Wednesday, June 30, 2010 (DT 26192)

This puzzle, by Giovanni, was originally published in The Daily Telegraph on Friday, March 19, 2010

Introduction

I struggled with today's puzzle, needing to pop open Ye Olde Tool Chest after having solved only two clues. Either this was a rather difficult puzzle or my brain has been frozen by the unseasonably cool weather we are experiencing today. Some tricky Briticisms contributed to the challenge - not to mention the error in clue 12a. My biggest shortcoming, however, was failing to recognize the cricket reference at 8d. Still, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Gazza awarded it four stars for difficulty, realizing that it was not only myself who found it a bit daunting.

Error in Today's Puzzle

12a Thus mademoiselle is given a French flower (5)

Once one figures out the solution and reverse engineers the wordplay, it is quite obvious that there is an error in this clue (one that originated with The Daily Telegraph). The clue should read:

12a Thus madame is given a French flower (5)

Today's Glossary

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

Used in Clues:

Durham - a city in North East England, the county town of County Durham

gin² - noun 3 a trap for catching small game. [Note: the picture that Gazza uses to illustrate this type of trap looks to me like what would be called a leg-hold trap in North America]

on - [Chambers] adjective 6 cricket on the side of the field towards which the bat is facing, usually the batsman's left and the bowler's right. Opposite of off.

Note: although Chambers (the online version, at least) does not list the word on as a noun, it certainly seems to be one in the cricket world, with its meaning easily obtained through extrapolation from its definition as an adjective, by deleting a single word (ironically, that being the word "on"):

on - [Chambers (by extrapolation)] noun cricket the side of the field towards which the bat is facing, usually the batsman's left and the bowler's right. Opposite of off.

Chambers does list the word off as both an adjective and a noun:

off - [Chambers] adjective 6 cricket on the side of the field towards which the batsman's feet are pointing, usually the bowler's left. Opposite of on (adj 6). noun 2 cricket the side of a field towards which the batsman's feet are pointing, usually the bowler's left.

Used in Solutions:

form - noun 6 chiefly Brit. a class or year in a school.

fringe - noun 2 chiefly Brit. the front part of someone’s hair, cut so as to hang over the forehead. [Note: seemingly what would be called bangs in North America]

leg - [Chambers] noun 7 cricket a (also leg side) the side of the field that is to the left of a right-handed batsman or to the right of a left-handed batsman; b a fielder positioned on this side of the field. See also fine leg, long leg, short leg, square leg.

Or, the same idea, expressed a bit differently by Oxford:

leg - [Oxford] noun 16 (also leg side) Cricket the half of the field away from which the batsman’s feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball. The opposite of off.

legless - adjective 2 Brit. informal extremely drunk.

S² - abbreviation 7 International Vehicle Registration code Sweden.

splodge - noun & verb Brit. another term for splotch.

Ted (short for Teddy Boy) - a British youth subculture which started in London in the 1950s and rapidly spread across the UK, typified by young men wearing clothes inspired by the styles of the Edwardian period, and strongly associated with American rock and roll music of the period.

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26192].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

4a Love to be given rest, ending with ugly fatness (7)

The definition is "fatness" with the solution being OBESITY. The wordplay is O (love) + (to) BE + (given) SIT (rest) + Y (ending with ugly; i.e., the final letter - or ending - of the word "ugly"). The word "to" here means abutting as in the expressions "Shoulder to the wheel" or "Nose to the grindstone" and is used as an explicit charade indicator. Similarly, the word "given", used in the sense of "added to", is an explicit charade indicator. The third charade indicator is implicit.

8d Drunk on ship when entertaining the French (7)

I failed to recognize the cricket reference here, despite having encountered it numerous times in the past. The definition is "drunk" with the solution being LEGLESS (British slang). The wordplay is {LEG (on; a cricket term) + SS (ship; abbreviation for steamship)} containing (when entertaining) LE (the French; i.e., the French word meaning "the").

Signing off for today - Falcon