Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 29327 | |
Publication date in The Daily Telegraph
Thursday, April 2, 2020 | |
Setter
RayT (Ray Terrell) | |
Link to full review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29327]
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Big Dave's Crossword Blog review written by
Kath | |
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
Today, RayT steps up the intensity of the workout from what we have experienced recently. However, the puzzle does not lack in enjoyment and it does contain a few especially topical clues in light of the current state of affairs in our neighbour to the south. Given that the puzzle was initially published almost eight months ago in the UK, one would almost have to believe that the setter is in possession of a very good crystal ball.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 | Altered by lie, altered // by design (12) |
| 9a | Part in sitcom for terrible // dummy (9) |
Dummy[5] is the British name for a pacifier, a rubber or plastic teat for a baby to suck on.
| 10a | Stayed // saucy, twirling with tango (5) |
"tango " = T [NATO Phonetic Alphabet]
In what is commonly known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet[7]*, Tango[5] is a code word representing the letter T.
* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet
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In what is commonly known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet[7]*, Tango[5] is a code word representing the letter T.
* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet
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| 11a | More feeble // play on words? That is right (6) |
| 12a | Age taken by fat old // painter? (8) |
"old " = O [linguistics]
In linguistics, O[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i)
However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.
Another possibility arises from the British abbreviation OAP[5] standing for old-age pensioner.
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In linguistics, O[12] is the abbreviation for Old ⇒ (i)
OFr[Old French]; (ii)
OE[Old English].
However, a second entry from this same source shows o (lower case) meaning old (not capitalized) suggesting that the use of this abbreviation may not necessarily be confined to the field of linguistics.
Another possibility arises from the British abbreviation OAP[5] standing for old-age pensioner.
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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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| 13a | Husband is maybe hiding // alarm (6) |
| 15a | Storing // remains covered by incense (8) |
Sting[5] is used in the sense of provoke someone to do (something) by causing annoyance or offence.
| 18a | Drift catching current finally hooking // fish (8) |
It is easy to fall into the trap of supposing that the current might be electrical in nature.
| 19a | Gorged // showing greed oddly, after wine case (6) |
Bin[5] is a British term for a partitioned stand for storing bottles of wine.
Post Mortem
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| From the definition, I wrongly deduced that the solution must be PIGGED guessing that pig might possibly be a British term for a wineskin. When I failed to find any support for that hypothesis, I had to resort to electronic help to ferret out the correct answer. |
| 21a | Punish // hound taking common order rolling over (8) |
| 23a | America can, employing army, // win (6) |
"army " = TA [Territorial Army]
In the UK, Territorial Army[5] (abbreviation TA[5]) was, at one time, the name of a volunteer force founded in 1908 to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined military personnel for use in an emergency. Since 2013, this organization has been called the Army Reserve.
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In the UK, Territorial Army[5] (abbreviation TA[5]) was, at one time, the name of a volunteer force founded in 1908 to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined military personnel for use in an emergency. Since 2013, this organization has been called the Army Reserve.
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| 26a | Greek character // central to 'Medea'? (5) |
"Central to 'Medea'" is the letter 'D' which is represented by the code word Delta[5] in what is commonly known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet[7]*,
* officially the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet
Delta[5] is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (Δ, δ).
Scratching the Surface
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| In Greek mythology, Medea[5] is a sorceress, daughter of Aeetes king of Colchis, who helped Jason to obtain the Golden Fleece and then married him. When Jason deserted her for Creusa, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth, she took revenge by killing Creon, Creusa, and her own children, and fled to Athens. |
| 27a | Politician rested in bed /for/ illness ... (9) |
"politician " = MP
In Britain (as in Canada), a politician elected to the House of Commons is known as a Member of Parliament[10] (abbreviation MP[5]) or, informally, as a member[5].
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In Britain (as in Canada), a politician elected to the House of Commons is known as a Member of Parliament[10] (abbreviation MP[5]) or, informally, as a member[5].
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What did she say?
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In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kath describes the required piece of furniture as "a child’s bed".Cot[5] is the British name for a a small bed with high barred sides for a baby or very young child — an item of furniture known in North America as a crib[5]. |
| 28a | ... strangely ensured it ran // wild (12) |
This clue contains a construct that seems to appear fairly often in RayT puzzles, anagram fodder sandwiched between two words either of which could be the anagram indicator.
Prescient or Not?
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| Might the linked surface reading of these two clues be an allusion to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson announced on March 27 of this year that he had tested positive for the virus. He was later hospitalized for treatment. This puzzle was published less than a week later but I would have to think that it was actually compiled long before Johnson's announcement.*[7] * In a comment on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, RayT himself confirms the clue "wasn’t specifically about the PM catching the virus. I submitted the puzzle before he announced the news, counting on at least one politician eventually succumbing!". If, on the other hand, it is an allusion to US President Donald Trump, then it is a truly remarkable feat of crystal ball gazing. The puzzle was published in the UK six months before Trump was diagnosed with the virus on October 1 and admitted to hospital for treatment on October 2.[7] |
Down
| 1d | Crab maybe // walked about, almost curious (7) |
A decapod[5] is a crustacean of the order Decapoda, such as a shrimp, crab, or lobster.
| 2d | Light unit measurement's European norm initially (5) |
The entire clue provides the wordplay, an acrostic formed from the initial letters of the first five words in the clue. I have marked the definition as being only the first two words of the clue but I concede that one might conceivably stretch that to include the first five words. However, I believe it is a real stretch to include the entire clue as Kath does in her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.
