Thursday, December 9, 2010 (DT 26339)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26339
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Setter Ray T
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26339]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ***	Enjoyment - ****
Falcon's Performance ****

Introduction

Once again I find myself one solution short of completing the puzzle unaided, having got lost in the wrong section of the orchestra at 7d.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues:

fellow - noun 3 (2^nd entry) British an incorporated senior member of a college: a tutorial fellow

Appearing in Solutions:

dean ¹ - noun 2 (2^nd entry) (in a college or university, especially Oxford or Cambridge) a senior member of a college, with disciplinary and advisory functions

gutter - verb 4. (of a flame) to flicker and be about to go out [a meaning that is new to me]

gutter press - noun (the gutter press) chiefly British reporters or newspapers engaging in sensational journalism, especially accounts of the private lives of public figures

N - symbol Algebraic Chess Notation knight (with K being used for king)

R - symbol Algebraic Chess Notation rook

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

25a Fellow admitting compiler's lower in status (6)

We are not talking about just any fellow here, but 'a senior member of a college', for which another name is a dean. The clue also makes use of a fairly common cryptic crossword convention whereby the setter of the puzzle (who, in this case, chooses to identify himself as a compiler) uses first person pronouns to refer to himself. In this clue, our compiler happens to use 'me', but 'I' is often seen as well.

The definition is "lower in status" (with lower being a verb). The wordplay is DEAN (fellow) containing (admitting) ME (compiler) for which the solution is DEMEAN. The 's is a contraction for 'is' and serves as a linkword between the wordplay and definition.

7d One makes a noise from passing wind! (7,4)

A classic Ray T clue! I failed to find the correct solution as I spent my time floundering around in the brass section of the orchrestra searching for some type of horn, when I should have been over in the string section.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Wednesday, December 8, 2010 (DT 26338)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26338
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, September 6, 2010
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26338]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - **	Enjoyment - ****
Falcon's Performance ****
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26337 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, September 4, 2010

Introduction

Perhaps having burned the oil well beyond midnight last night dulled my mind, as I barely achieved a 4* performance on this puzzle which Gazza rates as being less difficult than yesterday's, on which I fell one solution short of 5*. Not only that, a mistake at 3d made it impossible to solve 10a.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Solutions:

River Cam - a river in Cambridgeshire, England, a tributary of the River Great Ouse; also the name of rivers in Gloucestershire and Somerset

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

10a Island with many debts is unstable (10)

A mistake at 3d meant nothing fit here - at least nothing that made any sense. When I read Gazza's review, I kicked myself mightily as I had visited the island in the clue just barely a month ago.

3d Acquire husband (6)

I had entered GATHER here which really messed me up at 10a. The correct solution, GARNER means 'gather and store'. Thus, although 'gather' is a good match for the first part of the double definition, 'garner' is a much more appropriate solution for the second part.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 (DT 26336)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26336
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, September 3, 2010
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26336]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ***	Enjoyment - ***
Falcon's Performance ****

Introduction

I seemed to be tuned into the setter's frequency today and thought I might complete the puzzle without opening my Tool Chest. Alas, I stalled on the last clue (which was 24a). Thus, I finished one solution short of a perfect five stars. Furthermore, my performance was tainted by failing to pick up on the subtlety in 5d that is explained by Gazza in his review.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Solutions:

elevated -  adjective 5 colloquial [seemingly British] slightly drunk

Inca - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun 1b. A ruler or high-ranking member of the Inca empire

lag ³ - noun British informal a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison: both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment

red top (not hyphenated) - [Oxford Dictionaries Online] noun British a tabloid newspaper

Although Oxford does not hyphenate the word, Collins does. Search Chambers does not include it:
red-top (hyphenated) - [Collins English Dictionary] noun a tabloid newspaper characterized by sensationalism [from the colour of the masthead on these publications]

rural dean - noun 1 British a member of the clergy exercising supervision over a group of parochial clergy within a division of an archdeaconry

