Wednesday, May 27, 2009 (DT 25833)

This puzzle was originally published Friday, January 23, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

At first, this puzzle seemed fairly easy and I was able to quickly solve about three quarters of the clues. However, the remainding clues were quite another matter. In the end, I had correct solutions for all clues but, in three cases, I had only a partial understanding of the wordplay - for which I penalize myself a minus-1.5.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar words and expressions used in today's puzzle

• European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) - European research establishment (the citation explains why the acronym does not match the current name)

• postal order - a (postal) money order (North Americans might prefix the qualifier "postal" or "Post Office" to differentiate it from a bank money order)

• rabbit - (Brit.) chatter (verb, defn. 2)

• U - British film classification category designating films fit "for all to see"
  

Today's Links

1. Crossword Ends in Violence (5) [DT 25833]: CEIV, as usual, provides lots of hints and a fair number of solutions (or near solutions).

I found only one question on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle - which may indicate that the Brits found this puzzle very easy.

2. AnswerBank [DT25833]-a: 20ac, 24ac, 19d, 17d

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

21ac The PM, very good and always completely sober (4)

I know Pitt was a British prime minister (or two) and I picked up on "completely sober" being a reference to teetotal (TT), but the rest of the wordplay was a mystery. According to Big Dave on CEIV, "pi" means "very good", although I have been totally unsuccessful in my efforts to find any other source to confirm this assertion.

23ac "Leadership good for all to see" - one given to spin? (8)

Again, I arrived at the right solution without fully understanding the wordplay - missing the reference to the British film classification categories (that totally differ from those with which we are familiar in North America).

7d See detective hustle about (6)

I assume that I understand the wordplay here. However, I do wonder about the "legitimacy" of this clue. The word "see" seems to be thrown in merely to enhance the surface reading and does not appear to otherwise play a role in the wordplay. I know British setters sometimes throw in extra words solely for this purpose. However, I didn't think it was considered proper form to do so as the first or last word in the clue. I would not have an objection to a clue with a slightly different construction, such as: "Detective seen to hustle about (6)"

14d Time when, in short, pest could be destroyed (9)

This was the third clue for which I found the correct solution without completely understanding the wordplay. I missed the point that "in short" was an indication to abbreviate the solution. This is, in reality, a cryptic definition - one that is not flagged as such by a "?".

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Across

1ac ASSES|S

4ac S|MOCKS

8ac WELL-BRED

10ac RING|ER

11ac philosopher[S TO A]thens

12ac DIS|SID|ENTS

13ac P|RESERVATION

16ac {POSTAL ORDERS}* - LSD OPERATORS

20ac FED|ER|A|LIST

21ac PI|TT

22ac RA(BB|I)T

23ac G|U|I|DANCE

24ac

25ac CE|REAL

Down

1d A|BETTORS or A|BETTERS

2d SALS|A

3d STRIDER* - STIRRED

5d MAR(TIN)I

6d CON|CERN|ED

7d SLEUTH* - HUSTLE

9d DIS|PA|RAGING

14d SEPTEMBER - cryptic definition

15d PROTO|COL

17d S|MARTEN

18d OUT|LINE

19d V(EG)ANS

21d PEACE~ - sounds like "piece"

And that seems like a good note on which to conclude this post.