Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29648 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29648]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Mr K | |
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, June 26, 2021 edition of the National Post. | |
Introduction
This puzzle has a couple of lovely cryptic definitions—a clue type I find especially appealing.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 | One might give money for canine // toy for Thai mongrel (5,5) |
| 6a | River following low // ground covered with heath? (4) |
Heath[5] is a British term for an area of open uncultivated land, typically on acid sandy soil, with characteristic vegetation of heather, gorse, and coarse grasses.
Moor[5] is a chiefly British term for a tract of open uncultivated upland, typically covered with heather.
No objections raised
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| I wondered if the clue should have read "ground covered with heather" as this is the definition of both heath and moor. However, no objections were voiced across the pond so I guess the clue must be okay. |
| 9a | A dream Sue reconstructed about queen/'s/ fancy-dress party (10) |
| 10a | 'Relacher' primarily is French /for/ 'relax' (4) |
Scratching the Surface
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Relâcher[8] really is a French word meaning relax (in the sense of loosen or release) as in relax one's grip. |
| 12a | In school, is tending // to pay attention (6) |
| 13a | Boris Johnson captivates everyone with a couple of lines // somewhere in London (4,4) |
Pall Mall[10] is a street in central London, noted for its many [gentlemen's] clubs.
| 15a | Introduction to sport: it enables us to develop // fitness (12) |
| 18a | Telling-off good for one daughter /making/ loose garment (8-4) |
| 21a | Endlessly cut and cut small // food items (8) |
| 22a | Opening // a chapter in deep affection (6) |
| 24a | I bumped into flipping // object (4) |
Scratching the Surface
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In the surface reading, flipping[5]
is an informal British term used for emphasis or to express mild annoyance ⇒ (i) are you out of your flipping mind?; (ii) it’s flipping cold today. |
| 25a | Six municipalities including Northern Ireland/'s/ surrounding areas (10) |
"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.
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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.
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| 26a | Talk then quietly // catch one's breath (4) |
| 27a | Drunk gets thinner -- not one // to beef up (10) |
Down
| 1d | Part-time worker left eastern // place of worship (6) |
| 2d | Control // rebellious bosses (6) |
| 3d | Inuit sauce he mixed, /producing/ top-quality cooking (5,7) |
| 4d | Displays // locks in the East End? (4) |
Cockneys[5,10], the natives of that part of East London known as the East End[5], speak a dialect (also known as cockney) that is
characterised by dropping the aitch (H) from the beginning of words as
well as the use of rhyming slang (show explanation ).
| 5d | Vegetable // greed -- madly purchasing one hundred and four Swedes? (3,7) |
ABBA[7] are a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's name is an acronym of the first letters of their first names.
| 7d | Ran // over and talked foolishly about European (8) |
"European " = E [as in E number]
E[1,2] is the abbreviation for European (as in E number*).
* An E number[1,4,10,14] (or E-number[2,5]) is any of various identification codes required by EU law, consisting of the letter E (for European) followed by a number, that are used to denote food additives such as colourings and preservatives (but excluding flavourings) that have been approved by the European Union.
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E[1,2] is the abbreviation for European (as in E number*).
* An E number[1,4,10,14] (or E-number[2,5]) is any of various identification codes required by EU law, consisting of the letter E (for European) followed by a number, that are used to denote food additives such as colourings and preservatives (but excluding flavourings) that have been approved by the European Union.
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| 8d | Book of the Bible with reduced // description of Herod? (8) |
Ruth[5] is a book of the Bible telling the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman, who married her deceased husband's kinsman Boaz and bore a son who became grandfather to King David.
Herod the Great[5,7] (circa 74-4 BC) was Roman client king of Judea who ruled 37-4 BC. According to the New Testament, Jesus was born during his reign, and he ordered the massacre of the innocents (Matt. 2:16).
| 11d | Wandering, having gone off? (12) |
| 14d | Put up with stage/'s/ position (10) |
| 16d | Changing // a pillow on rising can end in suffering (8) |
| 17d | Incomparable // description of the House of Lords at the end of the day? (8) |
The latter part of the clue is a whimsical literal interpretation of the solution.
The House of Lords[5,10] is the upper chamber of the British Parliament, composed of the peers* and bishops.
* A peer[5] is a member of the nobility in Britain or Ireland, comprising the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.
When all the members have left for the day, the House of Lords is not only peerless but bishopless as well.
| 19d | Rub smooth // tongue (6) |
| 20d | Think rationally // about a relative (6) |
| 23d | Small portion -- // this writer eats it (4) |
"this writer " = ME
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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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
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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