Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29456 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, August 31, 2020 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29456]
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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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Notes
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The National Post has skipped DT 29454 and DT 29455 which were published in The Daily Telegraph on August 28, 2020 and August 29, 2020 respectively.
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Introduction
Just when I thought I was finally ahead of the game, the editors at the National Post have thrown a spanner into the works and skipped a couple of puzzles today. However, there is a silver lining for readers of this blog as you get a bonus puzzle (see DT 29454 posted earlier today).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
| 5a | Drink // a party knocked over onto suit (4,4) |
"party " = DO
Do[5,12] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[12] term* for a party or other social event ⇒
* Although one US dictionary (Webster’s New World College Dictionary[12]) supports the contention by Lexico (Oxford Dictionary of English)[5] that this usage is at least chiefly British, two other US dictionaries[3,11] do not.
hide
Do[5,12] is an informal British[5] or chiefly British[12] term* for a party or other social event ⇒
the soccer club Christmas do.
* Although one US dictionary (Webster’s New World College Dictionary[12]) supports the contention by Lexico (Oxford Dictionary of English)[5] that this usage is at least chiefly British, two other US dictionaries[3,11] do not.
hide
From a British perspective, club soda[5] is a North American term* for soda water.
* explaining why, in comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, several Brits report being unfamiliar with the term
| 8a | Nervously trail a // rope (6) |
| 10a | Customer/'s/ legal right in court (6) |
| 11a | Old British ruined castle, // something standing in the way of progress (8) |
"old " = O [linguistics]
In linguistics, O[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i)
However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.
Another possibility arises from the British abbreviation OAP[5] standing for old-age pensioner.
hide
In linguistics, O[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i)
OFr[Old French]; (ii)
OE[Old English].
However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.
Another possibility arises from the British abbreviation OAP[5] standing for old-age pensioner.
hide
| 12a | Old poet's taken round important north-eastern // town (6,6) |
John Milton[5] (1608–1674) was an English poet. His three major works, completed after he had gone blind (1652), show his mastery of blank verse: they are the epic poems Paradise Lost (1667, revised 1674) and Paradise Regained (1671), and the verse drama Samson Agonistes (1671).
Milton Keynes[5] is a town in Buckinghamshire, south central England. It was established as a new town* in the late 1960s, and is the site of the headquarters of the Open University**.
* New town[10] is a British term for a town that has been planned as a complete unit and built with government sponsorship, especially to accommodate overspill population.
** The Open University[5] (abbreviation OU[5]) is a British university that teaches mainly by broadcasting, correspondence, and summer schools, and is open to those without formal academic qualifications.
| 15a | The two // in Cabot House (4) |
Scratching the Surface
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| My search turned up no likely UK candidate for Cabot House, so the name may have been made up by the setter. However, as evident from 5a, Campbell does occasionally throw in an American reference. Cabot House[7] is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It consists of six formerly women-only dormitories that were part of Radcliffe College before its integration with Harvard. |
| 17a | Took part in boat race, perhaps, /and/ argued (5) |
| The Boat Race[7] is an annual rowing race between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights on the River Thames in London, England. It usually takes place on the last weekend of March or the first weekend of April. |
| 18a | Store for later use /in/ bar (4) |
| 19a | Obey top management, /or/ be overlooked (2,2,3,5) |
The first part of the clue is what a literal interpretation of the solution might suggest.
| 22a | Crowd carried east /for/ rally (8) |
| 24a | Outstanding, // a Parisian apartment I secured (6) |
"a Parisian " = UN
| 25a | Primate // beginning to bestow a blessing (6) |
| 26a | Bank associated with the Spanish // nonsense (8) |
Dogger Bank[5] is a submerged sandbank in the North Sea, about 115 km (70 miles) off the north-eastern coast of England.
"the Spanish " = EL [Spanish definite article]
Down
| 1d | Miserable // thing -- article has nothing going for it (6) |
| 2d | Hold // rude cartoons found in B&B (6,4) |
The Boston crab[5] is a wrestling hold in which a wrestler sits astride a prone opponent and pulls upwards on the opponent's legs.
| 3d | Additional // matter written about lake (4) |
| 4d | A Republican state, // one of the old Confederate ones (8) |
"Republican " = R [member or supporter of US political party]
A Republican[5] (abbreviation R[5] or Rep.[5]) is a member or supporter of the Republican Party[5], one of the two main US political parties*, favouring a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy. It was formed in 1854 in support of the anti-slavery movement preceding the Civil War.
* the other being the Democratic Party
Although, in the UK, republican[5] can refer to an advocate of a united Ireland, the abbreviation does not appear to apply to that usage.
hide
A Republican[5] (abbreviation R[5] or Rep.[5]) is a member or supporter of the Republican Party[5], one of the two main US political parties*, favouring a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy. It was formed in 1854 in support of the anti-slavery movement preceding the Civil War.
* the other being the Democratic Party
Although, in the UK, republican[5] can refer to an advocate of a united Ireland, the abbreviation does not appear to apply to that usage.
hide
The Confederate States of America[5] (also the Confederacy) are the eleven southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia) which seceded from the United States in 1860–1, thus precipitating the American Civil War.
| 6d | Sucker, /having/ tablet during game, flipped (8) |
| 7d | Frazzled, // make amends before cards put in post (2,4,4,3) |
The parsing of this clue is a bit tricky as one needs to properly account for the two S's. The correct parsing is ATONE (make amends) preceding (before) {WITS (cards) contained in (in) SEND (post)}.
| 9d | Partner/'s/ second to leave girl (4) |
The Story Behind the Picture
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| I illustrate this clue in my review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog with a picture of Sally Webster[7], a fictional character from the British soap opera, Coronation Street, portrayed by Sally Dynevor. |
| 13d | Good entering with nothing on -- twice // a sexual innuendo implied? (5,5) |
| 14d | Pay for extra work // during an unspecified period (8) |
| 16d | Intellectual // argument in support of very important bishop (8) |
| 20d | Bird // in consequence rising over quarry (6) |
| 21d | Mostly happy to host a // social event (4) |
| 23d | Rotten // trick deleting page (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
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