Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29655 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 | |
Setter
[Questionably] Jay (Jeremy Mutch) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29655]
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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
I experienced a total mental block on 11a where the answer should have been obvious given I had not only correctly deciphered the wordplay and identified the definition but also had all the checking letters in place. However, the sense in which "touch" is being used just never occurred to me.There is much speculation on Big Dave's Crossword Blog that this puzzle may not have been set by Jay. A few weeks back, we saw a "Wednesday" puzzle that was not set by Jay and, at that time, Telegraph Puzzles Editor Chris Lancaster told us to expect occasional "Wednesday" puzzles from setters other than Jay. However, if the puzzle had not been set by Jay, I expect that either he or Chris Lancaster would have stepped forward to say so.
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 | Putting on record // one caught in affair (6) |
| 5a | Event /that sees/ career on fire? (4,4) |
| 9a | Politician /offering/ terms ripe for negotiation, including car (5,8) |
Mini[7] is an automobile brand, currently owned by BMW, but originally introduced as a model under the Austin and Morris marques by the now defunct British Motor Corporation (BMC).
The Story Behind the Picture
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| The illustration in the 2Kiwis review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog pictures New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern[7]. |
| 10a | Detective must abandon vague // feeling (8) |
"detective " = DI [detective inspector]
A detective inspector (abbrevation DI[5]) is a senior police officer in the UK. Within the British police, inspector[7] is the second supervisory rank. It is senior to that of sergeant, but junior to that of chief inspector. Plain-clothes detective inspectors are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix 'detective' identifying them as having been trained in criminal investigation and being part of or attached to their force's Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
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A detective inspector (abbrevation DI[5]) is a senior police officer in the UK. Within the British police, inspector[7] is the second supervisory rank. It is senior to that of sergeant, but junior to that of chief inspector. Plain-clothes detective inspectors are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix 'detective' identifying them as having been trained in criminal investigation and being part of or attached to their force's Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
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| 11a | Touch judges ultimately /finding/ glasses (6) |
Post Mortem
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| This is a case where one gives oneself a good swift kick for failing to solve the clue without assistance. |
| 12a | Checks energy // releases (4,2) |
Check[5] is used in the sense of stop or slow the progress of (something, typically something undesirable) ⇒
efforts were made to check the disease.
Let[5] is used in an archaic sense meaning to hinder ⇒
pray you let us not; we fain [eagerly] would greet our mother.
* This sense of the word survives today in racket sports, where a let[5] is a circumstance under which a service is nullified and has to be taken again because the ball or one of the players has been obstructed, especially (in tennis) when the ball clips the top of the net and falls within bounds ⇒
he was obstructed and asked for a let.
| 14a | Work practice that's relatively favourable (8) |
| 16a | A client upset about right // type of music producer (8) |
| 19a | Cruel destiny imprisoning // the first-born (6) |
| 21a | Prison guards // work party on board (6) |
"on board " = 'contained in SS' [SS = steamship]
Screw[5] is a prisoner's derogatory informal term for a prison guard or warden ⇒
The abiding impression left by the book is the way the prison system reduces prisoners and screws to animals.
| 23a | Local // team in split (8) |
"team " = SIDE
Side[5] is a British term for a sports team ⇒
* Note that, in Britain, a player is said to be "in a side" or "in a team" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America.
In North America, the term side[3] is used in a very general fashion that can denote one of two or more opposing individuals, groups, teams, or sets of opinions. While this same general usage is also found in the UK, the term side[5] is also used there in a much more specific sense to mean a sports team, as we can clearly see from the following usage examples ⇒ (i)
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Side[5] is a British term for a sports team ⇒
there was a mixture of old and young players in* their side.
* Note that, in Britain, a player is said to be "in a side" or "in a team" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America.
In North America, the term side[3] is used in a very general fashion that can denote one of two or more opposing individuals, groups, teams, or sets of opinions. While this same general usage is also found in the UK, the term side[5] is also used there in a much more specific sense to mean a sports team, as we can clearly see from the following usage examples ⇒ (i)
Previous England rugby sides, and England teams in many other sports, would have crumbled under the weight of such errors.; (ii)
They'll face better sides than this Monaco team, but you can only beat what's put in front of you.
