Thursday, November 25, 2010 (DT 26327)

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26327
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Setter Ray T
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26327]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ***	Enjoyment - ****

Introduction

It was a very enjoyable puzzle today, but I found it fairly challenging - my Tool Chest definitely got a good workout today.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Solutions:

don ¹ - noun 1 British a university teacher, especially a senior member of a college at Oxford or Cambridge.

Harley Street - noun a street in central London famous for its large number of medical specialists' consulting rooms

quack - noun British informal a doctor

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

1a Here, let's try a new treatment? (6,6)

Our first indication that there may be something a bit out of the ordinary about this clue should be the question mark at the end. It is an & lit. clue (or, as some would prefer to call it, an all-in-one clue). The entire clue serves as both the wordplay and the definition. The wordplay is an anagram (new treatment) of HERE LETS TRY A and the definition alludes to the name of a location (here) where one might receive treatment. The solution is HARLEY STREET, a London thoroughfare noted for its concentration of doctor's offices.

9a Old Spice Girl with three hits, say (9)

The definition here is "old", the Spice Girl is English pop-singer Geri Halliwell, and "three hits" refers to a hat trick in cricket, in which "a bowler takes three wickets with three successive balls". The term hat trick actually originated in cricket in the middle of the 19^th century and was only introduced to hockey a century later. The wordplay is GERI (Spice Girl) + ATRIC, which sounds like (say) HAT TRICK as it might be pronounced by an Englishman, especially one with a Cockney accent.

19a Catapult giving son slight wound (9)

Although "wound" means injury in the surface reading, I suspect we may be expected to read it as the past tense of 'wind' (as to wind thread on a spool) in the cryptic reading. Whatever its meaning, it serves as an anagram indicator.

22a I train as a doctor in hospitals (9)

Gazza characterises SANITARIA as "the North American spelling of hospitals for convalescents or the chronically ill". However, this is more properly a U.S. spelling than a North American one. Although the term is rarely used these days, at the turn of 20^th century, a network of hospitals was established in Canada to treat tuberculosis and these institutions were called sanatoria.

3d Hit with side of bat given boundaries (6)

We encounter here another cricket related clue. Unlike a baseball bat, which is round, a cricket bat is flattened (like a paddle) and so has an edge. In cricket, boundary can refer to either the marked limits of a cricket field, a stroke that hits the ball across the boundary line (scoring four or six runs), or the score for such a stroke.

My initial idea here was that the wordplay might be H (hit) + (with) EDGE (side of bat) to give HEDGE. However, I was a bit uncomfortable with the match to the definition which would need to be either "boundaries" or "given boundaries". Eventually, the solution to 11a indicated that this attempt was faulty.

4d African site, green here and there (9)

I believe this is a semi & lit. clue - one in which the entire clue serves as the definition, but the wordplay only makes up part of the clue. Compare this to a true & lit. clue such as 1a where the entire clue constitutes both the wordplay and the definition.

The wordplay in this clue is an anagram (here and there) of SITE GREEN. This can't be a true & lit. clue as the word "African" is not used in the wordplay and it can't be a regular cryptic clue as "African" is not sufficient on its own to be a definition for SERENGETI.

7d Quack heard in the air? (6,6)

I would appear that in addition to its pejorative meaning, the word quack may be used informally in Britain as a synonym for doctor. In North America, the word has such a negative connotation that to call a doctor a quack would almost be an invitation to a suit for defamation.

15d Abstains, is tentatively holding fast (9)

Gazza interprets the definition to be "holding fast" and observes "Holding appears to be doing double duty as part of the definition and as the hidden indicator". However, the definition could equally well be just "fast" (which can mean 'firmly fixed') in which case "holding" is not required to do double duty.

By the way, I find it interesting that the word fast can mean either 'firmly fixed' or 'moving quickly', making it one of those (seemingly many) words in English that are virtually their own antonym.

Signing off for today - Falcon