Monday, October 4, 2010 (DT 26282)

This puzzle, by Giovanni, was originally published in The Daily Telegraph on Friday, July 2, 2010

Introduction

Similar to many of the Brits, it took me a while to get started (not until I had read through the clues at least twice). And like Lea, I first solved the upper half of the puzzle - managing to do it unaided but not without a lot of intense concentration. For the bottom half, I had to resort to assistance from my Tool Chest. As a number of the Brits commented, the clues in a Giovanni puzzle often do not look overly difficult in hindsight but can seem totally daunting until "the penny drops".

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Solutions:

advert¹ - noun British informal an advertisement

Sebastian Coe - British middle distance runner who is numbered among the dominant athletes of the 1980s

cor - exclamation British informal expressing surprise, excitement, admiration, or alarm: Cor! That‘s a beautiful black eye you’ve got!

full back (US fullback) - noun (in certain team games) a player in a defensive position, playing at the side of the field in soccer and hockey [obviously field hockey] and behind the other backs in rugby

• Note 1: Being a British dictionary, the ODE (Oxford Dictionary of English, not to be confused with the Oxford English Dictionary - an error of which I have been found guilty in the past) uses the term hockey in reference to field hockey and would undoubtedly refer to what Canadians know as hockey as ice hockey.
• Note 2: While Oxford gives the spelling as full back (with the U.S. spelling being fullback), both Chambers and Collins show this word spelled only as fullback
• Note 3: A fullback in American or Canadian football is a player in an offensive position, specifically "an offensive backfield player whose position is behind the quarterback and halfbacks and who primarily performs offensive blocking and line plunges"
• Note 4: Collins specifically states that a fullback is "one of two defensive players positioned in front of the goalkeeper" in soccer, field hockey and ice hockey. However, in ice hockey, this position is called defence and the player is called a defenceman (in both men's and women's hockey). It did occur to me that field hockey terminology might be used in British ice hockey, but judging by the roster of the Manchester Phoenix of the British Elite Ice Hockey League, the terminology is the same in Britain as in Canada.

nates - plural noun Anatomy the buttocks [Note: I have seen and heard countless names for this part of the anatomy, but it seems that I have never encountered the proper anatomical term until now]

tin - noun 1 British informal, dated money

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26282].

It is often interesting and informative to read through the comments on Big Dave's site. For instance, today I added to my knowledge of cricket. I knew that a cricket match consists of two innings played over a period of five days. However, it is intriguing to learn that one can solve a cryptic crossword while playing. Given that a batsman may bat a century (100 hits) or more before being out, I suppose that a player has lots of spare time while waiting to bat. I certainly hope that is the right interpretation - I'd hate to think that the puzzle was solved while the player was on the field :-)

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

18a A French prisoner's disciplined, but not locked up (13)

I felt that I knew the answer as soon as I read the clue, and immediately wrote in UNCONFINED - leaving me with three empty spots in the grid!

Signing off for today - Falcon