Tuesday, May 11, 2010 (DT 26144)

This puzzle, a Giovanni creation, was originally published Friday, January 22, 2010 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Was this puzzle a little more difficult than average, or am I just out of practice - having spent several days being a tourist in New York City during which time I did not even look at a crossword puzzle? It took me a while to find a starting point, but once I got plastered, the puzzle seemed to fall into place quite readily.

Today's Glossary

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

curé - noun a parish priest in a French-speaking country

H³ - symbol 3 electronics henry: noun Physics the unit of inductance in the SI system

get the hump - PHRASES Brit. informal become annoyed or sulky

hump - noun 2 (get/give the hump) unhappiness, annoyance, irritation, vexation, exasperation, sadness, depression, gloom formal aggravation

Llanelli - a town in Wales

mug - noun 3 Brit. informal a stupid or gullible person

Sir Robert Peel - former British Prime Minister

snuff - verb 3 (snuff it) Brit. informal die

uni - noun informal university

up - adverb 9 formal to or at university • up at Oxford

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26144].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

1a Boy in the Navy brought into PM's staff (9)

This is a nested container clue, sort of like those Russian Babushka dolls, where you open the doll only to find a smaller version of the doll inside it, which in turn contains an even smaller version of the doll, and so on until you get to a very small version of the doll.

Here the definition is "staff" with the solution being PERSONNEL. The wordplay is {SON (boy) contained in (in) RN ([Royal] Navy)} contained in (brought into) PEEL (PM; i.e., British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel) once again producing the solution PE(R(SON)N)EL.

13a Indicate site for being redeveloped - it spells an end to trees etc. (15)

My first attempt at a solution, deforestation, fell a bit short - having only 13 letters (not to mention an extra O).

1d Like some letters offering job with salary? (4-4)

Isn't it ironic that post-paid means prepaid?

8d Fall out, apparently, when there's female around (6)

App, apparently is a short form for apparently, rather than an application for your iPhone or similar device.

17d Number coming to river, then crossing river, in Scotland? (8)

The wordplay in this charade is NO (number) + (coming to; i.e., abutting) R (river) + {THEN containing (crossing) R (river)} producing NO|R|THE(R)N. The definition is "in Scotland" with the solution being NORTHERN as something found in Scotland would be northern from the perspective of an Englishman.

Signing off for today - Falcon