Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29674 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Thursday, May 13, 2021 | |
Setter
RayT (Ray Terrell) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29674]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Kath | |
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
RayT is in a rather generous mood today and keeps the mental workout quite gentle.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 | Substitute /with/ mission to keep record (6) |
| 4a | Set off // ambush reversed in action (8) |
| 9a | Soldier's opening door /for/ lookout (6) |
| 10a | Wins // playground game, we hear (8) |
Conkers[5] is a British children’s game in which each child has a conker* on the end of a string and takes turns in trying to break another’s conker with it.
* Conker[5] is a British name for the hard, shiny dark brown nut of a horse chestnut tree.
| 11a | Officer // material with barnet oddly cut (8) |
Scratching the Surface
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Barnet[5] is an informal British term for a person's hair ⇒ It was an American era of big moustaches, buffed-up barnets, industrial-strength sideburns and intimidating, tightly permed chest hair.
Origin: rhyming slang (show explanation ) barnet fair, the name of a famous horse fair held at Barnet, Hertfordshire.
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| 13a | Occasionally veils a Hindu // god (6) |
In Hinduism, Vishnu[5] is a god, originally a minor Vedic god, now regarded by his worshippers as the supreme deity and saviour, by others as the preserver of the cosmos in a triad with Brahma and Shiva. Vishnu is considered by Hindus to have had nine earthly incarnations or avatars, including Rama, Krishna, and the historical Buddha; the tenth avatar will herald the end of the world.
| 15a | Crooked impostor has me /for/ change (13) |
| 18a | Certain // to be clean isn't bad (13) |
| 22a | Still // husband has strong exterior (6) |
| 24a | Brave // nobleman in iron shackles, gutted (8) |
An earl[5] is a British nobleman ranking above a viscount and below a marquess [in other words, the third highest of the five ranks of British nobility — duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron].
The symbol for the chemical element iron is Fe[5] (from Latin ferrum).
| 26a | Place incredibly loaded with hidden gold (8) |
The entire clue provides the definition in which the wordplay is embedded.
El Dorado[5] is the name of a fictitious country or city abounding in gold, formerly believed to exist somewhere in the region of the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers.
| 27a | Taste /s/ rancid swallowing a volume (6) |
| 28a | Flag // ship carries Queen (8) |
"Queen " = R [Regina]
Queen may be abbreviated as Q, Qu. or R.
Q[5] is an abbreviation for queen that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.
Qu.[2] is another common abbreviation for Queen.
In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms*, Regina[5] (abbreviation R[5]) [Latin for queen] denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth — often shortened to ER) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina 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.
Thus Queen Elizabeth signs her name as 'Elizabeth R' as seen here on Canada's paint-stained constitution[7].
hide
Queen may be abbreviated as Q, Qu. or R.
Q[5] is an abbreviation for queen that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.
Qu.[2] is another common abbreviation for Queen.
In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms*, Regina[5] (abbreviation R[5]) [Latin for queen] denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth — often shortened to ER) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina 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.
Thus Queen Elizabeth signs her name as 'Elizabeth R' as seen here on Canada's paint-stained constitution[7].
hide
| 29a | Thin imbibing first of miracle // cure (6) |
Down
| 1d | Stop // in Antipodes is terrific (6) |
The Antipodes[5] is a term used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere to refer to Australia and New Zealand.
| 2d | Widespread // hysteria taking over crowd (9) |
| 3d | Harry /is/ wrong about soldiers (7) |
In law, a tort[5] is a wrongful act or an infringement of a right (other than under contract) leading to legal liability ⇒
public nuisance is a crime as well as a tort.
| 5d | Greek god /is/ angry when upset (4) |
In Greek mythology, Eros[5] is the god of love, son of Aphrodite — the equivalent in Roman mythology being Cupid[5].
| 6d | Former politician // remains controlling left (7) |
Herbert Henry Asquith[5], 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (1852–1928) was a British Liberal statesman, prime minister 1908–16.
| 7d | Some advocate ether for their extraction? (5) |
As in 26a, I would consider the entire clue to provide the definition in which the wordplay is embedded. However, the definition here might be a shade more cryptic than the one in 26a.
| 8d | Detective's men reportedly /providing/ cover (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).
hide
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).
hide
| 12d | Perhaps one /could be/ less sensitive (6) |
| 14d | Squirm // beside sweetheart embracing Romeo (6) |
"sweetheart " = E
A common cryptic crossword construct is to use the word "sweetheart" to clue the letter 'E', the middle letter (heart) of the word 'swEet'.
hide
A common cryptic crossword construct is to use the word "sweetheart" to clue the letter 'E', the middle letter (heart) of the word 'swEet'.
hide
| 16d | Dock worker // to deserve getting fired (9) |
| 17d | Male resists changing // fancy woman (8) |
Fancy woman[5] is a dated informal British term for a person's female lover.
| 19d | Atmosphere with English spirit lifted // country (7) |
| 20d | Pub anger /leads to/ assault (7) |
| 21d | Very large quarry /for/ hawk (6) |
"very large " = OS [clothing size]
The osprey[5] is a a large fish-eating bird of prey with long, narrow wings and a white underside and crown, found throughout the world. Also called fish hawk.
| 23d | Command // of royal decree exempts royals initially (5) |
| 25d | Border, // say, of French brought up (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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