Tuesday, September 15, 2009 (DT 25919)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, May 4, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Surprise! Surprise! Yesterday, the National Post made a leap forward of over two months. Today the Post jumped right back to where it started from. Thus on Friday, we had DT 25917, on Monday DT 25973, and today DT 25919.

Today's puzzle was of a moderate degree of difficulty. I solved about half the clues unaided and then relied on my puzzle solving tools to help solve the remainder. From Big Dave's review, I discovered that I had an incorrect solution to one clue and I failed to pick up a cricket reference in a second clue.

It seems to be a rather interesting coincidence (given that the puzzles were published over two months apart in the UK) that two answers from yesterday's puzzle also appear in today's puzzle.

Today's Glossary

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

ay - Scots and N. Eng. always (defn. 2)

barmy - Brit. colloq. crazy

lam - Brit. slang to thrash

The Met - The Metropolitan Police Service of Greater London, also known as Scotland Yard

Today's Links

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

Big Dave's somewhat sour review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25919].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

1a They go off in the direction of the theatre (6)

The solution (EXEUNT) appeared in yesterday's puzzle with a different clue.

5d Not a relation of newlyweds (3,5,4)

While I had a pretty good understanding of the setter's intent for this clue, I managed to come up with an incorrect solution. My attempt at a solution was "Old times' tale", based on "tale" being a "relation" (which is correct) and the seemingly flawed rationale that newlyweds would probably not be reminiscing about "old times".

14a Extra spacious (4)

I must admit that I failed to pick up on the cricket reference in this clue.

20a Go barmy in sort of store (12)

I initially surmised that DEPARTMENTAL STORE was Brit-speak. However, neither Chambers nor Oxford list it, while both list "department store". Perhaps the setter invented the term.

15d Girl, say, tender after taking exercise (5)

The solution (BIPED) also appeared in yesterday's puzzle, but with a different clue. Perhaps that explains why I did not have nearly the difficulty with this clue that many of the Brits seem to have experienced.

By the way, I would like to respectfully suggest a slight modification to the explanation provided by Big Dave. To my mind, the word "after" should be moved so that the explanation reads "this word meaning any animal with two feet is derived from BID (tender) around (after taking) PE (Physical Exercise)".

27d Strike supported by a devout Buddhist (4)

In North America, "lam" means to flee (especially from the police) while, in Britain, it means to beat (i.e., strike) someone.

Signing off for today - Falcon