Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29707 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, June 21, 2021 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29707]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Falcon | |
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
We find Campbell in a very gentle mood 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 | Work in Middle East /may make one/ be listless (4) |
"work " = OP [opus]
In music, an opus[5] (Latin 'work', plural opuses or opera) is a separate composition or set of compositions.
The abbreviation Op.[5] (also op.), denoting opus, is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication. The plural form of Op. is Opp..
Opus[5] can also be used in other contexts to denote an artistic work, especially one on a large scale ⇒
hide
In music, an opus[5] (Latin 'work', plural opuses or opera) is a separate composition or set of compositions.
The abbreviation Op.[5] (also op.), denoting opus, is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication. The plural form of Op. is Opp..
Opus[5] can also be used in other contexts to denote an artistic work, especially one on a large scale ⇒
he was writing an opus on Mexico.
hide
| 3a | Official warning // cowardly joker, say (6,4) |
In soccer and some other games, a yellow card[5] is a yellow card shown by the referee to a player being cautioned ⇒
Eddis was shown the yellow card for a late tackle* on Candlish. [A second yellow card results in ejection from the game.]
* In soccer and field hockey, a tackle[5] is an act of playing the ball, or attempting to do so, when it is in the possession of an opponent — not, as in rugby and North American football, an act of seizing and attempting to stop a player in possession of the ball.
| 9a | Military vehicle /in/ reservoir (4) |
| 10a | Remoulded spares coming round have to // meet a required standard (4,6) |
| 11a | True about recent // resumption (7) |
| 13a | Emperor, // possessed, managed to capture island (7) |
Hadrian[5] (AD 76-138) was Roman emperor 117–138; full name Publius Aelius Hadrianus. The adopted successor of Trajan, he toured the provinces of the Empire and secured the frontiers.
His name has been immortalized in Hadrian's Wall[5], a Roman defensive wall across northern England, stretching from the Solway Firth in the west to the mouth of the River Tyne in the east (about 120 km, 74 miles). It was begun in AD 122, after the emperor Hadrian’s visit, to defend the province of Britain against invasions by tribes from the north.
Scratching the Surface
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| Should we interpret "possessed" to mean insane, then I don't think Hadrian (unlike some of his fellow emperors such as Caligula and Nero) fits the bill. And should we consider the "island" to be Britain, then the Roman conquest of Britain happened before Hadrian was even born and Roman rule in Britain survived long after his death. |
| 14a | From personal experience, /what's/ initially associated with worker? (2,5,4) |
| 18a | Action taken by fine Italian // in good shape (8,3) |
"Italian " = IT [in reference to either the language or the vermouth]
| 21a | Cutting // remarks, principally in bar (7) |
A cutting[10] (also called, especially in the US and Canada, clipping) is an article, photograph, etc, cut from a newspaper or other publication.
| 22a | Rosemary, perhaps during series of games, /gets/ a fizzy drink (7) |
Here and There
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In Britain, sherbet[5] is a flavoured sweet effervescent powder eaten alone or made into a drink ⇒ disks of fruit-flavoured rice paper filled with sherbet. In North America, sherbet[5] is another name for sorbet or, as the British might call it, water ice. |
| 23a | Rarest moon moving for one? (10) |
I see this clue as a cryptic definition of someone for whom the sighting of the rarest of moons would be an emotional experience. The clue also contains an embedded anagram.
| 24a | Male -- he's silly // to become engaged (4) |
| 25a | Two rivers enthralling the French // nursery-rhyme twin (10) |
The Tweed[5] is a river which rises in the Southern Uplands of Scotland and flows generally eastwards, crossing into northeastern England and entering the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed. For part of its lower course it forms the border between Scotland and England.
