Thursday, August 27, 2009 (DT 25903)

This puzzle was originally published Wednesday, April 15, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Today's puzzle proved to be quite an arduous endeavour - what with the obscure medical terminology. In the case of one of these terms, I was unable to find it listed in any of my regular reference sources, although I did eventually find it mentioned in the text of an article on a related substance. As for the second term, the only source that I could find for it (with the meaning used in this puzzle) is in 19th-century versions of Webster's dictionary.

Today's Glossary

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

biccy - Brit. slang an alternative spelling for bickie: a biscuit

care - Brit. protective custody or guardianship provided for children by a local authority (noun, defn. 2)

elaterin - a purgative extracted from elaterium (I found no article on elaterin itself, but it is mentioned in the article on elaterium).

gin - a trap for catching small game (noun, defn. 3)

pneumonic - a medicine for affections of the lungs

Ned Sherrin - English broadcaster, author and stage director

U - abbrev. upper-class (English)

Today's Links

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

• AnswerBank [DT 25903]-a: 10ac, 7d
• AnswerBank [DT 25903]-b: 18ac
• AnswerBank [DT 25903]-c: 20ac, 27ac

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25903].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

4d Present a good book to the first company that's organized (8)

Is the New Testament a book or a collection of books? I guess the answer is whatever suits the setter's purpose.

11d Natant style involving heart massage (12)

In response to Big Dave's comment regarding swimming pools being called natatoriums in America. That is certainly not the case in Canada (I, personally, had never heard of the term before), and I would be surprised if it is generally true in the US. Natatorium strikes me as a rather pretentious term that might be applied to a particularly grandiose facility, perhaps at a major park or university (might a donor not be more willing to fund the construction of a natatorium than a swimming pool). Even where a structure has been given such a name, I would be willing to bet that one would be more likely to hear users say, "Let's go to the pool" rather than "Shall we proceed to the natatorium".

17d Every prophet partook in the unionist academy - "Praise the Lord!" (8)

Although I did find the correct solution to this clue, I needed Big Dave's explanation to comprehend the wordplay. But was Eli a prophet? While it seems he is not a prophet in the eyes of Christians, he apparently is considered a prophet by Jews (see table Prophets in the Hebrew Bible near the end of the article).

25d Catch sight of East Samoa's original little pygmy (4)

I had a slightly different interpretation of this clue than Big Dave. I thought "East Samoa's original" was indicating the initial letters of "East Samoa" (i.e., ES) and that "little pygmy" was indicating part of "pygmy" (i.e., PY).

Post script: Since writing the above, I have altered my view slightly. I would now suggest that "East" gives E, "Samoa's original" gives S, and "little pygmy" gives PY.

Signing off for today - Falcon