Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29395 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, June 20, 2020 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29395 – Hints]Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29395 – Review] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Tilsit (Hints)gnomethang (Review) | |
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, February 20, 2021 edition of the National Post. As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review. | |
Introduction
I needed a lot of electronic help to finish this one.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 | Cheat to start // puzzle (8) |
Post Mortem
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| Not an auspicious start; you might say I was confounded by this clue. |
| 5a | Player // is wearing tight boot (6) |
As an anagram indicator, tight[5] is used in the informal sense of drunk ⇒
he got tight on brandy.
| 9a | Inherit // clubs with mixed emotion (4,4) |
| 10a | Take shells from water, anxious, and see // fish (6) |
The wrasse[2,5] is a bony marine fish with thick lips and strong teeth, typically brightly coloured with marked differences between the male and female.
Origin: from a Cornish word meaning 'old woman'.
| 12a | Bill in close-fitting jacket /for/ performance (6,3) |
A doublet[5,10] is a man's short close-fitting padded jacket with or without sleeves, commonly worn from the 14th to the 17th century (especially in the phrase doublet and hose) ⇒
they were wearing red velvet doublets and hose.
A double act[5] is a seemingly British term* for a performance involving two people ⇒
the best comic double act of its time.
* Also known as a comedy duo[7] (or, I would venture, comedy pair), terms which are familiar to me; I did not find the term double act in my US dictionaries
| 13a | Floridian city // monkey caught? (5) |
Post Mortem
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| Although not the final clue to be solved, this was by far the last to be parsed. It finally hit me that "caught" is referring to something caught by the ear. |
The word "TAMPER" , when pronounced in a non-rhotic accent (show explanation ) typical of dialects found in many parts of Britain (especially southeastern England), sounds like "TAMPA".
Non-rhotic accents omit the sound < r > in certain situations, while rhotic accents generally pronounce < r > in all contexts. Among the several dozen British English accents which exist, many are non-rhotic while American English (US and Canadian) is mainly rhotic. This is, however, a generalisation, as there are areas of Britain that are rhotic, and areas of America that are non-rhotic. For more information, see this guide to pronouncing < r > in British English.
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Non-rhotic accents omit the sound < r > in certain situations, while rhotic accents generally pronounce < r > in all contexts. Among the several dozen British English accents which exist, many are non-rhotic while American English (US and Canadian) is mainly rhotic. This is, however, a generalisation, as there are areas of Britain that are rhotic, and areas of America that are non-rhotic. For more information, see this guide to pronouncing < r > in British English.
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| 14a | Release // without charge (4) |
| 16a | Glorious // under the Linden tree? (7) |
Tilia[7] is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they are commonly called lime trees or lime bushes, although they are not closely related to the tree that produces the lime fruit.
| 19a | City subordinate // to address filth in lucre? (7) |
The definition is a cryptic allusion to money laundering.
| 21a | Have quick look in either direction (4) |
The latter portion of the clue does not provide a second independent route to the solution, but rather elaborates on a characteristic of the precise definition — namely that it is a palindrome.
| 24a | United supporters returned /in/ chaos (5) |
Snafu[5] is an informal North American term for a confused or chaotic state; in other words, a mess.
* Origin: a rather rude acronym for Situation Normal All F***ed Up.
The clue got took some flack on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, as much — if not more — for being an Americanism as for its coarseness.
| 25a | Cheerfully irresponsible // friends retired in good spirits (4-5) |
| 27a | Ambassador blocks Conservative // plan (6) |
HE[2] is the abbreviation for His or Her Excellency*.
* Excellency[2] (usually His, Her or Your Excellency or Your or Their Excellencies) a title of honour given to certain people of high rank, e.g. ambassadors.
"Conservative " = TORY [member of British political party]
The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.[10] or Con.[10].
The Conservative Party[5] is a major right of centre British political party promoting free enterprise and private ownership that emerged from the old Tory Party* under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s.
* Historically, a Tory[10] was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.
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The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.[10] or Con.[10].
The Conservative Party[5] is a major right of centre British political party promoting free enterprise and private ownership that emerged from the old Tory Party* under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s.
* Historically, a Tory[10] was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.
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| 28a | Not fair /when/ superior virtually eclipses career (8) |
Post Mortem
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| Although I got the solution (admittedly with the aid of a wordfinder application), parsing was another matter, the clue holding out to almost the end — outlasted only by 13a. |
Career[5] is used in the sense of to move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way.
| 29a | Hate // exam following low grades (6) |
| 30a | Singer/'s/ very nearly changed name (4,4) |
"very " = V [context uncertain]
The abbreviation* v (or v.)[1,2,5,10] stands for very.
* Although this abbreviation is found in most of my British dictionaries, it does not appear in any of my American dictionaries. Unfortunately no explanation is given as to the specific context in which one might encounter this usage. The only possibility that I can imagine is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments.
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The abbreviation* v (or v.)[1,2,5,10] stands for very.
