Friday, August 28, 2009 (DT 25904)

This puzzle was originally published Thursday, April 16, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

After quite a difficult puzzle yesterday, we get a bit of a reprieve today. I quite enjoyed this puzzle, perhaps because I was actually able to complete it without having to open my Tool Chest. Of course, I did take note of a couple of words to look up later in the dictionary.

Today's Glossary

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

cut-glass - upper class, refined (entry 2, adj.)

plight one's troth - to pledge oneself in marriage

prop - rugby the player at either end of the front row of the scrum (noun, defn. 3)

rum - Brit. colloq. odd (entry 2)

short - Brit. informal a strong alcoholic drink, especially spirits, served in small measures (noun, defn. 1) [In North America, this would be called a "shot"].

Today's Links

I found no questions on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle.

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25904].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

19ac Sword swallowing girl initially had such an accent (8)

As I was solving the puzzle, I presumed that the design in a piece of cut glass might be considered an accent. Only later, when I looked up the word in the dictionary, did I stumble across the upper class accent meaning.

The solution, according to the numeration in the clue, is CUTGLASS. However, all the dictionaries that I consulted showed the spelling as either "cut glass" or "cut-glass", with none showing it as a single word. Only one dictionary listed the "upper class accent" definition and it specified that the spelling for this meaning is "cut-glass".

20d Time short after worker has a fit (7)

Despite getting the correct solution, I could not figure out how "short" translates to "rum" (at least not until Gazza explained it). Shame on me - I am certain that I recall this definition having appeared in a puzzle not very long ago.

There seemed to be lots of opportunity to attempt wrong approaches in this clue. For a while, I thought maybe "fit" indicated "trim" (which also satisfies the checking letters). I also considered that perhaps "fit" was an anagram indicator. Even after finding the correct solution, deciphering the wordplay was tricky. Which of the two "Ts" stood for "time"? Was "ant" the "worker" or was "tan" representing "worker has a fit"?

Signing off for today - Falcon