Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29705 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Friday, June 18, 2021 | |
Setter
Zandio | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29705]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Deep Threat | |
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
It's Zandio today—so, clearly a day for lateral thinking.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 | Interpret // two bits of text (10) |
Para[5] is a short form for paragraph ⇒
While I thought it was a big scoop the news desk didn't, and gave it two paras on an inside page.
| 6a | Feeble // learner, mischievous child (4) |
"learner " = L [driver under instruction]
The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.
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The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.
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| Automobile displaying an L-plate |
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| 9a | Old-fashioned // bridge clubs with interior first-rate (7) |
"first-rate " = AI [ship classification (A1)]
| 10a | Insist on // piece of chicken for celebration (7) |
| 12a | Frank talking // away, gave address west of Northern Cape (13) |
| 14a | Annoying being // part of cult? (6) |
| 15a | Erase ink smudges, /getting/ more shady (8) |
| 17a | Cheer /is/ loud -- two letters in a row written about it (8) |
| 19a | SOS vet broadcast /for/ cooking equipment (6) |
| 22a | Having reformed a school, Philip // resigned (13) |
| 24a | Breakfast food boss /ffers/ Einstein (7) |
| 25a | Loot // not well concealed by sheet (7) |
| 26a | Trick // of the French to forego training (4) |
In French, du[8] is the masculine singular form of the partitive article meaning 'of the'.
| 27a | It may cause scoffing /and/ make Yankee shoot (6,4) |
Brandy snap[5] is a British term for a crisp rolled gingerbread wafer, usually filled with cream.
Down
| 1d | Oppose // petition, swapping sides (4) |
| 2d | Nuclear plants lacking atomic // mass conductors? (7) |
A[1] is the abbreviation for atomic, as in A-bomb.
Mass[5] is the celebration of the Christian Eucharist*, especially in the Roman Catholic Church.
* Eucharist[5] (also known as Communion[5]) is the Christian service, ceremony, or sacrament commemorating the Last Supper, in which bread and wine are consecrated and consumed.
A rector[5]
is a member of the clergy, although the meaning of the term varies
among religious denominations (show more ):
- in the the Church of England, an incumbent of a parish where all tithes formerly passed to the incumbent
- in other Anglican Churches, a member of the clergy who has charge of a parish
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in the Roman Catholic Church, a priest in charge of a church or of a religious institution
| 3d | Trick from a card you'd rather not be dealt? (9,4) |
In this cryptic definition, card us used in the sense of a joker or trickster and the solution is a trick of his (or hers) that you would not want to be the butt of.
| 4d | On and coming up, kind of movie // guide (6) |
| 5d | Working as lecturer, perhaps, // son going to a summit (8) |
| 7d | Middle Easterner // is famously mad ruler, twisted one (7) |
King Lear*[7] is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all.
* Lear[5], a legendary early king of Britain, is mentioned by the 12th century Welsh chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (circa 1139; first printed in 1508), an account of the kings of Britain.
| 8d | Upturn after papers united in force (10) |
Pressurise[5] (an alternative British spelling* of pressurize) is used here in a British sense meaning to attempt to persuade or coerce (someone) into doing something ⇒
don't let anyone pressurize you into snap decisions.
* While British dictionaries show the preferred spelling of words such as pressurize as ending in -ize [note the spelling used by Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries) in the usage example], many Brits will argue vehemently that this is an American spelling and the word should end in -ise. As I understand it, such words come from Greek and that is where the z originates—not America. The -ise spelling comes from French, so perhaps this British propensity to use it is a long-lasting carry over from the Norman invasion of 1066.
| 11d | Cat sat, finally tumbling /in/ well (13) |
| 13d | Extra seconds with last of soup dipped into -- /it's/ common! (10) |
In cricket, an extra[5] is a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited (in most cases) to the batting side rather than to a batsman. The types of extra[7] are no ball, wide, bye, leg-bye, and penalty runs.
| 16d | Witness // seized by Ethelred -- lo, he begs to get up (8) |
Scratching the Surface
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Ethelred[5] is the name of two English kings:
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| 18d | Mention // turnover of local housing syndicate (5,2) |
Local[5] is an informal British term for a pub convenient to a person’s home ⇒
had a pint in the local.
| 20d | One's base: // Roman building, all the rage (7) |
| 21d | Composer // about to be supported by board (6) |
Frédéric Chopin[5] (1810–1849) was a Polish-born French composer and pianist. Writing almost exclusively for the piano, he composed numerous mazurkas and polonaises inspired by Polish folk music, as well as nocturnes, preludes, and two piano concertos (1829; 1830).
| 23d | Look to go north or south (4) |
I think of a clue such as this as being a cryptic definition with an embedded precise definition.
The latter part of the clue does not provide a second independent route to the solution but, rather, it cryptically provides additional information (cryptic elaboration) concerning a characteristic of the solution—namely that it is a palindrome.
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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