Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29416 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 | |
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29416]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
2Kiwis | |
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, March 20, 2021 edition of the National Post. | |
Introduction
Other than my Welsh being found wanting, I did fine on this puzzle.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 | What the journalist said // to have an effect? (7) |
| 5a | Vehicle I purchased with 50% off /is/ a beast (7) |
| 9a | Opinions /of/ wife during struggles (5) |
| 10a | Mammals // long for change, beset by troubles (9) |
The pangolin[5] (also called scaly anteater) is an African and Asian mammal that has a body covered with horny overlapping scales, a small head with an elongated snout, a long sticky tongue for catching ants and termites, and a tapering tail.
| 11a | Lab working with kitchen // solvent (2,3,5) |
| 12a | Island // involved in risky experiment (4) |
Skye[5] is a mountainous island of the Inner Hebrides, now linked to the west coast of Scotland by a bridge. It is the largest and most northerly island of the group.
| 14a | Managed, // provided ... (12) |
| 18a | ... author meets revised power // play (3,9) |
The Mousetrap[7] is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The longest-running West End show, it has by far the longest initial run of any play in history, with its 27,500th performance taking place on 18 September 2018.
| 21a | An acceptable standard, // and not married (4) |
| 22a | It may have its place in modelling! (10) |
This is a cryptic definition in which we find an embedded anagram (which I only noticed when I was writing the review).
| 25a | Independent army keeping quiet, // not taking sides (9) |
"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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| 26a | Where cameras may film // attack? (5) |
| 27a | Tonic /needed by/ English after spirits? (7) |
Ginseng[5] is a plant tuber credited with various tonic and medicinal properties.
| 28a | Peers reviewed before court // honour (7) |
The anagram indicator, review[2,5], may be a bit whimsical but based on meanings such as to see or view something again (perhaps the object looks different when viewed from a different angle, in a different light, or at another point in time) or assess (something) formally with the intention of instituting change if necessary.
Scratching the Surface
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| A peer[5] is a member of the nobility in Britain or Ireland, comprising the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron. |
Down
| 1d | Where nurse might put needle, reportedly // to no avail? (2,4) |
| 2d | Rather // small-minded about end of affair (6) |
| 3d | Theologian going in to feed is upset, /seeing/ cultural gathering (10) |
"theologian " = DD [Doctor of Divinity]
Doctor of Divinity[7] (abbreviation D.D. or DD, Divinitatis Doctor in Latin) is an advanced academic degree in divinity.
Historically, the degree of Doctor of Divinity identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects. In the United Kingdom, Doctor of Divinity has traditionally been the highest doctorate granted by universities, usually conferred upon a religious scholar of standing and distinction. In the United States, the Doctor of Divinity is usually awarded as an honorary degree.
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Doctor of Divinity[7] (abbreviation D.D. or DD, Divinitatis Doctor in Latin) is an advanced academic degree in divinity.
Historically, the degree of Doctor of Divinity identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects. In the United Kingdom, Doctor of Divinity has traditionally been the highest doctorate granted by universities, usually conferred upon a religious scholar of standing and distinction. In the United States, the Doctor of Divinity is usually awarded as an honorary degree.
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An eisteddfod[5] is a competitive festival of music and poetry in Wales.
Post Mortem
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| I understood how the clue works, I had correctly identified the anagram indicator and the anagram fodder, and I had all the checking letters in place. Yet no matter how I arranged the remaining letters, the result in no way looked plausible. Well, having found the solution with a bit of electronic assistance, it still looks scarcely plausible. |
| 4d | A bit of a bloomer /from/ friend in the Home Counties (5) |
The Home Counties[5] are the counties surrounding London in the south-east (SE) part of England, into which
London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. (show more )
No exact definition of the term exists and the composition of the Home Counties remains a matter of debate. While Oxford Dictionaries restrictively lists them as being chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire, Wikipedia tells us that the Home Counties[7] are generally considered to include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex (although Sussex does not border London).
Other counties more distant from London, such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Oxfordshire are also sometimes included in the list due to their close proximity to the capital and their connection to the London regional economy.
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No exact definition of the term exists and the composition of the Home Counties remains a matter of debate. While Oxford Dictionaries restrictively lists them as being chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire, Wikipedia tells us that the Home Counties[7] are generally considered to include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex (although Sussex does not border London).
Other counties more distant from London, such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Oxfordshire are also sometimes included in the list due to their close proximity to the capital and their connection to the London regional economy.
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One must treat both the wordplay and the solution as phrases. Thus a "friend in the Home Counties" is a "SE pal".
A bloomer[5] is a plant that produces flowers at a specified time ⇒
fragrant night-bloomers such as nicotiana.
| 5d | Draft for American // screenplay supporting prisoner (9) |
Draft[5] is the US term (as a noun) for conscription and (as a verb) for conscript.
| 6d | Tie up revolutionary /to get/ space (4) |
| 7d | Would these be worn by distracted Arabs? (8) |
An Arab[5] is a horse of a breed originating in Arabia, with a distinctive high-set tail.
| 8d | Lacking balance, /and/ nasty due to change (8) |
| 13d | Household items to be found in decreasing use? (5,5) |
| 15d | Shielding with no answer /must be/ offensive (9) |
| 16d | Bearing // up (8) |
| 17d | Animal // trainer excited about source of protein (8) |
Here and There
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| Terrapin[5] is the British name* for a freshwater turtle, especially one of the smaller kinds of the Old World. * This animal is known in North America simply as a turtle. One North American species (Malaclemys terrapin), a small edible turtle with lozenge-shaped markings on its shell, found in coastal marshes of the eastern US, does go by the name terrapin (also diamondback terrapin). |
| 19d | Web // matter for discussion under Tories originally (6) |
| 20d | Attend case of indictment /and/ get out (4,2) |
| 23d | Going north, some suffer a loss // of sun (5) |
| 24d | Elm // Road cut off at both ends? (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)
[15] - CollinsDictionary.com (Penguin Random House LLC/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd )
Signing off for today — Falcon
I enjoyed the puzzle as I do all of Jay’s offerings, but I must agree with those who disputed the answer to 1d. For me, the placement of the comma is what should determine which part is the homophone and which the answer.
ReplyDeleteThe "rule" is that the solver ignores punctuation -- unless it cannot be ignored. The punctuation is there first and foremost for the surface reading and sometimes to provide misdirection. It is rarely -- if ever -- specifically to aid the solver.
DeleteOn reflection, I agree. In fact I usually do ignore the punctuation as it often serves to misdirect. I guess I was just miffed that I chose the wrong part of the clue as the homophone!
ReplyDelete