Thursday, January 28, 2010 (DT 26057)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, October 12, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26056 which was published on Saturday, October 10, 2009 in the Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Expecting to find the usual gentle Monday puzzle (based on the day it appeared in the U.K.), I was surprised to find a rather more difficult one than usual - a view to which the Brits even seem to subscribe. Not only did it have the dreaded grid with the over-abundance of four-letter words, but it had some challenging (though very clever and quite enjoyable) wordplay - not to mention being full of cricket jargon.

Behind the Scenes at the Cryptic Crossword Shop

If you have ever wondered how a cryptic crossword is created, you may be interested in reading an article by Anax (a setter of puzzles for The Times and The Independent - two well-known British newspapers) entitled Actually Setting: The anatomy of a crossword which accompanied the review of today's puzzle on Big Dave's site.

Today's Glossary

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

jellied eels - traditional English dish

knock for six - phrase Brit. informal utterly surprise

over - noun cricket 1 a series of six (or formerly in Australia eight) balls bowled by the same bowler from the same end of the pitch

reebok (alternative spelling of rhebok) - noun a small South African antelope with a brownish-grey coat, a long slender neck, and short straight horns.

slur - noun 3 Music a curved line indicating that notes are to be slurred

wicket - noun 1 cricket a a row of three small wooden posts stuck upright in the ground behind either crease; b the playing area between these; c a batsman's stand at the wicket; d a batsman's dismissal by the bowler • 45 runs for two wickets. 2 (in full wicket gate or wicket door) a small door or gate, especially one that can open separately within a large door or gate.

zero-rate - verb Chiefly British To exempt from paying a value-added tax.

Today's Links

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26057].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Gates - secured by catches? (7)

I feel like my knowledge of cricket terms took a quantum leap today (I won't say understanding, as knowledge and understanding are not necessarily the same thing).

When I read Big Dave's review of this clue, at first it appeared to make no sense. I knew that wickets are the three posts topped by a bail (or, as I was to discover from Oxford, actually two bails) at either end of the pitch. Through doing a bit of research prompted by Big Dave's remarks, I find out that the playing area between the wickets is also called a wicket, as is a batsman's stand at the wicket, not to mention a batman's dismissal by the bowler. So it seems a batsman could incur a wicket (be dismissed by a bowler) while in his wicket (stance, I presume) in front of the wicket (the stumps and bails) at one end of the wicket (the pitch). I do hope the Brits will be understanding and forgive me if I have screwed this up terribly. This terminology could easily drive one silly - but more on that latter (see commentary on 5d).

I also learned that the pitch is not the entire cricket field but merely the area between the wickets (in other words, the wicket). Knowing that the wicket is the pitch, suddenly the expression sticky wicket begins to make sense. I had always supposed this referred to the stumps and bails, perhaps ones that were difficult for some reason to knock down. Rather, it is "a pitch that has been drying after rain and is difficult to bat on".

Therefore, in a straightforward reading of this clue, gates are WICKETS which may be secured (held closed) by catches. However, there is also an underlying reading based on cricket terminology, in which WICKETS are dismissals which may be secured (obtained) by catches (a fielder catching a batted ball).

19a Frozen like eels, say? (5)

Although Big Dave thinks this is "the best homophone in a long time!", it may be one of those "sounds like" clues that works better for some than for others. The setter intends the solver to recognize that gelid (frozen) sounds like jellied (arising from the English dish jellied eels).

It would seem that each of these words is pronounced differently on opposite sides of the Atlantic (you can find both the American and British pronunciations for these words at the links given above). Based on these sound references (sound as in audible rather than correct), the American pronunciation of gelid is "gel-id" (two distinct syllables with a short i) while the British pronunciation sounds more like "jide" (a single syllable with a long i). On the other hand, the American pronunciation of jellied is "jel-leed" (the ie being pronounced as a long e), while the British pronunciation would appear to be "jel-led" (with the ie being pronounced as a short e).

Ironically, from these samples, it would seem to my ear that the best audible match occurs between the American pronunciation of gelid and the British pronunciation of jellied.

Judging by the comments on Big Dave's blog, even the Brits (with their broad range of regional dialects) were divided on how well this clue works - so I wouldn't be surprised to see a comment from the U.K. saying that they don't really talk that way at all.

21a Decorations gained by irregular force's squadron leader (7)

Having ?????OS as a partial solution based on checking letters, and thinking that "irregular force" might be the Territorial Army (TA), I considered for a time that the solution might be TATTOOS. However, that theory was shot down once I had solved 12d.

24a Publicly announced as having no added tax (6)

An item that is exempt from VAT is said to be zero-rated. Since a zero looks like the letter O, we get O RATED.

A value added tax is a taxation system that goes by different names in various jurisdictions around the world. In Canada, both the GST (Goods and Services Tax) and HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) are examples of value added taxes, while the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) is not. The value added tax imposed in the U.K. is known simply by its generic name, usually abbreviated to VAT.

5d He doesn't go out with his mates (4)

As it was for many of the Brits today, this was the last clue to be solved (and yes, it is a four-letter word). My first thought was that it might refer to a cricket player, someone who (like a designated hitter in baseball) doesn't take the field when his team is not batting. A search to validate that idea proved fruitless, although in the course of my search I did learn what a silly point is (but back to that latter).

My next thought was that the answer might be STAG. However, that didn't work very well. In Britain, mates refers to one's male friends, so a guy might very well be out stag with them. If mate is interpreted as spouse, then since the word is used in the plural, our protagonist would need to be a polygamist.

Finally, I clued into the fact that we are dealing with buddies who adopt different approaches to deal with a labour situation.

By the way, a silly point is a fielder who "stands unusually close to the batsman". I'm not sure if silly alludes to the fact that a reasonable person would deem it silly to stand in such an exposed position or is a reference to the player's mental state after having been beaned by the ball. In addition to the silly point, there are various other silly positions in cricket (how fitting).

8d Supporters with lots of hard facts (5,5)

I am ashamed to admit that I failed to detect a key bit of wordplay here. I thought that "supporters" in this clue was literally referring to BRASS TACKS which might be used to pin up (support) a poster, for example. It seems that somehow I failed to see BRAS (supporters) on STACKS (lots). Some may find it to be a rather appropriate clue, since a woman who benefits greatly from such a garment is often described as stacked.

Signing off for today - Falcon