Wednesday, December 2, 2009 (DT 26003)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, August 10, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

The National Post has skipped DT 26002, published Saturday, August 8, 2009 in the Daily Telegraph.

I was able to solve almost the entire puzzle without the aid of my Tool Chest. However, I was not able to solve the final couple of clues (18a and 12d) without some help from Tilsit's hints. My difficulty stemmed in part from an unrecognized (but not unknown) British spelling at 18a, but - more significantly - from a wrong answer at 14a.

Today's Glossary

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

tyre - tire (US and Canada)

Today's Links

Tilsit's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26003].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

14a Gets off or puts on the line (5,2)

Failing to initially detect that the implied reading of the clue is "Gets off (the line) or puts on the line" made this clue more difficult to solve. At first, I saw it merely as "Gets off" or "puts on the line"and came up with WINDING UP as a solution, as you wind up work at the close of the business day or, in other words, you get off work (after which you may wind down at the bar). You can also wind up (fishing) line on a reel. This error stymied me on 12d. However, once I had found the answer to 12d (with help from Tilsit), I took another crack at this clue and succeeded in finding the correct solution.

18a Old town subject to inflation (4)

This is another case where I sought some help from Tilsit. Maybe I was handicapped by the British spelling of tyre. Although this spelling is not new to me, it is not something that is top of mind.

12d Tied sort of worker? (5-6)

The error at 14a caused me lots of trouble here. I figured that the second part was COLLAR, but was looking for a first part with the pattern ?W???. The only thing that seemed like even a remote fit was TWINE-COLLAR as I found a lot of references on the web to twine dog collars. It did seem like it might have a very slim semblance of possibility as twine is used to tie things and dogs are often tied up. Could twine-collar workers be junkyard dogs? Apparently not!!! As mentioned above, I needed help from Tilsit to find the real solution to this clue.

26d Fruit for two, we hear (4)

For a brief moment, I thought "fruit for two" might be DATE. However, the trailing "we hear" pretty much eliminated that possibility.

Signing off for today - Falcon