Monday, July 11, 2011 - DT 26527

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26527
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, April 15, 2011
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26527]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★★	Enjoyment - ★★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog
Notes This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page of the Saturday, July 9, 2011 edition of the National Post

Introduction

Given that this puzzle was published in the Saturday edition of the National Post, I was able to work on it in brief stretches over the course of several days. Each time I came back to it, a few more pieces would fall into place. Similar to several of the Brits, an initially incorrect solution at 9a (carelessly entering HELL with no justification other than it is hidden in Othello) handicapped me for quite some time in the northwest quadrant.

Today's Glossary

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

[An asterisk beside an entry merely indicates that it has been taken it from a Cumulative Glossary of entries which have previously appeared, in either this blog or its companion blog, the Ottawa Citizen Cryptic Crossword Forum.]

Appearing in Clues:

Meanings listed in this section may reflect how the word is used in the surface reading of the clue. Of course, that meaning may be contributing to the misdirection that the setter is attempting to create.

barking - adjective British informal completely mad or demented: [i] we are all a bit barking [ii] [as submodifier] has she gone completely barking mad?

Appearing in Solutions:

mirador - noun a turret or tower attached to a building and providing an extensive view.

nail - verb 2 informal [2^nd entry] expose (a lie or other deception).

NUM - abbreviation (in the UK) National Union of Mineworkers.

p - abbreviation Music piano², adjective & adverb (especially as a direction) soft or softly [also quiet or quietly].

ripe - adjective 5 informal (of a person's language) beyond the bounds of propriety; coarse.

Sn - symbol the chemical element tin. [Origin: from late Latin stannum 'tin']

trader - noun 1 someone who trades, often one who owns or runs a shop or market stall, or who trades in a particular group of goods.

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.

6d   What's this is due ultimately to the fantastic Lister (7)

There is quite a bit of discussion concerning this & lit. clue at Big Dave's site. The entire clue provides the definition; i.e., effectively saying that what is STERILE is due to Lister. Giovanni confirms that the wordplay is E (the final or ultimate letter of duE) added to the end of an anagram (fantastic) of LISTER. At Big Dave's site, there is some griping regarding "to" meaning "added to". However, this must be what Giovanni intended as he comments "If something is added to something else it could be at either end, I guess, but here it works at the end. A legitimate ambiguity, I feel.". This view would clearly seem to fly in the face of the convention that "A on B" in an across clue must denote BA since A can only be added to B if B has been written first. Nevertheless, I do note that the present clue does respect the A added to B denoting BA convention (i.e., E added to STERIL produces STERILE).

With respect to the point about 'to' meaning 'added to', I have developed a slightly different interpretation of clues of the form "A to B". I think of 'to' meaning 'placed next to' as in expressions such as "nose to the grindstone" and "shoulder to the wheel".

Signing off for today - Falcon