Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29420 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, July 20, 2020 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29420]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Falcon | |
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 proved to be a very quick solve. Not only was the difficulty level at the lower end of the range, but the number of clues was close to the lower limit as well.I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.
Variations on a Theme
Two versions of one clue in this puzzle appeared in the UK. In an unusual move, the change on the Telegraph Puzzles website was made not to correct an error in the clue nor to make the clue less challenging but rather, in my opinion, to make the clue more cryptic.The clue that was published in the print edition of The Daily Telegraph and the one that appears in the National Post is:
- 11a Something from orchard perhaps in Cape area (4)
- 11a Conference perhaps in Cape area (4)
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 | Section /of/ British farm (6) |
As I said in my blog on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, "my fellow countrymen from Western Canada might well beg to differ" when it comes to the definition of farm.
| 4a | Excellent // suggestion by spinner (6) |
| 8a | Script I better // check (8) |
| 10a | Seafood // affected one after seconds (6) |
| 11a | Something from orchard perhaps // in Cape area (4) |
The alternate (more cryptic) version of this clue posted on the Telegraph Puzzles website is:
- Conference perhaps // in Cape area (4)
| 12a | Squaddie to see // detective (7,3) |
Squaddie[5] (also squaddy) is an informal British term for a private soldier.
| 13a | Spread // a brunette put out (6,6) |
| 16a | Statement to reporters /in/ crowd about rental agreement (5,7) |
| 20a | Broadcast rejected // everywhere (10) |
| 21a | Left in container /in/ small piece of ground (4) |
| 22a | Such a one may suit you (6) |
| 23a | Assess // Virginia in the Spanish university, worried (8) |
"the Spanish " = EL [Spanish definite article]
| 24a | Hold up // picnic basket (6) |
| 25a | Lacking common sense, // boss employing Greek character (6) |
A boss[5] is a stud on the centre of a shield.
Pi[5] is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Π, π).
Down
| 1d | Couple hire // item of jewellery (8) |
When I reached this clue while composing the review, the thought hit me "the verbs 'hire' and 'let" are essentially antonyms — not synonyms". Like the verbs 'borrow' and 'lend', they each describe a transaction from the perspective of different parties to that transaction.
However, after a bit of contemplation, I came to the conclusion that despite being a verb in the surface reading, the word "hire" is used in the wordplay as a noun in the sense of rental.
As verbs, the words "hire" and "let" are pretty much opposite in meaning: A traveller hires a car from a car rental agency and a landlord lets an apartment to a tenant. These verbs are unidirectional — you certainly can't "hire to" (although you can "hire out to") or (I believe) "let from" (although I do have a feeling that the term may be used incorrectly in this way). On the other hand, the word "rent" is bidirectional: The traveller rents the car from the car rental agency and the car rental agency rents the car to the traveller; the landlord rents an apartment to a tenant and the tenant rents the apartment from the landlord. The same goes for the word "lease": you can either "lease to" or "lease from".
However, as nouns, the terms "hire" and "let" both denote rental and seem to have roughly similar meanings despite the corresponding verbs being essentially antonyms:
- let[2] (noun) is a British term denoting the leasing of a property, etc. ⇒
got the let of the cottage for £100 a week
- hire[5] (noun) is a British term meaning the action of hiring someone or something ⇒
This package includes flights, accommodation, car hire, taxes and insurance
| 2d | Run to avoid large // snake (5) |
Ladder[5] is the British term for a run in tights or stockings:
- (noun) a vertical strip of unravelled fabric in tights or stockings ⇒
one of Sally’s stockings developed a ladder
- (verb) with reference to tights or stockings, to develop or cause to develop a ladder ⇒ (i)
her tights were always laddered
; (ii)they laddered the minute I put them on
The adder[5] (also called viper) is a small venomous Eurasian snake which has a dark zigzag pattern on its back and bears live young. It is the only poisonous snake in Britain.
| 3d | Fellow overlooking mine /in/ frequent battleground (7) |
Cock[5] is an informal British expression used as a friendly form of address among men ⇒
please yourself, cock.
Cockpit[5] is used in the figurative sense of a place where a battle or other conflict takes place ⇒
Take this region, the cockpit of so much of world conflict today, as an example.
| 5d | Immediate // flash (7) |
| 6d | Not entirely // where studying at university may lead one? (2,1,6) |
The latter part of the clue is a literal interpretation of the solution.
| 7d | Fruit // indeed collected by father (6) |
Ay is a variant spelling of aye[5], an archaic or dialect* expression of assent ⇒
aye, you’re right there.
* The term is still in use when voting to signify "I assent" ⇒
all in favour say ayeand in nautical circles, in the form aye aye, as a response accepting an order ⇒
aye aye, captain.
| 9d | What may be an essential for campers // proves it -- sum involved? (6,5) |
Primus[5] (Trademark) is a brand of portable cooking stove that burns vaporized oil ⇒
When camping, we cooked on a little Primus stove.
| 14d | Not one question // that's easy (2,7) |
| 15d | Miscellaneous // trades, so diverse (8) |
As an anagram indicator, diverse[5] is used in the sense of very different.
| 17d | Warning // posted in kitchen garden (2,5) |
| 18d | Take out // old lover assigned to region (7) |
| 19d | Rubbish written about hotel // do (6) |
Do[5] is used in the sense of beat up or kill ⇒
I'll do him with an iron bar.
| 21d | Fleshy // soft mass (5) |
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
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