Monday, August 16, 2010 (DT 26240)

This puzzle, by Giovanni, was originally published in The Daily Telegraph on Friday, May 14, 2010

The National Post has skipped DT 26239 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Thursday, May 13, 2010

Introduction

I got well into today's puzzle before I needed to pop open the Tool Chest. I didn't manage to work out the wordplay for 21d, in part due to the fact that I had never heard of poet Andrew Marvell, and in part because I carelessly failed to notice my notation to revisit this clue before reading Gazza's review.

Today's Glossary

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

Used in Solutions:

CID - abbreviation Criminal Investigation Department, the detective branch of the British police force.

flat² - noun chiefly British a set of rooms forming an individual residence, typically on one floor and within a larger building containing a number of such residences: a block of flats.

L² - abbreviation 2 learner driver.

Lens - a city in northern France.

(Andrew) Marvell - 17^th century English metaphysical poet.

Ted - noun British informal a Teddy boy.

Teddy boy - noun British (in the 1950s ) a young man of a subculture characterized by a style of dress based on Edwardian fashion (typically with drainpipe trousers, bootlace tie, and hair slicked up in a quiff) and a liking for rock-and-roll music. Origin: from Teddy, pet form of the given name Edward (with reference to Edward VII's reign).

Yorkshire - the largest county in the United Kingdom, it is subdivided into three ridings (as I inferred from Wikipedia) or "used to be split into three Ridings" (according to Gazza).

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26240].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

10a Part of the country in which you'll find more than one riding (9)

I thought perhaps Yorkshire might be a hotbed of equestrian activity, but apparently the ridings to which reference is made in the clue are actually Parliamentary constituencies. Perhaps I just have horses on the brain as the National Capital Show Jumping Tournament is currently underway in Ottawa - with horses and riders from around the world competing.

21d With lines reduced by half, poet's producing wondrous things (7)

After spending some time trying to decipher the wordplay (after having found the solution), I marked this clue as one that I should revisit before reading Gazza's review - then forgot to do so. I had been fixated on "lines reduced by half" being VER - the first half of the word "verses" (lines) - the letters of which appear in the solution in a scrambled order. Even if I had remembered to take another crack at it, it is doubtful whether I could have figured it out.

Signing off for today - Falcon