Introduction
This puzzle seemed to be divided into several regions, each having its own level of resistance. The right hand side was quite straightforward, almost entirely taken without the need to draw weapons (which should make it about two stars for difficulty). The bottom left hand corner was captured readily with the use of only light armaments (three stars). The top left hand corner, however, was conquered only with intense effort using the heavy artillery (four stars). I note that Gnomethang awarded this puzzle four stars for difficulty.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Used in Clues:
locum - noun British a person who stands in temporarily for someone else of the same profession, especially a cleric or doctor
Used in Solutions:
halma - noun a game played by two or four people using a board of 256 squares, with pieces advancing from one corner to the opposite corner by being moved over other pieces into vacant squares
OR - abbreviation Military, British other ranks (as opposed to commissioned officers)
poetaster - noun a person who writes inferior poetry
san - [Collins English Dictionary] noun Old-fashioned informal short for sanatorium (especially sense 3)
sanatorium (US, sanitarium) - nounscourge - historical noun 1 a whip used as an instrument of punishment; verb [with object] 1 whip (someone) as a punishment.
- 1. (Medicine) an institution for the medical care and recuperation of persons who are chronically ill
- 2. (Medicine) a health resort
- 3. British a room in a boarding school where sick pupils may be treated in isolation
supply teacher - noun British substitute teacher
ultimo (abbreviation: ult. or ulto) - adjective [postpositive] dated of last month: the 3rd ultimo
Today's Links
Gnomethang's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26258].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
7a Son must have bravery, not wanting a whip (7)
The definition is "whip" and the wordplay is S (son) + COUR[a]GE {COURAGE (bravery) without A (not wanting A)} for which the solution is SCOURGE. But does this really work? The word "want" means "lack", so "not wanting A" means "not lacking A" - exactly the opposite of what the setter intends! I even checked Oxford to see if "want" had a different meaning in the U.K., but the only distinctly British meaning I found is:
noun 2 [with present participle] chiefly British (of a thing ) require to be attended to in a specified way: the wheel wants greasingEven here, presumably, "the wheel wants greasing" when it lacks grease.
The setter may intend "want" to be used in the sense of "desire". However, the fact that one has something is quite independent of whether one wants it or not. I might say "I don't have a cold, and I don't want one" or I may say "If you need an umbrella, I have one that I don't want".
It seems to me that the clue could have been phrased equally effectively as "not having a whip", "lacking a whip", or "wanting a whip".
Since the clue drew nary a protest on Big Dave's site, perhaps it resonates better with the British ear than with mine.
13a Form of belief that accepts terrible fate (9)
This is a superb example of an & lit. (all in one) clue, a type of clue that it is rare to see - and rarer still, to see done this well.
The entire clue can be read two ways - once as a definition and once as wordplay. As a definition, it provides a pretty decent description of DEFEATISM. As wordplay, it is interpreted as DEISM (form of belief) containing (that accepts) FEAT {an anagram (terrible) of FATE}.
6d Inventor sounding like a very attractive person (4)
Gnomethang identifies Alexander Graham Bell as "a Scottish Inventor". Those of us on this side of the Atlantic would describe him as either Scottish-Canadian or Scottish-American (depending on which side of the border one resides). Bell emigrated to Canada in 1870 at the age of 23, establishing a residence near Brantford, Ontario. For a number of years, he divided his time between the U.S. and Canada, teaching in the States and returning to Canada for the summer. Following his marriage to Mabel Hubbard (an American) in 1877, his permanent place of residence became the U.S. (first Cambridge, Massachusetts and later Washington, D.C.). In 1882, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In the late 1880's, Bell and his wife built a summer home near the community of Baddeck on Cape Breton Island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Bell named this estate Beinn Bhreagh which is gaelic for beautiful mountain. The original summer home was expanded to include a laboratory complex at which Bell could pursue his scientific endeavours. "Until the end of his life, Bell and his family would alternate between the two homes [Washington and Nova Scotia], but Beinn Bhreagh would, over the next 30 years, become more than a summer home as Bell became so absorbed in his experiments that his annual stays lengthened". Bell passed away at Beinn Bhreagh in 1922 at age 75.
