Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29641 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, April 5, 2021 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29641]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
pommers | |
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
This was an Easter Monday puzzle in the UK.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 | Sharp, // expert playing crib (7) |
| 7a | Daughter, with bad back, /in/ decline (5) |
| 9a | Sound // level for listeners (6) |
What did he say?
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In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, pommers describes the solution asThe Menai Strait[7] is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about 25 km (16 mi) long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales.[t]he sort of sound that’s between the island of Anglesey and North Wales. |
| 10a | Course holding permit /for/ gambling game (8) |
| 11a | Wimbledon feature // -- inform tribunal (5,5) |
Grass[5] is an informal British term meaning:
- (noun) a police informer
- (verb, often grass on or grass up) to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ (i)
someone had grassed on the thieves
; (ii)she threatened to grass me up
.
The Championships, Wimbledon[5,7] (commonly known as Wimbledon) is an annual international tennis championship on grass for individual players and pairs, held at the headquarters of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon. Now one of the world’s major tennis championships, it has been played since 1877.
| 13a | Stay // for start of party (4) |
| 14a | One wielding power behind the scenes, // unpredictable in emergencies (8,5) |
An éminence grise[5] is a person who exercises power or influence in a certain sphere without holding an official position.
Origin: French, literally ‘grey eminence’. The term was originally applied to Cardinal Richelieu's grey-cloaked private secretary, Père Joseph (1577–1638)
| 16a | Primarily, come here in Cannes, // the height of fashion (4) |
Cannes[5] is a resort on the Mediterranean coast of France. An international film festival is held there annually.
| 17a | Advocates /having/ protective rails across street (10) |
Advocate[5] is a Scottish or South African term for a barrister.
| 19a | Italian football club, // very European, in unjust broadcast (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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Juventus Football Club[7], colloquially known as Juventus and Juve, is a professional football [soccer] club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system.
| 20a | Popular pointer // receiving attention (2,4) |
| 22a | Old character // in two minds about hospital (5) |
Thorn[5] is an Old English and Icelandic runic letter, þ or Þ, representing the dental fricatives ð and θ. In English it was eventually superseded by the digraph th.
| 23a | In consequence, departed after island // cut off (7) |
Down
| 1d | Huge // Greek character blowing top (4) |
Omega[5] is the last letter of the Greek alphabet (Ω, ω).
Mega[5] is an informal term that would seem to see more use and have a broader range of meanings in the UK than in North America:
- (adjective) very large or huge ⇒
he has signed a mega deal to make five movies
- (adjective) excellent ⇒
it will be a mega film
- (adverb) extremely ⇒
they are mega rich
| 2d | Old boy's story about opening of cell // block (8) |
"old boy " = OB
In Britain, an old boy[5] (abbreviation OB[2]) is:
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In Britain, an old boy[5] (abbreviation OB[2]) is:
- a former male student of a school or college ⇒
an old boy of Banbury County School
- a former male member of a sports team or company ⇒
the White Hart Lane old boy squared the ball to present an easy chance from 12 yards
‘Look here, old boy,’ he said.
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| 3d | Modify // top of dress during a fitting (6) |
| 4d | Fielder /putting/ cap on head (5,5) |
In cricket, cover point[5] (sometimes shortened to cover[5]) is a fielding position a little in front of the batsman on the off side* and halfway to the boundary [the marked limit of the playing area] or a fielder at cover point ⇒
an easy catch by Hick at cover.
* In cricket, the off[5] (also called off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. The other half of the field is known as either the leg[5] (also called leg side) or on[5] (also called on side) ⇒
he played a lucky stroke to leg.
| 5d | Flower // expert miles off (5) |
| 6d | Police officer collecting King, US novelist heard /in/ college (6,7) |
"king " = R [Rex]
In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms*, Rex[5] (abbreviation R[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).
* A Commonwealth realm[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.
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In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms*, Rex[5] (abbreviation R[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).
* A Commonwealth realm[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.
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Dame Agatha Christie[5] (1890–1976) waa an English writer of detective fiction. She wrote over seventy novels, many of which feature the Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot or the resourceful Miss Marple. Notable works: Murder on the Orient Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937), and The Mousetrap (play, 1952).
Corpus Christi College[7] is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th oldest college in Oxford.
Corpus Christi College[7] is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1352 making it the sixth-oldest college in Cambridge.
| 8d | Road hazard -- // this is removed in Dorset resort (7) |
Poole[5] is a port and resort town in Dorset on the south coast of England, just west of Bournemouth.
| 12d | Lit // with it (8,2) |
As long as one consults the correct dictionary, this clue qualifies as a double definition.
Switched-on[5] (or switched on[1]) is an informal British term denoting aware of what is going on or what is up to date.
| 14d | Drain // pipe fitted to vehicle (7) |
| 15d | Network press // pitch for Americans (8) |
For Brits, pitch[5] is another term for field[5] in the sense of an area of ground marked out or used for play in an outdoor team game ⇒
a football [soccer] pitch.
| 17d | Extremely cold, // some climb it in Garmisch (6) |
Garmisch-Partenkirchen[7] is a ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany known as the site of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games.
| 18d | Fury involving new // kitchen stove (5) |
| 21d | Pick up // article brought in by that woman (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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