Wednesday, December 8, 2009 (DT 26009)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, August 17, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26008 published Saturday, August 15, 2009 in the Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Today Ottawa is experiencing its first major snowfall of the winter. Having risen late this morning and spending the morning at the gym and the early part of the afternoon clearing the snow from my driveway, it was mid-afternoon before I had a chance to tackle the puzzle. Luckily, it was not too difficult and I completed it in a very respectable time.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

E-boat - noun a German torpedo boat used in the Second World War.

MB - abbreviation 1 Medicinae Baccalaureus (Latin), Bachelor of Medicine.

slip - noun 10 cricket a one of three fielders (first slip, second slip and third slip) standing near to and roughly in line with the wicket-keeper on the on side; b (often slips) this fielding position.

sneak - verb 3 Brit. informal inform someone in authority of a person’s misdeeds.

trooper - noun 2 chiefly Brit. a ship used for transporting troops.

Whit - noun Whitsun or Whitsuntide, in the Christian church: the week beginning with Whit Sunday, particularly the first three days.

Whitstable - a seaside town in Kent, England, famous for its oysters

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26009].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

6d It takes pluck to remove it (6)

As it turns out, the solution is not FEATHER. However, taking into consideration Gazza's reservations about the real solution, it just might be a better fit.

19a Go quietly to spill the beans (5)

Working on the assumption that "spill" must be an anagram indicator led me astray on the wordplay. Despite this, as well as the fact that the British slang meaning of sneak was totally unknown to me, I still managed to find the correct solution from the definition and checking letters.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Tuesday, December 7, 2009 (DT 26007)

This puzzle was originally published Friday, August 14, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I had an easier time with the upper half than the lower half today. On the whole, I found the puzzle to be a bit more difficult than what the Brits seem to have rated it.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

clapped out - adjective colloq 1 said of a machine, etc: old, worn out and no longer working properly. 2 said of a person: exhausted.

clapped-out - adjective informal, chiefly Brit. worn out from age or heavy use.

con² - verb old use to read over and learn by heart.

Ken Dodd - British comedian

lumber - noun 1 chiefly Brit. disused articles of furniture that inconveniently take up space. 2 chiefly N. Amer. partly prepared timber.

real ale - noun chiefly Brit. cask-conditioned beer that is served traditionally, without additional gas pressure.

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.

Universal (abbreviation U) - British film rating signifying "All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children." (i.e., visible to all)

Today's Links

Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26007].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

5d Brown bits and pieces left to go out (5)

The clue seemed to be screaming that the solution was (L)UMBER (LUMBER with the L deleted), but how does lumber equate to "bits and pieces"? It became clear when I discovered that in Britain the word "lumber" apparently has a totally different meaning than in North America (one that is not even remotely similar).

18a It could be abandoned in Lent season (3-9)

While "abandoned" does not strike me as an obvious candidate for the role of an anagram indicator, I long ago learned that this position seems to be open to any word that should happen to walk in off the street.

26a Comic theologian seen at party (4)

Having never heard of Ken Dodd was a definite handicap on this clue. I ended up with DIDO as my answer, thinking that it might somehow relate to "comic".

3d They may come in in the middle of a sentence (6,8)

I never noticed the repetition "in in" until I was writing the blog, so I solved the clue as if it contained a single "in". With minimal checking letters, I thought I had come up with a perfect solution, PAROLE HEARINGS. However, a few more checking letters quickly eliminated that possibility.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Monday, December 7, 2009 (DT 26006)

This puzzle was originally published Thursday, August 13, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I must say we are presented with an interesting assortment of food items today - unfortunately some of it being most unappealing. It must have been a rather easy puzzle today - given that I finished almost all of it sitting in the waiting room at the garage while my car was being serviced. I did need to pop open the Tool Chest when I got home for help with the final couple of clues.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

bangers and mash - sausages and mashed potatoes, popular British pub grub

inch - noun Scot. a small island near the seacoast

long pig - noun human flesh, used as food (translation of a Polynesian term)

rouble - alternative spelling of ruble, noun the basic monetary unit of Russia and some other former republics of the USSR

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26006].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

7a Worried about foreign currency in the borders of Thailand (8)

This clue contains what I like to think of as a "shell indicator", i.e., an indicator that instructs one to keep only the first and last letters of a word (i.e., its shell). In fact, it is one of three examples of this type of clue in today's puzzle. The indicator here is the phrase, "the borders of" which is to be interpreted as "the first and last letters of". In this case, the indicator acts on "Thailand" to produce the result TD.