19d Alter advertisement completely (6)
Just is one of those bizarre English words which is its own antonym. On the one hand, it can mean barely or scarcely ("I just caught the train") while, on the other hand, it can mean completely or absolutely ("I am just delighted with the renovations to my house").
20d Ruler in the last month in hospital (6)
In a response to a comment, Gnomethang says "the word for ‘hospital’ or ‘health resort’ is more common in America and is described in Chambers as “Imitation Latin esp. N American”" - a somewhat surprising remark to me.
The English spelling of the word is sanatorium while Americans choose to spell it sanitarium. In Canada, of course, we can't make up our minds and use both spellings. Actually, I would say that there has probably been a marked shift in Canada away from British spelling to American spelling over the last century due to the weakening of our ties to the U.K. and the pervasive influence of American mass media which has inundated our country (not to mention American spell-checkers which make squiggly lines under my words every time I type an s instead of a z or throw in what the spell-checker deems a superfluous u).
The only usage that I am aware of for the word sanatorium is in relation to a network of specialised hospitals established in the early part of the twentieth century for the treatment of tuberculosis. I suspect that were these institutions to be set up today, they would be called sanitariums rather than sanatoriums.
I was surprised by Gnomethang's comment as Oxford says that san as a short form for sanatorium is "especially" used in the case of "a room in a boarding school where sick pupils may be treated in isolation", a particularly British usage of the word. In North America, such a facility would be called a "sick bay".
Signing off for today - Falcon
Hi Falcon.
ReplyDeleteGazza pointed me to this as it was one DT that he kindly let me blog.
Its very interesting to see the differences (apart from the obvious nouns!) that occur over the pond, some of them quite subtle. Just a feew thoughts/clarifications:
SAN - You are entirely correct. the 'Imitation Latin esp. N America' in Chambers only relates to Sanitarium and not Sanatorium. I would maintain, though, that the word is not common UK parlance. The small number of boarding school pupils will probably know it as a matter of course but elsewhere it is quite rare as other terms are employed for the convalescent institutions. Personally, I only ever see it as a good way of getting SAN into a crossword clue!!.
Wanting/Not wanting: I think Giovanni's intended usage was in not desiring. The idea being 'I don't want it, take it away!'.
Equally the clue might have simply said 'wantin a' meaning lacking but this would have destroyed the sense of the surface reading.
Alexander Graham Bell: Mea culpa! - I wrote that in quickly without much thought. I sort of knew that he emigrated and I guess that fact would resonate more across the Atlantic!.
Keep up the good work!.
Barry (gnomethang)
Hi Gnomethang,
ReplyDeleteLet me say that I enjoyed very much your review of this puzzle. Also, thank you for the comments above.
As for sanatorium/sanitarium, it sounds like it is a rather old fashioned term on both sides of the Atlantic (regardless of how one spells it).
As for "wanting", I have recently seen it used in another puzzle in a somewhat similar way (although not in the negative). There it obviously had the sense of "requiring" and was used similarly to the way I have sometimes seen the word "requiring" used in clues.
I have always been intrigued by Alexander Graham Bell. There is a fascinating museum in Baddeck, Nova Scotia (within sight of Bell's beloved Beinn Bhreagh) that covers his life and work. Not only was he a pioneer in the field of telephony, but he also worked in other fields, including aeronautics and marine craft such as hydrofoils and hydroplanes.
I recall learning during my visit to the museum many years ago that there is a plethora of information about him for a couple of reasons. For one, his wife was deaf and they communicated extensively in writing. Secondly, after some patent difficulties early in his career, he took to documenting his work meticulously in notarized notebooks. Since he never seemed to throw anything out, an extensive record remains.
Falcon