Friday, June 26, 2009 (DT 25859)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, February 23, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I found the puzzle today to be a bit more of a challenge than the one yesterday - but a more satisfying one as it contained a lot of fairly clever wordplay. However, as usually seems to be the case, my opinion seems to run contrary to the Brits. While I was not able to solve today's puzzle especially quickly, I did do so relatively unaided - being down to three or four unsolved clues before digging into my tool chest.

What do Readers Value?

As producing this blog every day requires a not inconsiderable investment of time, I would like to ensure that I am devoting my effort to areas that readers value. Therefore, over the next while, I will be asking for some feedback from readers about which features of the blog they find useful. As you have probably noticed, for the last few days I have not produced a Solution to Today's Puzzle section since Big Dave's site provides a very thorough review of the puzzle. Although Big Dave may provide hints rather than full solutions to some clues, I assume that is sufficient for most people. To support that notion, I point out that I have offered on numerous occasions to provide full explanations to anyone who needs them and I have yet to be asked to do so. So, please take a moment to respond to the survey question that you will find in the sidebar to the right.

Today's Links

I found two questions on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle. They (together with the clues to which they relate) are:

AnswerBank [DT 25xxx]-a: 21ac, 23ac

AnswerBank [DT 25xxx]-b: 6ac

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25859].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11ac Quotation on cost shows outlay required (5,3)

I missed "(Latin) quotation" being a reference to "tag". However, even without using this aspect of the wordplay, there are still two solid elements in the clue, since a "price tag" literally shows the outlay required and a "price tag" figuratively is an estimate ("quotation") of the cost (as in the expression, "Could you put a price tag on that?").

Solution to Today's Puzzle

See the review on Big Dave's site. And don't forget to respond to the survey question.

Signing off for today - Falcon