Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29337 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, April 14, 2020 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29337]
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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
This puzzle was published in the UK in mid-April at which time the Brits had been in lockdown for a month and were beginning to go stir-crazy with cabin fever. This seems to have led to not only a larger than normal number of comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, but also to comments that are much more long-winded than usual. However, if you have the time, there are some very entertaining contributions. If you read nothing else, you must read Gazza's impression of Donald Trump as captain of the Titanic.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 | Singer // inspired by Mozart, an Israeli looking back (7) |
| 5a | Sharp look, /as/ redundancies made (4,3) |
Redundancy[5,14] is the British term for dismissal or layoff, the state of being no longer in employment because there is no more work available ⇒
the factory's workers face redundancy.
| 9a | Parent with gun, awfully // offensive (9) |
| 10a | Moderate // king touring US city (5) |
"king " = Rex
In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms*, Rex[5] (abbreviation R[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).
* A Commonwealth realm[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.
hide
In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms*, Rex[5] (abbreviation R[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).
* A Commonwealth realm[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.
hide
| 11a | Inept earl admitting baron initially // more competent (5) |
Scratching the Surface
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| A baron[5] and an earl[5] are both members of the British nobility, the former belonging to the lowest and the latter to the third highest of the five orders — duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron. |
| 12a | Something to grease palm // sugar, say? (9) |
| 13a | Every one going back and forth, // the race frantic around house (4,5) |
At Comment #36 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, pommette asks for clarification on the solution to this clue. I have to say that it took me a while to wrap my head around it as well. According to Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries), the term each other[5] is used to refer to each member of a group when each does something to or for other members. That is, it denotes a bilateral relationship between every pair of individuals in the group or, in other words, every individual (one) in the group has a bilateral (back and forth) relationship with every other individual in the group ⇒
It is also a very social game, as the regular players on the circuit all know each other.
| 16a | Country // wintry, by the sound of it (5) |
| 17a | A fruity beauty? (5) |
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Mr K marks this clue as a double definition; however, I see it as a cryptic definition.
Peach is a colloquial term for a lovely young woman.
| 18a | Is gripping crime // Japanese, perhaps? (9) |
| 20a | To penetrate concrete, picks up // drill (9) |
| 23a | Transport mechanism's principal // emblem (5) |
| 25a | Corner // Belfast revolutionary (5) |
Belfast[5] is the capital and chief port of Northern Ireland[5] (abbreviation NI[5]), a province of the United Kingdom occupying the northeast part of Ireland.
"revolutionary " = CHE [Guevara]
Che Guevara[7]
(1928–1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author,
guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the
Cuban
Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural
symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.
hide
Che Guevara[7]
(1928–1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author,
guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the
Cuban
Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural
symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.hide
Scratching the Surface
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Che Guevara[7]
had a connection to Ireland — although it was to the Republic of Ireland rather than to Northern Ireland. He was the the great-great-great-great-grandson of Patrick Lynch[7]
(1715–1789), an Irish emigrant who left Galway in the 1740s and eventually became a significant landowner in Rio de la Plata, which is now part of Argentina. Guevara was born to Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna y Llosa and was the eldest of five children in a upper-class Argentine family of Spanish and Irish descent. Although Guevara's legal name on his birth certificate was "Ernesto Guevara", his name sometimes appears with "de la Serna" and/or "Lynch" accompanying it. Referring to Che's "restless" nature, his father declared "the first thing to note is that in my son's veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels".
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| 26a | Given further coaching, // kept bagging runs (9) |
"runs " = R [cricket notation]
| 27a | Double-dealing gets around trading place // quickly (7) |
| 28a | Very anxious, /seeing/ cut in wages (7) |
Down
| 1d | Top // expert on the water? (7) |
The phrase "expert on the water" could describe someone highly skilled on a surfboard or, in other words, a "surf ace".
| 2d | Country // friend from Tyneside? (5) |
More phrasal wordplay; a "friend from Tyneside" might be said to be a "NE pal".
Tyneside[5] is an industrial conurbation on the banks of the River Tyne, in northeastern England, stretching from Newcastle upon Tyne to the coast.
| 3d | Something like a butterfly // fluttering right to me (5,4) |
The tiger moth[5] is a stout moth which has boldly spotted and streaked wings and a hairy caterpillar (woolly bear).
| 4d | Gather // before noon on a ship (5) |
In Crosswordland, a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS[5] ⇒
the SS Canberra.
Furthermore, the phrase "on a ship" almost always denotes 'contained in SS'. However that is not the case here; today it clues preceding (on in a down clue) {A (given) + SS (ship)}.
| 5d | Church // leader in captivity had later converted (9) |
| 6d | Bird // in water gently rising (5) |
| 7d | Waste cleaned in // plant (9) |
Celandine[5] (also known as lesser celandine) is a common plant of the buttercup family which produces yellow flowers in the early spring.
Delving Deeper
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| Celandine[7] is native to Europe and west Asia. It is considered by
horticulturalists in the United Kingdom to be a persistent garden weed.
Emerging in late winter with flowers appearing March through May, its
appearance across the landscape is regarded by many as a harbinger of
spring. It is now introduced in North America, where it is known by the common name fig buttercup and considered an invasive species. The plant is poisonous if ingested raw and potentially fatal to grazing animals and livestock such as horses, cattle, and sheep. For these reasons, several US states have banned the plant or listed it as a noxious weed. |
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Mr K has pointed to a different plant, greater celandine[5], a yellow-flowered Eurasian plant of the poppy family. However, according to Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries), when used without qualification the name celandine refers to lesser celandine.
| 8d | Ash perhaps stealing a kiss, female // duty abandoned (3-4) |
| 14d | Dance where man drops foot three times? (3-3-3) |
"man " = CHAP
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'.
hide
| 15d | A setter of some style? (9) |
| 16d | Criminal's art promoted in // force (9) |
| 17d | Father calls /for/ the shaved off bits (7) |
Ring[5] is an informal — more or less British (show more ) — term for:
In North America, the word would seem to be more accepted as a noun (
hide
- (noun) a telephone call ⇒
I'd better give her a ring tomorrow
- (verb) to call by telephone ⇒
I rang her this morning
Harriet rang Dorothy up next day
; (iii)she rang to tell him the good news
In North America, the word would seem to be more accepted as a noun (
I'll give you a ring) than as a verb (
I'll ring you). According to various dictionaries, the word ring used in this sense is:
- (noun) British[2,5], chiefly British[4], mainly British[10,14], or not specified as being British[1,3,11,12]
- (verb) British[5], chiefly British[2,3,4,12], mainly British[10,14], or not specified as being British[1,11]
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| 19d | Speak about renovation of dome // in the future, perhaps? (7) |
| 21d | A fellow // negotiator (5) |
| 22d | Tulip cultivated -- // as bulb may be? (3,2) |
| 24d | Note // that's refreshing (5) |
Tonic[5] is a music term denoting the first note in a scale which, in conventional harmony, provides the keynote of a piece of music ⇒
Britten's score breaks off at bar 30, just at the moment of the return to the tonic.
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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