Thursday, February 11, 2010 (DT 26069)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, October 26, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26068 which was published on Saturday, October 24, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph.

Introduction

For the most part, it was a relatively easy puzzle - quite typical of those published on Monday in the Daily Telegraph. However, 1a gave me a bit of a headache and I couldn't get my mind around 8d before peeking at Big Dave's hint.

Today's Glossary

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

aye² - adverb archaic or Scottish always; still.

paracetamol - noun Brit. a synthetic compound used to relieve pain and reduce fever. [The North American name for this drug is acetaminophen].

pat² - PHRASE have off (or down) pat have (something) memorized perfectly.

slate - verb 2 Brit. informal criticize severely.

Today's Links

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26069].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

1a Painstaking preparation gives father the lead before ill-prepared male actor (11)

Even guessing that a "painstaking preparation" would be a pain relieving drug did not help me much here. I did manage to find the solution through a search for words matching the checking letters. This led to the discovery that the drug that we know as acetaminophen is called PARACETAMOL in Britain.

8a Evergreen creepers (5,6)

This is a cryptic definition having as its solution GRASS SNAKES. I thought perhaps "evergreen" was intended to suggest grass and "creepers" to refer to SNAKES. However, as grass snakes are typically (if not exclusively) green, evergreen could also be a reference to grass snakes. In this area, the later would be more appropriate as grass is rarely "evergreen". Mine is usually not green in July (this past year being an exception). Of course, in Britain, known for its damp climate, grass may well be evergreen.

28a Newspaper journalist sent a message (11)

I somehow got it into my head that I was looking for an anagram (sent) of NEWSPAPER ED (journalist). It actually seemed quite plausible, as a solution of this form would satisfy the checking letters. After wasting a bit of time down this dead end path, I found the solution through a search for words matching the checking letters. It turns out that this clue contains a charade rather than an anagram, and furthermore that we are looking for a specific British newspaper (the correct one should be pretty obvious).

22a Fire - or part of one (7)

The term "electric fire" used in Big Dave's review is (as best as I can determine) the British term for what in North America would be known as an electric fireplace insert. Looking at the website of a British seller of such products, I note that both electric fireplaces and electric fires are available. From this I assume that the term electric fireplace would have the same meaning in Britain as in North America, and that an electric fire would just be the insert that fits into an existing fireplace.

By the way, I note that this identical clue appeared in DT 26045. I also followed up on this clue the next day in my blog dealing with DT 26046.

8d Keep in mind that Murphy can supply (3,2,3,3)

For this clue, I needed to peek at Big Dave's hint before the penny dropped. I believe a number of factors caused me to stumble on this one. Most importantly, I had never heard the "GET IT OFF PAT" version of this expression; I was only familiar with the "Get it down pat" version. Secondly, while cryptically the expression "Get it down (or off) pat" (memorize completely) could certainly mean "keep in mind", the expression "keep in mind" in everyday usage has a somewhat different sense (i.e., take into consideration) and I failed to make the leap. Furthermore, wrongly supposing that Murphy might be used here in its sense as slang for a potato did not help. I think Murphy is simply being used as a typical name for an Irishman - as is Pat. As far as I can determine, no reference to any Pat Murphy is implied, although Wikipedia does have articles dealing with a number of individuals named Patrick Murphy, including the Irish giant (although he was actually 7' 3" in height, a bit of Irish hyperbole extended that to as much as 9' 3"), an Irish theologian and an Irish politician. I've ruled out the various North American and Australian entrants.

9d Here speaks a writer for a change (11)

This clue violates what I had heretofore believed to be a fundamental tenet of cryptic crossword clues - that the definition is always either the first or the last part of the clue. However, in this clue, the definition sits smack dab in the middle of the wordplay. I suppose it only goes to prove the old adage that there is an exception to every rule - or, as Rufus (the setter of the puzzle) writes on Big Dave's site "I like to think crossword rules aren’t set in stone".

It seems that this clue can really only be parsed (using my technique) by rearranging it:

HERE SPEAKS A for a change (anagram indicator) /\ SHAKESPEARE (writer)

where the solution is SHAKESPEARE, the definition is writer, and the wordplay is an anagram (for a change) of HERE SPEAKS A.

19d Holy food from Switzerland? (7)

As I could find no evidence that this Swiss cheese is traditionally produced by monks or other religious community (which I suspected was being implied by the word "holy"), it would seem that GRUYERE might better be described as holey food than holy food. Perhaps the clue should have been phrased "Holy food from Switzerland, it's heard." [I see from Big Dave's blog that I appear to have jumped on a bandwagon with that comment.]

Actually, even the holey part might be called into question. According to Wikipedia "French Gruyère cheeses must have holes according to French agricultural law, whereas holes are usually not present in Swiss Gruyère."; however, the article does go on to say "When fully aged (five months to a year) it tends to have small holes and cracks ...". I also note that Franny, a resident of Switzerland and visitor to Big Dave's site, points out that "the cheese with holes is not Gruyère but Emmenthal".

Signing off for today - Falcon