Wednesday, June 9, 2010 (DT 26170)

This puzzle, by Rufus, was originally published Monday, February 22, 2010 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26169 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, February 20, 2010

Introduction

The Tool Chest was used sparingly today - and then only to solve the Briticisms, if memory serves me correctly.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Used in Solutions:

barrack² - verb 1 Brit. & Austral./NZ jeer loudly at (a performer or speaker). 2 (barrack for) Austral./NZ support and encourage. [Note: it looks like the Aussies and Kiwis would like to have it both ways.]

cherry stone - chiefly Brit. cherry pit [Note: Oxford defines pit as "noun chiefly N. Amer. the stone of a fruit"]

holdall - [Collins English Dictionary] noun Brit a large strong bag with handles; Usual US and Canadian name is carryall

NUT - abbreviation National Union of Teachers: a trade union for school teachers in England and Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

RA - abbreviation 2 (in the UK) Royal Artillery

ta - exclamation Brit. informal thank you

Wensleydale - noun 1 a white crumbly variety of cheese made in Wensleydale. 2 a breed of long-woolled sheep originally developed in Wensleydale. (ETYMOLOGY: 19c: named after Wensleydale, North Yorkshire)

Today's Links

Rishi's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26170].

Today the Brits are complaining variously about the snow, the cold, and the rain - and wishing Rufus a happy birthday. Prolixic points out that Rufus, whose real name is Roger Squires, has his own Wikipedia entry.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

25d If there's a man around, he's from the U.S. (4)

Yesterday, we saw an inverse anagram clue. Today we have what I suppose might be called an inverse container clue. In a normal container clue, we are given both the container and the contents and, to find the solution, are required to construct the end result that would be achieved by putting these parts together. In this inverse container clue, we are given the container and the end result obtained by putting the parts together and, to find the solution, we must identify what contents would be needed in order to produce that result. Thus the clue effectively says, "If there is A MAN around [a man's name], [what would that name be if] he's an American (from the U.S.)". The solution is ERIC, since AMAN containing ERIC would produce AM(ERIC)AN.

12d One more may make a soldier a sailor (6,5)

This clue is a reference to "Tinker Tailor", which is a counting game, nursery rhyme and fortune telling song traditionally played in England, that can be used to count cherry stones, buttons, daisy petals and other items. The rhyme goes:

Tinker, Tailor,
Soldier, Sailor,
Rich Man, Poor Man,
Beggar Man, Thief.

Thus three cherry stones would equal a soldier, while one more would bring you to sailor.

Such a counting game would seem to be akin to the practice of picking daisy petals while chanting "She loves me, she loves me not, ...". On Big Dave's blog, Vince comments that "... the number of stones left after eating a dessert with cherries in, would determine either what a boy would be when he grew up or what kind of man a girl would marry".

Signing off for today - Falcon

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 (DT 26168)

This puzzle, from Giovanni, was originally published Friday, February 19, 2010 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Today's puzzle reminded me of a strenuous workout at the gym. It involves a lot of hard work, it may sometimes not seem like all that much fun while you're at it, but you know its good for you and you feel a real sense of accomplishment (not to mention relief) once it is completed. The Tool Chest was opened early and used extensively today. Gazza rates the puzzle four stars for difficulty.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Used in Clues:

churchwarden pipe - a tobacco pipe with a long stem

Used in Solutions:

Arian² - noun someone who believes in the doctrine of Arianism, ultimately pronounced heretical in the 4c, according to which Christ is not divine but only the first and highest of all created beings.

blotto - adjective rather dated Brit slang helplessly drunk.

detective inspector (abbreviation DI) - in the U.K., an officer having the rank of inspector who is attached to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of a police service

Tracey Emin -

fete - noun 1 Brit. an outdoor public function to raise funds for a charity or institution, typically involving entertainment and the sale of goods. 2 chiefly N. Amer. a celebration or festival.

lotto - noun 1 a children’s game similar to bingo, using illustrated counters or cards. 2 chiefly N. Amer. a lottery. [Note: Chambers defines lotto as "noun an earlier name for the game now usually called bingo."]