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| 25a | Illusion // loads of praise must shatter (5,8) |
The expression fool's paradise[5] denotes a state of happiness based on a person's not knowing about or denying the existence of potential trouble ⇒
they were living in a fool's paradise, refusing to accept that they were in debt.
| 26a | Embellish, // rather, if being adopted (8) |
| 27a | Bloke reportedly /producing/ natural water feature (6) |
Bloke[5] is an informal British* term for a man ⇒
he’s a nice bloke.
* Very British, but certainly also very familiar to anyone on this side of the pond who has ever watched a British film or television programme.
While the words geezer and geyser are pronounced quite differently in North America, they are pronounced similarly in Britain with geezer and geyser both being pronounced GHEE-zah.
In North America, the word geezer is pronounced GHEE-sur and the word geyser is pronounced GUY-sur.
Here, It Takes Two
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| Judging by the 2Kiwis' comment on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, New Zealanders pronounce geyser the same way as North Americans. Their comment made me think that the clue would work here (and in New Zealand) were it worded:
I note that the 2Kiwis propose a different alternative clue for New Zealand. |
Down
| 2d | Influence /of/ heartless figure pierced by nail (7) |
Impinge[5] is used in the sense of have an effect, especially a negative one ⇒
several factors impinge on market efficiency.
| 3d | Plonker/'s/ wild riposte oddly ignored (5) |
Plonker[5] is an informal British term* for a foolish or inept person.
* It is also vulgar British slang for a man's penis [and certainly not the only word to share these two meanings].
| 4d | Callow youth /or/ environmentalist with hooter (9) |
Hooter[5] is a British term for the horn of a motor vehicle.
| 5d | What might accompany crackers // list lad keeps? (7) |
Stilton[5] (trademark) is a kind of strong rich cheese, often with blue veins, originally made at various places in Leicestershire.
Origin: So named because it was formerly sold to travellers at a coaching inn in Stilton (now in Cambridgeshire, England).
What are they talking about?
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On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, there is a long discussion in the thread arising from Comment #22 about the word "cracker" initiated by Angellov's statementThe British use the term biscuit[3,4,11] for a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or crackers in North America*. Cookies might be referred to as sweet biscuits and crackers as savoury biscuits.surely that kind of crackers is [a] US word. * A North American biscuit[5] is similar to what is known in Britain as a scone. However, several respondents note that various types of "biscuits" are known as crackers in the UK. British dictionaries define cracker as a thin crisp unsweetened biscuit[2] or a thin dry biscuit, typically eaten with cheese[5]. |
| 6d | Shouts /as/ male discharged from offences (5) |
| 7d | Pulled back /from/ area of ground covered in grass (9) |
| 8d | Consortiums /offering/ vehicles fitted with phone (7) |
| 13d | Dealt with // roots due for treatment, needing time (6,3) |
| 15d | Media pack /finding/ old service provider (5,4) |
I take "old service" to be a reference to the Royal Navy which is known in Britain as the Senior Service[5].
* A standing "Navy Royal", with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, originated in the early 16th century during the reign of Henry VIII.[7] The English Army was first established as a standing military force in 1660.[7] I trust that it is self-evident that the Royal Air Force came into existence much later.
Historically, a press-gang[5] was a body of men employed to enlist men forcibly into service in the army or navy*.
* The Air Force had not yet come into existence when this practice was in vogue.
Thus a press gang was a provider of recruits to the navy.
| 17d | The devil/'s/ bunch regularly occupying prisoner (7) |
| 18d | Inclined to cry about R number // based on three ... (7) |
Scratching the Surface
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R[5] (also R number) is a figure expressing the rate at which an infectious disease spreads, taken as the average number of cases arising by transmission from a single infected individual ⇒ there are lots of things we can do to reduce R, including reducing our social contacts by continuing social distancing. |
| 20d | ... because R before end of June /is/ genuine (7) |
| 22d | Something fishy /in/ South American greeting (5) |
| 24d | Parched, welcoming first-class // supplier of milk (5) |
"first-class " = AI [ship classification (A1)]
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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