Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29872 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Friday, December 31, 2021 | |
Setter
Zandio | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29872]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Deep Threat | |
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 Friday Diversions page in the Thursday, April 14, 2022 edition of the National Post. | |
Introduction
I found much of this puzzle quite tricky which provided a good mental workout. It was fun to do but I did need a slight push to get me across the finish line.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 | Elf's conceivably // sober (4-11) |
In this clue, the wordplay is a reverse anagram (indicated by "conceivably"), a cryptic device in which the result of executing the anagram appears in the clue (in this case, ELFS) and the solution to the clue contains the anagram indicator and fodder that would produce this result (in this case, SELF-DISCIPLINED or an anagram (disciplined) of SELF)*. This is somewhat analogous to the premise of the television game show Jeopardy where contestants are presented with an answer and must respond with a question.
* This is a reversal of the normal relationship in which the anagram indicator and fodder appear in the clue and the result of executing the anagram is found in the solution.
| 9a | Commission supporting church // services working group (4,5) |
| 10a | Nothing the same -- /t must be/ spring (5) |
| 11a | Wreck of canoe found in this? (5) |
A cryptic definition in which the embedded wordplay provides a location in which such a wreck might be found.
| 12a | One's distinctly square and ready to snap (3,6) |
| 13a | You're welcome ... // never! (3,2,3) |
The second part of the clue is a literal interpretation of the expression that is the solution to the clue.
| 14a | Exec on newspaper /in/ flux, heading to the left or to the right (6) |
| 16a | Delicacy // of candelabra I vacuumed round (6) |
| 18a | Resort had ample // illumination (8) |
| 22a | Conductor /making/ return went by bus? (9) |
| 23a | Essential // oil container, perhaps holding essence of mustard (5) |
| 24a | Thorn witch cut occasionally /as/ stimulant (5) |
| 25a | Unqualified // batsman's fate in both innings? (3-3-3) |
It Is Cricket!
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| As Deep Threat explains in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, "If a batsman has been dismissed in both innings of a Test match, he could be described as this." A Test match[5] is an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries. Deep Threat specifically mentions a Test match because in such a match each team may bat twice whereas in some other cricket matches each team would bat only once. As a batsman can bat only once in an innings* (a team's turn at batting), the clue applies only to a four innings** match (such as a Test match) and not to a two innings match. * The word "innings" is both singular and plural (unlike an "inning" in baseball). ** An innings is one team's turn at batting. In a two innings game, each team bats once; in a four innings game, each team bats twice. This is different from baseball where each team bats during an inning—the visiting team during the top (initial part) of the inning and the home team during the bottom (latter part) of the inning. |
| 26a | Red Cross? (6,3,6) |
Down
| 1d | Group with sad // record (3,4) |
| 2d | Sleuth's confused, /being/ most dense (7) |
| 3d | The // sure thing? (8,7) |
| 4d | Suspect BBC's real // game (8) |
Scrabble[5] (trademark) is a game in which players build up words on a board from small lettered squares or tiles.
| 5d | One gets stuck in, reaching a peak (3,3) |
| 6d | Artist /making/ idol in advance or newly modelled? (8,2,5) |
Leonardo da Vinci[5] (1452–1519) was an Italian painter, scientist, and engineer. (show more )
His paintings are notable for their blended colour and shading in the technique known as sfumato; they include The Virgin of the Rocks (1483–5), The Last Supper (1498), and the enigmatic Mona Lisa (1504–5). He devoted himself to a wide range of other subjects, from anatomy and biology to mechanics and hydraulics: his nineteen notebooks include studies of the human circulatory system and plans for a type of aircraft and a submarine.
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His paintings are notable for their blended colour and shading in the technique known as sfumato; they include The Virgin of the Rocks (1483–5), The Last Supper (1498), and the enigmatic Mona Lisa (1504–5). He devoted himself to a wide range of other subjects, from anatomy and biology to mechanics and hydraulics: his nineteen notebooks include studies of the human circulatory system and plans for a type of aircraft and a submarine.
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| 7d | Young // knight with a bouquet (7) |
" knight " = N[2] [chess notation]
| 8d | Melancholy // broadcast praised (7) |
| 15d | Abandoned // action to limit very French uprising (8) |
In French, très[8] is an adverb meaning 'very'.
| 16d | Cook's endless hostility over // one's fast (7) |
A cheetah[5] is a large slender spotted cat found in Africa and parts of Asia. It is the fastest animal on land.
| 17d | Country // doctor that's injected one guy from the south (7) |
| 19d | Aboard boat, couple run /to see/ landscape? (7) |
Ark[5] is an archaic name for a ship or boat*.
* The best known example is undoubtedly Noah's ark[5], the ship in which Noah, his family, and the animals were saved from the Flood, according to the biblical account (Genesis 6–8).
"run " = R [cricket notation]
| 20d | Don't cover up a letter // that was held by 6 Down? (7) |
| 21d | Somewhere in South America, // got eaten by snake (6) |
A boa[5] is a constrictor snake which bears live young and may reach great size, native to America, Africa, Asia, and some Pacific islands.
Bogotá[5] (official name Santa Fé de Bogotá) is the capital of Colombia, situated in the eastern Andes at about 2,610 m (8,560 ft). It was founded by the Spanish in 1538 on the site of a pre-Columbian centre of the Chibcha culture.
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
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