Thursday, November 8, 2012 - DT 26953

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26953
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, August 24, 2012
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26953]
Big Dave's Review Written By Pommers
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 █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

Aside from the rather tricky clue at 1a, I was able to complete today's puzzle without consulting my electronic assistants.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

1a   Special traffic arrangement would do for wolf maybe! (10)

This was my last clue in — and the only one for which I needed to call upon the assistance of my electronic aids. The difficulty here is twofold. First, the solution is a British term with which I am not particularly familiar (although I do dimly recall that I may have encountered it sometime in the distant past). Second, the setter has employed a complicated and rarely seen type of clue (which I shall attempt to explain below).

Note: In Pommers review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the explanation given in the review is incorrect — as Pommers acknowledges in the discussion that takes place in the "Comments" section of the blog.

This is an example of inverse wordplay. For instance, in a "normal" clue, the wordplay is found in the clue and the outcome of the wordplay is found in the solution. Thus if the wordplay happens to be an anagram, the anagram indicator and fodder (the elements on which the anagram indicator operates) are in the clue and the outcome of the anagram operation forms all or part of the solution.

In the case of inverse wordplay, the process is essentially reversed. The solution contains elements that could constitute wordplay and the clue contains the outcome of this wordplay together with an inversion indicator. Since we have two sets of wordplay involved, it would be useful to clearly differentiate between them. Let's designate the wordplay that is found in the clue as the primary wordplay and the wordplay that is found in the solution as the secondary wordplay. The secondary wordplay consists of fodder and indicator. The primary wordplay consists of the outcome of the secondary wordplay plus an inversion indicator.

In the present clue, the primary wordplay is "would do for wolf maybe!" in which the inversion indicator is "would do for ... maybe" together with the exclamation point (which alerts us to the fact that this is not your ordinary run-of-mill clue); the fodder (the element on which the inversion indicator operates) is "wolf". The primary wordplay is interpreted as 'WOLF would be the outcome of executing a bit of secondary wordplay to be found in the solution'. It is the solver's task to find this bit of wordplay that might produce the outcome WOLF.

WOLF happens to be a reversal of FLOW and CONTRAFLOW (special traffic arrangement), when interpreted as wordplay, would be a reversal (contra) of FLOW.

In summary, this is an inverse reversal type clue in which the primary wordplay is "would do for wolf maybe" and the secondary wordplay (which happens to encompass the entire solution) is CONTRAFLOW.

In Britain, contraflow^[5] is a temporary arrangement where traffic on a road is transferred from its usual side to share the other half of the carriageway with traffic moving in the opposite direction ⇒ [as modifier] a series of contraflow systems to allow resurfacing work to be carried out. A carriageway^[5] is each of the two sides of a dual carriageway or motorway [multilane divided highway], each of which usually have two or more lanes  ⇒ the eastbound carriageway of the M4.

10a   Burden I had laid down by Thames maybe -- as one helping passenger? (4-6)

The Thames^[5] is a river of southern England, flowing 338 km (210 miles) eastwards from the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire through London to the North Sea.

"Maybe" indicates a definition by example (Thames being an example of a river). I would say that the question mark is a bit of sarcasm indicating that the validity of the definition is somewhat doubtful.

11a   Mad character to yap, putting leader off (6)

The Hatter (called Hatta in Through the Looking-Glass) is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter^[7], though this term was never used by Carroll. The phrase "mad as a hatter" pre-dates Carroll's works and the characters the Hatter and the March Hare are initially referred to as "both mad" by the Cheshire Cat, with both first appearing in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in the seventh chapter titled "A Mad Tea-Party".

In Britain, rabbit^[5] (which is used by Pommers in his review) is an informal term meaning to talk at length, especially about trivial matters ⇒ stop rabbiting on, will you, and go to bed!. It is also used as a noun meaning a conversation ⇒ we had quite a heated rabbit about it. The origin of this expression is rabbit and pork, rhyming slang for 'talk' [where I would assume that 'talk' must be pronounced so as to rhyme with 'pork' in the Cockney area of East London].

12a   Endlessly irritated by draught perhaps in castle (7)

Windsor Castle^[7] is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and for its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it has been used by a succession of monarchs and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe.

Draught^[5] is the British spelling of draft. In Canada, I would say that this spelling is used primarily in reference to beer, with the US spelling usually being seen for other meanings of the word.

