Wednesday, February 10, 2010 (DT 26067)

This puzzle was originally published Friday, October 23, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I thought that it was a fairly easy puzzle today, in that I was able to complete the puzzle without the aid of my Tool Chest (although I did need to consult a dictionary to verify that several of my entries were, in fact, real words). Therefore, I was a bit surprised to see that Gazza rated the puzzle 3* for difficulty.

Revisiting Monday's Blog

If you found a paragraph in Monday's blog to be incomprehensible, you have good reason to have been confused. I somehow managed to scramble my ins and ons. I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time I wrote it (obviously, I was not thinking at all!). I would like to thank Peter Biddlecombe (who occasionally leaves comments under the alias xwd_fiend) for bringing this to my attention. I have now reworked the material and hopefully it now makes more sense.

Today's Glossary

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

Sir Alfred Jules Ayers - British philosopher

cave² - exclamation school slang, dated beware. keep cave to keep watch; to be a lookout. (ETYMOLOGY: 19c: Latin, imperative of cavere to beware.)

Co-op - popular name for The Co-operative food, a large food retailer in the U.K.

daily - noun 2 (also daily help) Brit. dated a domestic cleaner.

Daily Mirror - British tabloid newspaper

The Isis - the name given to a part of the River Thames flowing through the city of Oxford.

maiden (abbreviation M) - noun 3 (also maiden over) Cricket an over in which no runs are scored.

pothole - noun 4. a cave opening vertically from the ground surface.

University of Stirling - a university in Stirling, Scotland

Walter (Wat) Tyler - leader of the English peasants revolt of 1381.

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26067].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Money for old rope sometimes (4)

This is a hidden word clue with the solution, PESO, hidden in "roPE SOmetimes". Clearly, "money" is the definition and I would take "for" to be a linkword. That leaves only the word "old" to be the hidden word indicator. Gazza comments on Big Dave's site that "There doesn’t appear to be any “hidden” indicator in the clue" - an opinion on which he appears to be supported by others, including Anax (a setter in his own right). The only meaning for old that I could find that might possibly justify its use as a hidden word indicator is:

• adjective 5 worn out or shabby through long use

I suppose that if sufficient letters were to be worn off the outsides of "roPE SOmetimes", one would be left with PESO. However, I do note that the wear would need to be pretty uneven!

18a Goddess gets a flower in Oxford (4)

Just remember that, in the realm of cryptic crosswords, a flower is (usually) not a plant, but a river (i.e., something that flows).

21a Everyone wants philosopher to be a bringer of comfort (7)

In this clue, the solution is ALLAYER with the definition being "a bringer of comfort" and the wordplay being ALL (everyone) plus (wants) AYER (philosopher). The clue has an explicit linkword in "to be". Thus, we can write this clue as:

21a Everyone wants philosopher /to be\ a bringer of comfort (7)

Since "wants" is essentially equivalent to saying "needs" or "must have", the cryptic reading of the clue is really "ALL must have AYER (added to it, by implication) to become ALLAYER.

22a Head of college left prematurely, evidently (7)

To elaborate on Gazza's explanation, note that here C is not an abbreviation for college, but rather comes from the phrase "head of college" (i.e., the first letter of the word college). This device would be well-known to experienced solvers, but perhaps may not be evident to newcomers.

5d Rely on a run being in the first part of the programme? (5,2)

This clue can be separated into wordplay (rely on a run) and definition (in the first part of the programme) as follows:

5d Rely on a run /being\ in the first part of the programme? (5,2)

The linkword "being" indicates equality of the two components.

This is an anagram-type clue, where the anagram indicator is "run" and the fodder on which it operates is "RELY ON A" producing the solution EARLY ON. An anagram indicator is a word that suggests that one must rearrange the letters to find the solution. Common words used for this purpose are verbs that suggest the idea of sorting, mixing, movement, control, etc. At first glance, one might be inclined to question run as an anagram indicator. However, Chambers lists 43 numbered entries for run as a verb, with a number of sub-entries within these. A case could probably be made for several of these meanings of run as an anagram indicator, among them being:

• 6 tr & intr to move or make something move in a specified way or direction or with a specified result
• 16 metallurgy a tr & intr to melt or fuse; b to form (molten metal) into bars, etc; to cast.
• 17 tr & intr to come to a specified state or condition by, or as if by, flowing or running
• 19 a tr & intr said of machines, etc: to operate or function; b computing to execute (a program).

19d Your crossword setter not exciting? A bit of a brain! (7)

Phrases and words such as "your crossword setter", "setter" and "compiler" are references to the creator of the puzzle and usually must be replaced by I or ME to find the solution.

Signing off for today - Falcon