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26168].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

9a Student beginning to spurn female artist - "heretic" (10)

Although the solution was not terribly difficult to decipher from the definition and checking letters, the wordplay proved elusive (at least, I found it to be so). I got off to a bad start, by heading down a dead-end street thinking that the string "emin" might somehow come from the word "feminine". Unfortunately, despite having first met the notorious Ms. Emin just over four months ago in DT 26060, and again just this past weekend in an article in the Ottawa Citizen concerning an exhibition opening this Friday at the National Gallery of Canada (more on that later), I failed to recognize her. I also had never heard of the Arians. I did, however, recognize that S was "beginning to spurn" - small consolation for a less than stellar performance on this clue.

Wikipedia sums up Tracey Emin's contribution to art as follows:

In 1997, her work Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, a tent appliquéd with names, was shown at Charles Saatchi's Sensation exhibition held at the Royal Academy in London. The same year, she gained considerable media exposure, when she appeared drunk and swearing on a live Channel 4 TV discussion.^[1] In 1999, she was a Turner Prize nominee and exhibited My Bed — an installation, consisting of her own unmade dirty bed with used condoms and blood-stained underwear. There has been an ongoing dispute with former boyfriend, artist Billy Childish, particularly over the Stuckism movement, founded in 1999 and named after an insult by her.

In 2004, her tent artwork was destroyed in the Momart warehouse fire. In March 2007, Emin was chosen to join the Royal Academy of Arts in London as a Royal Academician. She represented Britain at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Her first major retrospective 20 Years was held in Edinburgh 2008, and toured Europe until 2009.

Emin's art takes many different forms of expression including needlework and sculpture, drawing, video and installation, photography and painting.

Those of you living in Ottawa or planning to visit this summer will have an opportunity to see some of her work as she is one of a number of artists featured in a show entitled Pop Life: Art in a Material World that will run at the at the National Gallery of Canada from June 11 to September 9. According to the National Post, "It’s been the talk of the London art world, and in June, it’s coming to the National Gallery of Canada, its only North American stop on a world tour."

12a This could lead to baker performing acrobatic moves (12)

Although Gazza provides an explanation of this clue in his review, it may be worthwhile to say a few words about it as well. The definition is "performing acrobatic moves" which has the solution BREAKDANCING. The wordplay is "this could lead to baker" which is a reverse anagram. That is, the wordplay is asking us to supply the fodder and indicator of an anagram for which the solution is BAKER. The required anagram clue is "break dancing", since an anagram (dancing) of BREAK is BAKER.

4d Song introduced by army officer - it's ropy (6)

Here "introduced" is used in the sense of "inserted". Also, "by" is not (as it might appear) a charade indicator. This is actually a container type clue where the wordplay is ARIA (song) contained in (introduced by) LT (army officer). It would seem that one must interpret the clue to implicitly mean "song introduced [into himself] by army officer]".

7d Unsophisticated friend keeps wanderin' about on island (10)

Yet another case where I found the solution without being able to figure out the wordplay. Gazza (with a bit of an assist from Vince) provides an explanation.

13d One may relax with a church-warden (4-6)

Here is another clue where I initially did not understand the wordplay, not being familiar with a churchwarden pipe. My first web search (based on the seemingly incorrect spelling appearing in the clue) did not help. However, when it became obvious from Gazza's review that the explanation must be so trivial that he didn't even deem it worthy of mention, I was motivated to undertake another search (this time using the correct spelling appearing in his review). The hyphen appearing in "church-warden" is almost certainly not part of the spelling of the word, but rather merely a result of a compound word being split across two lines of text. The initial search on "church-warden" returned only a single result which did not mention the pipe meaning of the word. However, the subsequent search on "churchwarden" produced numerous results, with the pipe meaning prominent among them. I wonder if it is cricket for editors to hyphenate words in clues in cryptic crosswords in this way where precise spelling can sometimes be crucial.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Monday, June 7, 2010 (DT 26167)

This puzzle was originally published Thursday, February 18, 2010 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Today we have a relatively less difficult puzzle that I came close to completing unaided. However, I stumbled over the names of a remote Scottish town and a fairly recent British Poet Laureate. Even those were easy to identify using a few instruments from my Tool Chest. I took some satisfaction from being able to correctly piece together, using only the wordplay, the name of the previously unknown-to-me Cornish location.

