class | Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional |
| C1 | lower middle class | Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional |
| C2 | skilled working class | Skilled manual workers |
| D | working class | Semi and unskilled manual workers |
| E | Those at the lowest levels of subsistence | Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on the welfare state for their income |
Demister[5] is a British* term for equipment to clear condensation from a vehicle's windscreen [windshield].
* known in North America as a defogger[5]
| 22a | Bustle // can // arouse (4) |
Despite it requiring the use of an Americanism, some Brits saw this a being a triple definition.
From a British perspective, the can[5] is an informal North American term for a prison ⇒
our friends will get a year or two in the can.
Stir[5] is an informal term for prison [on both sides of the Atlantic] ⇒
I’ve spent twenty-eight years in stir.
| 23a | Boxing film featuring a programme /of/ music popular in rural USA (10) |
Rocky[7] is a 1976 American sports drama film written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated, kind-hearted working class Italian-American boxer, working as a debt collector for a loan shark in the slums of Philadelphia. Rocky, a small-time club fighter, gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship.
Rockabilly[5] is a type of popular music, originating in the south-eastern US in the 1950s, combining elements of rock and roll and country music.
Origin: 1950s: blend of rock and roll and hillbilly
| 25a | Church dignitary /that could make/ power tell (7) |
Prelate[5] is a formal or historical term for a bishop or other high ecclesiastical dignitary.
| 26a | Supporting // British in competition (7) |
Down
| 1d | Shropshire University College erected // domes (7) |
Salop[5] is another name for Shropshire[5], a county of England, situated on the border with Wales. It was the official name of the county 1974–80.
UC[5] is the abbreviation for University College[5], an institution providing higher education but without full or independent university status*.
* The exact status and organization of a university college varies from place to place. In the United Kingdom, the title was formerly given to colleges of higher education affiliated with but not part of a university, and usually unable to grant their own degrees. The title now confers a status intermediate between that of a university and a college, and institutions holding it are usually wholly independent.
| 2d | Get rid of // outbuilding (4) |
| 3d | One observes // contrary directions in Mozart's quartet (6) |
As an Austrian, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart[5] (1756–1791) spoke German.
The German word for 'four' is vier[8].
Note: For the wordplay to work, quartet must be interpreted in the general sense of a set of four people or things ⇒
a quartet of comfortable armchairs. In a specifically musical context, the German word for 'quartet'[8] is Quartett.
| 4d | I'm aching running round // lake (8) |
| 5d | Show solidarity /with/ no slackers about (5,5) |
| 6d | Employees // seek opinions about Scottish town (7) |
Ayr[5] is a port in southwestern Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde.
| 9d | She wrote // horrid music, discordant (4,7) |
Dame Iris Murdoch[5] (1919–1999) was a British novelist and philosopher, born in Ireland. (show more )
She is primarily known for her novels, many of which explore complex sexual relationships and spiritual life. Notable novels: The Sandcastle (1957) and The Sea, The Sea (Booker Prize, 1978).
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She is primarily known for her novels, many of which explore complex sexual relationships and spiritual life. Notable novels: The Sandcastle (1957) and The Sea, The Sea (Booker Prize, 1978).
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| 13d | Affray // with no-one being charged (4-3-3) |
| 16d | Deliver // one booze half-heartedly, taking too much time about it (8) |
| 17d | Make better clothes available /in/ Dior's business? (7) |
Christian Dior SE[7], commonly known as Dior, is a European luxury goods company founded in 1946 by the eponymous designer Christian Dior (1905–1957). Today the company designs and retails ready-to-wear, leather goods, fashion accessories, footwear, jewelry, timepieces, fragrance, make-up, and skincare products while also maintaining its tradition as a creator of recognized haute-couture.
| 18d | Became friends with independent // film director (7) |
"independent " = I [politician with no party affiliation]
I[1] is the abbreviation for independent, in all likelihood in the sense of a politician with no party affiliation.
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I[1] is the abbreviation for independent, in all likelihood in the sense of a politician with no party affiliation.
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Frederico Fellini[5] (1920–1993) was an Italian film director. He rose to international fame with La Strada (1954), which won an Oscar for best foreign film. Other major films include La Dolce Vita (1960), a satire on Rome’s high society.
| 21d | Spare // silver collected in pool (6) |
Mere[5] is a literary British term for a lake or pond ⇒
the stream widens into a mere where hundreds of geese gather.
* Those of us in Ottawa should be familiar with this word as the Mackenzie King Estate (the country estate of Canada’s 10th and longest-serving prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King) is located just across the Ottawa River in Kingsmere, Quebec, on the shores of Kingsmere Lake (a name which surely amounts to Kingslake Lake).
| 24d | Long // sales talk with no pressure (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
Merry Christmas Falcon. Did puzzle while better half cooked Christmas breakfast. 6d and 18d escaped me with electronic help needed for 3d. Enjoy the day as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's always gratifying to see a comment or two on the blog.
ReplyDelete