This puzzle was originally published Friday, September 11, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph
Introduction
I found that there was some fairly tricky wordplay today, especially in the southwest quadrant.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
all over the shop - Brit. (?) colloq scattered everywhere; in numerous places (the equivalent expression in North America would be all over the place)
Goldsmiths - a constituent college of the University of London (England)
SCR - abbreviation Brit. Senior Common (or Combination) Room: noun Brit. a room used for social purposes by fellows, lecturers, and other senior members of a college
Today's Links
Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26031].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
24a Awkward situation when academic's room put next to a gym (6)
In this clue, "awkward situation" defines a SCRAPE and the wordplay is SCR (Senior Common Room, or academic's room) abutting (put next to) A PE (physical education, or gym). Despite the surface reading of "a gym" making it appear that gym is an athletic facility, it is actually a course of study (as in gym class). I have to confess that I only discovered the existence of an SCR from Libellule's review. I'm afraid that the best attempt I was able to produce was a highly implausible SC (1 Austral, NZ School Certificate) plus R (room).
20d Mad person's shell? (7)
Libellule states, "A simple but enjoyable double definition." Surely he has misspoken and meant to say "cryptic definition"?
Signing off for today - Falcon
NTSPP 771
4 hours ago
No, nutcase is a double definition:
ReplyDeleteNutcase: a mad person
Nutcase: a shell
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the correction. I guess my poor old brain is suffering from overload, what with all the double doses of puzzles that we have experienced lately. I see now that the clue is a double definition
However, I believe that it can also be seen to be a cryptic definition, with "shell" being a case and "mad person" (nut) being the cryptic clue as to what type of case we are looking for (a nutcase). The fact that it is a cryptic definition is further flagged by the question mark at the end. In this case, one can make a strong case to support this clue being either a double definition or a cryptic definition (or both at the same time).