Puzzle at a Glance
| |
|---|---|
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29851 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, December 6, 2021 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29851]
| |
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, March 19, 2022 edition of the National Post. | |
Introduction
How things have changed! When I reviewed this puzzle for Big Dave's Crossword Blog, it was late fall and I wrote "I expect to wake up to our first significant snow storm of the season". Today, we are at the beginning of spring and the snow that accumulated over the winter is rapidly vanishing.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 | Where it's residential // as far as outskirts of Washington? (6) |
Uptown[5,10] is a US and Canadian term for the area of a town or city away from the centre, in particular, an affluent residential area.
Indicated Americanism?
| |
|---|---|
| On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, one of the biggest beefs from British readers is the appearance of "unindicated Americanisms" in puzzles. In this clue, Campbell has subtly indicated the Americanism by employing the name of an American city in the fodder. |
| 4a | Poem // also written about storm (3,5) |
Then[5] is used in the sense of also or in addition ⇒
I'm paid a generous salary, and then there's the money I've made at the races.
"The Raven"[7] is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that was first published in 1845.
| 10a | Factory workers not working // with complete ease (5,4) |
| 11a | Pop // first of balloons, upsetting relative's son terribly (5) |
| 12a | Oscar has to be in credit /for/ a month (7) |
" Oscar " = O[5] [NATO Phonetic Alphabet[7]]
" credit " = CR [Cr[5] or cr.[10]]
| 13a | Tenor keeping money /for/ annuity scheme (7) |
Tin[5] is a dated informal British term for money ⇒
Kim’s only in it for the tin.
A tontine[5] is an annuity shared by subscribers to a loan or common fund, the shares increasing as subscribers die until the last survivor enjoys the whole income.
| 14a | Spare // more (5) |
A double definition in which the first is a noun and the second, an adjective.
| 15a | At work, actor's union /reveals/ unfairness (8) |
In the UK, US, and several other countries, Equity[5,7] is a trade union which represents professional actors and other artists working in the entertainment industry*.
* Unlike its counterparts in the US and Canada, British Equity represents performers and other artists working across the live (including radio, television and film) and recorded entertainment industry. In the US[7] and Canada[7], Equity represents only those working in the world of live theatrical performance in theatre, opera and dance with those working in radio, television and film being represented by other unions.
| 18a | Ordered gold pair -- /that may be/ recklessly extravagant (8) |
| 20a | Question // children (5) |
Issue[5] is a legal term denoting children of one's own ⇒
the earl died without male issue.
| 23a | Cake decoration, almost // heavenly (7) |
Angelica[5] is the candied stalk of the angelica plant*, used in confectionery and cake decoration.
* Angelica[5] is a tall aromatic plant of the parsley family, with large leaves and yellowish-green flowers. It is used in cooking and herbal medicine.
| 25a | Quietly tell // ecclesiastical dignitary (7) |
Prelate[5] is a formal or historical term for a bishop or other high ecclesiastical dignitary.
| 26a | Team // climb round face of Rushmore (5) |
Scratching the Surface
| |
|---|---|
| Mount Rushmore[5] is a mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota, noted for its giant relief carvings of four US presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt—carved (1927–41) under the direction of the sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941). |
| 27a | Inadvertent mistake // concerning vision (9) |
| 28a | Plump /for/ pudding (4-4) |
Here and There
| |
|---|---|
| Whereas, in North America, the term pudding[5]
specifically means a dessert with a soft or creamy consistency, in
Britain it denotes a much broader range of sweetened usually cooked
desserts. While the word pudding clearly does not encompass every dessert, it would seem to include the vast majority — certainly far more than in North America. Collins COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary describes dessert[14] as a sweet dish such as fruit or a pudding, that you eat at the end of a meal. In the UK, pudding[5] is also another name for the dessert course of a meal. Although it would sound bizarre to a North American ear, if a Brit were to ask What’s for pudding?, the response might well be Apple pie. |
Roly-poly[5] (also roly-poly pudding) is a British term for a pudding [dessert] made of a sheet of suet pastry covered with jam or fruit, formed into a roll, and steamed or baked ⇒
a nice bit of jam roly-poly.
| 29a | More than one // chum swallowing bait, briefly (6) |
Down
| 1d | Disconnected // a French editor packing punch (8) |
" editor " = ED [ed. or Ed.[2]]
| 2d | Toddler /in/ shade clutching new toy (4,3) |
| 3d | Percussion instrument // was hard to get on table (9) |
" hard " = H[2,5] [grade of pencil lead]
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.
| 5d | Helps her putt in tight // game (4,3,7) |
Hunt the slipper[10] is a children's game in which the players look for a hidden slipper or other object, such as a thimble (also known as hunt the thimble[10]).
| 6d | Bird, // black and gold, rising over one end of garden (5) |
| 7d | Opinion /of/ composer, extremely coherent (7) |
Giuseppe Verdi[5] (1813–1901) was an Italian composer. His many operas, such as La Traviata (1853), Aida (1871), and Otello (1887), emphasize the dramatic element, treating personal stories on a heroic scale and often against backgrounds that reflect his political interests. Verdi is also famous for his Requiem (1874).
| 8d | Spice /in/ overturned stone cask (6) |
| 9d | Getting on coach /for/ Greyfriars, say (8,6) |
Greyfriars School[7] is a fictional English public school* used as the setting for a long-running series of stories by English writer Charles Hamilton (1876–1961), who wrote under the pen-name Frank Richards.
* In Britain, a public school[2] is a secondary school, especially a boarding school, run independently of the state and financed by a combination of endowments and pupils' fees. While in North America such a school would be known as a private school, in Britain a private school[2,5] is a school run independently of the state by an individual or group, especially for profit and supported wholly by the payment of fees.
| 16d | Runs a live broadcast, // worldwide (9) |
| 17d | Stand // at Leeds ground under roof of pavilion (8) |
As an anagram indicator, ground is used as the past tense or past participle of the verb grind[5]. An anagram indicator is typically a word that denotes movement or transformation. Grind denotes transformation, for example, in the sense of grain being ground into flour.
Scratching the Surface
| |
|---|---|
| Pavilion[5] is a British term for a building at a cricket ground or other sports ground, used for changing and taking refreshments. Leeds is home to the Yorkshire County Cricket Club[7] which plays at at the Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds. |
| 19d | Cloth figure // dog chewed during most of mass meeting (3,4) |
| 21d | Stun // gun initially held by old actor (7) |
Stager[5] is an archaic term for an actor.
| 22d | Run-down saloon perhaps /causing/ bishop great displeasure (6) |
Saloon[5] (also known as saloon car[10]) is a British term for a car [known in Canada, the US, and New Zealand as a sedan[10]] having a closed body and a closed boot [trunk] separated from the part in which the driver and passengers sit ⇒
a four-door saloon.
Banger[5] is an informal British term for an old car in poor condition ⇒
they’ve only got an old banger.
| 24d | Relish // circuit before winning (3,2) |
References
Key to Reference Sources:
[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
[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.