Thursday, June 18, 2009 (DT 25853)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, February 16, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I found it to be quite a difficult puzzle today - with lots of opportunities to go off on wild goose chases in search of solutions. With two clues remaining unsolved, I paid a visit to AnswerBank. Although I discovered through that visit that I had incorrect solutions for a couple of clues, it still did not help in finding a solution to the final two clues. I finally threw in the towel and sought out the solution at Big Dave's site.

Today's Glossary

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

Arethusa - a wood nymph

Cerberus - a three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades

Offa of Mercia - 8th century King of Mercia (an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of central England) who built a dyke along the border between his kingdom and Wales

Oder - a river of Central Europe

on one's uppers - reduced to poverty

scarlet woman - a prostitute; many scholars interpret its usage in Revelation 17 as a metaphor for pagan Rome

tag - a trite or common quotation (noun, defn. 5)

Today's Links

I found seven questions on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle. They (together with the clues to which they relate) are:

AnswerBank [DT 25853]-a: 3d

AnswerBank [DT 25853]-b: 15ac

AnswerBank [DT 25853]-c: 21ac, 2d

AnswerBank [DT 25853]-d: 8d

AnswerBank [DT 25853]-e: 6d

AnswerBank [DT 25853]-f: 5d

AnswerBank [DT 25853]-g: 1ac, 11ac

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25853].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

Here are the clues that gave me particular grief today.

1ac By no means on one's uppers (8)

The setter initially fooled me with this clue. I interpreted the phrase "by no means" is an indication of negation, so "by no means on one's uppers" would mean "by no means poor" or, in other words, "well to do". Based on that (later to be found faulty) rationale, I had settled on BANKABLE as the solution. After having found the correct solution to 5d on AnswerBank, I was then able to determine that the solution is actually BANKRUPT. I believe the setter is using "by" in the sense of "due to" and the phrase "by no means" therefore has the sense of "due to no means (of support)".

5d They are able to identify trite Latin quotations (4)

The meaning of TAGS as used in this clue is totally new to me. I originally considered that trite quotations might be SAWS, but - misled by my incorrect solution to 1ac - the only possibility that I could come up with was EARS - my thinking based on the use of "ear" to denote a sense of judgment or discrimination and "Latin" being a possible link to the famous Marc Antony speech ("Friends, Romans, countrymen ...").

18ac Who ditched England and Wales of all football clubs? (4)

Even knowing that the solution had the pattern O_FA did not help, as my knowledge of 8th century British history is admittedly weak. I did understand the reference to the Football Association (FA). However, I spent a lot of time looking for some governing body (other than UEFA or FIFA) that would fit. I even went down one rathole thinking that the O might relate to the Olympics and the clue be in reference to Great Britain's absence from Olympic football (soccer) competition.

I wonder if the setter has taken some liberty here in equating Offa's Dyke to a ditch. Although "dyke" can apparently mean either "embankment" or "ditch", from the picture that I saw, Offa's Dyke looked more like the former than the latter.

4d Makes a pretence a reality (6)

I missed this one entirely, although I did spend a great deal of time trying to contrive a justification for UTERUS being the solution. Even after discovering from Big Dave's review that the solution is USURPS, I had to think long and hard about the wordplay. I finally concluded that the clue must relate to the situation of a pretender to the throne usurping authority by overthrowing a monarch and thereby turning his pretence of being the rightful holder of power into reality.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1ac BANKRUPT

9ac ARETH*|USA - HEART* + USA

10ac MEN|U

11ac CO-RESPONDENT - CD

13ac CARL|ISLE

15ac EL|BOWS

16ac PE|RU

17ac COUNT - DD

18ac OF|FA

20ac RENDER

21ac PAMPHLET - CD

23ac SCARLET WOMAN

26ac O|OPS

27ac T(RAN)QUIL* - Q^UILT* + (RAN)

28ac LITERATE* - {A LETTER I}*

Down

2d ACER(BA)TE* - CREA^TE* + (BA)

3d KNUCKLE UN|DER

4d USURPS - CD

5d TAGS - DD

6d REDO<|LENT

7d RULE - DD

8d MANTISSA - CD

12d DEBT OF HONOUR - CD

14d E|QUIP

16d PARASITE* - {PARTIES A}*

17d CERBERUS - CD

19d FLESHPOT* - {TOP SHELF}*

22d MOMENT - DD

24d A|DAM

25d WELL - DD

Signing off for today - Falcon