Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29407 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, July 4, 2020 | |
Setter
Cephas (Peter Chamberlain)
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Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29407 – Hints]Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29407 – Review] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Tilsit (Hints)crypticsue (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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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.
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Introduction
I would like to comment on a couple of notable rareties concerning this puzzle. First, I recognized it is a pangram* (something that I usually fail to notice) and, second, Cephas (who actually sets a substantial share of the "Saturday" puzzles) is acknowledged as the setter (even making an appearance in the Comments section of Big Dave's Crossword Blog).* a puzzle in which every letter of the alphabet appears at least once in the solution
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 | Race // tyres can burst (8) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Tyre[5] is the British spelling of tire (in the sense of an automobile component). |
| 6a | Cut // piece, dry inside (6) |
Sec[5] is an adjective (used to describe wine) meaning dry.
| 9a | Northerner, // no adult on course (4) |
"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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Ascot Racecourse[7] is a British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing.
As this puzzle was originally published in the British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, "Northener" is used from the perspective of someone residing in the UK.
| 10a | Leave footprints /and/ hurry (4,6) |
The first definition is a literal interpretation of the solution; the second definition is idiomatic.
| 11a | Greek sailor/'s/ dry wit (5,4) |
Attic[5] is an adjective meaning relating to ancient Athens or Attica* (the peninsula on which Athens is located), or the dialect of Greek spoken there.
Attic salt[10,15] (or Attic wit) denotes refined incisive wit[10] or dry, delicate wit[15].
Origin: The adjective Attic[5] means relating to ancient Athens. The Athenians were known for their "Attic salt" or "Attic wit" – refined, poignant, delicate humour. This can be contrasted with the dry, understated wit of their chief rival, Sparta, which is now known as "laconic humor"[7].
| 12a | Priest to have // gloomy expression (5) |
| 14a | Might sculptor be found sitting in it? (6) |
Effectively, this clue is a precise definition embedded in a cryptic definition.
Carver[5] is a British term for the principal chair, with arms, in a set of dining chairs, intended for the person carving meat.
Post Mortem
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| This being the first time that I have encountered this chair, I solved the clue based on the the precise definition ("sculptor") and the checking letters — and then embarked on a dictionary search to explain the cryptic definition. |
| 16a | Very many // not informed (6) |
I consider the second definition to be a somewhat whimsical invention by the setter and have marked it as such. I believe a precise definition might be "not related". While a story can be told or related and an audience can be told or informed, it would be a stretch to say that an audience is untold (not informed). However, a story can certainly be untold (unrelated) ⇒
This is one of the great untold stories in our history.
| 19a | Nurse carries first lady /to find/ river (6) |
State Registered Nurse[10] (abbreviation SRN) was a designation formerly used* in Britain for a nurse who had extensive training and passed examinations enabling him or her to perform all nursing services.
* According to Wikipedia[7], this designation was first replaced by the term Registered General Nurse[10] (abbreviation RGN) and more recently by the term Level-one Nurse. It would appear that SRNs were known informally as RNs (registered nurses[10]) and that today's Level-one Nurses are also referred to — at least informally, and perhaps even officially — as RNs.
"first lady " = EVE
In the Bible, Eve[5,10] is the first woman, mother of the human race, fashioned by God from the rib of Adam, companion of Adam and mother of Cain and Abel* [Gen 2:18-25].
* not to mention Seth and her other sons and daughters [Gen 5:4]
Disobeying God, Eve[7] succumbs to the serpent's temptation to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and shares the fruit with Adam. As a result, the first humans are expelled from the Garden of Eden.
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In the Bible, Eve[5,10] is the first woman, mother of the human race, fashioned by God from the rib of Adam, companion of Adam and mother of Cain and Abel* [Gen 2:18-25].
* not to mention Seth and her other sons and daughters [Gen 5:4]
Disobeying God, Eve[7] succumbs to the serpent's temptation to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and shares the fruit with Adam. As a result, the first humans are expelled from the Garden of Eden.
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The Severn[5,7,10] is a river of southwestern Britain. Rising in central Wales, it flows north-east then south in a broad curve to its mouth on the Bristol Channel, flowing through the English counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire on its way to the sea. It is the longest river in Great Britain at a length of 220 miles (354 km)*.
