Wednesday, February 24, 2010 (DT 26079)

This puzzle was originally published Friday, November 6, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

A bit of a different looking grid today, with arrowheads in two corners. A diagonal line drawn between the two arrowheads would separate the puzzle into a southwest half, the solution to which came fairly readily, and a northeast half, which proved to be much more challenging.

Today's Glossary

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

Edgbaston Cricket Ground - a cricket venue in Birmingham, England; among other uses, a site for Test matches

Midge Ure - Scottish musician

Lord's Cricket Ground - a cricket venue in London, England; among other uses, a site for Test matches

NUM - National Union of Mineworkers

Tiree - an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26079].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

16a Midge attracted to a chemical (4)

If, like me, you have never heard of Scottish musician Midge Ure, you would likely have had difficulty with the wordplay here. Luckily, however, the solution was quite solvable based solely on the definition and checking letters.

In an attempt to explain the wordplay, I discovered that midge is a (presumably British) term for "a small person". Therefore, I postulated, since a person could be a figure, a "small person" might be a ure (with small indicating that one must shorten the word figure to obtain ure). A valiant effort, but apparently not what the setter had in mind.

19d Demonstrates outside Lord’s and Edgbaston, say? (7)

Apparently, if you were to find yourself outside Lord's and Edgbaston Cricket Grounds you might be "at Tests" (i.e., attending Test matches). However, it seems to me (and Vince, writing on Big Dave's blog, seems to agree) that you would be more likely to be at Tests if you were inside said cricket grounds. Being outside might be a sign that you were unsuccessful in your attempt to obtain an admission ticket.

21d Girl’s entering into union with a preference for no clothes! (6)

This is an instance where I think one might make a case for an alternative answer.

According to Gazza, the solution is NUDISM, a noun, where the definition would presumably be "a preference for no clothes" and the wordplay is DIS (girl's) contained in (entering) NUM (National Union of Miners). The word "with" would seem to be a linkword.

The solution that I came up with is NUDIST, as an adjective, where the definition is "with a preference for no clothes" and the wordplay is DIS (girl's) contained in NUT (the threaded hardware item). A nut is a threaded piece (usually made of metal) that screws onto a bolt. A union is a threaded piece that enables two components (such as pipes) to be connected together. While I realize that a nut and a union are hardly the same thing, they do bear a much closer resemblance than many other pairs that I have seen equated in cryptic crossword clues.

There is a lot of discussion on Big Dave's site on the NUDISM versus NUDIST question. I agree that NUDIST as a noun wouldn't work, but I believe NUDIST as an adjective (as I've shown it above) does work.

Signing off for today - Falcon