Prologue
Solution to The Puzzle
Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29454 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Friday, August 28, 2020 | |
Setter
Zandio | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29454]
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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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Notes
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The National Post skipped this puzzle on May 13, 2021.
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Introduction
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat writes "I found this week’s puzzle reasonably straightforward, with no real hold-ups.". As I read that, I thought to myself "Surely, he's not describing the same puzzle that I just completed". His rating for this puzzle was ** / *** for difficulty and enjoyment but I would add an extra star in each category. I thought the puzzle required a lot of "outside the box" thinking and it produced some very satisfying penny drop moments when the light bulb finally lit.I was also very pleased (or chuffed, as the Brits would say) to have correctly guessed the setter.
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 | Veterans formed // square (3-9) |
In the solution, old is used as a collective noun ⇒
While a new experience for the young, it was a situation the old had encountered many times before.
| 9a | Well-armed character that squirms when caught (7) |
| 10a | Music, hackneyed stuff // that's supposed to enhance a film (7) |
I think the word "stuff" is part of the wordplay (rather than part of the definition as Deep Threat shows in his review). "Corn" is a noun and has to be clued by "hackneyed stuff"; "hackneyed" alone is (a past participle acting as) an adjective and would mean "corny". It is not uncommon to see clues having this structure where the definition begins with the word "that".
| 11a | Bands that bring things to a close with a bow? (7) |
| 12a | Undeterred by // discharge in river (7) |
The Dee[5,7] could be any of several rivers in Scotland and England — not to mention Ireland and Australia, the most prominent being:
- a river in northeastern Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen
- a river that rises in North Wales and flows into England, past Chester and on into the Irish Sea
| 13a | More than one kind // empress or tsarina's captured (5) |
| 14a | Distance when flying to check carbon // disasters (9) |
| 16a | Musical group // or artist's carrying case (9) |
| 19a | Place // I mentioned in communications (5) |
| 21a | Transport pilots /in/ waterway linking delta and sierra (7) |
| 23a | Criticised houses neglected at first // on a slope (7) |
Slate[5] is an informal British term meaning to criticize severely ⇒
his work was slated by the critics.
| 24a | Crying out for // reconditioned engine to tour Germany (7) |
| 25a | View // from Llandudno -- I nip out with a backward look (7) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Llandudno[7] is a seaside resort in Wales located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. Dubbed "Queen of the Welsh Resorts" as early as 1864, it is now the largest seaside resort in Wales. |
| 26a | Amounts /of/ beef and lamb maybe needed with certain chaps in (12) |
"chaps " = MEN
Chap[3,4,11] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[3] term for a man or boy — although a term that is certainly not uncommon in Canada. It is a shortened form of chapman[3,4,11], an archaic term for a trader, especially an itinerant pedlar[a,b].
[a] Pedlar is the modern British spelling of peddler[14] which, in most senses, is considered by the Brits to be a US or old-fashioned British spelling. The exception is in the sense of a dealer in illegal drugs which the Brits spell as drug peddler.
[b] The current meaning of chap[2] dates from the 18th century. In the 16th century, chap meant 'a customer'. The dictionaries do not explain how a shortened form of 'chapman' (pedlar) came to mean 'customer'.
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Chap[3,4,11] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[3] term for a man or boy — although a term that is certainly not uncommon in Canada. It is a shortened form of chapman[3,4,11], an archaic term for a trader, especially an itinerant pedlar[a,b].
[a] Pedlar is the modern British spelling of peddler[14] which, in most senses, is considered by the Brits to be a US or old-fashioned British spelling. The exception is in the sense of a dealer in illegal drugs which the Brits spell as drug peddler.
[b] The current meaning of chap[2] dates from the 18th century. In the 16th century, chap meant 'a customer'. The dictionaries do not explain how a shortened form of 'chapman' (pedlar) came to mean 'customer'.
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Down
| 1d | Nothing odd about order book tycoon presented over // part of year (7) |
| 2d | Crossing East, old spy changes // stations (7) |
| 3d | Stubborn and industrious types securing first /and/ second (9) |
| 4d | Had a dream -- // was skipping half-heartedly (5) |
| 5d | Stood up to // work, then sat (7) |
"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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| 6d | Deterioration // rising, no one angry (7) |
| 7d | Relative // sending a postcard? (13) |
| 8d | Considerate /but/ grasping (13) |
| 15d | In which we learn // about young woman going to space (9) |
"young woman " = LASS
| 17d | Unsettled, since he is // from a far country (7) |
| 18d | They are 5 // twisted men, involved in scuffling I see (7) |
The
numeral "5" is a cross
reference indicator pointing to clue 5d (show more ).
To complete the clue, a solver must replace the cross reference indicator with the solution to the clue starting in the light* identified by the cross reference indicator.
The cross reference indicator may include a directional indicator but this is customarily done only in situations where there are both Across and Down clues originating in the light that is being referenced.
* light-coloured cell in the grid
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To complete the clue, a solver must replace the cross reference indicator with the solution to the clue starting in the light* identified by the cross reference indicator.
The cross reference indicator may include a directional indicator but this is customarily done only in situations where there are both Across and Down clues originating in the light that is being referenced.
* light-coloured cell in the grid
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| 19d | This person, volunteer with upturned collar, // kind of European (7) |
"this person " = I
It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.
hide
It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.
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"volunteer " = TA [Territorial Army]. I believe this is the first time I have seen the singular ("volunteer") used to clue TA which is customarily clued as "volunteers". After all, a single volunteer hardly constitutes an army — and I can find no evidence that the initials TA are used to refer to a member of the TA rather than to the organization itself.
| 20d | Makes team tea, possibly? // Specific info /needed!/ (7) |
The first part of the clue is a sort of definition by example. One is to interpret as "Performs the action of turning TEAM into TEA, for example".
Despite coming at the end of the clue, the word "needed" is essentially a link word. In order to enhance the surface reading, the setter has altered the normal order of the elements of the clue which otherwise might have read something along the lines of:
- Makes team tea, possibly? /Needed/ specific info! (7)
| 22d | Beloved // newspaper -- American, from the South (5) |
Rag[5] is an informal term for a newspaper, typically one regarded as being of low quality.
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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