National Post Summer Publication Schedule

On page 2 of today's National Post, there appears a letter from President & CEO, Paul Godfrey, and Publisher, Gordon Fisher, announcing that the Post will once again this summer not publish a print edition on Monday (a practice that was first introduced last year). This change will take effect on July 5 and continue through Labour Day, September 6. During this period, the letter indicates that up to the minute news coverage will continue to be available (including Mondays, as well as every other day of the week) on the paper's websites, nationalpost.com and financialpost.com. However, it does not specifically mention whether a full Digital Edition of the paper will be produced on Mondays, as was the case last year. This matter is of interest to addicts of crossword puzzles and other Diversions as these features are (to the best of my knowledge) only available online through the Digital Edition.

Error in Today's Puzzle

24a U.S. playwright, single, not in good health (6)

There would appear to be an minor flaw in the numeration indicator for this clue, which should be (1'5) rather than (6). We cannot blame the Post for this mistake, as the puzzle originally appeared with this error in the U.K.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Used in Clues:

Gunpowder - see Used in Solutions section below

turn - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 18. Theatre chiefly Brit a short theatrical act, esp in music hall, cabaret, etc.

Used in Solutions:

air - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 4. public expression; utterance to give air to one's complaints

Bodmin Moor - a granite moorland in northeastern Cornwall, England

Forfar - the county town of Angus, Scotland

Andrew Motion - Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009

paste¹ - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 5. (Cookery) dough, esp when prepared with shortening, as for making pastry

Gunpowder Plot - a failed attempt to assassinate King James I of England and VI of Scotland by blowing up the British House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on November 5, 1605

tum - noun Brit colloq the stomach

vouchsafe - verb literary 1 to agree or condescend to do, give, grant or allow

Today's Links

Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26167].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

4a In the direction of remote Scottish town (6)

I needed help from my Tool Chest to solve this clue. In concert with Libellule (who qualifies this definition in his review with the comment "according to Chambers"), the word FOR did not jump to mind as meaning "in the direction of", although in hindsight I see that it is perfectly appropriate as in the phrase "I'm heading for home".

16a Fully functional, like an athlete in training first thing? (2,3,7)

Libellule opines that this cryptic definition "doesn't work for [him]". I was relatively okay with it, but did think that it would have been better had it read "... first thing in the morning" (which is the way I interpreted it).

23a Two brutes with it, hitman (8)

This clue is a charade; however, "with" is not a charade operator but, rather, part of the fodder of one of the charade elements. The wordplay is {ASS + ASS (two brutes)} + IN (with it) giving ASSASSIN, or "hitman". Here, "with it" means "in vogue" or, more simply, just "in".

Signing off for today - Falcon

Saturday, June 5, 2010 - Thinking Outside the Box (& Inside The Box)

Introduction

One might suspect that the National Post has published the wrong grid for today's puzzle from Cox and Rathvon. An observant solver will notice that the solutions for many of the clues (4a, 10a, 13a, 15a, 21a, 23a, 28a, 29a, 1d, 5d, 6d, 7d, 14d, 16d, 20d, & 24d) don't seem to fit the grid. But that is not the case. The grid is correct, and (with a bit of concentration) the solutions can be made to fit the grid . I won't give away the secret just yet. However, I can say that it would certainly be helpful to start solving at clue 28a. The secret is revealed later in the blog.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

30a Remover of words, as in "um, that is..." (6)

The definition is "remover of words" for which the solution is ERASER. The wordplay is AS contained in (in) {ER (um) + ER (that is)}. In this case, "that is" is just a phrase that one might utter while they fumble for words, similar to "um" or "er", or even (Heaven forbid) "you know".

The Secret Revealed

The solutions for the 16 clues which appear not to fit the grid each contains the string AND. If you substitute an ampersand (&) for the string AND in each of these solutions, the resulting "words" (or, if you prefer, strings of characters) do fit the grid. Moreover, each & occurs at a point where horizontal and vertical clues intersect.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition
	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

1a BUFFET - double definition; "serve yourself meal" and "punch"

4a B&ICOOTS [BANDI(COO)TS] - COO (cry like pigeons) contained in (when caught by) BANDITS (thieves)

10a &OMEDA [_AN|DROMEDA_] - hidden in (has eaten) egyptiAN DROMEDAry; andromeda: shrub of the genus pieris

11a _R|OUTER|S_ - hidden in (in) faR OUTER Space

12a SCENT~ - "something smelled" that sounds like (said) penny

13a GIANT P&A [(GIANT PANDA)*] - anagram (mistakenly) of TAPING AN AD

15a MISH&LING [MI|SHANDLING] - MI (musical note) + SHANDLING (American comedian Garry Shandling)