* Lexico[5] has the length as 180 miles (290 km). However, both Wikipedia[7] and Collins[10] peg it at 220 miles (354 km).
| 20a | Quietly drink, spilling gallons? // This might be baffling! (6) |
| 22a | Second // judge initially uncertain (5) |
| 24a | Piece of text // soldier attached to chart (9) |
Para[4,11] (short for paratrooper) is a soldier in an airborne unit.
| 27a | Charlie's one part of frontier? (10) |
Checkpoint Charlie[7] (or "Checkpoint C"*) was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War (1947–1991).
I did very briefly consider marking this clue as a double definition with the two definitions being "Charlie's one" and "part of frontier". However, both would define the same meaning of the solution, thereby ruling out this possibility.
| 28a | Idiot // left with bottles (4) |
| 29a | Train that may be held up by attendant (6) |
| 30a | Second nuclear weapon /is/ very loud (8) |
The Trident missile[7] is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). Trident missiles are carried by fourteen US Navy Ohio-class submarines, with US warheads, and four Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarines, with British warheads. The missile is named after the mythological trident of Neptune.
Down
| 2d | Tiny changes to adopt church/'s/ point (6) |
| 3d | Rescue // former lover and Conservative wearing strange attire (9) |
"Conservative " = C [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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| 4d | Sort of negativism // characterised by speed and efficiency (4-6) |
Post Mortem
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| Even after finding the correct solution with the help of a word finder app, I failed to notice the anagram and supposed this to be yet another cryptic definition. |
| 5d | Burden left /for/ bumpkin (5) |
Figuratively, yoke[5] is used to refer to something regarded as oppressive or restrictive ⇒
the yoke of imperialism.
| 6d | No clothes are worn in this // city (4) |
Bath[5] is a spa town in southwestern England. The town was founded by the Romans, who called it Aquae Sulis, and was a fashionable spa in the 18th and early 19th centuries.[5]
| 7d | Flight member/'s/ fixed gaze, one hears (5) |
| 8d | Dance /with/ seal round a garden? (8) |
Calk[5] is the US spelling* of caulk.
* Although several comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog characterize this as an unfamiliar spelling, much to my surprise none complain about it being an American spelling.
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (commonly known as Kew Gardens[5]) is an important botanical institution and World Heritage Site located at Kew, in London, England.
In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, crypticsue fails to mention that the A from the clue also factors into the solution.
The cakewalk[5] is a strutting dance popularized by minstrel shows in the late 19th century.
| 13d | Host who knows all the answers (10) |
| 15d | Inscription // from scripture (3) |
| 17d | Suffered /being/ related to criminal (9) |
| 18d | Make out meaning of // price he'd fabricated (8) |
| 21d | Choice /of/ beverage when papa's promoted (6) |
The idea here is that a word meaning "choice" becomes a word meaning "beverage" when the letter "P" is promoted (moved up in a down clue). However, I don't see the link word "of" as having the connotation of "becoming".
Rather, I see "of" as denoting equality between the definition and wordplay. From this perspective, for the clue to work, it would have to read "choice of beverage when papa is demoted".
Even after deciphering what the setter has in mind, I'm still having more than a little difficulty wrapping my mind around it. I see from the comments of Tilsit and crypticsue on Big Dave's Crossword Blog that I was not alone in my difficulties with this clue.
| 23d | Fine Democrat punched by expert // stood opposite (5) |
"Democrat " = D [member or supporter of US political party]
| 25d | What a pity, I included // assumed name (5) |
| 26d | Stone // work on nearly everything (4) |
"work " = OP [opus]
In music, an opus[5] (Latin 'work', plural opuses or opera) is a separate composition or set of compositions.
The abbreviation Op.[5] (also op.), denoting opus, is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication. The plural form of Op. is Opp..
Opus[5] can also be used in other contexts to denote an artistic work, especially one on a large scale ⇒
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In music, an opus[5] (Latin 'work', plural opuses or opera) is a separate composition or set of compositions.
The abbreviation Op.[5] (also op.), denoting opus, is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication. The plural form of Op. is Opp..
Opus[5] can also be used in other contexts to denote an artistic work, especially one on a large scale ⇒
he was writing an opus on Mexico.
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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
Same issues as you with the addition of 11a. I have never heard the expression. Always something to learn.
ReplyDelete11a is one of those clues where one solves it from the wordplay and then says "surely not!".
Delete