Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29907 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Thursday, February 10, 2022 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29907]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Miffypops | |
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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* The BD Rating may have little significance as Miffypops has often stated that he never changes it from its default value (***/***). In cases where the BD Rating on his reviews is other than the default value, it has likely been set by someone else.
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Introduction
The authorship of this puzzle is unconfirmed. While this spot in the setter rotation is usually held by Giovanni, on occasion another setter has filled the slot. Moreover, the puzzle does not seem to exhibit Giovanni's customary style.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
| 6a | Kind /of/ deterrent head organised (6-7) |
| 8a | Ill feeling /of/ mum when confronting insects (6) |
| 9a | Moral excellence // that is surprising! (8) |
| 10a | Atmosphere around // drowned valley (3) |
A ria[5] is a long, narrow inlet formed by the partial submergence of a river valley.
| 11a | City // information provided by president's wife? (6) |
Gen[5] is an informal British term for information ⇒
you’ve got more gen on him than we have.
Eva Perón[5]
(1919–1952), known as Evita, was an Argentinian politician, second wife of Argentinian president Juan Perón. (show more )
A former actress, after her marriage in 1945 she became de facto Minister of Health and of Labour until her death from cancer; her social reforms earned her great popularity with the poor.
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A former actress, after her marriage in 1945 she became de facto Minister of Health and of Labour until her death from cancer; her social reforms earned her great popularity with the poor.
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Geneva[5] is a city in southwestern Switzerland, on Lake Geneva. It is the headquarters of international bodies such as the Red Cross, various organizations of the United Nations, and the World Health Organization.
| 12a | Mine host /is/ droll and awkward (8) |
Mine host[5] is a humorous term for the landlord or landlady of a pub* ⇒
mine host raised his glass of whisky.
* A landlord[5] (or landlady[5]) is a man (or woman) who keeps lodgings, a boarding house, or a pub.
| 14a | Church // Street crossed by underground worker (7) |
Minster[5] is a British term for a large or important church, typically one of cathedral status in the north of England that was built as part of a monastery ⇒
York Minster.
| 16a | Expect // to get going again after end of trip (7) |
| 20a | How to make pot /or/ one sort of bottle (8) |
The wordplay in this clue is a reverse anagram (show more
), a type of wordplay that reverses the customary relationship between
wordplay and solution by giving the result of the anagram
operation in the clue and requiring the solver to find an anagram
indicator and anagram fodder that would produce that result.
In this clue, the solution is SCREWTOP which—if interpreted as wordplay—would be an anagram (SCREW) of TOP producing the result POT which is given in the clue.
In a 'normal' anagram, the anagram indicator (operator) and anagram fodder (the material on which the indicator operates) are given in the clue and the solver executes the anagram operation on the fodder to find the result which forms all or part of the solution.
In a 'reverse anagram', this relationship is reversed. The anagram result is given in the clue and the solver must find the required anagram indicator and anagram fodder which would produce this result. This is not unlike the premise of the TV game show Jeopardy — where contestants are given the answer and must respond with a question.
If, like myself, you have a background in mathematics and engineering, you might think a more appropriate term for such a clue would be 'inverse anagram' rather than 'reverse anagram' as this type of construct is analogous to the concept of inverse functions in those fields.
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In this clue, the solution is SCREWTOP which—if interpreted as wordplay—would be an anagram (SCREW) of TOP producing the result POT which is given in the clue.
In a 'normal' anagram, the anagram indicator (operator) and anagram fodder (the material on which the indicator operates) are given in the clue and the solver executes the anagram operation on the fodder to find the result which forms all or part of the solution.
In a 'reverse anagram', this relationship is reversed. The anagram result is given in the clue and the solver must find the required anagram indicator and anagram fodder which would produce this result. This is not unlike the premise of the TV game show Jeopardy — where contestants are given the answer and must respond with a question.
If, like myself, you have a background in mathematics and engineering, you might think a more appropriate term for such a clue would be 'inverse anagram' rather than 'reverse anagram' as this type of construct is analogous to the concept of inverse functions in those fields.
hide
| 23a | No cleric will come back to a // foreign city (6) |
Verona[7] is a city which straddles the Adige river in Veneto, northern Italy. Three of Shakespeare's plays are set in Verona: Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Taming of the Shrew. The city has been awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture.
| 24a | 'That's disgusting,' said // this Greek character (3) |
Fie[5] is an archaic or humorous exclamation used to express disgust or outrage.
