Thursday, October 10, 2013 — DT 27222

Vacation Edition

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27222
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, July 5, 2013
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27222]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Notes I am currently on vacation. Today's abbreviated posting was prepared prior to my departure and provides a link to the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog for the puzzle that I expect to be published today. However, the National Post has been known to alter its publication schedule unexpectedly, so there is no guarantee that my forecast will necessarily prove to be accurate.

Introduction

I am taking a few days to visit family over the Thanksgiving Day weekend here in Canada.

Note on Yesterday's Puzzle

You may recall that two clues (25a and 4d) in yesterday's puzzle differed from the clues that appeared in the online version of the puzzle in the UK. The former clue (25a) is the same as the one that was published in the print edition of The Daily Telegraph in Britain as reported by a visitor to Big Dave's blog. However, there were no reports on his site of any discrepancy in clue 4d between the online version of the puzzle and that in the paper.

When I pointed this out to Big Dave, he commented "It's unlikely that the new 4d clue was published here. Someone always points out any discrepancies."

In my opinion, it is also highly unlikely that the clue was altered after publication in the UK before being syndicated.

Perhaps one can discern what might have transpired by looking at the production process for a puzzle. First, the setter composes the puzzle and submits it to the puzzles editor at The Daily Telegraph. The editor may suggest changes to the setter (either to correct an error or to conform to style guidelines, etc.). From this point, the process branches. In one branch the puzzle goes into the production process at The Daily Telegraph where it is published in the newspaper and posted to the website. In the other branch, the puzzle is distributed in syndication to newspapers around the world.

Sometimes readers report errors in the published puzzle that have slipped past the editor and these may get corrected on the website (often by substituting a new clue for the clue containing the error). Of course, these changes cannot be made in the print edition of the paper which is already on the newsstands. In most cases, these errors also do not get corrected in the syndicated puzzle

The only plausible explanation that I can offer for clue 4d in yesterday's paper is that the version of the clue which appeared in the National Post is the original version of the clue as composed by the setter and submitted to the editor. Then, before publication in the UK (but after the puzzle had been released for syndication), the puzzles editor at The Daily Telegraph saw fit to alter the clue. Thus the change would have been made in the print edition of The Daily Telegraph as well as on the website but not in the version of the puzzle that had already been released to syndication.

This may also explain why the quotation marks around works of literature, etc. are often missing from the puzzle in the National Post. Since the puzzle is published here months after it appears in the UK, I had always assumed that the syndicated version was released after the puzzle was published in The Daily Telegraph. However, I have discovered that other papers around the world carry the puzzle much closer to (on even on) the date that it appears in Britain. Thus the syndicated puzzle must be released prior to the publication of the puzzle in Britain. Thus the "missing" quotation marks are likely added by an editor at The Daily Telegraph during the production process after the puzzle has been released to syndication.

Based on this analysis, it is surprising that corrections to clues ever get included in the syndicated puzzle. However, I have seen it happen on rare occasions.

Signing off for today — Falcon