Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29782 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Thursday, September 16, 2021 | |
Setter
RayT (Ray Terrell) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29782]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
StephenL | |
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 to be a very strenuous mental workout. The northwest corner held out to the end and I finally resorted to calling in electronic help to capture it.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
| 7a | Master // this compiler's Queen after solve (8) |
"this compiler's " = MINE
It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.
Today, the the creator of the puzzle has added a wrinkle by placing "compiler" in a possessive context.
hide
It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.
Today, the the creator of the puzzle has added a wrinkle by placing "compiler" in a possessive context.
hide
"Queen " = ER [regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth]
The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.
* A cipher[5] (also cypher) is a monogram[5] or motif of two or more interwoven letters, typically a person's initials, used to identify a personal possession or as a logo.
hide
The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.
* A cipher[5] (also cypher) is a monogram[5] or motif of two or more interwoven letters, typically a person's initials, used to identify a personal possession or as a logo.
hide
| 9a | Reluctant // States facing end of rule (6) |
| 10a | Flatten // pasture with first cut (4) |
Post Mortem
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| Before calling in reinforcements, it didn't occur to me to look at "pasture" as a verb. |
| 11a | Reckless // Cinders it turned out embraces sweetheart (10) |
"sweetheart " = E ['heart' of swEet]
A common cryptic crossword construct is to use the word "sweetheart" to clue the letter 'E', the middle letter (heart) of the word 'swEet'.
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A common cryptic crossword construct is to use the word "sweetheart" to clue the letter 'E', the middle letter (heart) of the word 'swEet'.
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Scratching the Surface
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| One has to do more than scratch the surface to explain the surface reading of this clue. I did find a couple of possibilities, although both seem extremely obscure. Cinders may be an allusion to the heroine of Cinders: The True Story, a pantomime* by English playwright David Tristram based on the story of Cinderella. * A pantomime[5] is a traditional British theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas. A second possibility is Mr. Cinders[7], a musical produced in the UK in 1928, which is an inversion of the Cinderella fairy tale with the gender roles reversed. The Prince Charming character has become a modern (1928) young and forceful woman, and Mr. Cinders is a menial [servant]. |
| 12a | Pupil is tensely taking // heed (6) |
| 14a | Hoarding gold is tax // free (8) |
| 15a | Tough, gutless, steals // pounds (6) |
| 17a | Spots // small containers keeping ale's head (6) |
| 20a | Menace // afterwards includes right mess (8) |
Mess[5] is used in the sense of to have one's meals with a particular person, especially as a member of an armed forces' mess ⇒
I messed at first with Harry, who became a lifelong friend.
| 22a | Psychotic // first killer America briefly rejected (6) |
In the Old Testament, Cain[5] is the eldest son of Adam and Eve and murderer of his brother Abel.
| 23a | Reform as term in Dartmoor detains // ringleader (10) |
Scratching the Surface
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| HM Prison Dartmoor[7] is a Category C [likely medium security in Canadian terms] men's prison, located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor* in the English county of Devon.
* Dartmoor[5] is a moorland district in Devon that was a royal forest in Saxon times, now a national park. |
| 24a | Stunner /from/ beach almost bares everything initially (4) |
| 25a | With offence clear, turned around // game (6) |
| 26a | Ship about beginning to raise // flag (8) |
Down
| 1d | Puritan // Mass said first (8) |
| 2d | Remain // US President without end (4) |
Post Mortem
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| How dumb am I? Let me count the ways! There has been no shortage of US presidents having five-letter names—Adams (two, in fact), Tyler, Grant, Hayes, Nixon, Obama, and Trump—and I was able to list most of them. However, the one who should have been front of mind never occurred to me. |
| 3d | Kind /of/ good in African republic (6) |
Benin[5] is a country of West Africa, immediately west of Nigeria. The country was conquered by the French in 1893 and became part of French West Africa. In 1960 it became fully independent. Former name (until 1975) Dahomey.
| 4d | Key /from/ old man's Golf, say (8) |
| 5d | Gutless traitor in backlash /for/ withdrawal (10) |
| 6d | Idiots accepting Democrat's backing /for/ capital (6) |
| 8d | More embarrassed, even when upset (6) |
I see this clue as a cryptic definition which consists of a precise definition accompanied by "cryptic elaboration".
* The "cryptic elaboration" does not supply a second independent route to the solution but rather provides supplementary information related to the precise definition (namely, that the solution is a palindrome).
| 13d | With pure intent, changed, /getting/ thinner (10) |
| 16d | Lock supports barring // support (8) |
| 18d | Meanders after quiet // walks, unsteadily (8) |
| 19d | Hostile to comics' vacuous // buffoonery (6) |
| 21d | Pranked /seeing/ house brought down (6) |
| 22d | Navy follows method /to get/ contemporary (6) |
| 24d | Horror /of/ supporter with extra time (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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