Friday, March 19, 2010 (DT 26100)

This puzzle was originally published Tuesday, December 1, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Looking back, the clues don't seem overly difficult. However, I struggled to get started and had to work hard to finish. In this regard, my experience would appear to parallel that of Gazza and many of the visitors to Big Dave's site. It seems that many of the clues were well concealed - as my mother might have said, they are hidden in plain sight.

Today's Glossary

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

cut a dash - make a show or exhibit a striking appearance

NUR - abbreviation, historical National Union of Railwaymen, now part of RMT

Orange Order - also known as the Orange Lodge, a Protestant fraternal organisation based primarily in Northern Ireland and Scotland, with lodges throughout the Commonwealth and the United States

pasty - noun chiefly Brit. a folded pastry case filled with seasoned meat and vegetables

River Ure - a river in North Yorkshire, England

TUC - abbreviation, Brit Trades Union Congress

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26100].

My apologies for the faulty link to Big Dave's site in yesterday's blog, which has now been fixed.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

3d Foolish error following American in Spain (7)

Although I found the solution to this clue fairly early on, I did not immediately get the wordplay. In fact, I ended up setting it aside and coming back to it once I had finished the puzzle. In hindsight, there is nothing exceptionally difficult about the wordplay - but it seems that sometimes one just develops a mental block that prevents one from spotting the obvious.

The definition is "foolish" and the solution ASININE. The wordplay in this charade is ASIN {SIN (error) after (following) A (American)} + IN + E (Spain, E being the International Vehicle Registration code for Spain).

10a Spot at Scottish island removing a feature that's obsessive? (8)

Hint: this is a charade type clue in which "spot" is used in the sense of predicament

12a Hear about game barring outsiders? There's deception (8)

Deception is the cryptic crossword setter's stock in trade. Here it is also the definition. The solution is TRICKERY and the wordplay is TRY (hear, as a court case) containing (about) RICKE, which is CRICKET (game) without its outside letters (barring outsiders).

25a Crime time forgot? Motive needed (6)

Once again, we see a clue where the definition is not at either the beginning or end. The definition is "motive" and the solution is REASON. The wordplay is TREASON (crime) without (forgot) T (time).

Although Gazza says "“needed” is just padding", I recall having seen clues on a number of occasions in which either "need" or "require" is used as a linkword to the definition. The form of these clues is usually along the lines of "wordplay needs definition". I have always interpreted these to mean "the wordplay needs as a solution a word matching the definition". Today's clue could have been worded "Crime time forgot needs motive". However, to improve the surface reading, the setter has reversed the order of the latter bit.

Signing off for today - Falcon