Thursday, October 15, 2009 (DT 25942)

This puzzle was originally published Saturday, May 30, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I found this puzzle to be quite difficult (apparently unlike the Brits). I finally completed the NW quadrant after a great deal of effort. I eventually gave up on the SE quadrant with one clue (25a) remaining unsolved - only to discover from Big Dave's hints that I had entered an incorrect solution for 23d which was preventing me from finding the solution to 25a.

A Note on British and North American Usage

In the Today's Glossary feature, I include items that I think would be well-known in the UK but might not be so familiar to many North Americans, as well as any other words or expressions that I think may be especially obscure (of course, there may be instances where I deem an item to be obscure merely due to my own personal ignorance).

With regard to usage in Canada, one tends to encounter a mixture of British and American usage. Canada has always had strong links to Britain and parts of the country were largely populated by immigrants from the UK and in these areas British usage is common. This is especially true of the Atlantic Provinces where I grew up. Other parts of the country had large waves of immigration from other parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe, and the British influence may be somewhat less there. Being situated so close to the United States, and inundated daily by US media, Canadians have adopted American (US) usage to a large degree. There is, no doubt, an ongoing and accelerating shift away from British styles to US styles.

Today, I included the word "mum" in the glossary. This British spelling is quite familiar to me and what I would likely use. However, I note that I more frequently see it written "mom".

Today's Glossary

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

bloomer - Brit. colloq. an idiotic and embarrassing mistake; North American equivalent blooper

Mull - the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, Scotland

mum - Brit. one's mother

bottle - (noun, defn. 4) Brit. nerve

packet - (noun, defn. 4) a large sum of money

packet (boat) - (noun, defn. 3) a mailboat that also carries cargo and passengers, and plies a fixed route

sauce - (noun, defn. 3) colloq. impertinent language or behaviour; cheek (in other words, nerve)

Today's Links

It being a Saturday prize puzzle in the UK, Big Dave's day-of-publication hints may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25942]-hints and Peter Biddlecombe's post-submission-date review at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25942]-review.

Note: There is a fairly obvious typo in Peter's solution for 17a, which should read BITS AND PIECES.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

4a Bit of a bloomer from station workers (6)

I am sure that the surface reading would be lost on most North Americans; "bloomer" is the British equivalent of "blooper" (which I discovered only upon reading Peter's review).

25a Old coat I replaced with articles from abroad (7)

Once I discovered (from Big Dave's hints) my error at 23d, I had little trouble finding the correct solution to this clue.

3d Tried drove, say (5)

In his review, Peter Biddlecombe lists "drove" (meaning "herd") as a verb. However, "drove" (meaning "herd") can also be a noun (and would probably be more commonly encountered as such). Oxford shows it as both a noun and a verb but characterizes the usage as a verb as "historical". Chambers shows it only as a noun.

23d She cried, "New one on order!" (5)

I originally had an incorrect solution for this clue, which I discovered from reading Big Dave's hints.

Sometimes after one has pondered over a puzzle for far too long, one's mind can start playing tricks - which happened to me on this clue. I came up with NONNE (seemingly as an anagram of ONE ON). Only when I began composing my blog did I realize that NONNE has three Ns and one O, while ONE ON has two Ns and two Os. In any event, I was not terribly confident in it as a solution, since it did not seem to utilize all of the elements of the wordplay (and the missing pieces seemed to be too prominent to be merely surface padding - although Peter did point out that there is a fair amount of that in this puzzle). By the way, "nonne" means (or perhaps is an alternative spelling for) "nun", and I believe nuns (or nonnes) may be associated with an order. Also either "new" or "order" (or perhaps "new order") could be an anagram indicator; but ONE ON is obviously the wrong fodder to produce NONNE!

Signing off for today - Falcon