Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29631 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, March 24, 2021 | |
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29631]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
2Kiwis | |
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
Another gentle mental workout 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
| 1a | Villain // caught associate surrounded by proceeds of robbery (9) |
"caught " = C [cricket notation]
| 6a | Family found in street // with no money (5) |
Skint[5] is an informal British term denoting (of a person) having little or no money available ⇒
I’m a bit skint just now.
| 9a | Parish priests uncovered // crime (5) |
In the Church of England, a parson[5,10] is a parish priest, formerly applied only to those who held ecclesiastical benefices*—that is, a rector or a vicar.
* A benefice[5] is a permanent Church appointment, typically that of a rector or vicar, for which property and income are provided in respect of pastoral duties.
| 10a | International clients in trouble must accept answer // lacking flexibility (9) |
| 11a | Bad feeling, /seeing/ the enemy number in here (12) |
In cryptic crosswords, we often find that time is the enemy, expressed by Irish poet William Butler Yeats as
The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but timemeaning that innocence and beauty are each subject to the ravages of time.
Presentiment[5] is an intuitive feeling about the future, especially one of foreboding ⇒
a presentiment of disaster.
| 14a | Badmouthed missing leader /and/ co-ordinated (7) |
| 16a | Show of hesitation by English dog // trader (1-6) |
An e-tailer[5] (trademark in the US) is a retailer selling goods via electronic transactions on the Internet.
| 17a | This slippery type // left one alone finally going west (3) |
| 18a | Natural // love must come before caring about ... (7) |
"love " = O [nil score in tennis]
In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).
hide
In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.
Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).
hide
| 20a | ... characteristic /of/ city pal needing reform (7) |
| 22a | The case for a two-day visit? (9,3) |
| 26a | Casual worker /of/ Bond villain and valet (3-6) |
Oddjob[7] (often written as "Odd Job") is a fictional character in the espionage novels and films featuring James Bond. He is a henchman to the villain Auric Goldfinger in the 1959 James Bond novel Goldfinger and its 1964 film adaptation.
Man[5] is a dated term for a manservant or valet ⇒
get me a cocktail, my man.
Odd-jobman[10] or odd-job man[5] (also odd-jobber) is a British term for a person who does casual work, especially domestic repairs.
| 27a | Knowing /of/ conflict within hospital department (5) |
A & E[5] is the abbreviation for accident and emergency[5] (also known as casualty department[5] or casualty ward), a hospital department concerned with the provision of immediate treatment to people who are seriously injured in an accident or who are suddenly taken seriously ill ⇒ (i)
a nurse at work told me I should go to A & E; (ii)
an A & E department.
| 28a | Emergency call about right // types (5) |
| 29a | Dissertation on case of security and origin of nuclear // fusion (9) |
Down
| 1d | Manage to convince, // perhaps cuddling wife (4) |
| 2d | Rap session partially used /for/ recess (4) |
| 3d | The Mousetrap benefitted from this // extended ladder (4,3) |
In Britain, ladder[5] denotes:
- (noun) a vertical strip of unravelled fabric in tights or stockings ⇒
one of Sally’s stockings developed a ladder
- (verb) with reference to tights or stockings, to develop or cause to develop a ladder ⇒ (i)
her tights were always laddered
; (ii)they laddered the minute I put them on
The Mousetrap[7] is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The longest-running West End show, it has by far the longest initial run of any play in history, with its 27,500th performance taking place on 18 September 2018.
| 4d | Defeats // political enforcers (5) |
A whip[5] is an official of a political party appointed to maintain parliamentary discipline among its members, especially so as to ensure attendance and voting in debates.
| 5d | Martial arts exponent/'s/ area that's protected (5,4) |
In judo, karate, or other martial art, a green belt[5] is a person qualified to wear a green belt which denotes a level of proficiency below that of a brown belt.
Green belt[5] is a British term* for an area of open land around a city, on which building is restricted.
* At least, the term is British in the eyes of the editors of Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries) despite the fact that I live virtually within spitting distance of the Ottawa Greenbelt and there being numerous other examples of green belts[7] (or greenbelts) around the world.
| 6d | Staying power // in a man -- it's unusual! (7) |
| 7d | Lab working with kitchen // solvent (2,3,5) |
| 8d | Quietly /showing/ discretion about one empty lorry holding up vessel (10) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Lorry[5] is the common name in the UK for the vehicle known in North America as a truck[5]; nevertheless, the word truck is also used in the UK*. |
| 12d | Amorous old criminal/'s/ rank (10) |
| 13d | Queen's supporting band (heavy metal) and will be instigator (10) |
"Queen " = ER [regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth]
The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.
* A cipher[5] (also cypher) is a monogram[5] or motif of two or more interwoven letters, typically a person's initials, used to identify a personal possession or as a logo.
hide
The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.
* A cipher[5] (also cypher) is a monogram[5] or motif of two or more interwoven letters, typically a person's initials, used to identify a personal possession or as a logo.
hide
| 15d | Entertainment on board /could be/ playing cards with matches (4,5) |
A deck game[1] is a game played on a ship's deck.
| 19d | Officers /with/ negative response from French company upset sergeant-major (3-4) |
The French word for 'no' is non[8].
A sergeant major[5] or sergeant-major[2] (abbreviation SM[5]) is a warrant officer in the British army whose job is to assist the adjutant* of a regiment or battalion (regimental sergeant major) or a subunit commander (company sergeant major, battery sergeant major, etc.).
* an adjutant[5] is a military officer who acts as an administrative assistant to a senior officer [does that not make the Sergeant Major an assistant to an assistant?]
Non-com[5] is an informal military term for a noncommissioned officer[10], a person—such as a sergeant or corporal—who is appointed from the ranks as a subordinate officer.
| 21d | 'Just use the oars', as said by some // ruler once (7) |
| 23d | Projection /from/ nine players given promotion (5) |
A nonet[5] is a group of nine people or things, especially musicians.
A tenon[5] is a projecting piece of wood made for insertion into a mortise in another piece ⇒
a mortise and tenon joint.
| 24d | Crazy // graduates needing to take time (4) |
| 25d | Black Sabbath's first // shoots (4) |
Jet[5] (also jet black) is a glossy black colour ⇒
her jet-black hair.
Scratching the Surface
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| Black Sabbath[7] were an English rock band formed in Birmingham, England in 1968 that helped define the genre of heavy metal music. |
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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