Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29781 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, September 15, 2021 | |
Setter
NY Doorknob aka Donnybrook (Paul Bringloe) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29781]
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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
Jay takes a day off today, turning the reins at the Cryptic Crossword over to NY Doorknob. Well, he really did not take a day off—he was busy setting the companion Toughie Crossword puzzle in The Daily Telegraph under another alter ego Logman. I don't believe the same setter ever sets both puzzles on the same day.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 | Republican in seemingly unpopulated // county? (7) |
"Republican " = R [member or supporter of US political party]
A Republican[5] (abbreviation R[5] or Rep.[5]) is a member or supporter of the Republican Party[5], one of the two main US political parties*, favouring a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy. It was formed in 1854 in support of the anti-slavery movement preceding the Civil War.
* the other being the Democratic Party
Although, in the UK, republican[5] can refer to an advocate of a united Ireland, the abbreviation does not appear to apply to that usage.
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A Republican[5] (abbreviation R[5] or Rep.[5]) is a member or supporter of the Republican Party[5], one of the two main US political parties*, favouring a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy. It was formed in 1854 in support of the anti-slavery movement preceding the Civil War.
* the other being the Democratic Party
Although, in the UK, republican[5] can refer to an advocate of a united Ireland, the abbreviation does not appear to apply to that usage.
hide
Norfolk[5] is a county on the east coast of England.
| 5a | Rich // sort of cake popular -- great for starter (7) |
Rolling is slang for extremely rich[10] or a colloquial expression for extremely wealthy[2]. Be rolling in money[5] (also be rolling it it) is an informal expression denoting 'be very rich' ⇒
Jayde's family is not rolling in money, but they're not poor.
| 9a | Gave in /and/ proposed (9) |
| 10a | Boss carries doubly large // instrument (5) |
| 11a | Able regularly to visit church /and/ pray (7) |
| 12a | Bouncy // castle collapsed, engulfing one (7) |
| 13a | Many barrels among this smuggler's contraband? (3-6) |
| 16a | Union member // seen in Almeida Hotel (5) |
Scratching the Surface
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| Almeida[7] is a fortified village in northeastern Portugal near the border with Spain. |
| 17a | Old woman after plague /offers/ opinion (5) |
| 18a | English daisy for example: good // seasonal item (6,3) |
Asters and daisies are members of the family Asteraceae[7] (alternatively Compositae), a family of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants. The family is commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family.
So the following statements are all true:
- an aster is a member of the daisy family
- a daisy is a member of the aster family
- asters and daisies are members of the sunflower (or composite) family
| 21a | Tangled belt trapping him /in/ sewer's cover (7) |
| 22a | Speaker's expression, crude perhaps, /brings/ disorder (7) |
| 25a | Expert /from/ A-section? (5) |
| 26a | Got any bananas to add to bread /and/ butter? (5,4) |
In Indian cookery, nan[5] (also nan bread[10])* is a slightly leavened bread in a large flat leaf shape.
* I am only familiar with the spelling naan[5,10] although dictionaries generally consider this to be a variant spelling.
| 27a | Unrefined // person sure to succeed (7) |
| 28a | Firm /showing/ interest (7) |
Down
| 1d | Cooked beans go /in/ food container (7) |
| 2d | Taxi provider, needing lift, first to solve // puzzle (5) |
| 3d | Girl /in/ green (5) |
| 4d | King on Hampshire river // where trout prepared? (7) |
The Itchen[7] is a river of 26 miles (42 km) in length in Hampshire, England. It flows through Winchester to Southampton where it empties into a tidal estuary of the English Channel known as Southampton Water.
Delving Deeper
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| The River Itchen[7] is one of the world's premier chalk streams for fly fishing, amenable to dry fly or nymphing. |
| 5d | Reportedly studied beloved // animal (3,4) |
Read[5] is a British term meaning to study (an academic subject) at a university ⇒ (i)
I’m reading English at Cambridge; (ii)
he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics.
