Tuesday, May 26, 2009 (DT 25832)

This puzzle was originally published Thursday, January 22, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

A comparatively easy puzzle today for which I am awarding myself full marks - and maybe even a bonus mark for ferreting out a couple of pretty obscure Briticisms.

Today's Glossary

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

Beds - Bedfordshire (a county in England)

con - to study (defn. 2)

National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) - former union of railway workers in the UK

roach - a European fish

trebuchet - a medieval catapult

Today's Links

1. Crossword Ends in Violence (5) [DT 25832]: CEIV provides either solutions or strong hints for most clues in the puzzle.

I found only one question on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle.

2. AnswerBank [DT25832]-a: 26ac

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

23ac Harden against rail union in case of incompetence (5)

I got the solution very quickly even though I did not understand the wordplay. I revisited the clue once I had finished the puzzle and, after a great deal of contemplation, the answer finally hit me - just as I was on the verge of giving up.

23ac Harden against [I(NUR)E] /\ rail union [NUR] {in (inside)} {case of (first and last letters of) incompetence [I^E]} (5)

27ac Furious at seeing buccaneer executed (5)

This clue works as long as the unfortunate soul is beheaded. But what if he is made to "walk the plank"?

28ac Beds coach on the track! (8,3)

This is a case where the surface reading would be completely lost on most North Americans. "Beds" is short for Bedfordshire (a county in England) and "Beds coach" would therefore be read in the UK as the coach of a Bedfordshire sports team. Without this knowledge, the clue has no surface meaning and therefore just sounds rather bizarre.

22d Tree about which 007 spoke endlessly? (6)

I parse this as:

22d Tree [BON_SAI_] about which 007 [James BONd] spoke [SAId] {endlessly (delete last letter)} {? (cryptic definition indicator)}

Although this clue is very close to being a "regular" cryptic clue, the "?" would indicate that it is an "irregular" clue (i.e., cryptic definition). Therefore, I have not attempted to split it into two equal parts as I would do for a "regular" clue.

Here, "endlessly" seems to apply to both "BOND" and "SAID". I'm not sure that this would be permitted in a "regular" clue; however, it may be permitted here because the clue is phrased as a cryptic definition.

25d Headgear regularly taken in a trip abroad (5)

Here "regularly taken" is an indicator meaning "take the even numbered letters" in the phrase "a TrIp AbRoAd".

Solution to Today's Puzzle

As solutions for most of the clues are either posted on one of the links above or can easily be deciphered from the hints found there, I will provide solutions only for the clues not covered by either of these sites or those that I feel may be especially difficult. As always, feel free to request an explanation for any clue in the puzzle that you do not understand.

16ac POUND|AG|E - there is a fairly obvious typo in the solution provided at CEIV

4d stamP ON CHOrister

7d CHATEAUBRIAND* - A HINDU CABARET

9d ANNIVERSARIES* - IRANIANS SERVE

15d S(C)ROUNGE*

That wraps up today's post.