Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29868 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, December 27, 2021 | |
Setter
Campbell (Allan Scott) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29868]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
pommers | |
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, April 9, 2022 edition of the National Post. | |
Introduction
This week we are experiencing a rare phenomenon as for the second successive week the puzzles are appearing in the National Post on the same day of the week on which they were published in The Daily Telegraph. This anomaly is due to there having been no puzzle in this series published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, December 25, 2021 (Christmas 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
| 7a | Love // to tell improbable lies (7) |
As a verb, romance[5] is another term for romanticize[5] (also British romanticise) which means to deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion or to make (something) seem better or more appealing than it really is ⇒
she was romanticizing about the past.
| 9a | Tutor /in/ series, 'ER' (7) |
Scratching the Surface
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| ER[7] is an American medical drama television series created by novelist and
medical doctor Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from 1994 to 2009. ER follows the inner life of the emergency room (ER) of fictional County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois,
and various critical issues faced by the room's physicians and staff. The show ran for 15 seasons with a total of 331 episodes, becoming the longest-running primetime medical drama in American television history. It won 23 Emmy Awards, including the 1996 Outstanding Drama Series award, and received 124 Emmy nominations, which makes it the most nominated drama program in history. |
| 10a | Remove // second slip (5) |
| 11a | See 14 Down (9) |
| 12a | Fungal problem // -- mate is scheduled for treatment (5,3,7) |
Dutch elm disease[5] is a fungal disease of elm trees that is spread by elm bark beetles. A virulent strain of the fungus which arose in North America has destroyed the majority of elms in southern Britain.
| 13a | Article condemned // poetry reading (7) |
| 16a | Put right // about ceremonial clothing (7) |
| 19a | Written down // at home by opponents playing chess? (2,5,3,5) |
| 23a | Agent recalled bygone // artiste (9) |
| 24a | Idea that initially // works (5) |
| 25a | Race official // saw red, mad about leader in Toyota (7) |
A steward[5] is an official appointed to supervise arrangements or keep order at a large public event, for example a race, match, or demonstration.
| 26a | A dabbler, // friend invested in gold and silver, ultimately (7) |
The symbol for the chemical element gold is Au[5] (from Latin aurum).
Down
| 1d | Champion // more coarse about South American (8) |
" American " = A[1]
Note: As The Chambers Dictionary does not list SA as an abbreviation for South American, a rigorous parsing of the clue requires this part of the wordplay to be decomposed into two elements: S(outh) + A(merican)
| 2d | Crack marksman // still? (8) |
| 3d | Stand below with // slyboots (6) |
" with " = W [w[2]]
Slyboots[5] is a derogatory informal term for a sly person.
Delving Deeper
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| Although slyboots is a term with which I am not familiar, it is found in both British and American dictionaries. One US dictionary[12] shows the word origin as "sly + boots (in the British informal sense of 'fellow')". Another US dictionary[11,15] shows the word dating to 1690-1700, so it seems likely it would have arrived on our shores with early English settlers. The American dictionaries add some extra flavour to the word: |
| 4d | Disagrees with // V-sign being used? (6) |
In astrology, sign[5] (also zodiacal sign) denotes each of the twelve equal sections into which the zodiac is divided, named from the constellations formerly situated in each, and associated with successive periods of the year according to the position of the sun on the ecliptic ⇒
a sign of the Zodiac.
In astrology, Aries[10] (also called the Ram) is the first sign of the zodiac, symbol ♈, having a cardinal fire classification, ruled by the planet Mars.
| 5d | Overwhelm // one sister on court (8) |
| 6d | Fruit: // love assortment (6) |
" love " = O [love[5]; nil score in tennis]
| 8d | What movement of timer could be // worth (5) |
| 9d | Loud noise /made by/ half of them below (7) |
| 14d & 11a | A red wine /in/ tavern and cousin began raving (8) |
Cabernet Sauvignon[5] is a red wine made from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, a variety of black wine grape from the Bordeaux area of France, now grown throughout the world.
| 15d | With great enthusiasm, // similar to mother and daughter (4,3) |
" daughter " = D [d[2]; genealogy]
| 17d | Make little of // sad theatrical production (8) |
| 18d | Recognises sailors // feel dazed? (3,5) |
| 19d | Charge // made by international male model (6) |
" international " = I[2]
| 20d | Artist wearing an acceptable // type of jacket (6) |
An anorak[5] is a waterproof jacket, typically with a hood, of a kind originally used in polar regions*.
* Although the terms anorak and parka[7] are sometimes used interchangeably, they are actually quite different garments. Strictly speaking, an anorak is a waterproof, hooded, pull-over jacket without a front opening, and sometimes drawstrings at the waist and cuffs, and a parka is a hip-length cold-weather coat, typically stuffed with down or very warm synthetic fiber, and with a fur-lined hood.
| 21d | Typical // Bellini opera student (6) |
Norma[7] is an opera by Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835) first produced at La Scala in Milan in 1831.
"student " = L [driver under instruction]
The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.
hide
The cryptic crossword convention of L meaning learner or student arises from the L-plate[7], a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for learner, which must be affixed to the front and back of a vehicle in various jurisdictions (including the UK) if its driver is a learner under instruction.
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| Automobile displaying an L-plate |
hide
| 22d | Marauder blowing top, // up in arms (5) |
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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