Territorial Army (abbreviation TA) - noun in the UK: a fully trained volunteer force intended to provide back-up to the regular army in cases of emergency

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

18d Prosperous region as horrible place for one stranded by the coast? (8)

The two most prosperous regions of the UK are London and the area located (ironically) to the south and west of it, South East England. The two regions together constitute what seems to be colloquially referred to as the South East. For a more detailed discussion of this topic see my review of DT 26324.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Monday, December 6, 2010 (DT 26335)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26335
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, September 2, 2010
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26335]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ***	Enjoyment - ****
Falcon's Performance ***

Introduction

It was a good workout today. You may have noticed a new entry in the table above, entitled Falcon's Performance. It shows how well (or how poorly) I performed on the puzzle. I base the number of stars on how much of the puzzle I have correctly solved before I resort to using the electronic aids in my Tool Chest. A single star would be less than 25%, two stars would be 25-49%, three stars 50-74%, four stars 75-99%, and five stars 100%. My performance should vary inversely with Big Dave's level of difficulty rating. It will be interesting to see how the two metrics compare in practice. I thought this might give readers another metric against which to judge their own performance.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues:

Gordon Brown - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from June 2007 until May 2010

Hackney - a borough of London, England [Note: at least, that is what it is in the surface reading]

international - noun 1 British

• a game or contest between teams representing different countries in a sport.
• a player who has taken part in an international game or contest

NT - [Collins English Dictionary] abbreviation 3. Northern Territory (of Australia)

pitman - [Collins English Dictionary] noun Chiefly Scottish and northern English a person who works down a mine, especially a coal miner

Appearing in Solutions:

all-rounder - noun British a versatile person or thing, especially a cricketer who can both bat and bowl well

cap ¹ - noun 1 British

• a cap awarded as a sign of membership of a particular sports team, especially a national team: he has won three caps for Scotland
• a player to whom a cap is awarded: a former naval officer and rugby cap

Frank Capra (1897 – 1991) - a Sicilian-born American film director

CID - abbreviation Criminal Investigation Department, the detective branch of the British police force

L - [Collins English Dictionary] symbol 8. Currency a.  usually written £. pound

no oil painting - British informal (of a person) be unattractive

RA - abbreviation (in the UK) Royal Academician, an artist who is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts

Thea - name:  a female given name (rare: 1 in 20,000 females; popularity rank in the U.S.: #1371)

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

22a Urchin gets a cake after scrap (10)

Although readers on opposite sides of the Atlantic are apt to think of different types of cake when solving it, the clue still works well in either location. The Brits would likely envisage what North Americans call an English muffin - but which to the Brits is simply a muffin. I'm not sure whether the food that we refer to as a muffin even exists in Britain. If it does, I wonder if they call it an American muffin?

28a Like Van Gogh, producing French art around his work place (7)

Our mystery setter stumped me on the wordplay here. The definition is "like Van Gogh" who was famously EARLESS (at least, he was missing one of his ears). The wordplay is ES (French art) containing ARLES (his work place; i.e., Arles, France). But I could not figure out how the setter possibly gets ES out of "French art" - searching in vain for some obscure French art movement of that name.  Big Dave reveals the secret. It comes from the second person singular of the verb être (to be) which is 'tu es' meaning 'you are' in modern day English or 'thou art' as one might find it in the King James Bible.

4d International artist, creator of great pictures (5)

For a North American, this clue has four points of difficulty - three Briticisms and a reference to a personality from the past. But first, lets look at solving it. The definition is "creator of great pictures" for which the solution is film director Frank CAPRA. The wordplay is CAP (international) + RA (artist). The clue is a charade containing two elements, each of which is itself a substitution. In the first substitution (international → CAP), both the source and target are Briticisms. In the second substitution (artist → RA), the target is a Briticism. Finally, film director Frank Capra (while admittedly having produced many well-known works) last released a film nearly fifty years ago. I'm not suggesting that any aspect of the clue is unfair, I'm merely observing that, for a North American, the confluence of all these factors in a single clue may make it an especially difficult one to solve.

