Merry Christmas
Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29788 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Thursday, September 23, 2021 | |
Setter
Chris Lancaster ?*
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Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29788]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Miffypops | |
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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Notes
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* Although this spot on the setter rotation is usually occupied by Giovanni (Don Manley), a lot of observers—myself included—doubt this puzzle is his work. It is pointed out in the comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog that one of the clues in the puzzle (4d) was a winner in the Telegraph clue writing contest which almost certainly points to the puzzle being the creation of Telegraph Puzzles Editor Chris Lancaster. | |
Introduction
This puzzle provides an ideal mental workout—starting with a gentle warmup, progressing to some more taxing clues and wrapping up with a few that make one sweat a bit.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 | Scientist/'s/ obit chimes with organisation (10) |
| 6a | Get away // somewhat unscathed (4) |
| 9a | Weapon that's carried by actor with a small part? (5) |
The clue alludes to the term spear carrier[5]:
- (in the theatre) an actor with a walk-on part ⇒
After several stints as a spear carrier, he was thrilled to get a small speaking role in the company's latest production.
- (by extension) an unimportant participant in something ⇒
the conference is an annual opportunity for the spear carriers and party bit-players to spend a few days in the proximity of the great
| 10a | Ritual // banishment when former partner ignored (9) |
| 12a | Gas /with/ person swearing: very unusual scene before church (13) |
"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. One possibility is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments. A second might be in the grading scale for numismatic coins where VG and VF are the codes for 'Very Good' and 'Very Fine' respectively.
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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. One possibility is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments. A second might be in the grading scale for numismatic coins where VG and VF are the codes for 'Very Good' and 'Very Fine' respectively.
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| 14a | Tour with Bake Off // possibly rash (8) |
| 15a | Teens regularly autograph // banner (6) |
| 17a | Emphasise // anxiety (6) |
| 19a | Severe // virus almost goes active (8) |
| 21a | Smooth // pistachio nuts eaten by horse? All but the middle (13) |
| 24a | Singer // seen and heard performing (2,7) |
Ed Sheeran[7] is an English singer-songwriter.
| 25a | Schemes /as/ injury reported (5) |
| 26a | Something Woody // occasionally targeted (4) |
Before seeing Miffypops' review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, I had taken this to be merely what I considered to be a rather weak cryptic definition alluding to the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker[7]—I had completely missed the definition and wordplay. I now see it as a very clever clue that can be read either as a standard cryptic crossword clue or as a cryptic definition.
| 27a | Rules about film /in/ Oscars? (10) |
"film " = ET [E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.
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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.
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Oscar[5] (trademark in the US) is the nickname for a gold statuette given as an award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, presented annually since 1928 for achievement in the film industry in various categories.
Down
| 1d | First // defeat (4) |
Best[10] is used as a verb meaning to gain the advantage over or defeat.
| 2d | The opposite of fast? (7) |
| 3d | The horrid ref's playing /for/ County (13) |
Hertfordshire[5] is a county of southeastern England, one of the so-called "Home Counties" surrounding London.
| 4d | 'Mother', one ace opener for Lennon // work (8) |
Mater[5] [Latin for 'mother'] is a dated, informal British term for mother ⇒
the mater has kept on the house in London.
Scratching the Surface
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| "Mother"[7] is a song by English musician John Lennon, the opening track on his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band—his debut solo record following the breakup of the Beatles. |
| 5d | Mount // plate (5) |
| 7d | Bill Clinton's third to imbibe a new // wine (7) |
Chianti[5] is a dry red Italian wine produced in Tuscany named after the Chianti Mountains of Italy.
| 8d | Offer head // sympathy (10) |
| 11d | Certain // home study experiment up to it (13) |
| 13d | Stable /and/ happy with little sister locked up (10) |
| 16d | District // court supporting troubled prince (8) |
| 18d | Answer // extract from letter I posted (7) |
| 20d | Strange soldiers with time /for/ scrap (7) |
| 22d | One could make a fortune with this! (5) |
A tarot[5] is a pack of tarot cards (the Tarot)* or a card from such a pack.
* The Tarot is traditionally a pack of 78 playing cards with five suits, used for fortune-telling and (especially in Europe) in certain games. The suits are typically swords, cups, coins (or pentacles), batons (or wands), and a permanent suit of trumps.
| 23d | Love to leave haven // unchanged (2,2) |
"love " = O [nil score in tennis]
In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).
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In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒
love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.
Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).
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What did he say?
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In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops writesI believe you will find it is not the "central" letter that must be discarded.The central letter of a haven in a desert needs to be removed.. |
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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