8a White meat that extended gourmand? (4,3)

"Long pig" is a term used in some Pacific islands for human flesh used as food. Does one infer from "white meat" that cannibals dined only on Caucasians? In search of an answer, I consulted several reference sources, none of which indicated that the term was specific to the flesh of the white man. From an account in Robert Louis Stevenson's book, In the South Seas, it would appear that the term was applied to human flesh, in general, and not merely to the flesh of the white man. However, I note that Gazza says "this term was used in the past among the cannibals in some Pacific islands for white man’s flesh". I wonder if Gazza had a source for this or whether he merely inferred the meaning from the wording of the clue (or perhaps skewed the wording of the hint a bit to match that of the clue).

As an aside, it seems that this must be prime season for cannibals, as eBay is offering "fantastic deals on long pig". Which just goes to illustrate the absurdity of their practice of automatically generating custom advertisements based on search terms!

1d Language outwardly revered in universities (4)

This is the second example of a "shell indicator" in today's puzzle. Here "outwardly revered" signifies that we are to use the first and last letters of "revered" (i.e., RD).

18d People generally leave northwards, seeing potential danger (7)

Mantrap has two meanings, namely "a trap set to catch trespassers or poachers" and "(slang) a woman considered dangerously seductive and scheming." I was not familiar with the former and I notice that the British dictionaries do not seem to include the latter.

22d Mangy dog often outside for meat (6)

In the third example of a "shell indicator" in today's puzzle, "often outside" instructs us to use the first and last (i.e., outside) letters of "often" (i.e., ON).

Signing off for today - Falcon

Saturday, December 5, 2009 - Putting the E in Soul

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon is a fairly easy - though soulful - effort.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Montreal Expos - a former Major League Baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; following the 2004 season, the team moved to Washington, D.C., U.S.A. and became the Washington Nationals

smack³ - noun 1. Eastern U.S. a fishing vessel, esp. one having a well for keeping the catch alive. 2. British any of various small, fully decked, fore-and-aft-rigged vessels used for trawling or coastal trading.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition
	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

6a EC(H)O - H (bit of history) contained in (penned by) ECO (Italian author Umberto Eco)

7a {SOUL SISTER}* - anagram of (prepared) SUITOR LESS; American singer, songwriter and pianist Aretha Franklin, known as the "Queen of Soul"

10a S(ASH)AYS - SAYS (speaks) containing (about) ASH (tree)

11a V(AN)ILLA - VILLA (country house) containing (possessing) AN

12a _G|REBE_ - hidden word in (involved in) quellinG REBEllion

13a CONES|TOGA - CONES (tepee shapes) TOGA (wrap)

15a {FILET OF SOLE}* - anagram of (strangely) OFF TO LESLIE

19a {MERGANSER}* - anagram of (ground) RAMS GREEN

21a TI(B)ER - TIER (row) containing (around) B (blue)

23a CAKE BOX - spoonerism of BAKE (cook) COCKS (roosters)

25a ORG(AND)Y - AND (also) contained in (found in) ORGY (wild party)

26a {SEOUL KOREA}* - anagram of (changing) A LOOK REUSE

27a LIED - DD

Down

1d TH(IS|B)E - IS B (second-rate) contained in (in) THE (article); Greek legend of Pyramus and Thisbe

2d {HOUSE CAT}* - anagram of (spilled) HOT SAUCE

3d C(L)OVEN - L (head of lettuce) contained in (in) COVEN (witches' group)

4d DI(O)N - DIN (racket) containing (about) O (love); Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion or American doo-wop, pop, rock and R&B singer Dion (DiMucci).