13d One puts one's heart into playing dual role getting runs (3-7)

The imagery in the surface reading is related to cricket. This is also an & lit. (or all-in-one) clue. The entire clue provides the definition, where the word "one" serves as a placeholder for the solution. Read as a definition, the clue tells us that we are looking for a spirited individual who plays multiple roles in a cricket match, including scoring runs. Read in an alternative fashion, the clue provides instructions to the solver (and the word "one" changes hats and becomes a placeholder representing the solver). In this reading, the clue states that the solver must put N (one's heart) into an anagram of DUAL ROLE to which has been added (getting) R (runs). The solution, ALL-ROUNDER, is a British term for "a versatile person or thing, especially a cricketer who can both bat and bowl well".

Signing off for today - Falcon

Saturday, December 4, 2010 - Which way to Harlem?

Introduction

In today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon, one of the legends of American jazz shows us the way to Harlem - perhaps to take in a show at the Cotton Club.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues:

American League - one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada, with the only remaining Canadian team being the Toronto Blue Jays of the American League following the departure of the Montreal Expos of the National League to Washington, DC where they were rechristened the Nationals

National League - the other league making up Major League Baseball

Appearing in Solutions:

Duke Ellington - an American composer, pianist, and big band leader, whose song "Take the "A" Train", written by Billy Strayhorn, hit big in 1941. This jazz standard, the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra, is arguably the most famous of the many compositions to emerge from the collaboration of Ellington and Strayhorn. Strayhorn, originally hired as a lyricist, began his association with Ellington in 1939. Nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, Strayhorn soon became a vital member of the Ellington Organization. Ellington showed great fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man and their collaborative working relationship, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine". Strayhorn, with his training in classical music, not only contributed his original lyrics and music, but also arranged and polished many of Ellington's works, becoming a second Ellington or "Duke's doppelganger". It was not uncommon for Strayhorn to fill in for Duke, whether in conducting or rehearsing the band, playing the piano, on stage, and in the recording studio.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

Capricious Capitalization

We have several examples in today's puzzle of what I will call 'capricious capitalization' - where the setters arbitrarily capitalize words that otherwise would not be capitalized in order to make them misleadingly appear to be proper nouns, person's names in the three instances highlighted below. This enhances - or, more correctly, enables - the surface reading of the clue. This is a device that one often encounters in American puzzles but, in my experience, does not see in British puzzles. In fact, I have seen British setters virtually jump through hoops to place particular words at the beginning of clues so that they can legitimately be capitalized. Examples from today's puzzle:

• 10a Emphasize a common key, Penny (6)
• 20d Present has arrived for Slim (6)
• 22d Golly, Kay is an attractive sort (4)

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

8a A|PP|ARENT - A + PP (couple of pages) + ARENT (are not)

9a LETTER - double definition

10a A|C|CENT - A + C (common key) + CENT (penny)

11a MARCHES|A - MARCHES (walks) preceding (before) A (one)

12a STRAY|HORN - STRAY (errant) + HORN (tuba or trombone); composer Billy Strayhorn

14a CAWS~ - sounds like (audibly) CAUSE (make)

15a {TAKE THE A TRAIN}* - anagram (butchered) of AN E EARTHA KITT

Note: The title of the song is correctly Take the "A" Train (with quotation marks around the A). While the quotation marks are not entered in the grid, they actually appear in the anagram fodder. Very nice touch.

