Introduction
I found today's puzzle to be more difficult than the three stars that Gazza rates it - and it is comforting to see that the Brits are overwhelmingly in agreement with me. Usually, even if I can't solve a clue, I can at least tell what type of clue it is or see some element of the wordplay. There were more than a few clues today that, on first reading, I had not the faintest notion as to what they might be. It took an incredibly long time to solve the first two or three clues, but then things started to roll. I needed my Tool Chest but I did eventually complete the puzzle. I did notice, though, that when I reviewed the clues prior to writing the blog that most of them actually seemed quite straightforward. I guess that is the mark of an excellent cryptic clue - obscure until solved and obvious once solved.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Used in Clues:
china - noun 2 British informal a friend [from rhyming slang china plate ‘mate’]
Nancy - a city in north-eastern France
see2 - noun the place in which a cathedral church stands, identified as the seat of authority of a bishop or archbishop
Used in Solutions:
Ely - a city in Cambridgeshire, England, site of Ely Cathedral and seat of the Diocese of Ely
clotted cream - noun chiefly British thick cream obtained by heating milk slowly and then allowing it to cool while the cream content rises to the top in coagulated lumps
Anita Loos - (1888 – 1981) - an American screenwriter, playwright and author best known for her novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes which was made into a motion picture starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell
prom - noun informal 1 British short for promenade (sense 1 of the noun): she took a short cut along the prom
promenade - noun 1 a paved public walk, typically one along the seafront at a resortwet - adjective 2 British informal
- showing a lack of forcefulness or strength of character; feeble: they thought the cadets were a bit wet
- Conservative with liberal tendencies, especially as regarded by right-wing Conservatives [a word seemingly much used by Margaret Thatcher]
- a person lacking forcefulness or strength of character
- a Conservative with liberal tendencies
Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26267].
I note with interest that two American establishments of higher learning (MIT and West Point) appear in today's puzzle - without raising a peep of protest from across the pond.
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
11a Wrongly put dear deal in dearer terms (5,2)
A bit of a tongue twister, this! The wordplay is easy enough to spot, being an anagram (wrongly) of PUT DEAR giving TRADE UP as the solution. But as for the rest of the clue, "deal in dearer terms", I can but guess at what the setter had in mind. Certainly deal can mean trade and dearer means more expensive. Terms might mean many things, among them "stipulated or agreed requirements", " stated charges", or "a tenancy of a fixed period" (the latter being legal terminology). If we use the latter meaning, then "deal in dearer terms" might relate to trading up to more expensive living quarters. But that is little more than a wild guess.
6d Story about horse carrying European ancestry? (7)
This was actually the second clue that I solved today and I got the solution (LINEAGE) from the definition (ancestry) and one checking letter. I then had to figure out the wordplay. My first thought was that "story" accounts for LINE in the solution as line can mean "a false or exaggerated remark or story" as in "he fed me a line about his connections in Hollywood". When that didn't work out, I had to resort to Plan B in which a "story" is just a LIE.
The clue, like a Russian Babushka doll, is a container within a container with the wordplay being LIE (story) containing (about) {NAG (horse) containing E (European)}.
Signing off for today - Falcon
In 11a I think that terms just means charges (as in the expression "easy terms" to mean a scheme of regular payments which won't be a burden). So I take "deal in dearer terms" to mean take on a larger financial commitment. In the UK "trade up" is used a lot in the housing market (moving from a 3-bedroom to a 4-bedroom house, for example) with, normally, a corresponding rise in mortgage payments.
ReplyDeleteGazza
Gazza, thank you for this explanation which,I must say, makes the meaning appear rather obvious.
ReplyDeleteAs is typical with cryptic clues, things which seem to make absolutely no sense suddenly become blatantly clear once properly explained or understood. I think one can sometimes get an incorrect notion embedded in one's mind which creates a mental block to properly perceiving the correct meaning.
Falcon