Wednesday, October 7, 2009 (DT 25935)

This puzzle was originally published Friday, May 22, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

It was a rather schizophrenic puzzle today. I got off to a quick start with a number of short entries having easy clues. However, I soon ran into increasingly more difficult clues that took considerable effort to solve. For the first time in ages, I was unable to complete the puzzle without looking at the hints on Big Dave's site.

Today's Glossary

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

monkey - (noun, defn. 2) a mischievous child

RE - abbrev. Royal Engineers: The Corps of Royal Engineers, one of the corps of the British Army

S - (entry 2, defn. 2) abbrev. Saint

tin - (noun, defn. 6) Brit. slang money

Toc H - Talbot House, British charity founded after World War I, "whose initials, in army telephone jargon, give Toc H its distinctive name"

Today's Links

Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25935].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

21a Excellent President not getting in the way of post-war charity (3-5)

While I got the correct solution, I did not comprehend the wordplay. No wonder, "Toc H" (a British charity founded after World War I with a name based on British army telephone jargon) has to be - by far - the most obscure reference that I have ever encountered in a puzzle!!!

22a Mistake admitted by holy English fellow in France? (6)

Before finding the solution to 19d, I suspected that the solution might be MISCUE. However, once I had the solution to 19d (thereby giving me all the checking letters for this clue), the true solution became obvious. The answer is a French man's given name - one that might be said to be rock solid.

2d Darkness descends with the last bit of the puzzle (6)

I solved this clue with the help of Libellule's hint. WordNavigator Crossword Solver failed me by not including EREBUS in its list of words matching the checking letters. I might have solved the clue had I used Chambers Word Wizard, as it does include EREBUS in its results.

19d Monkey in old city - possibly a prominent feature (6)

Despite suspecting that the "old city" might be UR and even considering URCHIN as a possible solution, I (foolishly, as it turns out) rejected it as I was unable to decipher the wordplay. It did not occur to me that monkey could mean "mischievous child".

20d Have a wager on man, 26 (6)

After two consecutive days with false cross-references, we have a real one. In this clue, "26" is a cross-reference to clue 26a. The wordplay is BET (wager) plus RAY (man) and the definition is BETRAY (sell, the solution to 26a).

Signing off for today - Falcon