Friday, November 6, 2009 (DT 25979)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, July 13, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I had not been at this puzzle for too long before I developed a very strong suspicion that it was not the expected Saturday prize puzzle- it being far too difficult. As it turned out, my intuition was correct. The National Post has skipped over puzzle DT 25978 published in the UK on Saturday, July 11, 2009. Judging by the quality of the typical "Saturday" puzzle, we have not suffered much from the omission.

I found today's puzzle to be extremely difficult, becoming totally bogged down with most of the vertical strip constituting the right-hand third of the puzzle unsolved. I was forced to peek at Big Dave's blog to get a couple of hints to jump start my efforts. However, once I had solutions for those two clues (9a and 11a), the remainder of the puzzle seemed to quickly fall into place.

Today's Glossary

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

bung - (Collins English Dictionary, entry 2, defn. 1) Brit. a tip

char - Brit. tea

clothes-peg - Brit. a clothespin

con - (entry 2, defn. 1) to study

favour - (noun, defn. 4) a knot of ribbons worn as a badge of support for a particular team, political party, etc.

John Ireland - English composer

dinner suit - a tuxedo

River Tees - a river in Northern England

Trinity College - any of more than forty educational institutions by this name around the world. The setter may well have intended either the one at Oxford or the one at Cambridge, or possibly even the well-known one in Dublin, Ireland. Here in Canada, the one at the University of Toronto might spring to mind.

Today's Links

Tilsit's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25979].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

9a A symptom of fever like a hot head (4)

The only thing that came to mind was ague, but I believe that fever is a symptom of ague, rather than vice versa. Having the wrong solution to 8d also hampered me in finding a solution here. I eventually found the correct solution with the help of Tilsit's hints.

11a A cleaner cup is needed to hold it (4)

Again the wrong solution at 8d caused me problems here, not to mention having no idea that in Britain char is a term for tea. But then, the Brits probably have as many words for tea as the Inuit reputedly have for snow. This was another clue that I solved using Tilsit's hints.

6d College threesome (7)

Tilsit states that a trinity is "a colleague at a variety of British and Irish universities". This sent me off on a fruitless search through a number of dictionaries, until I belatedly realized that this is probably a typo and he meant to say that Trinity "is a college at a variety of British and Irish universities", not to mention around the world (see Today's Glossary).

7d Minimum investment for patrons of the pools (7,4)

I had suspected that the setter might be trying to mislead us into focusing on the betting pools when we should be looking at the swimming pools. The answer seemed obvious once I had solutions for 9a and 11a.

I was able to solve this clue without knowing that investment "is shown in Chambers as an archaic definition of clothes" (as Tilsit points out). I just supposed the meaning was that, at a minimum, someone would need to spend money on a bathing suit before visiting a swimming pool. Although, I suppose if one is a nudist the ante is reduced to a birthday suit.

8d Poor little creature (6,5)

I figured that the solution might end in either mouse or louse. My mistake was choosing MICKEY MOUSE. At least in North America, something that is cheap or slipshod (i.e, poor) is termed Mickey Mouse (e.g., "Reattaching the broken mirror to the car with duct tape was a Mickey Mouse solution." - although Red Green would no doubt approve).

13d They will be opened for those that are late (6,5)

I correctly surmised that "late" was a reference to the dearly departed. From the checking letters, I thought that the second word might be "wakes" - and I spent some time investigating whether there is any such thing as a "closed wake" (it seems not). I also considered that the first word might be "hearse" before my Eureka moment at the entrance to Heaven.

21d A political favour? (7)

A rosette (Collins, defn. 1) is "a decoration or pattern resembling a rose, esp an arrangement of ribbons or strips formed into a rose-shaped design and worn as a badge or presented as a prize". Apparently, political rosettes, also known as favours (see Today's Glossary), are commonly worn by British politicians while electioneering.

I stumbled upon the above definition of favour while trying to build a case for a quite different interpretation of the wordplay. A rosette is also a deep-fried pastry of Scandinavian origin traditionally associated with Christmas. A favour (noun, defn. 7) is "a small gift or toy given to a guest at a party". I was thinking that rosettes might be given as favours at Christmas dinner parties. While this avenue of thought didn't pan out in the end, it did take me off on an interesting tangent.

Signing off for today - Falcon