Phi[5] is the twenty-first letter of the Greek alphabet (Φ, φ).
| 25a | Demolished one pub as /required by/ legal instruction (8) |
| 26a | Drink-sounding types /getting/ whisky etc (6) |
I only fully understood this clue after reading the comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog. The wordplay suggests that SORTS (types) would sound like SHORTS when pronounced by someone who has had far too much to drink (as Jose very effectively illustrates in his comment "Yesh … hic … that shounds right …
").Short[5] (noun) is a British term for a drink of spirits served in a small measure* or, as Collins English Dictionary puts it, a short[10] is a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer.
Falling Short
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I was sort of on the right track but I was trying to make the solution to the wordplay be SHOTS, a shot[5] being a small drink of spirits ⇒ he took a shot of whisky.
The word "SHORT" , when pronounced in a non-rhotic accent (show explanation) typical of dialects found in many parts of Britain (especially southeastern England), sounds like "SHOT" .
Non-rhotic accents omit the sound < r > in certain situations, while rhotic accents generally pronounce < r > in all contexts. Among the several dozen British English accents which exist, many are non-rhotic while American English (US and Canadian) is mainly rhotic. This is, however, a generalisation, as there are areas of Britain that are rhotic, and areas of America that are non-rhotic. For more information, see this guide to pronouncing < r > in British English. hide |
| 27a | Go round the bend /or/ start to improve? (4,3,6) |
The first part of the clue is a literal interpretation of the solution.
Scratching the Surface
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| In the surface reading, the expression go round the bend[5] means to go mad. |
Down
| 1d | People in the know -- // are they not out and about? (8) |
The second part of the clue alludes to a literal interpretation of the solution.
| 2d | Learner always needing time /to gain/ advantage (8) |
"learner " = 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.
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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 |
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| 3d | Artist // making visit, hugging old woman (7) |
Marc Chagall[5] (1887–1985) was a Russian-born French painter and graphic artist. His work was characterized by the use of rich emotive colour and dream imagery, and had a significant influence on surrealism.
| 4d | Sticky stuff in road mostly /coming from/ lake (6) |
| 5d | /What's/ played a lot and mostly // unlike much music? (6) |
Atonal[5] is an adjective describing music that is not written in any key or mode.
| 6d | A knocking-off opportunity for the builder? (5,8) |
A trade discount[10] is a sum or percentage deducted from the list price of a commodity allowed by a manufacturer, distributor, or wholesaler to a retailer or by one enterprise to another in the same trade [i.e., operating in the same line of business].
| 7d | Romantic sir, I'd fancy, /could be/ racist maybe? (13) |
| 13d | Two performers, having lost time, // expected any minute? (3) |
" time " = T [t[1]; symbol used in physics]
| 15d | Marble // used in monument -- a waste! (3) |
A taw[5] is a large marble.
| 17d | Change // school subject with set of imaginative new ideas? (8) |
In the UK, religious education[10] (abbreviation RE[5]) is a subject taught in schools which educates about the different religions of the world.
| 18d | Knight, said to be on horse, /is/ overcome (8) |
A mount[5] is a horse that is ridden or is available for riding ⇒
Her mount bolted, unseating her but her foot was entangled in a stirrup.
| 19d | Clothes // seem only half full length -- real daft! (7) |
Daft[5,10] is an informal British term meaning silly, foolish, stupid or insane ⇒
don't ask such daft questions. Insane and its synonyms are frequently used as anagram indicators.
| 21d | Item sent abroad // no longer -- a fortified wine (6) |
"a fortified wine " = PORT
| 22d | A number that could be double-crossed! (6) |
Getting There By Any Route
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| I must admit that I failed to twig to the connection with Roman numerals before reading Miffypops' review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog. Instead, I had focused on the two Ts which must be crossed when writing the solution. |
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
I too was able to solve but not parse this clue. However I now recall that during the Second World War, the military committee directing Britain’s strategic deception campaign called itself the Twenty Committee, written as “the XX Committee.”
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