18a RID(G)E - RIDE (go on horseback) containing (around) G (green)

19a N(ASH)E - ASH (powdery remains) contained in (buried in) NE (northeast); Elizabethan writer Thomas Nashe

21a HOLL&AISE [HOLLANDAISE*] - anagram of (cooked) ON A DISH ELLA

23a P&OWDIES [PANDOWDIES*] - anagram of (drunk) DOWNED A SIP; Apple Pandowdy: a variant of Apple Crisp or Apple Crumble (depending on whether you prefer the American or British name)

25a UN|PEG - UN (French article) + PEG (common nickname for Margaret)

27a COR(TEG<)E - reversal of (back) GET contained in (in) CORE (centre)

28a AMPERS& [AMPERSAND*] - anagram of (out) MAN SPREAD; the & sign appears eight times in this puzzle

29a MARSHL&S [MAR|S(H|L)ANDS] - MAR (damage) + {SANDS (beaches) containing H (high) + (and) L (low)}

30a ER(AS)ER - AS contained in (in) {ER (um) + ER (that is)}

Down

1d BL&ISHMENT [BLANDISHMENT*] - anagram of (new) THE BLIND MANS

2d FLOWERS - double definition; a river is a flower since it is "something that flows" (a well-worn crossword cliché)

3d EVEN|T - EVEN (still) + T (time)

5d &ORRA [AND|OR|RA] - AND (conjunction #1) + OR (conjunctions #2) + RA (Egyptian sun god)

6d COUNTERM& [COUNTERMAN|D] - COUNTERMAN (diner employee) D (dee)

7d ONE-H&ED [ONE-HANDED] - anagram of (dizzy) DEAN HONED; Dizzy Dean: former Major League Baseball player (by the way, he was a pitcher - not a catcher)

8d SOS|A - SOS (call for help) + (by) A; Sammy Sosa: former Major League Baseball player whose home run hitting achievements have been tainted by allegations of the use of performance enhancing drugs

9d L|ANGUISH - L (left) + ANGUISH (distress)

14d NEW ENGL&ER [(NEW ENGLANDER)*] - anagram of (cultivated) GREEN LAWN NED; Québécois: a native or inhabitant of Quebec (a province of Canada) [Note: although the word Québécois can also mean a native or inhabitant of the city of Quebec, in this case the context clearly indicates that the clue is referring to the province rather than the city]

16d &REW WYETH [(ANDREW WYETH)*] - anagram of (abstractly) DREW THE YAWN; Andrew Wyeth: American artist

17d G|OLD|S|TAR - G (good) OLD S (southern) TAR (sailor)

20d SL&ERER [SLANDERER*] - anagram of (upset) REAL NERDS

22d IMP|ARTS - double definition with one part cryptic; "conveys" and "the wiles of rascals" (i.e., "imp arts" or, in other words, "the arts of imps")

24d IREL& [I|RELAND] - I RELAND (touch down again); James Joyce: Irish writer

25d _UPPER - sUPPER (meal) with the initial letter deleted (not starting)

26d SCAM_ - SCAMp (rogue) with the final letter deleted (unfinished)

Signing off for today - Falcon

Friday, June 4, 2010 (DT 26166)

Today's puzzle, set by Jay, was originally published Wednesday, February 17, 2010 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

This is yet another occasion where I found the wordplay to be straightforward in hindsight, but rather difficult on the initial encounter. I dug into the Tool Chest relatively early in the solving process and had to reverse engineer a lot of the wordplay.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Used in Clues:

Lords - the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Used in Solutions:

Aran - adjective (of knitwear) featuring patterns of cable stitch and diamond designs, as made traditionally in the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland

splodge - noun & verb Brit. another term for SPLOTCH [Note: Collins English Dictionary defines splotch as "the usual US word for splodge"]

Territorial Army (abbreviation TA) - noun in the UK a fully trained volunteer force intended to provide back-up to the regular army in cases of emergency

Today's Links

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26166].

