Puzzle at a Glance
| |
|---|---|
Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29885 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, January 15, 2022 | |
Setter
Cephas (Peter Chamberlain) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29885 – Hints]Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29885 – Review] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Tilsit (Hints)Rahmat Ali (Review) | |
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
| |
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.
| |
Introduction
With a half-dozen letters unused, I suspected this might be a pangram. I then forgot to check off the missing letters as they appeared, so the knowledge did not help me in solving the puzzle.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
| 2a | Prolonged drama, /it's/ an old record (8,4) |
Extended-play (abbreviation EP[10]) is one of the formats in which music is sold, usually comprising four or five tracks. An EP contains more cuts than a single[5] but fewer than an LP or long-playing[5] record.
With the renewed interest in vinyl, setters may have to stop referring to these items as "old"!
| 8a | Female in north? (4) |
This is a true &lit. clue[7] (or, as they prefer to call it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, an all-in-one clue), a clue in which the entire clue is, according to one reading, wordplay and, when read a different way, definition.
I believe the question mark serves multiple purposes – not only signalling the unusual nature of the clue but also indicating the presence of a definition by example*.
* The population of Finnland is not comprised exclusively of females but also includes males – not to mention transgender and non-binary individuals.
| 9a | Talcum powder shaken, team withdrawing /in/ international competition (5,3) |
As I believe Rahmat Ali may be attempting to convey in his review and as he further elaborates in his contribution to the thread at Comment #5 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, one must first form an anagram (shaken) from TALCUM POWDER to obtain WORLD CUP TEAM and then – and only then – remove TEAM from the result. As the letters of TEAM do not appear in the correct order in the fodder, to remove them before performing the anagram operation would require a second anagram indicator; that is, the clue would need to be structured as remove an anagram of TEAM from TALCUM POWDER and then form an anagram from the remainder.
A world cup[7] is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion*.
* There are a number of notable popular team sports competitions labeled "world cups", such as the ICC Cricket World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Rugby League World Cup and the [Field] Hockey World Cup but perhaps the best known is the FIFA World Cup (an association football [soccer] tournament, first held in 1930), which is widely known simply as "the World Cup".
| 10a | Right during month /to have/ soup (8) |
Julienne[10] is a clear soup containing vegetables cut into thin strips.
| 11a | Agent going round ebbing river // fast (6) |
The Dee[5,7] could be any of several rivers in Scotland and England – not to mention Ireland and Australia, the most prominent being:
- a river in northeastern Scotland, which rises in the Grampian Mountains and flows eastwards past Balmoral Castle to the North Sea at Aberdeen
- a river that rises in North Wales and flows into England, past Chester and on into the Irish Sea
| 12a | Permission to begin, // motorists go on it (5,5) |
Two definitions – one literal and one figurative – both of which essentially amount to the same thing.
| 13a | Deal with // bout of illness (6) |
| 16a | After Friday hear he will leave // monk (5) |
| 17a | Range of knowledge boy had back /in/ town in north-west (6) |
Ken[5] (noun) denotes one's range of knowledge or understanding ⇒
politics are beyond my ken.
Kendal[7] is a town in Cumbria in North West England. It lies within the dale of the River Kent, from which its name is derived.
| 18a | Hatred /of/ each reborn eccentric (10) |
| 21a | Part of email address /of/ commissioner Dorothy to start with (6) |
" commissioner " = COM [Com.[1]]
Dot[7] is a feminine given name or nickname (most often a short form of Dorothy).
| 23a | Knew, /having been/ told (8) |
I have marked this clue as a double definition simply because that is the way Rahmat Ali has described it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog (not in his original review but in a revised interpretation he puts forward in his contribution to the discussion in the thread at Comment #5).
However, no matter how I slice this clue, it does not work for me. The second definition is fine but I don't understand the first definition. The solution, INFORMED, means 'knowledgeable' or 'in the know' rather than 'knew'. I tried parsing the clue as a cryptic definition with an embedded precise definition, but that really works no better for me:
- Knew, having been told (8)
| 24a | Gain access after one's turned round? (8) |
| 25a | Over // tense (4) |
| 26a | Flowery way /to describe/ life of pleasure (8,4) |
The first part of the clue is a literal interpretation of the idiomatic expression constituting the solution to the clue.
Primrose Path of Dalliance
| |
|---|---|
The phrase primrose path[5] denotes the pursuit of pleasure, especially when it is seen to bring disastrous consequences ⇒ blithely unaware of his doom, he continued down his primrose path. Origin: With allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet (I. iii. 50) Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede. - Hamlet (1.3.48-52), Ophelia to her brother, Laertes.
primrose path of dalliance ] i.e., the easy life; or, the pleasurable path of idleness. recks not his own rede ] i.e., does not listen to his own advice.