5d STALL|ONE - STALL (delay) ONE (single); American actor Sylvester Stallone

6d _ENS|IGN_ - hidden word in (some) maidENS IGNore

8d REAGAN* - anagram of (nuts) ANGER A; former U.S. President Ronald Reagan

9d CAMELLIA* - an anagram of (mistakenly ordered) ME A LILAC

14d SHOR(TAG)E - TAG (children's game) contained in (in) SHORE (beach area)

15d FOR(E)K|NOW - E (piece of eclair) contained in (held by) FORK (utensil) NOW (at present)

16d FUR|RO(WE)D - FUR (hide) ROD (pole) containing (around) WE (our bunch)

17d SMACKS - DD; see Today's Glossary

18d B(RAY)ED - RAY (short for Raymond) contained in (in) BED

20d S(EXPO)T - EXPO (Montreal pro) contained in (in) ST (street); see Today's Glossary

22d BAND|I|T - BAND (group) with I (one) T (time)

24d BILL - DD; Microsoft co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates

Signing off for today - Falcon

Friday, December 4, 2009 (DT 26005)

This puzzle was originally published Wednesday, August 12, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

It was not a very difficult puzzle today, and I did not find the clues to be particularly noteworthy. I also found some of the surface readings to be a bit strained.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

L² - abbreviation 2 learner driver (by extension, trainee)

neat² - noun archaic or dialect an ox, bull or cow, etc.

pi² - Brit slang adjective a short form of pious. noun a pious, religious or sanctimonious person or talk.

RD - abbreviation 2 Rural Dean noun in the Church of England: a clergyman with responsibility over a group of parishes

The Scarlet Pimpernel - a classic play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro or Batman.

thane - Originally meaning a Military Companion to the King, a thane was a man holding administrative office

Margaret Thatcher - former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

vert - noun green, as a conventional heraldic colour

Today's Links

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26005].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

5a Father, leases, with mother as well (7)

On initial reading, this clue seemed to have a rather unorthodox structure, with the wordplay being "PA (father) RENTS (leases)" and the definition being "PARENTS (father with mother as well)" in which one is required to ignore the word "'leases". After some consideration, I came to the conclusion that the correct interpretation is likely that the definition part is formally just "with mother as well" with the solver needing to infer father from the overall clue.

17a Vegetable tea brewed by Rural Dean (5)

Solution:

CHARD (vegetable) /\CHA (tea) brewed by RD (Rural Dean)

I was expecting "brewed" to be an anagram indicator. However, I discovered that it appears to be merely padding to aid the surface reading. Big Dave suggests that CHA is "tea brewed", and I suppose one could take that charitable view. However, since cha itself means tea, the word "brewed" does seem rather superfluous to the definition.

23a Article about a knight who was the King's companion (5)

The solution:

THE (article) containing (about) A N (knight: modern chess notation) /\ THANE (who was the King's companion)

All the dictionaries that I consulted defined thane similarly to Oxford: "noun 1 (in Anglo-Saxon England) a man granted land by the king or a nobleman, ranking between a freeman and a hereditary noble. 2 (in Scotland) a man who held land from a Scottish king and ranked with an earl’s son. " From this definition, one would be hard-pressed to identify thane as being a King's companion. Wikipedia is more helpful, saying "The term thegn (or thane in Shakespearean English), from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly employed by historians to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves. It is also the term for an early medieval Scandinavian class of retainers." A retainer is a servant or attendant (i.e., companion in one sense), generally one who has provided long-standing service.

7d Tell Satan to muck out the cowshed! (4-5)

The solution NEAT-STALL is an anagram (to muck out) of TELL SATAN. Neat (the same spelling whether singular or plural) is an archaic term for cattle, so a neat-stall would be a cattle-stall (or, by extension, a cowshed). Despite the fact that I was not able to find the word in any dictionary that I consulted (although I probably should have looked in one that predated the advent of the Internet), I seriously doubt that it is a neologism.

15d A sanctimonious group of timeless artists keep bees (9)

For the surface reading to be grammatically correct should not the verb be in the third person singular (i.e., a group keeps)?

22d Raise the spirits of the Earl recently (5)

This clue caused me to wonder a bit. I was confident that "recently" could mean lately or of late, but can it also mean late? Well, the answer is yes, as in the phrase, "As late as yesterday she was fine."

Signing off for today - Falcon

Thursday, December 3, 2009 (DT 26004)

This puzzle was originally published Tuesday, August 11, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

As I suspected, the Brits (for the most part, at least) found today's puzzle to be relatively easy. There were, however, a number of British terms that made it somewhat more challenging for those of us on this side of the pond - but, on the whole, it was not unduly difficult. I actually managed to decipher a number of previously unknown Briticisms from the wordplay alone. With a bit of perseverance, I completed the puzzle - including figuring out all of the wordplay (but just barely).

