Thursday, January 14, 2010 (DT 26045)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, September 28, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26044 which was published on Saturday, September 26, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I got off to a quick start today, but soon became bogged down. The remainder of the puzzle proved quite a challenge. The Brits, though, seemed to feel that the puzzle was rather easy. Although there were no four-letter words in the puzzle, it was the clue for a five-letter word that stymied me.

Today's Glossary

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

fire - noun 4 (also electric fire or gas fire) Brit. a domestic heating appliance that uses electricity (or gas) as fuel

QC - abbreviation 3 Law Queen’s Counsel: a status conferred on lawyers by the Crown in the U.K. and various other Commonwealth countries

River Wear - a river in North East England

Trinity College - any of a great many institutions by this name around the world; Both Cambridge and Oxford universities have constituent colleges with this name. There is also a well known Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and (closer to home) a Trinity College at the University of Toronto.

Today's Links

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26045].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

22a This said, repair is immediate (5)

I failed to understand the wordplay here as I had never heard the adage "Least said, soonest mended." I grew up in a school of thought subscribing to the idea that "The squeaky wheel gets the grease". I long ago learned that, when confronted with an adage, one can usually find a contradictory one to support the contrary point of view. For instance, one may always counter "Look before you leap" with "He who hesitates is lost".

1d Being hardened, a summons symbolizes nothing to us (7)

Having complained about the unnecessary "the" in 10a (in fact, there might just be two of them found in that clue), I am surprised that Big Dave did not also comment on the surplus "a" in this clue (which I personally found more bothersome, since it caused me to spend some time looking for a word beginning with "a").

3d Adjoins, yet put in as an extra clue (5)

I started out not liking this clue very much - thinking that "an extra clue" was unnecessary padding. On further consideration, however, I have come to the conclusion that although it may seem to be padding, it is not unnecessary, as it significantly enhances the surface reading. To get the cryptic meaning, I think we are expected to read the clue as:

Adjoins /\ yet put in as (an extra clue)

With a few exceptions (such as double definitions, cryptic definitions and & lit. clues), cryptic crossword clues follow the pattern of "definition + link + wordplay"(or the reverse order). The wordplay is "an extra clue" (in addition to the definition) in finding the correct solution. In this clue, the setter is cryptically (and explicitly) telling us that "the wordplay (an extra clue) is 'yet put in as'".

7d Fire - or part of one (7)

There is a British usage here that I was unfamiliar with - and one that almost slipped by me as I read Big Dave's review. It would seem that the British term for an electric heating appliance is electric fire. In North America one would say electric furnace (generally an appliance used to heat an entire house) or electric space heater (an appliance used to heat a room or a portion of a house). For cooking, one would use an electric stove (often also called an electric range). By the way, our electric heating appliances do contain elements.

When I solved this clue, I presumed that element was being used in the sense of "part of a whole (one)". However, the Brits would undoubtedly easily see the connection to the element of an electric heating appliance.

Signing off for today - Falcon