Wednesday, June 3, 2009 (DT 25842)

This puzzle was originally published Tuesday, February 3, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

This puzzle may be one of the easier ones that has appeared recently (even though that was not the view of James Cary on the Crossword Ends in Violence (5) blog). Although I seemed to get off to a rather slow start, I finished in a very respectable time (for me, at least) and without needing to open my tool chest.

I would like to thank Big Dave, who has posted a solution to the one clue outstanding from last Saturday's Cox and Rathvon puzzle. As is usually the case, once one sees the solution, it becomes so obvious that one feels very sheepish at having missed it. I think I just got too enamoured with my wordplay involving "(Teri) Garr split [GAR^R] scrap in remission [DNE<]" which seemed like such a good fit to some elements of the clue. For the real solution, see Big Dave's comment on Saturday's blog.

New Resources Added

I have added a couple of new resources. In the Tool Chest, there is now a link to the Chambers Word Wizard, a tool for helping solve word puzzles. In the Library, I have provided a link to Big Dave's Little Guide to Cryptic Crosswords, a introduction to solving cryptic crossword puzzles.

Today's Glossary

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

chemist - (Brit.) a pharmacy or drug store

chronic - (Brit.) very bad (thus rubbish)

lam - (slang) to thrash or punch

trundle - to spin (v.tr., defn. 2) : a new meaning for me, and (seemingly) for the Brits as well

U - (Brit.) upper class (thus posh)

Today's Links

1. Crossword Ends in Violence (5) [DT 25842]: CEIV discusses most of the clues in today's puzzle. It seems the folks in London were recovering from a rare major (by British standards) snowfall.

I found only a single question on AnswerBank regarding today's puzzle - and it was withdrawn by the author before anyone had a chance to respond. I guess this proves that the puzzle was easy.

2. AnswerBank [DT 25842]-a: 8ac

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

22ac Sooner notice deception by right (7)

22ac Sooner [EAR|LIE|R] /\ notice [EAR] deception [LIE] by right [R] (7)

Big Dave explains on CEIV why "ear" means "notice". I arrived at the same result but through somewhat different (and undoubtedly flawed) reasoning. I thought "ear" might be "hear" (which I think could credibly mean "notice") pronounced with a English accent (i.e., dropping the "h"). My mother used to delight in recounting an anecdote about an English woman of her acquaintance who, when asked if the increasing size of her family would force the family to move to larger quarters replied, "No, with each child we just h'add a little h'ell to the 'ouse."

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1ac PLANETARIUM - CD

7ac CH(R|ON)IC

8ac RUSTLES - CD

10ac T|AILS

11ac OR(I|GIN)ATE

12ac SIN|CE|RE

14ac TRUND(L)E* - TURNE^D* + (L)abour

15ac R(EM<)AINS

18ac CHE|MIST

20ac PATRONISE* - {POINTS ARE}*

21ac SLEEP<

22ac EAR|LIE|R

23ac NIG|GARD

24ac DI|LAP|I|DATED

Down

1d PO(R)TION

2d AGNES - champ[AGNE S]uddenly

3d ENCLOSE* - {ELSE CON}*

4d AIRLIFT* - {IF TRAIL}*

5d INSTITUTE - DD

6d MAL<|LARD

7d CATASTROPHE* - {A THESP ACTOR}*

9d STEREOTYPED* - {TORY DEEP-SET}*

13d EDITORIAL - CD

16d MAT|U|RED

17d STIRRUP - CD

18d C|LEANED

19d IRELAND* - {ERIN LAD}*

21d SIGHT~ - DD {show = SIGHT; setting = SITE which sounds like (for the audience) SIGHT}

Signing off for today - Falcon