Tuesday, February 23, 2010 (DT 26078)

This puzzle was originally published Thursday, November 5, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

After an incredibly difficult puzzle yesterday, today's offering seemed almost like a walk in the park (along an alameda, perhaps). I'm sure the puzzle was even easier for the Brits who would have known a priori what I realized part way through solving it - that this puzzle was published in the U.K. on the day when the Brits mark Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night) - "an annual celebration held on the evening of 5 November to mark the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament, in London."

Today's Glossary

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

(be) coining it - British & Australian informal to be earning a lot of money quickly

flanker - noun 2 rugby union one of the two outside players on either side of the second row of the scrum. Also called flank forward or wing forward.

do (or pull) a flanker - slang to trick or deceive someone [thus a flanker is presumably a deception]

gaff - noun Brit. informal a person’s house, flat, or shop.

lo - exclamation, old use look! see!

not half - PHRASES 3 Brit. informal to an extreme degree.

OTT - abbreviation, slang over the top: colloq excessive; exaggerated.

Today's Links

Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26078].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Left in revenge for act of reproducing recording (8)

I was hampered for a while by failing to correctly detect the sense in which the word "reproducing" is being used. Here, it is used in the sense of "recreating the performance" rather than "copying the media".

27a Conspiring chap few ask for change? (3,6)

In this cryptic definition, the word "chap" appears to do double duty. The "conspiring chap" is GUY FAWKES. The clue also includes the wordplay "chap few ask for change" which can be interpreted as GUY (chap) FAWKES {anagram (for change) of FEW ASK}. The clue may also allude to the tradition of children requesting "a penny for the guy". Perhaps "few ask for change" alludes to the fact that, according to Wikipedia, "this practice has diminished greatly".

1d Most of mashed potato is white (4)

I would say that these potatoes are definitely more than merely mashed.

3d Suggest it's easily executed (5)

The wordplay here may be a bit more obvious to citizens of Britain and France where beheading was a favoured method of execution. For North Americans, other forms of execution may spring to mind. Here, "easily" is SIMPLY - which, when beheaded (executed), becomes IMPLY.

16d Avenues initially availing a damsel in distress (8)

Here, the definition is "avenues", the solution is ALAMEDAS and the wordplay is A (initially availing; i.e., first letter of the word "availing") + an anagram (in distress) of A DAMSEL.

There is a lot of discussion on Big Dave's site concerning "alameda", a word with which many visitors appeared to be unfamiliar or which they considered to be a Spanish word. An alameda is "a tree-shaded promenade or public park" in the Southwestern U.S. I had to wonder whether an avenue could be a path (as opposed to a road); however, Oxford does define avenue as "a broad road or path".

Signing off for today - Falcon