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

AGA - noun trademark a type of large British cooking stove (from the Swedish acronym of the company that originally manufactured them)

bent - adjective 2 informal, chiefly Brit. dishonest; corrupt

blackleg - noun Brit. derogatory a person who continues working when fellow workers are on strike

Colonel Blimp - British cartoon character

Nellie Dean - popular UK pub song

primero - n. A gambling card game, popular in Elizabethan England

Salad Days - a 1954 British Musical

sophister - n 1. (Social Science/Education) (esp formerly) a second-year undergraduate at certain British universities

stoppage - noun 4 (stoppages) Brit. deductions from wages by an employer for the payment of tax, National Insurance, etc.

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26004].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

4d Another identical cooking range at home (4,5)

While not the last clue to be solved, the wordplay did remain a mystery until the bitter end (which made me question whether I did, in fact, have the right solution). I was fairly sure that the definition was "another", but I did not rule out the possibility that it might be "another identical". The wordplay "cooking range" led me to look for an anagram of "range" (or possibly "range at", in the event that IN were to be given by "home" rather than "at home"). I was nearly ready to throw in the towel when a search on AGA revealed that it is the trademark of a British (formerly Swedish) cooking stove.

16d Student nun organized hop inside (9)

Here the solution is a Briticism that seems to be obscure even to the Brits. However, for me, it was no more obscure than terms like blackleg and stoppage - or, especially, AGA.

20d Take away produce (6)

I presume this is a double definition, although one of the definitions seems a bit iffy to me. The first definition of "take away" meaning REMOVE is fine, but "produce" meaning REMOVE? Perhaps the setter has in mind that if one is asked, for example, to produce a driver's licence they may have to remove it from their wallet. It is interesting to note that the Brit's also appeared confused by this clue. However, Gazza does eventually arrive at a somewhat similar conclusion to mine - with probably an even better example. And a visitor to Big Dave's blog leaves a comment containing a similar example as well.

26d Speaks about a son and daughter making a musical (5,4)

Between the wordplay and the checking letters, I was able to decipher the name of this show - despite never having heard of this production. Prior to Oliver!, Salad Days was the longest-running show in British musical theatre history. Although it had a fairly successful run in Canada in 1958, it flopped badly when taken to Broadway in 1959. It seems that the Yanks just didn't "get it" then - and many North Americans may still not have gotten it today.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 (DT 26003)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, August 10, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

The National Post has skipped DT 26002, published Saturday, August 8, 2009 in the Daily Telegraph.

I was able to solve almost the entire puzzle without the aid of my Tool Chest. However, I was not able to solve the final couple of clues (18a and 12d) without some help from Tilsit's hints. My difficulty stemmed in part from an unrecognized (but not unknown) British spelling at 18a, but - more significantly - from a wrong answer at 14a.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

tyre - tire (US and Canada)

Today's Links

Tilsit's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26003].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

14a Gets off or puts on the line (5,2)

Failing to initially detect that the implied reading of the clue is "Gets off (the line) or puts on the line" made this clue more difficult to solve. At first, I saw it merely as "Gets off" or "puts on the line"and came up with WINDING UP as a solution, as you wind up work at the close of the business day or, in other words, you get off work (after which you may wind down at the bar). You can also wind up (fishing) line on a reel. This error stymied me on 12d. However, once I had found the answer to 12d (with help from Tilsit), I took another crack at this clue and succeeded in finding the correct solution.

18a Old town subject to inflation (4)

This is another case where I sought some help from Tilsit. Maybe I was handicapped by the British spelling of tyre. Although this spelling is not new to me, it is not something that is top of mind.

12d Tied sort of worker? (5-6)

The error at 14a caused me lots of trouble here. I figured that the second part was COLLAR, but was looking for a first part with the pattern ?W???. The only thing that seemed like even a remote fit was TWINE-COLLAR as I found a lot of references on the web to twine dog collars. It did seem like it might have a very slim semblance of possibility as twine is used to tie things and dogs are often tied up. Could twine-collar workers be junkyard dogs? Apparently not!!! As mentioned above, I needed help from Tilsit to find the real solution to this clue.

26d Fruit for two, we hear (4)

For a brief moment, I thought "fruit for two" might be DATE. However, the trailing "we hear" pretty much eliminated that possibility.

Signing off for today - Falcon