Signing off for today - Falcon

Thursday, June 3, 2010 (DT 26165)

This puzzle, by Ray T, was originally published Tuesday, February 16, 2010 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I found today's puzzle to be definitely toward the more difficult end of the scale. I finished not understanding the wordplay for several clues - in fact, without even being sure that a couple of solutions were correct.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Used in Clues:

anorak - a person, usually male, who has a very strong interest, perhaps obsessive, in niche subjects (with the prototypical example perhaps being the hobby of trainspotting)

bull¹ - noun 3 Brit. a bullseye

Harry Lauder - Scottish entertainer

lights - plural noun the lungs of an animal, used as food

Used in Solutions:

Desperate Dan - a character in the British comic The Dandy

inner - [Collins English Dictionary] noun Archery a. the red innermost ring on a target [Note: situated next to the bull's eye, which is gold]

potter² - [Collins English Dictionary] verb Chiefly Brit 2. to move with little energy or direction; esp US and Canadian, putter

RE - abbreviation religious education

RR - abbreviation Right Reverend: (in Britain) noun a title of a bishop

sprog - noun Brit. informal, chiefly derogatory a child

underseal - noun Brit. undercoat: [American Heritage Dictionary] 3c. (also undercoating) A tarlike substance sprayed on the underside of a vehicle to prevent rusting; [Collins English Dictionary] 4. the US name for underseal [i.e., undercoat is the US name for the British term underseal]

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26165].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Fit plug to the point (5)

It seemed that there could be only one possible solution, namely ADAPT with the definition being "fit". As for the wordplay, I thought that "point" might give rise to PT. However, that left me with the problem of trying reconcile "plug" = ADA. As I was to learn from Gazza, a "plug" is an AD and "to the point" means APT. I must say that the latter is not a meaning with which I am familiar; I think of "to the point" as meaning "concise, getting directly to the core of an issue" (but perhaps one might stretch that far enough to encompass "suitable").

18a Lesser gods holding monsters back (5)

I initially thought that the lesser gods might be LARES (although I couldn't fathom the wordplay). Eventually, additional checking letters ruled out this possibility. This is one of those clues we sometimes see in British puzzles where the definition appears in the middle of the clue. The definition is monsters with the solution being OGRES. The wordplay tells us that the phrase "lesSER GOds" contains ([is] holding) a reversal (back) of the solution (OGRES).

25a Grabbed someone's booty! (9)

Being a North American, the double-entendre referring to a person's derrière came readily to mind. However, it does not seem to factor into the cryptic analysis of the clue - merely adding a slightly naughty overtone to the surface reading. To my way of thinking, though, the definition is poor. Booty is the proceeds of ransacking. Ransacked could be defined as "grabbed someone's valuables" - but it doesn't become booty until after it has been ransacked. Perhaps the setter is suggesting the case of one pirate stealing the loot of a second pirate.

21d Trespasser losing head close to bull (5)

Even though I had the correct solution and understood part of the wordplay, I failed to figure out the connection between INNER and "bull". Fortunately, I could count on Gazza for the explanation.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 (DT 26164)

This puzzle, set by Rufus, was originally published Monday, February 15, 2010 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26163 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, February 13, 2010

Introduction

Being a "Monday" puzzle, it leaned a bit towards the less difficult end of the scale. I did manage to complete the puzzle unaided - but not without making a few educated guesses (and one or two not-so-educated ones) which fortuitously proved to be correct.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Used in Clues:

starting price - noun the final odds at the start of a horse race

Used in Solutions:

lag³ - noun Brit. informal a habitual convict

line-out - noun rugby union the way play restarts after the ball goes into touch, by the forwards of both teams forming two rows facing the touch-line and trying to catch or deflect the ball which is thrown in by someone from the team which did not cause the infringement

piano² - (abbreviation p) music adverb softly or adjective soft

scot - noun Money assessed or paid [see also Oxford entry for scot-free which explains "ORIGIN from obsolete scot ‘a tax’, from an Old Norse word meaning ‘a shot’"]

seven-a-side - a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches

SP - abbreviation starting price

tide rip - noun 1. (rare) A body of water made rough by the conflict of opposing tides or currents

veg - noun (pl. same) Brit. informal a vegetable or vegetables

Today's Links

Rishi's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26164].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

4d It results in a certain jumpiness among among rugby players (4-3)

A line-out in rugby union is "the way play restarts after the ball goes into touch, by the forwards of both teams forming two rows facing the touch-line and trying to catch or deflect the ball which is thrown in by someone from the team which did not cause the infringement". Libellule adds (in a comment at Big Dave's site), "At a line out, players jump, and then are lifted into the air to catch the ball".

26a Grouse meat (4)

This clue gave me an appetite for CRAB; however, I was to discover that our setter had decided to serve up quite a different dish.

Signing off for today - Falcon