Monday, September 7, 2009 (DT 25913)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, April 27, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I found it to be yet another quite difficult puzzle today - with the upper right-hand corner being especially troublesome. It took me nearly the whole afternoon using every puzzle solving aid at my disposal to complete this puzzle. I nearly capitulated with one clue remaining, but with one final effort I somehow managed to come up with Cresta - more through intuition than anything else.

Today's Glossary

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

Cresta - skeleton sled run at St. Moritz, Switzerland

gin - a trap (defn. 3)

Open Game - a chess opening, also known as a Double King Pawn Game

streamer - judging by Tilsit's comments on Big Dave's blog, a British term for a bad cold (although I was unable to find it in any reference source)

tiddly - Brit. slightly drunk

tiddly - Brit. tiny

Today's Links

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

AnswerBank [DT 25913]-a: 1a, 5d

Tilsit's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25913].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

10a Obtain promotion to board (3,2)

Having missed the public transit aspect of the clue, I was focused on promotion to a company board. I was torn between "get on" as in "serve on a board" and "get in" as in "join an elite circle".

23a Big run on a famous Swiss bank (6)

Not being a habitué of St. Moritz, I must admit that I am not familiar with the Cresta Run skeleton sled track. It does seem that using "Swiss bank" to signify the Alps is stretching credibility to the limit.

1d It's not right for in-law to embrace divorcee (7)

To solve this clue, one must separate the hyphenated word "in-law" into two separate words (in and law) and then replace the second by a synonym (act). I know that the rule is to generally ignore punctuation marks in the clue, but this is the first time I can recall having to apply that rule to hyphens in the middle of words.

2d Angry as a rodent that is trapped (5)

The construction of this clue is similar to 7d in DT 25912 (published in the National Post this Friday past):

[DT 25912]-7d Show preference for Bible quartet included (6)

In each case, the wordplay takes the form "A B contained" and in each case A is contained in B, rather than the other way around.

14d They may make people cold drinks (8)

I was initially puzzled by Tilsit's hint for draught as "an old word for a potion", in that I had assumed that he was using "potion" as a whimsical way to describe beer, for which draught is far from being an "old term" (both here and in the UK). Further research turned up the fact that draught (noun, defn. 3) is an archaic term for "a quantity of a liquid with medicinal properties" (some of us would like to believe that beer fits this definition!).

17d Yet it's not used for shooting the rapids (5,3)

In a similar vein to Big Dave, I interpreted the "spray" reference in SPRAY GUN to refer to the spray created by rushing water splashing off the rocks and as well as the kayak or canoe attempting to navigate them.

By the way, my first attempt at a solution was RADAR GUN, although I guess it was a poor match to the wordplay in that it is used for shooting the "rapids" (i.e., fast-moving vehicles).

Signing off for today - Falcon