Friday, November 5, 2010 (DT 26310)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26310
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Setter Jay
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26310]
Big Dave's Review Written By Crypticsue
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ***	Enjoyment - ***

Introduction

Today's puzzle left me scratching my head over the wordplay in several clues - and even after reading Crypticsue's revue on Big Dave's site, I am not confident that I fully understand it.

Publication Schedule During My Absence

I managed to do fairly well in predicting the publication schedule during my recent absence. My forecast was correct for the first two weeks. However, the National Post threw a curve ball this past Monday when they published DT 26288, a puzzle that normally would have appeared on Monday, October 11, 2010. That was Thanksgiving Day in Canada and a day on which the National Post did not publish. The National Post then resumed the regular publication sequence on Tuesday, meaning that the remaining puzzles this week appeared one day later than I had expected. I have now corrected the blogs for this week to reflect this change to the publication schedule.

I can only take solace in knowing that weather forecasters would probably be quite satisfied with the degree of accuracy that I achieved with my prediction.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Solutions:

begum - noun Indian

• a Muslim woman of high rank
• (Begum) the title of a married Muslim woman, equivalent to Mrs.

East-Ender - noun a resident of the part of London [England] east of the City as far as the River Lea, including the Docklands

Note: Oxford Dictionaries Online shows this word as being spelled East Ender as does Collins English Dictionary (East Ender), while Chambers gives it as Eastender

glossy - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun 2. Chiefly British A popular magazine printed on smooth-coated stock.

peat moor - noun Geology beat bog: A bog in which peat has formed under conditions of acidity. Also known as peat bed or peat moor.

pence - noun British plural form of penny

sweep - noun [British] 7. short for sweepstake

In North America, this term almost invariably appears as a plural noun (sweepstakes) which may be used with either a singular or plural verb with the shortened form being sweeps [Ref.: American Heritage Dictionary, noun 12.].

Edgar Varese - United States composer (born in France) whose music combines dissonance with complex rhythms and the use of electronic techniques (1883-1965)

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

13a Part of foot - measure part of foot (6)

I'm having a bit of a hard time getting my head around this clue. The definition would seem to be the first appearance of "part of foot" with the solution being INSTEP. The wordplay then would be IN (measure; i.e., abbreviation for inch) + STEP (part of foot). It is the latter part of the charade (STEP = part of foot) that confounds me. Crypticsue indicates that step is used in the sense of  "a degree or scale of a series" but I don't see how the series becomes a foot. Step can be a musical term and foot a term used in poetry, so perhaps the answer lies here somewhere. Perhaps the answer would be clear to someone who is better gifted when it comes to these fields.

18a Key deficit links topless magazines (8)

The definition is "magazines" and the wordplay is G (key; Music) + LOSS (deficit) + [t]IES {TIES (links) topless; i.e., "ties" less its first letter}. This would have worked better as a down clue, since the top letter really would have been deleted. In my opinion, it works much less well as an across clue, since it is now the first letter that must be deleted. I suppose one could argue that 'top' means 'leading' and therefore "topless" could be interpreted as 'without its leading letter'. However, I would much prefer it as a down clue.

The use of the term glossy to describe a type of magazine is probably more common in Britain than in North America, where I think the word is more apt to be used in reference to photographs.

27a Managing director is too enthusiastic! (9)

I'm also struggling with this clue. If one interprets it as a double definition with the word "is" as being a link word, the clue does not seem to work. One definition is clearly "too enthusiastic" with the solution being OVERBOARD. However, a "managing director" is not an "OVERBOARD", or even an "OVER BOARD". I have concluded that one must use "Managing director is" as either a second definition (or possibly some other form of wordplay) and insert an implicit "where" into it to get "[where] managing director is" and that would be "OVER [the] BOARD" on the organization chart (at least in the eyes of the setter). As contributors on Big Dave's site point out, the Managing Director is actually under the Board of Directors. It is the Chairman who is over the Board. Not the most elegant (or accurate) of clues - unless I'm missing something.

29a Free article being rejected is a low point (5)

The definition is "low point" and the wordplay is a reversal (being rejected) of {RID (free) + AN (article)} giving the solution NADIR. "Rejected" can be used as a reversal indicator since it may mean 'returned' or 'turned back' as in the sense where someone offers you something and you reject it by returning it to them.

2d Cooking and eating custard all come before fruit (5)

This is yet another clue where I could not fully comprehend the wordplay (until I read Crypticsue's review). It is a bit like 27a in that (to my mind, at least) one must infer some additional words in the clue for the wordplay to be fully understood. Thus the definition is "fruit" for which the solution is APPLE and the the wordplay is equivalent to "[what] cooking and eating [as well as] custard all come before" (i.e., cooking apple, eating apple, and custard apple).

Signing off for today - Falcon