Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29627 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Friday, March 19, 2021 | |
Setter
silvanus | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29627]
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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
A fairly light and enjoyable puzzle from silvanus to end the week.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 | Repeat // charge about corruption (6) |
From a British perspective, rap[5] is an informal North American term* for a criminal charge ⇒
he's just been acquitted on a murder rap.
* but one that hasn't drawn the expected howl of protest from the Brits
| 4a | Paul occasionally interrupts loud argument /in/ high-pitched voice (8) |
| 9a | /It's/ natural /being/ part of rowing crew, reportedly (6) |
An eight[5] is an eight-oared rowing boat or its crew.
| 10a | Coach // deportment (8) |
| 11a | Family /from/ Nelson possibly joining audience (9) |
The nelson[5] is a wrestling hold in which one arm is passed under the opponent's arm from behind and the hand is applied to the neck (half nelson), or both arms and hands are applied (full nelson).
Scratching the Surface
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| Nelson is the name of a town in Lancashire, England[7] as well as a village in Wales[7]. |
| 13a | Garment // reflecting fashion seen across Northern Ireland (5) |
"Northern Ireland " = NI
Northern Ireland[5] (abbreviation NI[5]) is a province of the United Kingdom occupying the northeast part of Ireland.
According to Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries), Northern Ireland[5] is the only major division of the United Kingdom to hold the status of province, with England[5], Scotland[5] and Wales[5] considered to be countries.
hide
Northern Ireland[5] (abbreviation NI[5]) is a province of the United Kingdom occupying the northeast part of Ireland.
According to Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries), Northern Ireland[5] is the only major division of the United Kingdom to hold the status of province, with England[5], Scotland[5] and Wales[5] considered to be countries.
hide
| 14a | Friend defends extremely raunchy southern song, /making/ bloomer (13) |
A bloomer[10] is a plant that flowers, especially in a specified way ⇒
a night bloomer.
| 17a | Lenders with plenty travelling // in glorious style (13) |
| 21a | Increase extent of // victory over gutless Dundee (5) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Dundee[5] is a city in eastern Scotland, on the north side of the Firth of Tay. |
| 23a | Books penned by a legend, surprisingly /becoming/ involved (9) |
| 24a | American acquiring new piece of furniture /that's/ wobbly (8) |
| 25a | Toasts // Ivy League university Head of Science (6) |
Ivy League[5,15] denotes a group of colleges and universities in the northeastern U.S., consisting of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown, having a reputation for high scholastic achievement and social prestige.
Origin: in reference to the ivy traditionally growing over the walls of the university buildings
| 26a | Discover what sounds like small change /in/ expectation (8) |
Sus[10] (variant spelling of suss[5,10]) is an informal British term meaning to become aware of or suspect (especially in the phrase suss it) ⇒
After a few hours my identity as a journalist was sussed out.
Pence[5] is a plural* form of penny[5],
a British bronze coin and monetary unit. (show more ).
* Both pence and pennies have existed as plural forms of penny since at least the 16th century. The two forms now tend to be used for different purposes: pence refers to sums of money (five pounds and sixty-nine pence) while pennies refers to the coins themselves (I left two pennies on the table). The use of pence rather than penny as a singular (the chancellor will put one pence on income tax) is not regarded as correct in standard English.
Today, a penny is equal to one hundredth of a pound and is the smallest denomination in Britain's modern decimal currency system introduced in 1971. The abbreviation for the modern penny or pence is p[5].
In the British currency system used prior to 1971, a penny[5] (abbreviation d[5] [for denarius]) was a coin or monetary unit equal to one twelfth of a shilling or 240th of a pound.
hide
* Both pence and pennies have existed as plural forms of penny since at least the 16th century. The two forms now tend to be used for different purposes: pence refers to sums of money (five pounds and sixty-nine pence) while pennies refers to the coins themselves (I left two pennies on the table). The use of pence rather than penny as a singular (the chancellor will put one pence on income tax) is not regarded as correct in standard English.
Today, a penny is equal to one hundredth of a pound and is the smallest denomination in Britain's modern decimal currency system introduced in 1971. The abbreviation for the modern penny or pence is p[5].
In the British currency system used prior to 1971, a penny[5] (abbreviation d[5] [for denarius]) was a coin or monetary unit equal to one twelfth of a shilling or 240th of a pound.
hide
| 27a | Coin // almost cast without gold (6) |
The florin[5] is a a former British coin and monetary unit worth two shillings.
Down
| 1d | Cheerful under pressure /in/ difficult situation (6) |
| 2d | Forsakes // awkward encounters with no end of embarrassment (9) |
| 3d | Last longer than // unfashionable sport (7) |
| 5d | Bet Madonna is disturbed about production's ultimate // cancellation (11) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Madonna[7] is the professional name of American singer, songwriter, and actress Madonna Louise Ciccone. |
| 6d | Extend // term of imprisonment (7) |
| 7d | Exercise // that may be taken daily on way to work? (5) |
| 8d | Best // comedian, half-ignored, left previously (8) |
| 12d | Writer on vacation enjoys entertaining child /for/ director (5,6) |
George Orwell[5]
(1903–1950) was a British novelist and essayist, born in India;
pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair. (show more )
Orwell’s work is characterized by his concern for social injustice. His most famous works are Animal Farm (1945), a satire on Communism as it developed under Stalin, and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a dystopian account of a future state in which every aspect of life is controlled by Big Brother.
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Orwell’s work is characterized by his concern for social injustice. His most famous works are Animal Farm (1945), a satire on Communism as it developed under Stalin, and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a dystopian account of a future state in which every aspect of life is controlled by Big Brother.
hide
Orson Welles[5] (1915–1985) was an American film director and actor. His realistic radio dramatization in 1938 of H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds persuaded many listeners that a Martian invasion was really happening. Notable films as director and actor include Citizen Kane (1941) and as actor The Third Man (1949).
| 15d | PM fine with second-class // transportation to America once (9) |
Theresa May[7] is a British Conservative stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She was the second female Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader in the UK after Margaret Thatcher.
The Mayflower[5] was the ship in which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from England to America.
| 16d | Good incentive taken up to employ individual // adults (5-3) |
| 18d | Ancestry // Neil concocted over period of time (7) |
| 19d | Number given brief training, // it's helpful to climber (7) |
| 20d | Absence of arrogance is over /for/ inventor (6) |
The wordplay parses as a reversal of (is over in a down clue) {NO (absence of) + SIDE (arrogance)}.
Side[5] is an informal British term for a boastful or pretentious manner or attitude ⇒
there was absolutely no side to him.
Down the Garden Path
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| It felt like I spent as much time trying to decipher the parsing of this clue as I did in solving the entire puzzle. The parsing clearly seemed to be ED (?) + IS (from the clue) + ON (over) meaning that ED must be clued by "absence of arrogance" but I could conceive of no compelling rationale for linking "erectile disfunction" (ED) with "absence of arrogance" (other than the condition likely being a humbling experience). By the way, have you noticed that the Brits* always seem to be led up the garden path[5]. |
| 22d | Starts to dispute Oslo staging European superheavyweight // bouts (5) |
Dose[10] is used in an informal sense meaning something unpleasant to experience ⇒
a dose of influenza.
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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