Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29936 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | |
Setter
Jay (Jeremy Mutch) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29936] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
2Kiwis | |
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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Introduction
I found myself stymied with two clues remaining to be solved. Once I found the south wind with a little electronic help, the course record became obvious.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 | Origin /of/ a name adopted by region in France (10) |
" name " = N [n or n.[1]]
Provence[5] is a former province of southeastern France, on the
Mediterranean coast east of the Rhône. It
is now part of the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. (show more )
Settled by the Greeks in the 6th century BC, the area around Marseilles became, in the 1st century BC, part of the Roman colony of Gaul. It was united with France in 1481.
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Settled by the Greeks in the 6th century BC, the area around Marseilles became, in the 1st century BC, part of the Roman colony of Gaul. It was united with France in 1481.
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| 6a | Opportunity /offered by/ heartless physician? (4) |
| 10a | The girl left with no regulars may be on this (5) |
As the 2Kiwis have expressed in a slightly different way, the entire clue is a cryptic definition in which the wordplay is embedded.
| 11a | Scratch player's last in rogue // course record (9) |
"rogue " = CAD
Cad[2,3,4,5,10,11,12,14,15] is a dated informal British* term for a man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards a woman ⇒
* with the exception of Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries)[5], all the British dictionaries that I consulted[2,4,5,10,14] characterize this term as British while none of the American dictionaries do so[3,11,12,15]
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Cad[2,3,4,5,10,11,12,14,15] is a dated informal British* term for a man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards a woman ⇒
her adulterous cad of a husband.
* with the exception of Lexico (Oxford Dictionaries)[5], all the British dictionaries that I consulted[2,4,5,10,14] characterize this term as British while none of the American dictionaries do so[3,11,12,15]
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| 12a | Sleeping arrangement /of/ identical graduate teachers? (4,4) |
A Bachelor of Education[7] (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools.
| 13a | Remove // a section of render, as eroding (5) |
| 15a | Ring exercises with speed // work (7) |
| 17a | Swear, oddly accepting disagreement /is/ more awkward (7) |
| 19a | Altogether // new service in outskirts of Eastbourne (2,5) |
" new " = N[5] [in place names on maps;
N Zealand]
Scratching the Surface
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| Eastbourne[5] is a town on the south coast of England, in East Sussex; population 108,200 (est. 2009). |
| 21a | One with a big bill /may see/ the Spanish in terrible panic (7) |
"the Spanish " = EL [Spanish definite article]
| 22a | Hang around // hotel, superfluous (5) |
" hotel " = H[5] [NATO Phonetic Alphabet[7]]
| 24a | Capable of changing // a case about parking (8) |
In the grammar of Latin, Greek, German, and some other languages, the dative[5] is a case of nouns and pronouns, and words in grammatical agreement with them, indicating an indirect object or recipient.
| 27a | Confinement // of French nervousness on air (9) |
| 28a | Pivots /and/ cuts across line (5) |
" line " = L [l.[5]; in textual references ⇒
l. 648]
| 29a & 30a | Current job /that's/ pressing or otherwise? (4,2,8) |
I am going to differ from the 2Kiwis and say that the definition is "current job" and that the wordplay is a reverse (or inverse) anagram (indicated by "otherwise").
A reverse (or inverse) anagram is a cryptic device in which the result of executing the anagram appears in the clue (in this case, "PRESSING OR") and the solution to the clue contains the anagram indicator (in this case "work") and fodder (in this case "IN PROGRESS") that would produce this result*. 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 (or inversion) 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.
I am very surprised that no one on Big Dave's Crossword Blog seems to have picked up on this parsing.
| 30a | See 29 Across |
Down
| 1d | Note that's added about a second // advance (4) |
" second(s) " = S [s[2]; measure of time]
| 2d | Crush // whoever moved and left motorway (9) |
" left " = L [l[2]]
Motorway[2,5] (abbreviation M[5]) is a British, Australian, and New Zealand term for a dual-carriageway road [divided highway] designed for fast-moving traffic, especially one with three lanes per carriageway [direction of travel] and limited access and exit points [controlled access].
| 3d | Mischievous // model finances houses (5) |
| 4d | Harsh // wind from the south and east (7) |
Auster[5] is a literary or poetic term for the south wind. In Roman mythology, Auster is the god of the south wind.
| 5d | Wealthy monarch /may be/ angry about EU after separation (7) |
Croesus[5] (6th century BC) was the last king of Lydia c.560–546 BC. Renowned for his great wealth, he subjugated the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor before being overthrown by Cyrus the Great of Persia.
| 7d | President /offering/ ordinary degrees (5) |
"ordinary " = O [British academic qualification]
Historically, in the UK (with the exception of Scotland), O level[5] (short for ordinary level[5]) was a qualification in a specific subject formerly taken by school students aged 14-16, at a level below A (advanced) level. It was replaced in 1988 by the GCSE[5] (General Certificate of Secondary Education).
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Historically, in the UK (with the exception of Scotland), O level[5] (short for ordinary level[5]) was a qualification in a specific subject formerly taken by school students aged 14-16, at a level below A (advanced) level. It was replaced in 1988 by the GCSE[5] (General Certificate of Secondary Education).
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BA[5] is the abbreviation for Bachelor of Arts.
MA[5] is the abbreviation for Master of Arts.
| 8d | Revolutionary call about the woman's // misleading article (3,7) |
The clue could equally be parsed as:
- Revolutionary call about the woman/'s/ misleading article (3,7)
Ring[3] (often used with up) is a chiefly British term meaning to call (someone) on the telephone ⇒ (i)
She rang me at noon; (ii)
Let's ring her up.
| 9d | Engineers face // providing a fix (8) |
The engineers making an appearance today are not the usual Corps of Royal Engineers*[5] (abbreviation RE[5]) but rather the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers[7] (abbreviation REME; pronounced phonetically as "Reemee"), a corps of the British Army that has responsibility for the maintenance, servicing and inspection of almost every electrical and mechanical piece of equipment within the British Army from battle tanks and helicopters to dental tools and cooking equipment/utensils.
* The Corps of Royal Engineers is the field engineering and construction corps of the British army who are also known as the Sappers.
| 14d | Suggest // warning notice in exhibition (10) |
Fore[5] is an exclamation called out as a warning to people in the path of a golf ball.
| 16d | Artist in salon's upset // losers (4-4) |
| 18d | Force expert on treasure /to give/ apparent worth (4,5) |
" force " = F[5] [symbol used in physics]
| 20d | High spirits /of/ niece, say, losing head (7) |
| 21d | Mastermind /may be/ clearer needing name for one (7) |
The "name" from 1a does an encore.
" one " = I[2] [Roman numeral]
| 23d | Constituent/'s/ veto damaged right (5) |
" right " = R [r or r.[2]]
| 25d | Distinctive sound /of/ wife in Chinese dynasty (5) |
" wife " = W [w[2]; genealogy]
The Tang dynasty[5] ruled China 618–c.906, a period noted for territorial conquest and great wealth and regarded as the golden age of Chinese poetry and art.
| 26d | Unaltered, // since setter beginning to suffer (2,2) |
"setter " = I
It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.
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It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.
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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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