Wednesday, January 5, 2011 (DT 26362)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26362
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, October 4, 2010
Setter Rufus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26362]
Big Dave's Review Written By Libellule
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - **	Enjoyment - ***
Falcon's Performance ***** (-)
Notes The National Post has skipped DT 26361 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, October 2, 2010

Introduction

The fact that Libellule gives this puzzle only 2 stars for difficulty undoubtedly explains why my Tool Chest sat idle today. Perhaps that was a mistake as the word that I 'invented' for 27a turned out to be misspelled - so I've given myself a minus (-).

However, I would give the puzzle an extra star for enjoyment. I thought Rufus - known as a master of the cryptic definition - was at the top of his form today. I especially got a kick out of 9a - as did many of the Brits, it seems.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues:

tar² - noun informal, dated a sailor.

Appearing in Solutions:

AB² - abbreviation [1^st entry] able seaman, noun a rank of sailor in the Royal Navy above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

char³ - (also cha or chai) noun British informal tea.

I was familiar with the two variants, but the main entry is new to me.

foetal - [American Heritage Dictionary] adjective Chiefly British variant of fetal.

p - abbreviation [4^th entry] Music piano (softly [or quietly]).

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

Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1973 for a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

9a   Look-out, it may have a high tar content (5,4)

The solution is CROWS NEST, "a shelter or platform fixed at the masthead of a vessel as a place for a lookout to stand" (Oxford Dictionaries Online). The 'content' of the crow's nest would be a sailor (tar) who - by virtue of the location of the crow's nest - would be high above the vessel's deck.

I note that both Oxford Dictionaries Online and Search Chambers show lookout as being spelled without a hyphen (unlike the clue), while the former spells the solution as crow's-nest (with a hyphen) and the latter as crow's nest (without a hyphen). The numeration in the clue does not show the apostrophe - which, if it were shown, would make the numeration (4'1,4). I seem to recall having seen clues where the numeration displayed the apostrophes, but lately I have encountered a number of clues where it wasn't shown. Perhaps this is a case of various publications having differing practices in this regard.

27a   Sailor navigating yacht, say, or coming down rope (9)

Here, I supposed that "say" was intended to indicate that a "yacht" is but one type of vessel the sailor might be navigating. Instead of that, it is a homophone (sounds like) indicator.

The definition is "coming down rope" for which the solution is ABSEILING (not absailing, which is the 'word' that I concocted from the wordplay). The wordplay is AB (sailor; able seaman) + SEILING {sounds like (say) SAILING (navigating)}.

20d   Pasta cooked the country way - to sink in the middle (7)

It would appear that British dictionaries (Chambers, Collins, Oxford) give lasagne as the primary spelling and lasagna as the variant, while American dictionaries (American Heritage Dictionary, Encarta, Merriam-Webster, Random House) seem to do the reverse. Since, according to Search Chambers, "lasagne is the plural form and lasagna is the singular", would this indicate that the Brits tend to eat more or larger portions of this dish than do North Americans?

22a   Love food! (5)

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.

- William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 1)

28a   Too mindful of others to create wanton desecration (11)

Initially, I was troubled by the word "too" as it does not seem to belong in the definition. "Mindful of others" would be a fitting definition of CONSIDERATE, but not (in my view) "too mindful of others". I eventually concluded that the clue could be intended as a semi & lit. where the entire clue serves as the definition (which does work for me).

24a   Girl from the U.S. taking the morning off (5)

On Monday, we saw a clue producing the same solution:

• [DT 26359] 7d    Country girl is after a male (7)

which Big Dave illustrated with a picture of Erica Roe who, in 1982, took more than the morning off. In case you happened to miss it, you can catch it at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26359].

Signing off for today - Falcon