Monday, March 29, 2010 (DT 26107)

This puzzle was originally published Wednesday, December 9, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Today's puzzle was one of those where one could work in one corner without much interaction with the other corners. I readily progressed through three corners before becoming bogged down for a time in the northwest.

Today's Glossary

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

big end - noun Brit in an internal combustion engine: the larger end of the main connecting rod

gen - noun Brit. informal information

noodle² - noun 1 colloq a simpleton 2 colloq a blockhead 3 N Amer the head

para¹ - noun informal a paratrooper

pot¹ - noun 10 colloq a trophy, especially a cup

Ripon - a city in North Yorkshire, England on the Ure River

Tate Modern - Britain's national museum of international modern art

Today's Links

Tilsit's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26107].

By the way, I only just noticed today that Big Dave changed the title of his blog about five weeks ago - so I have modified the title of my link to his site accordingly. I realize that I'm quite a bit behind the times in doing this - but, then again, with the syndication delay for the Daily Telegraph puzzle, we on this side of the pond are accustomed to being several weeks behind the Brits.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

18d Mysterious coteries formed (8)

Ironically, a very similar clue relying on this same anagram appeared in a Sunday London Times puzzle published yesterday in the Ottawa Citizen. I can therefore empathize with Tilsit's remark "One of those clues that is fun when you first see it, but for me, it’s a bit hackneyed now".

Signing off for today - Falcon