The National Post has skipped DT 26277 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, June 26, 2010
Introduction
Having gone back yesterday to pick up a dropped stitch, the National Post picks up its knitting today where it left off on Friday (of course, as usual, omitting the puzzle published in the U.K. on Saturday). It is a typically entertaining puzzle from Rufus, rating three stars both for difficulty and enjoyment in Libellule's books. While there were enough British terms in today's puzzle that - unlike yesterday - my Tool Chest received a fairly vigorous workout, I at least managed to figure out the name of the football club on my own.
Today's Glossary
Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Used in Clues:
bar - preposition
- chiefly British [though commonly used in Canada, as well] except for: his kids were all gone now, bar one
- Horse Racing, British except the horses indicated (used when stating the odds)
Used in Solutions:
the Ashes - noun 2 a trophy for the winner of a series of Test matches in a cricket season between England and Australia [from a mock obituary notice published in the Sporting Times (2 September 1882), with reference to the symbolical remains of English cricket being taken to Australia after a sensational victory by the Australians at the Oval]
The Oval - a cricket ground in London, EnglandCroesus (595 BC – c. 547 BC) - a king of Lydia who was renowned for his wealth
form - noun 8 British a long bench without a back
obi2 - noun variant form of obeah, a kind of sorcery practised especially in the Caribbean
Petticoat Lane Market - a fashion and clothing market located in London, England.
soigné - adjective (feminine soignée) dressed very elegantly; well groomed: she was dark, petite, and soignée
ta - exclamation British informal thank you
tyre - (US [and Canada] tire) noun
- a rubber covering, typically inflated or surrounding an inflated inner tube, placed round a wheel to form a soft contact with the road
- a strengthening band of metal fitted around the rim of a wheel, especially of a railway vehicle
Origin: late 15th century (denoting the curved pieces of iron plate with which carriage wheels were formerly shod): perhaps a variant of archaic tire, shortening of attire (because the tyre was the ‘clothing’ of the wheel)West Ham United Football Club - an association football club based in London, England.
Today's Links
Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26278].
The Brits seemed to be in a singularly testy mood, following England's 4-1 elimination from further competition in the FIFA World Cup at the hands (er, feet) of Germany the day before. The use of the word soignée in the puzzle generated one the lengthiest and most vehement discussions that I can remember ever seeing on Big Dave's blog. I can only imagine the reaction had Rufus used a German word rather than a French word.
CryticSue's comment alluding to "Swan Vestas" is a reference to a popular brand of British matches.
Swan Vesta is a brand name for the most popular brand of 'strike-anywhere' matches currently available in the UK, shorter than regular pocket matches they are particularly popular with smokers.Commentary on Today's Puzzle
24a One rejected a knight's title? It's a bloomer! (4)
Here "rejected" serves as a reversal indicator, used in the sense of 'sent back'. The definition is "bloomer" (a plant that produces flowers at a specified time) and the wordplay is I (one) + a reversal (rejected) of SIR (a knight's title) to give the solution IRIS.
In the surface reading, the word bloomer would be seen by the Brits to mean 'a serious or stupid mistake'. In the U.K., bloomer can also mean 'a large loaf [of bread] with diagonal slashes on a rounded top'.
3d Exhaust seen on American car (4)
While tire (meaning, to exhaust) is spelled with an 'i' in Britain (as it is in North America), the homophone meaning a component of an automobile (or other vehicle) is spelled tyre in the U.K. and tire in North America.
I note with interest that the OED advises readers, "Spell tyre with a y (the spelling tire is American)". Obviously, this advice should be ignored when solving today's puzzle. However, could the mere fact that Oxford feels compelled to offer this guidance be an indication that American spellings are beginning to make inroads even in Britain?
Signing off for today - Falcon
Sorry to be picky, but (partly because Oxford Univerity Press have chosen some rather confusing names), you need to make it clear exactly what you're referring to. The dictionary you quoted is the single-volume "Oxford Dictionary of English". The much much bigger Oxford English Dictionary doesn't bother with usage instructions like this, and turns out to contain plenty of historical examples of "tire" which suggest that it was a valid or variant British spelling in the past (for the current "tyre" meaning.)
ReplyDeleteI'm not an expert in the history of spelling but there seem to be at least some cases where words which had variant spellings acquired a recognised "American" spelling which for whatever reason pushed the Brits towards the other variant. The classic example is the -ize ending as an alternative to -ise which some Brits think is American but has always existed as a variant here, and (with well-defined exceptions) is the house style of (as it happens) OUP.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteNo need to apologise for being picky - picky is welcome here. I will try to be more careful with my terminology in future.
Your comments regarding so-called British and American usage are interesting. In Canada, we tend to encounter a melange of both spellings. At one time, we had much closer ties to the "mother country" (and somewhat less cordial relations with our neighbour to the south) which no doubt resulted in a tendency to favour British usage. However, as links to Britain weaken and the influence of American mass media washes over us, American usage seems to grow ever more prevalent.
By the way, the Blogger spell checker is objecting to the words ending in -ise and -our above.
Falcon