In the SI* system of units, the lumen[2] (symbol lm) is a unit of luminous flux, defined as the amount of light emitted by a point source of intensity one candela within a solid angle of one steradian.
* SI[2] is the abbreviation for Système International d'Unités (International System of Units), the modern scientific system of units, used in the measurement of all physical quantities.
| 3d | Blast resounded round exhaust's opening /in/ backfire (9) |
| 4d | Grasses // Sun up! (4) |
Grass[5] is an informal British term meaning:
Rhyming slang[5] is a type of slang that replaces words with rhyming words or phrases, typically with the rhyming element omitted. For example, butcher’s, short for butcher’s hook, means ‘look’ in Cockney rhyming slang.
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- (noun) a police informer
- (verb, often grass on or grass up) to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ (i)
someone had grassed on the thieves
; (ii)she threatened to grass me up
.
Rhyming slang[5] is a type of slang that replaces words with rhyming words or phrases, typically with the rhyming element omitted. For example, butcher’s, short for butcher’s hook, means ‘look’ in Cockney rhyming slang.
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Scratching the Surface
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| The Sun[7]
is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and
Ireland by a division of News UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Australian-born American publisher and media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The surface reading of the clue expresses the idea "informs the police of the illegal activities of The Sun newspaper". |
| 5d | Afflictions /of/ soldiers, male, under canvas? (8) |
"soldiers " = OR [other ranks]
In the British armed forces, the term other ranks[5] (abbreviation OR[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.
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In the British armed forces, the term other ranks[5] (abbreviation OR[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.
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The phrase "under canvas" could be replaced by "in tents".
| 6d | Boy, even empty, // carrying some weight (5) |
| 7d | Tendency to include reading perhaps /for/ education (8) |
"Reading" is one of the three Rs[5] (along with 'riting and 'rithmatic) that constitute the fundamentals of learning.
| 8d | Pungent // air around middle of restroom (6) |
Here and There
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| According to Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online), the term restroom[5] in Britain denotes a room in a public building for people to relax or recover in as contrasted to North America where it means a toilet (in the sense of a room rather than a fixture) in a public building. However, The Chambers Dictionary defines rest room*[1] as a room in a building other than a private house with adjoining lavatories, etc. A careful reading leads me to the conclusion that this is not necessarily contradicting Lexico (which had been my initial thought). The Chambers definition would seem to indicate that the toilets in the UK are adjoining the rest room and not part of the rest room. However, irrespective of their location, they do seem to be the source of the pungent air. * note the spelling as two words; thus, unless the spelling has changed in more recent editions of The Chambers Dictionary, The Daily Telegraph — in a departure from standard practice — is not using the spelling found in Chambers. |
| 14d | Right /in/ America upset, albeit wrongly (8) |
Prescience Confirmed?
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| As this clue could apply only to the US and not to the UK, maybe 27a and 28a are, indeed, allusions to Donald Trump. Given that this puzzle was published in the UK nearly eight months ago, one would have to consider this clue to be prescient to the extreme in light of current events south of the border. |
| 16d | Wrong keeping head of cattle, cultivate a // grain (9) |
| 17d | Annihilate // multitude about to catch a cold (8) |
| 18d | Break from // Church doctrine's first in diocese (6) |
"church " = CE [Church of England]
The Church of England[10] (abbreviation CE[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.
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The Church of England[10] (abbreviation CE[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.
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A see[10] is the diocese (show more ) of a bishop, or the place within it where his cathedral (show more ) or procathedral (show more ) is situated.
A diocese[5] is a district under the pastoral care of a bishop in the Christian Church — or, more precisely, episcopal churches.
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A diocese[5] is a district under the pastoral care of a bishop in the Christian Church — or, more precisely, episcopal churches.
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| 20d | Stood for // action holding weight lifted (7) |
| 22d | An American writer /or/ two? (5) |
Mark Twain[5] (1835 – 1910) was an American novelist and humorist; pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. His best-known novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), give a vivid evocation of Mississippi frontier life.
Twain[5] is an archaic term for two ⇒
It was Rudyard Kipling who said, ‘east is east, west is west, and never the twain shall meet.’.
| 24d | Tall story with article about // extraterrestrial (5) |
| 25d | Sentence is overturned /leading to/ discharge (4) |
Key to Reference Sources:
[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
[2] - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
[3] - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
[4] - TheFreeDictionarycom (Collins English Dictionary)
[5] - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Dictionary of English)
[6] - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Advanced American Dictionary)
[7] - Wikipedia
[8] - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
[9] - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)
Signing off for today — Falcon
