Monday, December 7, 2009 (DT 26006)

This puzzle was originally published Thursday, August 13, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I must say we are presented with an interesting assortment of food items today - unfortunately some of it being most unappealing. It must have been a rather easy puzzle today - given that I finished almost all of it sitting in the waiting room at the garage while my car was being serviced. I did need to pop open the Tool Chest when I got home for help with the final couple of clues.

Today's Glossary

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

bangers and mash - sausages and mashed potatoes, popular British pub grub

inch - noun Scot. a small island near the seacoast

long pig - noun human flesh, used as food (translation of a Polynesian term)

rouble - alternative spelling of ruble, noun the basic monetary unit of Russia and some other former republics of the USSR

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26006].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

7a Worried about foreign currency in the borders of Thailand (8)

This clue contains what I like to think of as a "shell indicator", i.e., an indicator that instructs one to keep only the first and last letters of a word (i.e., its shell). In fact, it is one of three examples of this type of clue in today's puzzle. The indicator here is the phrase, "the borders of" which is to be interpreted as "the first and last letters of". In this case, the indicator acts on "Thailand" to produce the result TD.

8a White meat that extended gourmand? (4,3)

"Long pig" is a term used in some Pacific islands for human flesh used as food. Does one infer from "white meat" that cannibals dined only on Caucasians? In search of an answer, I consulted several reference sources, none of which indicated that the term was specific to the flesh of the white man. From an account in Robert Louis Stevenson's book, In the South Seas, it would appear that the term was applied to human flesh, in general, and not merely to the flesh of the white man. However, I note that Gazza says "this term was used in the past among the cannibals in some Pacific islands for white man’s flesh". I wonder if Gazza had a source for this or whether he merely inferred the meaning from the wording of the clue (or perhaps skewed the wording of the hint a bit to match that of the clue).

As an aside, it seems that this must be prime season for cannibals, as eBay is offering "fantastic deals on long pig". Which just goes to illustrate the absurdity of their practice of automatically generating custom advertisements based on search terms!

1d Language outwardly revered in universities (4)

This is the second example of a "shell indicator" in today's puzzle. Here "outwardly revered" signifies that we are to use the first and last letters of "revered" (i.e., RD).

18d People generally leave northwards, seeing potential danger (7)

Mantrap has two meanings, namely "a trap set to catch trespassers or poachers" and "(slang) a woman considered dangerously seductive and scheming." I was not familiar with the former and I notice that the British dictionaries do not seem to include the latter.

22d Mangy dog often outside for meat (6)

In the third example of a "shell indicator" in today's puzzle, "often outside" instructs us to use the first and last (i.e., outside) letters of "often" (i.e., ON).

Signing off for today - Falcon