Monday, July 26, 2010 (DT 26219)

This puzzle, by Shamus, was originally published in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Introduction

I did fairly well today, completing the puzzle. However, despite having the correct solutions, I was somewhat stumped by the wordplay on a couple of clues.

Today's Glossary

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

Used in Clues:

bit - noun 3 informal a girl or young woman: he went and married some young bit half his age

Used in Solutions:

Clare College - a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.

fete - noun British a public function, typically held outdoors and organized to raise funds for a charity, including entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments: a church fete

gout⁴ - Taste; relish.

H - abbreviation International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet hotel

other ranks - plural noun (abbreviation OR) chiefly British members of the armed services who do not hold a commissioned rank.

R - abbreviation recipe

Sale Sharks - a professional rugby union club who play in England in the Guinness Premiership.

tearaway - noun British colloquial an undisciplined and reckless young person.

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26219].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

18a Price was paid for this tearaway? (6)

Not being acquainted with the British expression tearaway and failing to pick up on the reference to American actor Vincent Price left me unable to decipher the wordplay in this clue. The definition is "tearaway" (an ill-behaved child) with the solution being HORROR, which is also the movie genre by which Vincent Price earned his living.

21a Sadly a sign to withdraw wine (7)

For some reason, I was not able to get my head around this clue - getting hung up on thinking that "sadly" might be an anagram indicator and looking for the fodder to be a word meaning "a sign to withdraw" that I suspected might somehow be a variant on the word "alarums".

The definition is "wine" and the solution is MARSALA. The wordplay is a reversal (to withdraw) of ALAS (sadly) + RAM (a sign; i.e., of the Zodiac).

19d A recipe taken up with relish for stew (6)

I know gout (actually goût) is a word in the French language, but does it also exist in the English language in the sense of taste or relish? After searching through quite a large number of dictionaries, I finally found one that lists this meaning (see Today's Glossary).

Signing off for today - Falcon