Thursday, July 2, 2009 (DT 25863)

This puzzle was originally published Friday, February 27, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

The National Post, which did not publish on Canada Day, has skipped the puzzle that otherwise would have appeared yesterday.

I found today's puzzle to be moderately difficult. I would have been finished in much less time if I hadn't got distracted into a review of my first year university physics studies. I was able to solve all the clues but the wordplay on two or three clues eluded me - at least in part (although some of this is attributable to carelessness on my part).

A Note on the National Post Summer Publication Schedule

I recently received a query (forwarded to me by Big Dave) from a Canadian reader who was confused at not finding the solution to last Friday's puzzle in Tuesday's National Post. In case there are others with similar questions, here is the situation as I understand it (by the way, please note that neither I nor this blog have any direct association with the National Post).

The National Post has informed its readers that it will not publish a printed edition on Monday commencing with the June 29th edition and continuing through the Labour Day weekend (September 7). However, the Post does still publish a digital edition of the Monday paper that is available online at http://digital.nationalpost.com/epaper/viewer.aspx. Those who subscribe to the print edition have free access to the digital edition. In addition, there is a 21-day free trial available to anyone who is not a subscriber to the print edition.

This week, the Monday Cryptic Crossword and the solution to the Friday puzzle were published in both the Saturday and the Monday editions of the National Post. In the Saturday edition (both the digital edition and the print edition distributed in Ottawa), they appeared on page S8 (back of the Sports Section). This was in addition to the Saturday Cox and Rathvon Cryptic Crossword which appeared on page WP18 in the digital edition and on page WP14 in the Ottawa print edition. Note that the page numbering often varies among the various regional editions of the National Post - I believe that the digital edition is most likely the Toronto regional edition. The Monday puzzle and the solution to the Friday puzzle also appeared in the Monday digital edition on page AL3.

The syndicated Daily Telegraph Cryptic Crossword puzzles appear in the National Post approximately four months after they are published in the UK. I say approximately four months because the Daily Telegraph publishes six puzzles per week while the National Post publishes only five puzzles per week. Therefore, the interval between publication dates lengthens over time. Every so often, the Post skips ahead several puzzles to get itself back in sync.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

disco - a party with dancing to recorded music (noun defn. 2)

heeltap - a small quantity of alcohol or liquor left in a glass after drinking (noun, defn. 2)

maiden (over) - cricket an over (a division of play) from which no runs are scored

The Potteries Urban Area - a conurbation in the West Midlands region of England

racialism - Chiefly Brit. racism

splash - informal a prominent news feature or story (noun, defn. 5)

Today's Links

I found only a single question on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle. It (together with the clue to which it relates) is:

AnswerBank [DT 25863]-a: 14d

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25863].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

10ac Air is calm - this old-fashioned prejudice has been destroyed (9)

I struggled mightily with this clue - and I felt somewhat relieved when I saw that the Brits were also perplexed by it. I was disappointed, though, that after Gazza raised the point on Big Dave's blog, it seems to have been left hanging. I have done my best to find an explanation and would certainly be most interested to see what others think.

It is clear that the solution is an anagram of AIR IS CALM. But what is the anagram indicator? As Big Dave's blog asks - is it "fashioned" or "has been destroyed" or is it perhaps "old-fashioned"; or, as Big Dave suggests is the case in 3d, are there multiple anagram indicators?

In North America, I would expect to see the term "racism" rather than RACIALISM. Some sources that I consulted indicated that "racialism" is primarily a British usage. When I examined this clue, I supposed that "old-fashioned prejudice" might possibly have been used by the setter to indicate that "racialism" is an archaic term (that supposedly has been supplanted in general usage by the word "racism").

Should the above presumption happen to be correct, then the anagram indicator must be "has been destroyed". But what is this anagram indicator acting on? Let's consider two cases:

Case 1: The anagram indicator is acting on AIR IS CALM. If so, as Gazza says on Big Dave's Blog, "it’s too far away from the source of the anagram".

Case 2: The anagram indicator is acting on RACIALISM (which has been substituted for "this old-fashioned prejudice"). That is, if you perform the anagram operation on the solution (i.e., destroy RACIALISM), you get AIR IS CALM.

