Monday, June 28, 2010 (DT 26190)

This puzzle, set by Jay, was originally published in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Introduction

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Well, today is really not Saint Patrick's Day - but it was when this puzzle was published in the U.K. And that piece of information should provide quite a bit of help in completing this puzzle. The luck of the Irish seemed to be with me as I finished this one totally unaided - but, then again, Big Dave only awarded it two stars for difficulty.

Today's Glossary

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

Used in Solutions:

Horizon - a long-running BBC documentary television series, dealing with science and philosophy

jar¹ - noun 2 Brit. informal a glass of beer.

River Liffey - a river in Ireland, flowing through the centre of Dublin.

pud - noun Brit. informal short for pudding.

RE - abbreviation Brit. the Corps of Royal Engineers (or member thereof); such a soldier is commonly known as a sapper: noun 1 a military engineer who lays or detects and disarms mines. 2 Brit. a soldier in the Corps of Royal Engineers.

Sky - a brand name for satellite television providers and channels across the world, owned by News Corporation, including British Sky Broadcasting as well as operations in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, India, Germany, Italy, and Latin America.

Today's Links

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26190].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

10a Evidence of liquidity between banks (5)

I got the gist of this clue, but my first attempt at a solution was not correct - or rather, it was not what the setter had in mind. I still think my answer could well be a better one. Having only the middle letter as guidance, I wrote in WAVES. I recognized that something between banks would likely be a river, and waves would be evidence of liquidity. In Canada, many rivers are frozen solid in the winter and thus not liquid at all (at least not on the surface).

23a A 10, for example, left sounding dubious (6)

In this clue, the number 10 is a cross reference, and indicates that one must substitute the solution for clue 10a into this clue, giving us "A river, for example, left sounding dubious".

14d Became conscious of a trail, half-ruined (8)

This trail might be found, for example, on the solution to 23a.

20d Broadcaster (cable) getting Horizon (7)

Sky would be well known to the Brits as a satellite television provider, so the word "cable" in parentheses is likely a deliberate attempt to throw them off the trail. Horizon is a long-running BBC science documentary series, perhaps somewhat along the lines of the PBS series Nova or the CBC's The Nature of Things.

24d In favor of travel, but give it a miss (5)

This solution to this clue took longer than necessary as I got hung up on thinking that "in favor of" might be PRO (which it isn't).

25d A bit of a nasty ear infection (4)

And a bit of "nasty" misdirection here, as well. The clue could read "A bit of a nasty eye infection" which would probably qualify it as a semi &lit. clue - but that would make the solution too obvious, wouldn't it?

Signing off for today - Falcon