Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29697 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, June 9 , 2021 | |
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29697]
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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 found parts of this puzzle quite tricky and solved several clues from the checking letters and then expended considerable effort to parse them. I made a good guess on the Cockney rhyming slang* at 25a but a poor guess on the light at 27a.* In Comment #35 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Taylor Gibson writes "I do wish people would stop referring to rhyming slang as cockney, it’s English rhyming slang. It’s used all over the country including in my neck of the woods, 100 miles from Bow Bells! [the bells of St Mary-le-Bow[7] church in the East End of London, the home of cockneys]".
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 | Reprimand // bishop interrupting leading attack (7) |
| 9a | Set off // from assignation outside school (8) |
"school " = ETON
Eton College[7], often informally referred to simply as Eton, is an English independent boarding school for boys located in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor". It is one of ten English schools, commonly referred to as public schools, regulated by the Public Schools Act of 1868.
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Eton College[7], often informally referred to simply as Eton, is an English independent boarding school for boys located in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor". It is one of ten English schools, commonly referred to as public schools, regulated by the Public Schools Act of 1868.
Here and There
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| In Britain, an independent school[10] is a school that is neither financed nor controlled by the government or local authorities; in other words, an independent school[2] is not paid for with public money and does not belong to the state school system. In Britain, a public school[2] is a particular category of independent school, namely a secondary school, especially a boarding school, run independently of the state and financed by a combination of endowments and pupils' fees. Another category of independent school is the private school[2,5] which is a school run independently by an individual or group, especially for profit and supported wholly by the payment of fees. What we in North America would call a public school[2] is known in the UK as a state school[5] or a maintained school*. * In England and Wales, a maintained school[5] is a school that is funded by a local education authority. |
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| 10a | One female in two score, /gettin/ brace (7) |
| 11a | Monster keeps clear, /seeing/ this girl (8) |
| 12a | Person, say, with area // retail outlet in Spain (6) |
Bod[5] is an informal British term for a person ⇒
some clever bod wrote a song about them.
In Spanish-speaking countries*, a bodega[5,10] is either a shop selling wine and sometimes groceries or a wine cellar.
| 13a | Storm // club involved with Tudors (10) |
The House of Tudor[5] was the English royal dynasty which held the throne from the accession of Henry VII in 1485 until the death of Elizabeth I in 1603.
| 15a | Crazy // rough plan has leader of rebels taken out (4) |
Daft[5,10] is an informal British term meaning silly, foolish, stupid or insane ⇒
don't ask such daft questions.
| 16a | New lad is keeping nothing in except // something for the windsurfer (9) |
| 21a | House doctor's // taken advantage of (4) |
In the wordplay, read the 's as a contraction for has.
| 22a | This should keep viewers in touch (3,7) |
| 24a | Contents of hints aimed // early enough (2,4) |
| 25a | After brown bread, nothing /is/ a lost cause (4,4) |
Brown bread[5] is British rhyming slang for dead ⇒
if the bite isn't treated within a short period of time, you'll be brown bread.
"nothing " = DUCK [cricket term]
In cricket, a duck[5] (short for duck's egg) is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] ⇒
In British puzzles, "duck" is used to indicate the letter "O" based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter.
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In cricket, a duck[5] (short for duck's egg) is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] ⇒
he was out for a duck. This is similar to the North American expression goose egg[5] meaning a zero score in a game.
In British puzzles, "duck" is used to indicate the letter "O" based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter.
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| 27a | Sort of light fitting // that's seen on end of rifle? (7) |
A light bulb, camera lens, etc. equipped with a bayonet[5] fitting is engaged by being pushed into a socket and then twisted to lock it in place.
Post Mortem
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| All I could think of was HALOGEN (which matched the checking letters and is a "sort of light") but, of course, I could make no sense of the second definition. Perhaps I would have had more success had the clue referred to a camera lens mount. |
| 28a | Soldiers legally bound /to be/ trustworthy (8) |
| 29a | One on the fiddle /from/ prison is tense (7) |
Fiddle[10] is an informal term for any instrument of the viol or violin family, especially [but not exclusively] the violin.
Down
| 2d | Offer // support with constable oddly off (8) |
| 3d | Withdraws, /having/ sent up first course, including last of these (8) |
Starter[3,5] is another name* for an appetizer or the first course of a meal.
* although British dictionaries consider this term to be British[5] (or chiefly or mainly British[4,10,14]), this usage of the word would seem to be well established in North America and is found in some US dictionaries[3,12]
| 4d | Doing nothing about father /is/ a crime (10) |
| 5d | Person who succeeds /in/ broadcasting tune (4) |
| 6d | Leisure pursuit for the most part involving no // associate (6) |
| 7d | Leggings // good for women in restaurant staff? (7) |
Gaiters[5] are protective coverings of cloth or leather for the ankle and lower leg ⇒
gaiters to keep snow out of your boots.
| 8d | Shame men toyed with hidden // souvenir (7) |
| 11d | BBC look at different // individual offering a shine (9) |
Historically, a bootblack[5] was a person employed to polish boots and shoes.
Scratching the Surface
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The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation[5]) (show more
) is a
public corporation for radio and television broadcasting in Britain..
The BBC was established in 1927 by royal charter and held a monopoly until the introduction of the first commercial TV station in 1954. It is financed by the sale of television viewing licences rather than by revenue from advertising and has an obligation to remain impartial in its reporting. hide |
| 14d | Take out of service // cocktail of iced tea attracting tax (10) |
A value added tax[5] (abbreviation VAT)
is a tax on the amount by which the value of an article has been
increased at each stage of its production or distribution. (show more )
The European Union value added tax[7] (or EU VAT) is a value added tax on goods and services within the European Union (EU). The EU's institutions do not collect the tax, but EU member states (including the UK) are each required to adopt a value added tax that complies with the EU VAT code. Different rates of VAT apply in different EU member states, ranging from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. In the UK, the rate is 20%.
Canada's Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)[7] are each instances of a value added tax.
hide
The European Union value added tax[7] (or EU VAT) is a value added tax on goods and services within the European Union (EU). The EU's institutions do not collect the tax, but EU member states (including the UK) are each required to adopt a value added tax that complies with the EU VAT code. Different rates of VAT apply in different EU member states, ranging from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. In the UK, the rate is 20%.
Canada's Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)[7] are each instances of a value added tax.
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| 17d | Part of USA /that's/ excited but slow to support Democrat (4,4) |
"Democrat " = D [member or supporter of US political party]
| 18d | Main line in disarray? /It's/ flowing (8) |
The main[5] is an archaic or literary term for the open ocean.
| 19d | Offers /made by/ pub workers without impediment (7) |
| 20d | Sells // one stocked by roofer given a lift (7) |
A slater[5] is a person who slates roofs* for a living.
* slate means to cover a roof with flat plates of slate used as roofing material
| 23d | Top Gear could be // rather passé (3-3) |
If one were to think of "top gear" as a whimsical allusion to headwear, then splitting the solution (3,3) might well be an accurate description of it—given that the British TV series of that name (see box) first aired in 1977.
Scratching the Surface
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| Top Gear[7] is a British motoring magazine programme which airs on the BBC. |
| 26d | Pass trainer's first // young player (4) |
A col[5] is the lowest point of a ridge or saddle between two peaks, typically providing a pass from one side of a mountain range to another.
Colt[5] is a British term for a member of a junior sports team ⇒
Both are products of the Ilkley mini, junior and colts sections.
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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