* Although this abbreviation is found in most of my British dictionaries, it does not appear in any of my American dictionaries. Unfortunately no explanation is given as to the specific context in which one might encounter this usage. The only possibility that I can imagine is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments.
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Dame Vera Lynn*[5,7] (1917–2020) was an English singer, widely known as "the Forces' Sweetheart". She is known chiefly for her rendering of such songs as ‘We’ll Meet Again‘ and ’White Cliffs of Dover', which she sang to the troops in the Second World War.
* Born Vera Margaret Welch, she adopted her maternal grandmother Margaret's maiden name "Lynn" as her stage name.
In an ironic, or fortuitous, coincidence, she passed away on June 18, 2020 — two days prior to the appearance of this puzzle in The Daily Telegraph.
Down
| 1d | Scoundrel in American intelligence /finds/ bug (6) |
"American intelligence " = CIA
| 2d | Cloud /and/ rain, finally -- I'm taking public transport (6) |
A nimbus[10] is a dark grey rain-bearing cloud.
| 3d | Four, five, all regularly seen /in/ college (5) |
Oriel College[7] is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England.
| 4d | Compound // tax for dummies? (7) |
Nit[5,10] (short for nitwit) is an informal British term for a foolish person ⇒
you stupid nit!.
Rate[3] (often used in the plural) is a chiefly British term for a locally assessed property tax*.
* presumably the origin of the term ratepayer
A nitrate[10] is any salt or ester of nitric acid, such as sodium nitrate, NaNO3.
| 6d | Rabbit led astray // where food is put out (4,5) |
Bird table[5] is a British term for a small platform or table in a garden* on which food for birds is placed.
* In Britain,a garden[2,10] is what North Americans would call a yard, i.e. it encompasses both the lawn as well as what North Americans would think of as a garden. In Britain, a yard[10] is a piece of enclosed ground, usually either paved [covered with paving stones] or laid with concrete and often adjoining or surrounded by a building or buildings.
| 7d | Not really a problem one can sleep on? (8) |
| 8d | Adolescent // ate green bananas (8) |
| 11d | Love but no husband for this // regretful lady (4) |
"love " = O [nil score in tennis]
In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).
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In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.
Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).
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"Miss Otis Regrets"[7] is a song composed in 1934 by American composer and songwriter Cole Porter about the lynching of a society woman after she murders her unfaithful lover.
Delving Deeper
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| The song is a murder ballad which involves a reversal of roles: a white woman from aristocratic society is lynched after she shoots and kills her lover. Lynching was at the time very widely reported and discussed in the United States, but by far the majority of cases were being carried out against working class male African Americans. The song reverses the gender, class and racial roles to produce an anti-lynching narrative. |
| 15d | Looking embarrassed, protects // Maoists (3,6) |
Red Guards[5] were members of the Red Guard, a militant youth movement in China (1966–76) which carried out attacks on intellectuals and other disfavoured groups as part of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.
| 17d | Mean 50s lout // shut away (8) |
Ted[2] is short for Teddy boy[5], a slang term originally applied to a young man belonging to a subculture in 1950s Britain characterized by a style of dress based on Edwardian fashion (typically with drainpipe trousers, bootlace tie, and hair slicked up in a quiff* and a liking for rock-and-roll music. The name comes from from Teddy, pet form of the given name Edward (with reference to Edward VII's reign). Judging by the entry in the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, it would appear that the term Teddy boy[2] is now applied to any unruly or rowdy adolescent male.
* Quiff[3,4] is a chiefly British term for a prominent tuft of hair, especially one brushed up above the forehead.
| 18d | Shoot a troublemaker /in/ European city (8) |
Budapest[5] is the capital of Hungary. The city was formed in 1873 by the union of the hilly city of Buda on the right bank of the River Danube with the low-lying city of Pest on the left.
| 20d | Climber // came up (4) |
A climber[5] is a climbing plant ⇒
A popular shrub rose that can be trained as a climber is Constance Spry with huge clusters of pale pink blooms.
| 21d | Couple crossing river that is /in/ grassland (7) |
| 22d | Eating too much, mole // covered in pimples (6) |
| 23d | Dragon, // mostly green, captured by Welshman (6) |
Vert[5] is green, as a heraldic tincture.
Wyn[7] is a Welsh surname and given name.
In heraldry, a wyvern[5] is a winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail.
| 26d | Bird over new atomic // plant (5) |
A[1] is the abbreviation for atomic, as in A-bomb.
Henna[5] is an Old World shrub with small pink, red, or white flowers whose powdered leaves are the source of a reddish-brown dye (also called henna) used to colour the hair and decorate the body.
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)
[15] - CollinsDictionary.com (Penguin Random House LLC/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd )
Signing off for today — Falcon
Bottom right gave me grief. 15d, 18d and 27d. And 23d of course. Should probably have got them with a bit of cogitation. 23d wasn’t happening.
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