Saturday, January 2, 2010 (DT 26034)

This puzzle was originally published Tuesday, September 15, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Today, we get another double dose of cryptic crosswords in the National Post. This puzzle, appearing on the Friday Diversions page, is the puzzle that would have run yesterday had the Post been published. Presumably, the Post prints this puzzle to make sure we have a diversion to occupy our time on New Years Day (not)! Having finished this puzzle, I will now take a bit of a break before tackling the Cox and Rathvon puzzle. It having been snowing for the last two days, there is a fair accumulation of snow in my driveway demanding my attention.

I thought that today's puzzle was near the midpoint of the difficulty scale, perhaps leaning slightly toward the more difficult side.

Today's Glossary

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

bird - noun 3 Brit. informal a young woman or girlfriend

caught - cricket a method of dismissing a batsman

lag - noun Brit. informal a habitual convict

lolly - noun informal 1 chiefly Brit. a lollipop 3 Brit. money

motor - noun 2 Brit. informal a car

RA - abbreviation 1 (in the UK) Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy (an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the visual arts)

RADA - abbreviation (in the UK) Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

side - noun [15] Brit. informal boastful or pretentious manner or attitude

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26034].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a In RADA, get trained actor (9)

My first instinct suggested that this might be a hidden word clue, but I eventually discovered that it is an anagram instead.

26a Kill time after time? One caught getting put inside (9)

The wordplay is DATE (time) after ERA (time) containing (getting put inside) I (one) C (caught) to give ERADICATE (kill).

Time and date are synonymous in the sense "From that time forward ...". Caught is a cricket term (being one method of dismissing a batsman), with the abbreviation C likely arising from its use on scoreboards at cricket pitches or in tables found in the sports pages of newspapers - as one would see R, H, and E (runs, hits, and errors) on a baseball scoreboard or in a statistical summary of a game.

27a He won't share his lolly! (5)

I realize that I've recently encountered a few instances where I have seen cryptic definitions where others see double definitions, but I think I'm on safe ground in declaring this to be a cryptic definition.

I was familiar with lolly being a shortened version of lollipop, even though one would not commonly hear it used in North America. Even the word lollipop is used much less frequently than the far more often used term for this candy, which is the much less elegant word sucker.

2d Bird after diamonds is degenerate (5)

To appreciate the surface reading of this clue, one must keep in mind that bird is British slang for "a young woman or girlfriend".

6d They're useless, pointless (7)

I only saw the cryptic definition here of NEEDLES (they're useless [when] pointless). Gazza points out the wordplay that makes it an all-in-one (& lit.) clue, although he would seem to imply that he doesn't think the setter quite succeeds ("a neat attempt").

21d Another male swallows raised draught? (7)

I was sure that "raised" must be a reversal indicator. However, having finally solved the clue, I found this theory to be wrong. Instead, look for a hidden word.

22d Swerve motor, even losing velocity (6)

The British apparently use motor as a synonym for car. To the best of my knowledge, one would never hear this usage in North America. One might (fairly rarely) hear the term motor car, and it would not be unusual to hear motor used as a verb, meaning to travel by car. On this side of the pond, a motor is the engine that powers the car.

Signing off for today - Falcon