Wednesday, May 6, 2009 (DT 25816)

Originally published Saturday, January 3, 2009 in the Daily Telegraph

Introduction

My approach to solving crossword puzzles is to proceed as far as possible unaided. I then pull out various tools to assist me. These include online dictionaries, thesauri (thesauruses) and reverse dictionaries, as well as anagram finders and other crossword solving tools. As a last resort, I go to blogs such as those listed below.

Today, I was able to solve all but one clue before I resorted to the blogs.

Today's Links

Crossword Ends in Violence (5)

I should have read this blog before writing my own, as it pretty much makes mine redundant.

AnswerBank

As today's puzzle was published in the Telegraph on a Saturday, there was a lot of traffic on AnswerBank relating to it (and the traffic was especially heavy - even for a Saturday). Not only do people presumably have more time to spend on puzzles on the weekend, but the Saturday puzzle apparently offers a prize for its solution.

There's not much to be gained from consulting the AnswerBank archives today, but I include the link for the sake of completeness. As there are so many entries concerning today's puzzle, I have linked to a Google search rather than linking to individual entries. If you do choose to check out some of the AnswerBank entries, the relevent ones are on the first three pages with the titles beginning "DT 25816 ...". You should ignore any entry with "preview" in the URL, as it not only duplicates another entry but it does not display the question that is being answered.

Today's Puzzle

Across

1ac FLYING DOCTOR

9ac RANUL|PH - {of the moon [LUNAR]} {returned (reversed) = [RANUL<]} 10ac C(L)OBBER

11ac TO-D|O

12ac SPODE< - {Manufactured (anagram) PSEUDO}, {not (deleted) classy [-U]}

We have PSEUDO without the U [= PSEDO] and its anagram is [SPODE<] Why, you might wonder, does classy = "U". It refers to U (or Upper Class) English, as opposed to non-U (or Middle Class) English. 13ac S|TO|A - "point" is usually a reference to a point of the compass, in this instance South

16ac CONIFER - {NICE FOR change (anagram)}

17ac DEVOLVE< - {could have (anagram) EVOLVED}

18ac IN A WORD - play on words

21ac CHEKH~|OV - {Reported (sounds like) check [CHEKH~]}, {before (in front of)} {second and third (letters of) mOVes}

23ac NETT - double meaning, as in "net pay" and "net weight" (nett is an alternative spelling of net)

24ac O|F OLD - round [O] the bend [FOLD]

25ac BLOC~ - {Soundly (sounds like) barricade (block)}

28ac SHELL|AC - {Lady will [SHELL (she'll)]}

29ac MANTEAU - {drink [-PORT] taken from (deleted from) travelling-bag [PORTMANTEAU]}

30ac BOARD OF TRADE - play on words

Down

1d FINE|DON

2d YOLK - play on words

3d NO-HOPER - {HOPE RON could arrange (anagram)}

4d DE(CID)ED - CID = Criminal Investigation Department

5d CHOW - double meaning

6d ORBITAL - play on words

7d PROTECTION|IS|M - {Charge [PROTECTION]} IS {Made initially (first letter)}

Charge = PROTECTION in the sense of "under one's charge"

8d CREATE A VACUUM - play on words

14d A|FOOT - double meaning (and a horrible visual pun). This is the only clue I was not able to solve. AFOOT means to be stirring (i.e., moving around) and is also a "leg end" (groan)

15d I|V|IE|D - I {went with (beside)} five [V (roman numeral)], {that is to say [IE]} five hundred [D (roman numeral)]

19d ART DECO - {sweetheART DECOrated on the inside (hidden word)}

20d {DE FAC}<|TO - {FACED puzzle (anagram) [DEFAC<]} {two, say, (sounds like) [TO]} {completed (at the end)}

21d C|ALUMET< - Charlie [C] {placed ...} charm [AMULET] {... exchanging consecutive letters (L and M are consecutive letters in the alphabet) = [ALUMET<]} As this clue does not exactly fit any of my existing categories, I have flagged it as an anagram as it is sort of a constrained anagram. We also see what amounts to a split instruction where the instruction {placed exchanging consecutive letters} straddles the string on which it operates. Usually the string that is operated on either precedes or follows the instruction.

22d H(ELLEN)E

26d BLU|R - {most of BLUe} and {Red to start with (first letter)}

27d I|N|CA - I name [N] state [CA (California)]

And that wraps things up for today.