17a EWES~ - sounds like (vocalizing) USE (employ)

18a _ELLING|TO|N_ - hidden in (somewhat) compELLING TO Novices

21a F(RIGID)LY - FLY (insect) containing (gets) RIGID (stiff)

24a C(HER)RY - CRY (shout) containing (about) HER

25a ENDE(A)R - ENDER (finisher) contains (possesses) A

26a ALLUSION* - anagram (modified) of IN US LOLA

Down

1d SPECKS~ - sounds like (reportedly) SPECS (glasses)

2d {CANE|BRAKES}~ - sounds like (from what we hear) {CAIN (Adam's boy) + BREAKS (ruins)}

3d G|ENTRY - G (green) + ENTRY (door)

4d STEM< - reversal (returned) of METS; the New York Mets, a Major League Baseball team playing in the National League

5d CLAR(IN)ET - IN (popular) contained in (cased in) CLARET (red)

6d _ET|CH_ - hidden in carpET CHoices

7d GERSHWIN* - anagram (revamped) of HER SWING; composer George Gershwin

13d ONE|AL - ONE (a single) + AL (American League); 7-foot 1-inch pro basketball player Shaquille (Shaq) O'Neal, a member of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA)

14d CHART|REUSE - REUSE (recycle) following (pursuant to) CHART (diagram)

The use of "pursuant to" to mean 'following' may perhaps resonant better with North Americans than with Brits. The American Heritage Dictionary defines pursuant as "proceeding from and conformable to" as well as "in accordance with". The latter wording also appears in Oxford Dictionaries Online and Collins gives an equivalent definition, "in agreement or conformity", while the word is not found in Search Chambers.

15d TOWERING* - anagram (sporting) of WRONG TIE

Note: "Sporting" as an anagram indicator could derive from the word 'sport' (verb) either used in the sense of 'to dally or trifle (with)' or, as employed in Biology, meaning 'to mutate'.

16d THE|OD(OR)E - OR (alternatively) contained in (found in) {THE + ODE (poem)}

19d N(ICE|L)Y - {ICE (bartender's supply) + L (left)} contained in (in) NY (New York)

20d N(ARR)OW - NOW (present) containing (has) ARR (arrived)

22d GEE|K - GEE (golly) + K (kay)

23d Y|EAR - Y (yellow) + EAR (piece of corn)

Signing off for today - Falcon

Thursday, December 2, 2010 (DT 26333)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26333
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Setter Shamus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26333]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ***	Enjoyment - ***

Introduction

I thought that I might complete this puzzle without needing to open my Tool Chest. However, I did need to dip into it for the last couple of clues. Ironically, one of the ones that I stumbled over (21d) should have been among the easiest in the puzzle. The need for electronic help on the other (26a) is more understandable.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Solutions:

Erato - Greek & Roman Mythology the Muse of lyric poetry and hymns

form - noun 6 chiefly British a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number: the fifth form

imamate - noun 1 the territory governed by an imam

RA - abbreviation (in the UK) Royal Academician

RN - abbreviation 1 Royal Navy

san - noun Old-fashioned informal short for sanatorium (especially sense 3)

sandpit - British sandbox

tum - noun British colloquial the stomach

U ³ - adjective British informal (of language or social behaviour) characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes: U manners

Signing off for today - Falcon

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 (DT 26332)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26332
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, August 30, 2010
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26332]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - **	Enjoyment - ***
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26331 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, August 28, 2010

Introduction

As Libellule says, a "very gentle start to the week" - although on this side of the Atlantic, the puzzle is appearing midweek.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues:

penny (abbreviation: p) - noun (plural for separate coins pennies, for a sum of money pence) 1 a British bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound

Appearing in Solutions:

gymslip - noun British a sleeveless belted tunic reaching from the shoulder to the knee, formerly worn by schoolgirls

High Street - a street in Oxford, England which runs between Carfax, generally recognized as the centre of the city, and Magdalen Bridge to the east. Locally the street is often known as The High.

High Street, the most common street name in the U.K., is the generic name (and frequently the official name) of the primary business street of British towns or cities - equivalent to Main Street in North America.

pontoon ² - noun British the card game blackjack or vingt-et-un

Territorial Army (abbreviation TA) - noun in the UK: a fully trained volunteer force intended to provide back-up to the regular army in cases of emergency

whipping post - noun historical a post to which offenders were tied in order to be whipped as a public punishment [Note: This spelling is from Oxford. Presumably, the expression is hyphenated in Chambers - although the word is not present in Chambers online]

Signing off for today - Falcon