15a   Irishman leading disturbance may be a flag-waver (7)

In Crosswordland, an Irishman is almost invariably named Pat.

16a   Bombastic leaders of trade union, stupid on reflection (5)

Yesterday, we needed to figure out that TU was an abbreviation for trade union; Giovanni makes life a bit easier by telling us that we need the "leaders of Trade Union". [Given the primary meaning of the word tumid^[5], I can only imagine how Ray T might have utilized it.]

18a   Priest, odd person to provide remedy (4)

I was familiar with two out of the three definitions found in this triple definition. A curé^[5] is a parish priest in a French-speaking country and cure^[5] as a verb meaning to mean (1) to eliminate (a disease or condition) with medical treatment or (2) to solve (a problem). However, the second definition in the clue is not only new to me, but I was able to find it listed in only one dictionary. The Chambers Dictionary defines cure^[1] as an odd or queer person [etymology dubious].

19a   Sailor away from home and on the go (5)

In the Royal Navy, able seaman (abbreviation AB)^[5], is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

21 Man perhaps needs wages to wear patterned fabric (7)

The Isle of Man (abbreviation IOM)^[5] is an island in the Irish Sea which is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system. The island was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes.

28a   Actual existence unaffected by setback (4)

In the field of philosophy, esse^[5,10] means (1) existence or (2) essential nature or essence ⇒ two traditions, each of whose esse is opposition to the central tenets of the other.

29a   Main course that has little chance of success? (3-7)

The whole clue could be considered to be a cryptic definition or the clue could be read as a double definition with the two definitions being "main course" and "(something) that has little chance of success?". In the second definition, one must infer the presence of the implicit word "something".

See yesterday's posting for a discussion of this type of clue.

2d   Hungarian wine, not the number one -- satisfactory (4)

Tokay^[5] is a sweet aromatic wine, originally made near Tokaj in Hungary.

4d   Almost a full month lying on bed -- fruit is offered (7)

For effect, the setter has twisted the normal order of words around somewhat in this clue. Due to this, we find the definition in an unusual position — sitting in the middle of the clue. Despite appearing at the end of the clue, the phrase "is offered" fulfills the role of a link phrase. This can be seen by replacing the word "offered" by an equivalent term such as 'provided' or 'supplied' and rearranging the order to a more natural one. The clue would then read, "Almost a full month lying on bed providing fruit". Thus the wordplay is "almost a full month lying on bed" and the definition is "fruit" with "providing" being a link word between these two parts of the clue.

Pommers hint might be a bit confusing to North Americans. In the UK, a cot^[5] may be either a a small bed with high barred sides for a baby or very young child (called a crib^[5] in North America) or a plain narrow bed (as I am familiar with the use of the word in Canada).

Word History: People might assume that there is nothing particularly exotic about the history of the word cot. However, cot is a good example of how some words borrowed from other cultures become so firmly naturalized over time that they lose their émigré flavor. The British first encountered the object denoted by cot, a light frame strung with tapes or rope, in India, where their trading stations had been established as early as 1612. The word cot, first recorded in English in 1634, comes from the Hindi name for the contrivance. During subsequent years, cot has been used to denote other types of beds, including in British usage a crib. - American Heritage Dictionary^[3]

5d   Continue existence with gland not right (4)

I was unaware that the liver is considered to be a gland. However, Oxford defines liver^[5] as a large lobed glandular organ in the abdomen of vertebrates, involved in many metabolic processes.

6d   Explosive article in part of hospital that could kill people (7)

Here is another case (similar to 29a) where the word "something" is implicit in the definition, "(something) that could kill people".

I can't help but note the irony that the letters HE^[3,4] can be clued by either "helium", an inert (non-explosive) gas, as well as by "high explosive".

14d   Mat at the side of school for game (5)

Pommers comments "As far as I can see the ‘for game’ is unnecessary". However, its inclusion does narrow down the number of schools that we have to take into consideration. Rugby football^[7] is a style of football named after Rugby School^[7] in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.

23d   Minor saints will appear in bit of film coming up (6)

In general, saint may be abbreviated as either St^[2] or S^[2] — but only the latter will do today.

25d   Bridge in a particular country but not Italy (4)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Italy is I^[5].

26d   Put up with someone you'd rather not listen to? (4)

In the first definition (put up with), it took a moment to register that the verb "put" may indicate the past tense as well as the present tense.

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon