Wednesday, August 18, 2010 (DT 26243)

This puzzle, by Shamus, was originally published in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Introduction

I spent a beautiful, sunny summer day at the lake basking in the sun and doing this puzzle. My Tool Chest was not accessible, so every time I felt I was at an impasse, I would set the puzzle aside and take a dip in the lake. When I returned to the puzzle, I would always seem to be able to solve at least two or three additional clues. This pattern continued until I had managed to solve every clue. I am sure that if my Tool Chest had been handy, I would have succumbed to the temptation to dip into it instead of the lake. However, just because I found all the solutions, it doesn't necessarily follow that I understood all the wordplay.

Today's Glossary

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

Used in Clues:

hotel - code word for the letter "H" in the ICAO spelling alphabet (also called the NATO phonetic alphabet or the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet).

Used in Solutions:

(Tracey) Emin - British artist

National Trust (abbreviation NT) - a trust for the preservation of places of historic interest or natural beauty in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, founded in 1895 and supported by endowment and private subscription. The National Trust for Scotland [a separate organization] was founded in 1931.

northener - Anybody who lives north of Nottingham. [Note: I have serious doubts whether such a word actually exists - see Commentary below.]

ozone - noun 2 British informal fresh invigorating air, especially that blowing on to the shore from the sea. [Note: this meaning seemingly has nothing to do with the "colourless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odour and powerful oxidizing properties, formed from oxygen by electrical discharges or ultraviolet light"]

prom - noun informal 1 British short for promenade (sense 1 of the noun): she took a short cut along the prom.

Territorial Army (abbreviation TA) - noun (in the UK) a fully trained volunteer force intended to provide back-up to the regular army in cases of emergency.

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26243].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

27a Distinguished artist beginning to engage conservationists (7)

By my count, this marks the "distinguished" Ms. Emin's third appearance in DT puzzles. She previously showed up in DT 26168 (Tuesday, June 8, 2010) and DT 26060 (Tuesday, February 2, 2010). In these appearances, she has been variously FEMININE, a SEMINARIAN, and now EMINENT.

Note to self: pay a visit to the National Gallery of Canada to see Pop Life: Art in a Material World that features some of her work. This exhibition runs to September 9 and Ottawa is the only North American stop on its world tour.

5d Esplanade with parking at other end for frolic (4)

This is the clue for which I needed to flip open my Tool Chest when I arrived home in order to figure out why my solution was correct. Another name for an esplanade is promenade, which the Brits refer to as a prom for short. The wordplay in this clue is PROM (esplanade) with P (parking) moved from the start to the end (at other end) producing (for) ROMP (frolic).

6d Country defended by American adamantly (6)

Surely, no one missed this one - if you did, you must be kicking yourself.

7d Become run-down? Visit daughter (2,2,4)

I failed to see the wordplay that Gazza points out which is GO TO SEE (visit) + D (daughter). In fact, I had a different take on the wordplay. Since seed can mean "offspring or progeny", the phrase "visit daughter" could mean GO TO (visit) + SEED (daughter).

23d Northener, one seeking new recruits ignoring university (4)

I had assumed that "northener" must be a misspelling of "northerner". Oxford, Chambers, Collins and virtually every other dictionary - save one - would appear to side with me on that point. I was surprised to see that no one disputed the spelling on Big Dave's site, so I did further research and managed to find one lone source (the Urban Dictionary) that listed the word "northener". Frankly, I would give more credence to Oxford.

Signing off for today - Falcon