Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29784 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, September 18, 2021 | |
Setter
Cephas (Peter Chamberlain) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29784 – Hints]Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29784 – Review] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Tilsit (Hints)crypticsue (Review) | |
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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This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, December 18, 2021 edition of the National Post. As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review. | |
Introduction
As usual, I failed to notice that the puzzle is a pangram—perhaps because the solve was over before I had time to do so. I did enjoy the plethora of cryptic definitions, though.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 | Relative /with/ a universal set of books (4) |
"set of books " = NT [New Testament]
In Crosswordland, the term "books"—or similar expressions such as today's "set of books"—is commonly used to clue either the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT).
Today, as is often the case, the clue provides no indication whether the reference is to the former or the latter.
hide
In Crosswordland, the term "books"—or similar expressions such as today's "set of books"—is commonly used to clue either the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT).
Today, as is often the case, the clue provides no indication whether the reference is to the former or the latter.
hide
| 3a | Card // one's not taken seriously (5) |
| 6a | Few // like this going to Maine (4) |
So[2] means in that [or this] state or condition [i.e., ‛like that’ or ‛like this’] ⇒ (i)
promised to be faithful, and has remained so; (ii)
She told him ‛I am single, and I plan to remain so.’.
| 8a | Gardening trough designed /for/ catchment area (9-6) |
A catchment area[5] is the area from which rainfall flows into a river, lake, or reservoir.
Gathering-ground[1] is another name for a catchment area.
| 9a | Problem having no opening /to make/ money (6) |
Rouble[5] is the British spelling of ruble, the basic monetary unit of Russia and some other former republics of the USSR, equal to 100 kopeks.
| 10a | Choice food/'s/ fragility (8) |
| 11a | Aspic ordered with // pepper (8) |
Cum[5] is a preposition meaning 'combined with' or 'used as' (used to describe things with a dual nature or function) ⇒
a study-cum-bedroom.
Capsicum[5] is a tropical American plant of the nightshade family with fruits (peppers) containing many seeds. Many cultivated kinds have been developed including the sweet peppers and the chilli peppers.
| 13a | Put in order, buy, eat -- // lovely! (6) |
| 15a | Not allowed to consume // fat (6) |
| 17a | Calls back for the second time? (2-6) |
| 19a | It's for those who need fresh air in the main (8) |
The main[5] is an archaic or literary term for the open ocean.
Aqualung is another name for scuba[5].
* scuba is an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.
| 21a | Boiler found in the kitchen (6) |
| 22a | One gets rich as if by magic (9,6) |
| 23a | Give way, // top tennis player said (4) |
A seed[5] is any of a number of stronger competitors in a sports tournament who have been assigned a specified position in an ordered list with the aim of ensuring that they do not play each other in the early rounds ⇒
he knocked the top seed out of the championships.
| 24a | Irritable, // having no spirit with Raymond around (5) |
The phrase "having no spirit" is a cryptic way to describe a "non-drinker " = TT [teetotal]
Teetotal[5] (abbreviation TT[5]) means choosing or characterized by abstinence from alcohol ⇒
A teetotaller[5] (US teetotaler; abbreviation TT[5]) is a person who never drinks alcohol.
The term teetotal is an emphatic extension of total, apparently first used by Richard Turner, a worker from Preston [England], in a speech (1833) urging total abstinence from all alcohol, rather than mere abstinence from spirits, as advocated by some early temperance reformers.
hide
Teetotal[5] (abbreviation TT[5]) means choosing or characterized by abstinence from alcohol ⇒
a teetotal lifestyle.
A teetotaller[5] (US teetotaler; abbreviation TT[5]) is a person who never drinks alcohol.
The term teetotal is an emphatic extension of total, apparently first used by Richard Turner, a worker from Preston [England], in a speech (1833) urging total abstinence from all alcohol, rather than mere abstinence from spirits, as advocated by some early temperance reformers.
hide
Ratty[5] is an informal British term meaning bad-tempered and irritable ⇒
I was a bit ratty with the children.
| 25a | Kind of light, // to a great extent (4) |
A Very* light[10] is a coloured flare fired from a special pistol (Very pistol) for signalling at night, especially at sea.
Origin: named after its inventor, US naval ordnance officerEdward W.Very (1852–1910)
Down
| 1d | Article on farm animal biting motorists, // silky beast (6,3) |
The Royal Automobile Club[7] (abbreviation RAC[5]) is a British organization originally established to provide automotive services to its members. However, having divested those services in 1999, it appears now to be solely a private social and athletic club.
* The services were divested by spinning them off to a separated organization, RAC Limited[7] (known as The RAC).
| 2d | Call made at the table -- // T-bone or fillet perhaps? (2-5) |
In the card game bridge, no-trump[10] is a bid or contract to play without trumps.
T-bones[5] and fillets[5] come from the loin and rib area of a cow rather than the rump.
Almost ... but not quite
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In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, crypticsue writesShe might have better said "without the hyphen and moving the resulting space one position to the right".without the hyphen, a choice of steak. |
| 3d | Jumper over the moon? (6,3) |
In Britain, a jumper[5] is a knitted garment typically with long sleeves, worn over the upper body (in other words, a sweater or jersey).
The jersey[5] (also Jersey) is a breed of light brown dairy cattle from the isle of Jersey.
| 4d | Piece on Sixties youth that's taken over // country (7) |
A piece[5] is a figure or token used to make moves in a board game ⇒
a chess piece.
Mod[5] is a British term for a young person, especially in the early 1960s, of a subculture characterized by a smart stylish appearance, the riding of motor scooters, and a liking for soul music.
| 5d | Glider daughter's dispatched deviating around // star! (5) |
Rigel[5] is the seventh-brightest star in the sky, and the brightest in the constellation Orion. It is a blue supergiant nearly sixty thousand times as luminous as our sun.
| 6d | Loafer that's not suitable for express train? (9) |
Slowcoach[5] is an informal British term for a person who acts or moves slowly.
North American term: slowpoke
| 7d | Relative of 1 Down finally stumped (4,3) |
The Manx cat[10] is a short-haired tailless variety of cat, believed to originate on the Isle of Man[5], a British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea.
| 12d | Country // fruit, dried before half-term (9) |
Sultana[5,14] is a British name* for a small, light brown, seedless raisin used in foods such as puddings and cakes.
* Despite being characterized as British by the two British sources cited, I found only one US reference that describes it as such. Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines sultana[12] as (a) a small, white, seedless grape used for raisins and in wine making and (b) British such a raisin. Despite this, sultana raisins are certainly widely available in Canada.
A sultanate[10] is the territory or a country ruled by a sultan.
| 13d | Damage a route /for/ escape (9) |
| 14d | You strayed badly // in the recent past (9) |
| 16d | Get // a hundred to join singers on the radio (7) |
| 17d | Expecting to start late // exercising power (7) |
| 18d | Played ace OK, nibbling at // biscuit (7) |
An oatcake[5] is a thin savoury oatmeal biscuit*, traditionally made in Scotland.
* The British use the term biscuit[3,4,11] for a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or crackers in North America. Cookies might be referred to as sweet biscuits and crackers as savoury biscuits. A North American biscuit[5] is similar to what is known in Britain as a scone.
| 20d | Partly harmful, certainly /that's/ sore (5) |
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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