For this to be the case, the only explanation that I see might be plausible is if we consider this to be a cryptic definition (as opposed to a regular type of cryptic clue). The solution is then given by the phrase "this old-fashioned prejudice" which occurs in the middle of the clue (and I am assuming that this may be permissible in a cryptic definition). The clue is structured in the form of a pseudo-definition where "Air is calm" is described as being the result of "destroying (anagram indicator) RACIALISM".

In some regards, this seems a little bit like 7d, where the solution (CARBON CAPTURE) describes a process that when executed on (or by) one part of the clue (i.e., RAY) produces another part of the clue (i.e., RACY). However, in 10ac, it seems we have almost the reverse situation, where one part of the clue (i.e., "has been destroyed") operates on the solution (i.e., RACIALISM) to produce another part of the clue (i.e., "air is calm").

I know this explanation may well prove to be far fetched. However, I toss it out as a strawman to hopefully elicit feedback.

11ac Belief giving trouble to Oxbridge graduate? (5)

As much as I hate to admit it, despite having found the correct solution, I missed the wordplay involving "trouble". You might say that I was dogged, once again, by my proclivity to look for complicated solutions where I should be seeking simple ones.

17ac The man coming in about work in a despicable manner (7)

Again, despite having obtained the correct solution, a bit of laxness on my part resulted in a misunderstanding of the wordplay - and created a time-consuming digression into the basic principles of mechanics.

My experience with this clue may be a good object lesson of what can happen when one isn't careful. Early on, I had surmised that the solution probably ended in LY which I penciled in. Returning to the clue later on, I got it into my head that the rest of the solution might be CHEAP which I saw as CHAP (man) about E. However, I carelessly failed to think about how the two pieces (CHEAP and LY) fit together to form the overall solution. The only explanation that I could come up with for the E was that the setter must have been assuming that work means energy and the abbreviation for energy is E. A bit of investigation confirmed my recollection from first year physics that while work may equal energy under certain specific conditions, it is not generally true (sort of like the statement, "In Britain (or Canada), people walk around naked."). After all this, I discovered from Big Dave that I was totally out in left field on the wordplay. Hopefully, lesson learned!

18ac Beast tucking into food somewhere in the Midlands (9)

This containship-type clue cleverly misleads the reader into thinking that "tucking in" is being used in the sense of "eating". However, it is really used in the sense of "tucking into bed", which completely reverses the container-contents relationship.

1d Party maiden favouring brief time for tenderness? (10)

I included "Disco" in Today's Glossary as this meaning ("party") is one with which I am personally unfamiliar. Perhaps this is more of a British usage or maybe I am just in the wrong generation. I think of it as meaning either a discotheque or a genre of music.

3d Various treats scattered around home - this one a present? (5,3)

There is some question on Big Dave's blog about the anagram indicator in this clue - is it various or scattered or both? My first reaction was that the word "various" seemed to be superfluous.

7d Sort of environmental activity that makes Ray racy! (6,7)

Another instance where I got the correct solution without understanding the wordplay. This is a clue that I find somewhat difficult to clearly categorize, but I lean toward calling it a cryptic definition. In this clue, "sort of environmental activity" is CARBON CAPTURE (while seemingly an unfamiliar term to the Brits, this has been a hot topic lately in both the U.S. and Canada). The chemical symbol for carbon is C so the clue suggests that "carbon capture makes ray racy" or, in other words, "ray" capturing "c" makes "racy".

Survey Terminated

For the last little while I have been running a survey of readers to gauge reaction to my decision to stop providing a full solution to the DT puzzles on this blog. My rationale for this decision was that the review provided on Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog would likely satisfy the needs of most - if not all - readers. Not only did the survey elicit no response, but starting with today's puzzle, Big Dave has begun providing a full solution to the puzzle on his site. This is over and above the hints and partial explanations which has been his practice up to now. This clearly obviates any reason for me to provide a solution here. I am therefore terminating the survey.

This sort of situation arises since I try not to read ahead on Big Dave's blog, preferring to read the blog as the puzzles are published here. I am sure it may sometimes seem a bit bizarre to the folks in the UK, as I make reference to circumstances that are four months in the past from their perspective. It is rather like my wife's addiction to Coronation Street - where the episodes are broadcast in Canada months (if not a whole season) behind the UK.

I offer kudos to Big Dave and his colleagues for an excellent and ever improving website.

Signing off for today - Falcon