Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29745 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, August 4, 2021 | |
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29745]
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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
There is no doubt about the authorship of this "Wednesday" puzzle as Jay himself drops in to Big Dave's Crossword Blog to claim ownership.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 | Agreement /resulting from/ investing millions in firm commitment (10) |
| 6a | Red Dwarf/'s/ leading actor? (4) |
A red dwarf[5] is a small, old, relatively cool star.
| 10a | United // force American-English defender at the outset (5) |
Scratching the Surface
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| In the surface reading, one can be fairly certain that United refers to a sports team and that defender[5] refers to a player whose task it is to protect their own side's goal. Manchester United Football Club[7], commonly known as Man United or simply United*, is an English professional football [soccer] club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League (the top level in the English football league system). * Although, in Britain, the word United[5] is commonly used in the names of soccer and other sports teams formed by amalgamation, it would seem that the name United in the absence of other context would customarily be assumed to be a reference to Manchester United. |
| 11a | Journey made for a game of golf? (5,4) |
| 12a | Baffling // call on feminine facilities (8) |
Facilities[2] is a euphemistic term for a lavatory [toilet].
Loo[5] is an informal British term for a toilet [either as a room or a plumbing fixture].
Here and There
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Ring[5] is an informal — more or less British (show more ) — term for:
In North America, the word would seem to be more accepted as a noun ( I'll give you a ring) than as a verb ( I'll ring you). According to various dictionaries, the word ring used in this sense is:
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What are they talking about?
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In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis tell us we needSpend a penny[5] is an informal British expression used euphemistically to refer to a need to urinate.facilities where one may spend a penny. Origin: with reference to the coin-operated locks of public toilets. I did wonder if there might be a connection between this expression and the fact that the abbreviation for penny is p. So one would spend a p to have a pee. However, this appears not to be case. Before the introduction of decimal currency in the UK in 1971, the abbreviation for penny was d (for denarius) and this expression appears to predate that time. According to the Grammarist website, "Spend a penny means to go to the toilet, especially a public toilet. One usually is said to be going to spend a penny. The expression is derived from the fact that public toilets were installed in the United Kingdom in the mid-1800s that required a penny to be unlocked. These pay toilets were used mostly by women, public male urinals were free. The idiom spend a penny does not seem to have come into use until the mid-twentieth century, though pay public toilets existed long before that time. By the 1970s, the public toilet cost more than a penny, and use of the idiom declined. Today, the idiom is rarely used and is considered quaint.". |
| 13a | Tree // nearly everybody gets embarrassed about (5) |
| 15a | Understands /and/ gets together (7) |
| 17a | Gourmet // pie cooked with salt (7) |
| 19a | Happy /to find/ rental contract, occupying vacant pad (7) |
| 21a | Genuine // person who's the obvious choice (7) |
| 22a | This girl /may provide/ average answer! (5) |
| 24a | Wit upsetting A-list // fliers (8) |
The wagtail[5] is a slender Eurasian and African songbird with a long tail that is frequently wagged up and down, typically living by water.
| 27a | Warning sign /from/ mostly tough heavy drinker (9) |
| 28a | A bit of flower // power -- and others (5) |
| 29a | Second kind // person given briefs? (4) |
In British legal practice, a brief[5] is a summary of the facts and legal points in a case prepared by a solicitor and given to a barrister to argue in court*.
* In Britain's legal system, solicitors are attorneys and therefore can act on behalf of clients but, as they are not members of the bar, cannot speak on behalf of a client in court. On the other hand, barristers are members of the bar and can speak before a court but, as they are not attorneys, cannot directly act on behalf of clients. Thus a client must deal with a solicitor, who prepares a brief for a barrister, who argues the case before a court.[7]
In Britain, a silk[5] is a Queen’s (or King’s) Counsel* [so named because of the right accorded to wear a gown made of silk].
* A Queen's Counsel[7] (postnominal QC), or King's Counsel (postnominal KC) during the reign of a king, is an eminent lawyer (most often a barrister) who is appointed by the Queen to be one of "Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law."
| 30a | A room with old academic /is/ a battle (10) |
A don[10] is a member of the teaching staff at a university or college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.
Armageddon[5] is a dramatic and catastrophic conflict, especially one seen as likely to destroy the world or the human race ⇒
With no choice but retaliation a nuclear Armageddon ensued.
Origin: In the New Testament, Armageddon[5] is the last battle between good and evil before the Day of Judgement.
Down
| 1d | A source of food in church // outlet (4) |
| 2d | This may be over the pecking order (9) |
| 3d | Show /where/ Shakespeare's lover has a change of heart (5) |
| 4d | Borders /of/ world full of spirit (7) |
| 5d | Sticks up broken leg // to avoid customs duty (7) |
I think the word "gum" (in the sense of glue) is used far more commonly in the UK than in North America. I would certainly always say glue rather than gum. If I were to say "gum", I'm sure most people would think I was referring to chewing gum.
Gum[5] (verb) means to fasten with gum* or glue ⇒
the receipts are gummed into a special book.
* Gum[5] (noun) is glue that is used for sticking paper or other light materials together.
| 7d | Attempted promoting one, // feeling exhausted (5) |
| 8d | They say // bank has assimilated troubled red-top (10) |
Scratching the Surface
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 In Britain, a tabloid newspaper is known as a red top[5] (or red-top[10]).Origin: from the red background on which the titles of these newspapers are customarily printed |
| 9d | Perfectionist /must see/ agreement is in Italian (8) |
"Italian " = IT [in reference to either the language or the vermouth]
| 14d | Putting vessel inside oven like this /is/ a bloomer (10) |
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| AGA cooker oven |
* Brits use the term cooker[10] in the sense that North Americans use the word range, namely a stove used for cooking food. In Britain, the term range[5] has a much more restricted meaning, being a large cooking stove with burners or hotplates all of which are kept continually hot.
The agapanthus[5] is a South African plant of the lily family, with blue or white flowers growing in rounded clusters.
| 16d | Still supporting European Commission // over the moon (8) |
The European Commission[5] (abbreviation EC[5]) is a group, appointed by agreement among the governments of the European Union, which initiates Union action and safeguards its treaties. It meets in Brussels.
| 18d | A Parisian told /it's/ beside the point (9) |
"a Parisian " = UN
| 20d | Please place a bet /for/ a grand-looking old lady (7) |
Dowager[5] is used in the informal sense of a dignified elderly woman.
| 21d | Country // fair e.g. intended to keep going north (7) |
| 23d | Rustic // wall painting showing river for miles (5) |
| 25d | Fruit // pile oddly eaten by primate (5) |
| 26d | Dish /offered by/ side finishing early (4) |
Here and There
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| To Brits, a flan[2]
is an open pastry or sponge case with a savoury or fruit filling,
usually round in shape. While one may encounter this meaning in North America, the word flan[3,11] is also—and perhaps more commonly—used as an another name for crème caramel, a custard that is baked in a caramel-lined mold and served chilled with the caramel side up. |
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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