Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29388 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Friday, June 12, 2020 | |
Setter
Silvanus | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29388]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Deep Threat | |
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
I found this puzzle to be more than a bit of a challenge. As many others reported on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the top half went in fairly readily but the bottom half was a different story.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 | Put on music // that epitomises Ireland (8) |
| 6a | Their husbands are late, // extra hands of cards? (6) |
In some card games, a widow[10] is an additional hand or set of cards exposed on the table.
| 9a | Arbitrator // acceptable for head of large organisation (6) |
"acceptable " = U [upper class]
In Britain, U[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒
The term, an abbreviation of upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).
In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable).
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In Britain, U[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒
U manners.
The term, an abbreviation of upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).
In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable).
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| 10a | Assess // time sat working on end of puzzle (8) |
| 11a | Painful inflammation // in shoulders; it is rubbing when turning round (8) |
| 12a | Poor /of/ America leaving country (6) |
| 13a | Threat // continued in a broadcast (12) |
| 16a | Gullible character gets taken in by young men, // extortionists (12) |
Blood[5] is a dated term for a fashionable and dashing young man ⇒
a group of young bloods.
| 19a | Arranges // classes in society (6) |
An order[5] is a social class ⇒
the upper social orders.
| 21a | TV presenter prompts // report of traffic congestion? (8) |
The solution sounds like (report of) AUTO QUEUE (traffic congestion).
Queue[5] is a chiefly British term meaning a line or sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn to be attended to or to proceed. As Collins English Dictionary states, the usual US and Canadian term (in this sense of the word) is line[10].
Presenter[5] is a British* term for a person who introduces and appears in a television or radio programme.
* In North America, more specific terms such as host, emcee, announcer or anchor might be used for such a person. Some — or perhaps all — of these terms are also used in the UK but presenter is a general term that covers all the bases.
Autocue[5] (British trademark) is the British name for a teleprompter[5]. Here the setter uses the name of the device to mean the information provided by the device.
| 23a | Notorious // home recognised by many (8) |
| 24a | Warning /of/ cold front of Arctic temperature, including hail (6) |
Hail[5] is an archaic expression of greeting or acclaim ⇒
hail, Caesar!.
Ave[5] is a literary term denoting a shout of welcome or farewell.
| 25a | Remained // steady after a wobble (6) |
| 26a | Type of group // that might get under one's skin? (8) |
Although I have marked this clue as a double definition, I seriously considered showing it as a cryptic definition (which I see Deep Threat has done in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog). I think a valid argument can likely be made for either approach.
Down
| 2d | Comedy // occasion contains unlimited smut, on reflection (6) |
| 3d | Isle's receiving investment, primarily /in/ electricity supply perhaps (5) |
The Isle of Man[5]
(abbreviation IOM[5])
is an island in the Irish Sea (show more ).
The island is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system. It was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes.
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The island is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system. It was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes.
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In Britain, the mains[5] is the term used for the source of public water, gas, or electricity supply through pipes or cables ⇒ (i)
the camcorder can be run directly off the mains; (ii)
switch off the mains supply.
| 4d | Subtle hints /from/ public individuals (9) |
| 5d | Continues // to provide financial support for offspring (5,2) |
| 6d | Charming woman // that tests consumer products on the radio (5) |
Which? is a brand name used by the Consumers' Association, the UK's largest consumer organization. The organization promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights and offering independent advice. The organisation’s principal publication, Which? magazine, reports on consumer issues of the day, publishes product testing results and findings of original research and investigations.
| 7d | Projects one's personality over // questionable date with Simon (9) |
| 8d | Drink before card game /contributing to/ final defeat? (8) |
Loo[5] is a gambling card game, popular from the 17th to the 19th centuries, in which a player who fails to win a trick must pay a sum to a pool.
Waterloo[10,12] is a town in central Belgium, south of Brussels, that was the scene of Napoleon's final defeat (June 18, 1815) by British and Prussian forces under Wellington & Blücher. The name of the town has come to symbolize a total or crushing defeat (especially in the phrase meet one's Waterloo).
| 13d | Ungulate // roamed freely with no rain around (9) |
| 14d | Same // bird seen regularly, it rises above California (9) |
| 15d | /When/ wine keeps cool, // it can produce something mellow (8) |
Due to the inverted sentence structure employed by the setter, the link word "when" is found at the beginning of the clue.
Claret[5] is a red wine from Bordeaux, or wine of a similar character made elsewhere.
| 17d | Body /established by/ Princess Anne having alternative informal title? (7) |
Princess Anne is the sister of Prince Charles or, informally, Chas.' sis.
Chassis[10] is a slang term for the body of a person, especially a woman.
| 18d | Number of years below average adult spent /in/ household (6) |
"adult " = A [former British film certificate]
The A (Adult) certificate is a former film certificate[7] issued by the British Board of Film Classification. This certificate existed in various forms from 1912 to 1985, when it was replaced by the PG (Parental Guidance) certificate. [Despite its demise in the real world, it continues to find widespread use in Crosswordland.]
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The A (Adult) certificate is a former film certificate[7] issued by the British Board of Film Classification. This certificate existed in various forms from 1912 to 1985, when it was replaced by the PG (Parental Guidance) certificate. [Despite its demise in the real world, it continues to find widespread use in Crosswordland.]
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| 20d | Reprimand // Surrey captain over loftily dropping openers (5) |
Scratching the Surface
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| The Surrey County* Cricket Club[7] is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the top level of the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure. * Surrey[5] is a county of southeastern England. In cricket, an opener[2] is either of the two* batsmen who begin the batting for their team. * in cricket, batsmen always bat in pairs |
| 22d | Artist goes missing from mobile home /in/ Irish county (5) |
"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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Caravan[5] is the British name for a trailer[5], a vehicle equipped for living in, typically towed by a car and used for holidays [vacation] ⇒ (i)
they spent a fishing holiday in a caravan; (ii)
a caravan holiday.
Cavan[5] (also County Cavan) is a county of the Republic of Ireland, part of the old province of Ulster.
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
Certainly was a tough one. SE corner totally escaped me except for 22d
ReplyDeleteYes, I struggled in the SE (and, to some extent, in the SW as well). Luckily, I remembered the British teleprompter from a puzzle some time ago, which helped me out a bit in the SE.
Delete