The Dee[5,7] could be any of several rivers in Scotland and England — not to mention Ireland and Australia, the most prominent being:
- a river in northeastern Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen
- a river that rises in North Wales and flows into England, past Chester and on into the Irish Sea
"the French " = LE [French definite article]
Tweedledum and Tweedledee[7] are fictional characters in an English nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom. The names have since become synonymous in western popular culture slang for any two people who look and act in identical ways, generally in a derogatory context.
| 26a | Miss // sleep after onset of storm (4) |
Kip[5] is an informal British term meaning:
- (noun) a sleep or nap ⇒ (i)
I might have a little kip
; (ii)he was trying to get some kip
- (verb) to sleep ⇒
he can kip on her sofa
Down
| 1d | Relevant // stuff (8) |
| 2d | Writer, King, presented with fine folding // blade (8) |
A penknife[11] is a small pocketknife, formerly one used for making and sharpening quill pens.
Scratching the Surface
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| The surface reading is likely an allusion to US writer Stephen King[5] who is best known for his novels of horror and suspense, including The Shining (1977) and Misery (1987), many of which have been made into films. |
| 4d | English fellow picked up // message (5) |
| 5d | Fail to win compassion, // become disillusioned (4,5) |
| 6d | Injured part of leg /in/ battle (7,4) |
The Battle of Wounded Knee[5] was the last major confrontation (1890) between the US Army and American Indians, at the village of Wounded Knee on a reservation in South Dakota. More than 300 largely unarmed Sioux men, women, and children were massacred. A civil rights protest at the site in 1973 led to clashes with the authorities.
| 7d | A time volunteers at home // accomplish (6) |
"volunteers " = TA [Territorial Army, "old" name for the Army Reserve]
| 8d | Courageous // favourite length adrift (6) |
| 12d | Term representing 'promise', // literally? (4,3,4) |
| 15d | What Blondin used /in/ tense Hitchcock film (9) |
Rope[7] is a 1948 American psychological crime thriller film starring James Stewart and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the 1929 play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton.
Charles Blondin[5] (1824–1897) was a French acrobat; born Jean-François Gravelet. He is famous for walking across a tightrope suspended over Niagara Falls on several occasions.
| 16d | Away, on holiday, /makes/ delivery (3,5) |
Here and There
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The British use the word holiday(s) for what North Americans (especially our neighbours south of the border) would call vacation[5]. (read more )
Holiday[5,10] (often holidays) is a chiefly British term for a period in which a break is taken from work or studies for rest, travel, or recreation ⇒ (i) I spent my summer holidays on a farm; (ii) Fred was on holiday in Spain. According to British dictionaries, the usual US and Canadian term for such a break is vacation. However, I am accustomed to hearing the two terms used almost interchangeably in this sense—in much the same manner that I would use fall and autumn interchangeably. This may not be the case in all parts of Canada, but I grew up in the Maritimes and have lived in Eastern Ontario for most of my life, both areas where British traditions are particularly strong. In Britain, the word vacation[5] has a very specific meaning, a fixed holiday period between terms in universities and law courts ⇒ the Easter vacation. In North America, such a period might be called a break[7]. hide |
A delivery[5] is an act of throwing, bowling, or kicking a ball, especially a cricket ball.
In cricket, an off break[5] is a ball which deviates from the off side towards the leg side (show more ) after pitching [striking the ground*]—the opposite of a leg break[5].
In cricket, the off[5] (also called off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. The other half of the field is known as either the leg[5] (also called leg side) or on[5] (also called on side) ⇒
hide
In cricket, the off[5] (also called off side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) towards which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. The other half of the field is known as either the leg[5] (also called leg side) or on[5] (also called on side) ⇒
he played a lucky stroke to leg.
hide
* In cricket and golf, pitch[5] (said in reference to the ball) means to strike the ground in a particular spot ⇒
the ball pitched, began to spin back, and rolled towards the hole.
| 17d | Cut this out, foremost of paintings /in/ frame (6,2) |
Stitch up[10] is British slang meaning to incriminate (someone) on a false charge by manufacturing evidence.
| 19d | Set off /in/ race to secure record (6) |
| 20d | Treated chesty // bushwhacker (6) |
A bushwhacker[1] is a short heavy scythe for cutting bushes.
| 22d | Reportedly influenced // kid (5) |
Kid[3] (also called kidskin) is soft leather made from the skin of a young goat.
Suede[11] is kid or other leather finished with a soft, napped surface.
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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