Puzzle at a Glance
| |
|---|---|
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29779 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, September 13, 2021 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29779]
| |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Falcon | |
BD rating
| |
| Difficulty - ★★ | Enjoyment - ★★★ |
Falcon's experience
┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐
███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ | |
|
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
| |
|
Notes
| |
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, December 11, 2021 edition of the National Post. | |
Introduction
There is an interesting coincidence today as this puzzle is appearing in the National Post exactly three months to the day following its publication in The Daily Telegraph on Monday, September 13, 2021.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 | |
|
|
| Click here for further explanation and usage examples of markup conventions used on this blog. | |
Across
| 1a | Say nothing about a small // band (4) |
| 3a | Fellow holding a dart /for/ toy weapon (10) |
I made the same mistake parsing the clue this time as I made when I first solved it back in September. However, this time I recognized the error and corrected it without having it pointed out to me.
In the wordplay, "dart" is a verb.
| 9a | Area final curtailed, // sadly (4) |
| 10a | Go with guys foremost in the // field (10) |
| 11a | Half-cut, perhaps, I knocked over container for // fish (7) |
| 13a | Defiant words, // accordingly, at that point (2,5) |
| 14a | Ban // professional taking part of former partner in show (11) |
| 18a | Hear a shrink condemned // religious sect (4,7) |
Hare Krishna[5] (official name International Society for Krishna Consciousness) is a religious sect based mainly in the US and other Western countries. Its devotees typically wear saffron robes, favour celibacy, practise vegetarianism, and chant mantras based on the name of the Hindu god Krishna.
| 21a | Miles must leave to dispatch // shipment (7) |
Shipment[5] and transit[5] are used in the sense of the action of being shipped or the carrying of things from one place to another ⇒
‘a painting was damaged in transit.
| 22a | Homeless woman // happy visiting cove (3,4) |
| 23a | Concerning star turns, ring versatile musician (3-3,4) |
Scratching the Surface
| |
|---|---|
Star turn[5,10,14] is a British term for the main item, or the one that is considered to be the most interesting or exciting in a performance or show or the person or act that gives the most heralded or impressive performance in a programme* ⇒ (i) he was stopped by the arrival on stage of the star turn; she was the star turn of the night. * Turn[5] is used in the sense of:
she rang to tell him the good news. |
| 24a | Contact // everyone following onset of Covid (4) |
| 25a | Zoo attendant after opening /as/ porter (10) |
Porter[10] is used in a mainly British sense denoting a person in charge of a gate or door; in other words, a doorman or gatekeeper.
| 26a | Accomplished // poet, we're told (4) |
John Donne[5] (1572–1631) was an English poet and preacher. A metaphysical poet, he is most famous for his Satires and Elegies (circa 1590-9) and his love poems. He also wrote religious poems and, as dean of St Paul’s from 1621, was one of the most celebrated preachers of his age.
Down
| 1d | Ollie's partner, famous comedian, in one-seater carriage (8) |
Laurel and Hardy[5] were an American comedy duo consisting of Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson) (1890–1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). British-born Stan Laurel played the scatterbrained and often tearful innocent, Oliver Hardy his pompous, overbearing, and frequently exasperated friend. They brought their distinctive slapstick comedy to many films from 1927 onwards.
Bob Hope[5] (1903–2003) was a British-born US comedian; born Leslie Townes Hope. He often adopted the character of a cowardly incompetent, cheerfully failing to become a romantic hero, as in the series of Road films (1940–62) co-starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour.
A stanhope[5,10] is a light open one-seater* horse-drawn carriage, with two or four wheels.
| 2d | Horse: // lad astride big one (8) |
| 4d | Upstanding // before court (5) |
| 5d | Criticism surrounding drinks // farce (9) |
Stick[5] is an informal British term denoting severe criticism or treatment ⇒
I took a lot of stick from the press.
| 6d | Excellent // tour taking in base (11) |
| 7d | In it he besieged // ancient Greek city (6) |
Thebes[5] is the name of two ancient cities.
- It is the Greek name for an ancient city of Upper Egypt, whose ruins are situated on the Nile about 675 km (420 miles) south of Cairo. It was the capital of ancient Egypt under the 18th dynasty (circa 1550–1290 BC) and is the site of the major temples of Luxor and Karnak.
- It is the name of a city that was situated in Greece, in Boeotia, north-west of Athens. This Thebes became a major military power in Greece following the defeat of the Spartans at the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. It was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 336 BC.
| 8d | Somewhat // sooner (6) |
| 12d | Smart young person, // promising Scottish author (6,5) |
Dame Muriel Spark[5] (1918–2006) was a Scottish novelist. Notable works: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) and The Mandelbaum Gate (1965).
Bright spark[2,10] (often ironic or derogatory) is a British term for a clever, or lively and eager, young person ⇒
Some bright spark turned the heating off last night!.
| 15d | Easily annoyed, // bishop being pressed by two internationals on board (9) |
Board[5,10] is an archaic term for a table, especially one used for eating at, and especially when laden with food ⇒
he looked at the banquet which was spread upon his board.
| 16d | Recover, having been thrown into revolting moat /in/ battle (3,5) |
The Alamo[5] is a mission in San Antonio, Texas, site of a siege [the Battle of the Alamo] in 1836 by Mexican forces*, in which all 180 defenders were killed.
* At the time, Texas was fighting to break away from Mexico, of which it then formed a part, in a conflict known as the Texas Revolution.
| 17d | Force, down // a shade (4,4) |
| 19d | Powerful // firm (6) |
| 20d | The last word in extremely long-drawn-out // elegy (6) |
| 22d | Session /in/ Crosby, perhaps ending in Bootle (5) |
Bing Crosby[7] (1903–1977) was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark warm bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.
Scratching the Surface
| |
|---|---|
| Crosby[7] and Bootle[7] are towns in Merseyside*, England. * Merseyside[7] is a county in North West England that encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary including the city of Liverpool. |
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.