Here Ophelia, as graciously as possible, tells Laertes to refrain from
lecturing her on how to behave while ignoring his own advice. This is
not the only time Shakespeare mentions the "primrose path" to
destruction. Please see the Macbeth Glossary for more. Source: Mabillard, Amanda. Quick Quote: primrose path of dalliance Shakespeare Online (accessed 4 May 2022).
|
Down
| 1d | Drink /that's/ sweet without ice (6) |
Sweet[5] is the British term for what we in North America would call a piece of candy[5] ⇒
a bag of sweets.
Liquorice or Licorice?
| |
|---|---|
| I was slow to get the solution to this clue, and having got it, found it didn't look quite right. I suppose due to the constant exposure to the US spelling. Licorice is the US spelling of liquorice, but what is the proper or preferred Canadian spelling – or does one even exist? A quick check of several items on the Walmart.ca website revealed that items labelled as liquorice all seemed to be imported (from the UK, Germany and likely Australia) while those from North America (all produced by Hershey Canada, a subsidiary of a US company) were labelled licorice. |
| 2d | Be taken in by fellows not starting with Edward /to be/ excited (9) |
Ned[7] is an English given name and variant of Ed*, sometimes short for Edward, Edmund, Edgar, or Edwin.
* "Ned" may have risen from generations of children hearing "mine Ed" as "my Ned" (an example of a process linguists call rebracketing).
| 3d | Perhaps Hazel and Leonard both turned up /in/ passage (6) |
The secret is to do the turning before the combining.
Len[7] is a masculine given name, usually a short form of Leonard.
| 4d | Ben, his wellbeing could originate from // modern translation of Scriptures (3,7,5) |
The New English Bible[5] (NEB) is a modern English translation of the Bible, published in the UK in 1961–70 and revised (as the Revised English Bible) in 1989.
| 5d | Train // continental celebrity (8) |
Eurostar[5] (trademark) is the name of the high-speed passenger rail service that links London with various European cities via the Channel Tunnel.
| 6d | Priest // to shave round bottom of beard (5) |
| 7d | Adult taking that Parisian channel // bridge (8) |
"adult " = A [former British film classification]
The A (Adult) certificate is a former film certificate[7] issued by the British Board of Film Classification. This certificate existed in various forms from 1912 to 1985, when it was replaced by the PG (Parental Guidance) certificate. [Despite its demise in the real world, it continues to find widespread use in Crosswordland.]
hide
The A (Adult) certificate is a former film certificate[7] issued by the British Board of Film Classification. This certificate existed in various forms from 1912 to 1985, when it was replaced by the PG (Parental Guidance) certificate. [Despite its demise in the real world, it continues to find widespread use in Crosswordland.]
hide
In French, que[8] is either a conjunction or a pronoun meaning 'that'.
| 14d | Great help arranged /for/ rapid communication (9) |
| 15d | No time apparently // when operation starts (4,4) |
Zero hour[5] is the time at which a planned operation, typically a military one, is set to begin.
| 16d | Dance /with/ officer supporting female hobbling (8) |
NCO[10] is the abbreviation for noncommissioned officer[5,10], an officer in the army, navy, or air force not holding a rank conferred by a commission*; in other words, a person, such as a sergeant or corporal, who is appointed from the ranks as a subordinate officer.
* A commission[10] is a document conferring the rank of officer in an army, navy, or air force.
| 19d | Strange affair, // it's binding (6) |
Raffia[5] is fibre from the leaves of the raffia tree, used for making items such as hats and baskets.
* The raffia[5] is a palm tree native to tropical Africa and Madagascar, with a short trunk and leaves which may be up to 18 m (60 feet) long.
| 20d | Say it with a smile (6) |
A cryptic definition of a photographer's prompt.
| 22d | Reportedly seedy gypsy/'s/ disk (2-3) |
A Rom[5] (another term* for Gypsy) is a member of the Roma[5], a people originating in South Asia and traditionally having an itinerant way of life, living widely dispersed across Europe and North and South America and speaking a language (Romani) that is related to Hindi..
* The word Gypsy is now sometimes considered derogatory or offensive, and has been replaced in many official contexts by Romani or Roma, but it remains the most widely used term for members of this community among English speakers.
A CD-ROM[5] is a compact disc used as a read-only optical memory device for a computer system.
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.