Tuesday, August 18, 2009 (DT 25896)

This puzzle was originally published Tuesday, April 7, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I'm afraid that I got clobbered (in a different sense) by this puzzle which I was unable to finish. Big Dave would surely attribute my downfall to not being on the same wavelength as the setter.

Today's Glossary

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

clobber - Brit. slang clothing (entry 2)

home counties - the counties in the South East of England, surrounding London

Today's Links

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

• AnswerBank [DT 25896]-a: 14d, 19d, 23d, 27d

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25896].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

10ac Radio operator's set in ship (6)

Like Gazza, I got the answer without understanding the wordplay - but, unlike him, I never did figure out the wordplay.

15ac Comprehensive classes getting large (7)

My lack of biology training is clearly evident on this clue which I failed to solve.

21ac Clobber and sets about the man (7)

Gazza points out that "sets" appears again - and once again it does me in. The British slang also was a major contributor to my failure here.

3d Peddled grass, keeping back (8)

Another case where I got the correct solution without understanding the wordplay.

4d Opening Sabbath set (4)

This time "set" did not defeat me. However, I had a bit of a different interpretation on the wordplay than did Gazza - not surprising since, in the words of Big Dave's blog, set "has so many meanings and nuances that you can make it mean virtually anything". I thought of both "set" and "lot"as meaning a collection of (usually) similar items (e.g., "lot" as used at an auction).

14d State one's in displaying sanity (7)

Another clue that I failed to solve.

19d Poured out evidence admitting hypocrisy (8)

Yet another clue that I failed to solve.

23d She may give you a good hand! (6)

The use of "she" threw me off and even after getting the solution, I continued to have serious doubts about its correctness.

Signing off for today - Falcon