Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29726 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, July 13, 2021 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29726]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Mr K | |
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 this puzzle quite straightforward—both to solve and to review.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 | About to lose strength, daughter // went to bed (7) |
| 5a | Hates // day before English exams (7) |
| 9a | Native Americans quietly, // stealthily advance (5) |
The Cree[3] are a Native American people inhabiting a large area from eastern Canada west to Alberta and the Great Slave Lake. Formerly located in central Canada, the Cree expanded westward and eastward in the 17th and 18th centuries, the western Cree adopting the Plains Indian life and the eastern Cree retaining their woodland culture.
| 10a | Throw mud // at grenade -- it goes off (9) |
| 11a | Found // dance music very electronic and revolutionary (10) |
"very " = V [context uncertain]
The abbreviation* v (or v.)[1,2,5,10] stands for very.
* Although this abbreviation is found in most of my British dictionaries, it does not appear in any of my American dictionaries. Unfortunately no explanation is given as to the specific context in which one might encounter this usage. The only possibility that I can imagine is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments.
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The abbreviation* v (or v.)[1,2,5,10] stands for very.
* Although this abbreviation is found in most of my British dictionaries, it does not appear in any of my American dictionaries. Unfortunately no explanation is given as to the specific context in which one might encounter this usage. The only possibility that I can imagine is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments.
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| 12a | Mark // heads back (4) |
| 14a | Europe stops bananas retaining curve, centrally? // Absurd (12) |
Scratching the Surface
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| It would appear from the hidden illustration in Mr K's review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog [you have to click on the picture of the banana-wearing protesters to see the second, hidden illustration] that at some time an erroneous rumour circulated stating that Europe had banned "overly curved or small bananas". |
| 18a | Instinctive tendency // to support the environment (6,6) |
| 21a | Weak female's abandoned // bar (4) |
| 22a | Criminal in jail but keeping old // feeling of joy (10) |
| 25a | Uniform returned by marines, nothing by engineers -- // not again! (9) |
| 26a | It might be used to cut // some flipping beef in kitchen (5) |
Scratching the Surface
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Flipping[5,10]
(adjective
or adverb) is an informal British term used for emphasis or to express mild annoyance ⇒ (i) are you out of your flipping mind?; (ii) it’s flipping cold today. Origin: a euphemism for the taboo word f**king |
| 27a | Go beyond // ravine after second ancient city (7) |
"ancient city " = UR
Ur[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC. Ur[7] is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.
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Ur[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC. Ur[7] is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.
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Synonyms? You Be The Judge
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| A ravine[5] is a deep, narrow gorge with steep sides. A pass[5] is a route over or through mountains. |
| 28a | Little swine maybe // drops rubbish (7) |
Down
| 1d | Grow less // edelweiss, initially, after Charlie cuts grass (6) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Edelweiss[5] is a European mountain plant which has woolly white bracts around its small flowers and downy grey-green leaves. |
| 2d | Is male supporting article/'s/ religious belief? (6) |
Theism[2] is the the belief in the existence of God or a god, especially one revealed supernaturally to humans.
| 3d | Tear with crying /that's/ wild and noisy (3-7) |
| 4d | Move out of the way /of/ American car (5) |
Dodge[7] is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above Plymouth.
* Stellantis N.V.[7] is a Dutch-domiciled multinational automotive manufacturing corporation formed in 2021 on the basis of a 50-50 cross-border merger between the Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| 5d | Rinsed ten damaged // plates and dishes (6,3) |
Dinner set is another name for dinner service[5], a set of matching crockery* for serving a meal.
* Crockery[5] denotes plates, dishes, cups, and other similar items, especially ones made of earthenware or china.
| 6d | Became upset with small // clothes (4) |
| 7d | Cleaning liquids for mops? (8) |
| 8d | Most friendly // tsetse flies guarding wren, oddly (8) |
Scratching the Surface
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| The tsetse[5] (also tsetse fly) is an African bloodsucking fly which bites humans and other mammals, transmitting sleeping sickness and nagana*. * Nagana[5] is a disease of cattle, antelope, and other livestock in southern Africa, characterized by fever, lethargy, and oedema, and caused by trypanosome parasites transmitted by the tsetse fly. |
| 13d | Where prices drop, // one might buy a teddy here? (4,6) |
A literal interpretation of the solution might whimsically suggest that it denotes a place to buy a soft cuddly toy.
Scratching the Surface
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| In the surface reading, teddy[5] might also refer to an item of intimate women's clothing. |
| 15d | Strange sound up elm -- 1000 leaves // drooping (9) |
| 16d | Golf series -- // they don't provide much coverage (1-7) |
| 17d | Winner // -- a Greek character, always (8) |
Chi[5] is the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet (Χ, χ).
| 19d | Eat evening meal around six? // Heavenly! (6) |
| 20d | Annoys // fishermen heartlessly (6) |
| 23d | Perfect // fish on a lake (5) |
Ide[5] is another name for the orfe[5], a silvery freshwater fish of the carp family, which is fished commercially in eastern Europe.
| 24d | Region // in Far East (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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