Friday, May 22, 2009 (DT 25830)

This puzzle was originally published Tuesday, January 20, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph.

Introduction

The National Post played catch-up today, skipping a number of puzzles. This happens from time to time, presumably due to the fact that the publication frequency of five puzzles per week in the Post does not match that of The Daily Telegraph which is six puzzles per week. Therefore, the length of the interval between publication dates gradually increases over time. The Post occasionally shortens the length of this interval by omitting a number of puzzles.

Although today's puzzle did not seem unduly difficult, I am scoring myself a minus-3 as I missed the solution to two clues entirely (a minus-1 each) and I did not fully comprehend the wordplay for two other clues (minus-0.5 each).

An Extention to the Notation

Today, I am introduction another extention to the notation that I use for parsing clues and displaying solutions. I will use an underscore "_" to indicate deleted letters - a single deleted letter by a single underscore "_ " and multiple deleted letters by a pair of underscores separated by an ellipsis "_..._".

Briticisms and Other Rum Words and Expressions

The following possibly unfamiliar terms appear in today's puzzle:

rum - strange

skate - a current collector on an electric railway train that collects its current from a third rail

the old - ye

titch - a small person

up - at college

stitch up - to incriminate by manufacturing evidence

The Rivals - a play by Richard Sheridan

War On Want - British charity

en clair - in ordinary language

pensione - (Italian) boarding house

Today's Links

1. Crossword Ends in Violence (5) [DT 25830]: CEIV provides hints to most of the clues and solutions for a few.

I found six questions on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle:

2. AnswerBank [DT 25830]-a: 4ac

3. AnswerBank [DT 25830]-b: 14d, 21d

4. AnswerBank [DT 25830]-c: 9ac

5. AnswerBank [DT 25830]-d: 11ac

6. AnswerBank [DT 25830]-e: 1ac

7. AnswerBank [DT 25830]-f: 3d

Today's Puzzle

A new twist on a hidden word clue

8d Carpenter's record (5)

It seems to me that this is a hidden word clue with no hidden word indicator - a type of clue that I don't recall having encountered before today. The hidden word indication in this clue must be implicit. Usually, there is an explicit hidden word indicator, such as "Carpenter holds record". I would certainly welcome comments on this point from solvers who are more experienced than I.

Clues that gave me trouble

1. 1ac Society girl, a current collector (5)

I made a valiant - if flawed - stab at this clue. To start with, I split the clue at the wrong point - after society. My parsing for the right hand side of the clue was as follows:

girl [SU^E], {A current [V] collector (inclusion indicator)}

giving the result SU(AV)E.

Not surprisingly, there are major issues with this solution, not the least being the weak to non-existent rationale for "suave" equating to "society". Moreover, I certainly recognize the flagrant error in electrical terminology ("V" being the symbol for voltage and "I" being the symbol for current). However, I also recall "V" being used in a recent puzzle as a substitute for "current" and I, therefore, justified my solution as a case of the setter making the same mistake twice (after all, they may not be electrical engineers!).

2. 13ac Make a formal complaint about most of red wine (6)

I did get the right solution but not the correct wordplay.

I was trying to parse the clue along these lines:

Make a formal complaint [RE|XXXX] /\about [RE] {most of (delete last letter) red wine [XXXXY]}

In the end, the only viable solution seemed to be REPORT but I still missed the wordplay (which I am kicking myself for, since it is so evident once I see it explained in the linked blogs).

3. 16d Quick to pass the buck? (9)

Yet another clue for which I got the correct solution but not the wordplay (I didn't recognize that this clue contained an anagram).

4. 21d Leader in Premiership, a cut above the others? (7)

Another solution I missed. In fact, I am still not sure if I fully comprehend the wordplay involved in the first part of the clue, "Leader in Premiership". This is one of those cases where I have a strong suspicion that there is some nuance in the clue that I have overlooked.

AnswerBank indicates that the answer is TOPSIDE (CEIV does not provide a solution for this clue). Perhaps the first part of the clue pertains to "the highest position of authority" which is one of several meanings that I found for topside. The second part of the clue would certainly fit another meaning, "a lean cut of beef from the thigh containing no bone". There is also a third meaning, "the surface of a ship's hull above the water line" and I have to wonder if this is somehow related to the Premiership reference or am I trying to overanalyze the clue?

My solution was actually TOPLINE, meaning "so important as to be named at or near the top of a newspaper item, advertisement, or the like" or "of the highest reputation, importance, etc.". I have to concede that topside does appear to be the better solution. Moreover, topside can be a noun (which the clue seems to call for) and topline is an adjective.

The Solution

As CEIV merely gives hints for many of the clues today, I am providing a complete list of solutions with few explanations. If anyone would like a solution explained, please leave a comment and I would be pleased to oblige.

Across

1ac S|KATE

4ac CO|L|LEAGUE

9ac AGIN|COURT

10ac EX|ACT

11ac _..._E|YE|BALL

12ac RO_E (DEE)R

13ac RE_|PORT

15ac _..._S|TITCH| UP

18ac MIN(I)STER

20ac STAT_|US

23ac S(TIP)END

24ac I(M)PEACH

26ac RA(N)GE

27ac {THE RIVALS}*

28ac W|{AR ON WANT}* - resort means sort again

29ac ENSUE* - anagram of UNSEE_

Down

1d SNARE D|RUM

2d A|RISE

3d E(N) CLAIR

4d COUPLE

5d L|ITERATE

6d _EVEREST

7d GRAPES|HOT

8d ENTER

14d PENSIONE|R

16d POSTHASTE*

17d VEND|ETTA*

19d S(HE|B)EEN

21d TOPSIDE

22d DIGEST

23d SHREW_

25d A|M|AS|S

That's all for today.