The red deer[5] is a deer (Cervus elaphus) with a rich red-brown summer coat that turns dull brownish-grey in winter, the male having large branched antlers. It is native to North America, Eurasia, and North Africa. Members of the North American branch—which form a subspecies, Cervus elaphus canadensis, that is sometimes treated as a separate species (Cervus canadensis)—are known in the UK as wapiti[5] and in North America as elk.
| 6d | Cut a liver out -- /it's/ financially rewarding (9) |
| 7d | Nervous // Shakespeare wife missing some banter? (3-2-4) |
| 8d | Try to catch rook that hurt // amusing brother (7) |
"rook " = R [rook (chess piece)]
R[5] is an abbreviation for rook that is used in recording moves in chess.
A rook[5] (also known by the informal, old-fashioned term castle*[5]) is a chess piece, typically with its top in the shape of a battlement, that can move (if not obstructed by another chess piece or pawn) any number of spaces in any direction along a rank or file on which it stands. Each player starts the game with two rooks at opposite ends of the first rank.
* It is apparent from numerous comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog over the years that chess purists hold that the proper name for this piece is a rook and that under no circumstances whatsoever is it ever to be referred to as a castle. Furthermore, they take great umbrage should those of us less attuned to the niceties of the "game of kings" happen to commit this cardinal sin.
hide
R[5] is an abbreviation for rook that is used in recording moves in chess.
A rook[5] (also known by the informal, old-fashioned term castle*[5]) is a chess piece, typically with its top in the shape of a battlement, that can move (if not obstructed by another chess piece or pawn) any number of spaces in any direction along a rank or file on which it stands. Each player starts the game with two rooks at opposite ends of the first rank.
* It is apparent from numerous comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog over the years that chess purists hold that the proper name for this piece is a rook and that under no circumstances whatsoever is it ever to be referred to as a castle. Furthermore, they take great umbrage should those of us less attuned to the niceties of the "game of kings" happen to commit this cardinal sin.
hide
Groucho Marx[7] (born Julius Henry Marx; 1890–1977) was an American comedian and film and television star. He was known as a master of quick wit and widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His rapid-fire, often impromptu delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers and imitators.
| 14d | Leg in cast -- chap /being/ careless (9) |
| 15d | Ran about in frenzy circling Lima/'s/ capital (4,5) |
| 17d | Alien concealed in exhaust? // Leave car (7) |
"alien " = 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.
hide
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.
hide
| 18d | Relentless // outside losing vote (7) |
| 19d | Like controversial verses // thus written about a function (7) |
In mathematics, tan[5] (the abbreviation for tangent[5]) is the trigonometric function that is equal to the ratio of the sides (other than the hypotenuse) opposite and adjacent to an angle in a right-angled triangle.
The definition alludes to the Satanic verses[5], a short text reputed to have been included in the Qur'an [Koran] at the suggestion of Satan rather than by divine inspiration when Muhammad was uttering authentic verses. The text consists of six Arabic words referring to the intercessionary powers of three pagan goddesses. Islamic scholarship has long regarded narratives of the inclusion as unsubstantiated. The term became widely known with the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie's novel and the subsequent fatwa calling for him to be killed, issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.
* The Satanic Verses[7] is British writer Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
| 20d | Setter // for example served up old language (7) |
| 23d | Material /in/ drawer Conservative ignored (5) |
"Conservative " = C [member of British political party]
The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.[10] or Con.[10].
The Conservative Party[5] is a major right of centre British political party promoting free enterprise and private ownership that emerged from the old Tory Party* under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s.
* Historically, a Tory[10] was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.
hide
The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.[10] or Con.[10].
The Conservative Party[5] is a major right of centre British political party promoting free enterprise and private ownership that emerged from the old Tory Party* under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s.
* Historically, a Tory[10] was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.
hide
| 24d | Damaged layer -- // Australia has one (5) |
Oz[5] is an informal Australian and New Zealand term for:
- (noun) Australia ⇒
he spent the last few years in Oz
- (noun) a person from Australia ⇒
it was enough to make a red-blooded Oz choke on his meat pie
- (adjective) Australian ⇒
Oz hospitality
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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