Wednesday, December 16, 2009 (DT 26017)

This puzzle was originally published Wednesday, August 26, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

It was a relatively easy puzzle today. To top it off, Big Dave has covered virtually every point that I had flagged as possible fodder for the blog today. Consequently, more time for Christmas shopping.

Today's Glossary

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

Louis Bleriot - French aviation pioneer

RR - abbreviation 2. Right Reverend: Brit. a title of respect for an Anglican or Roman Catholic bishop

Edmund Spenser - English poet

ton - noun 8 colloq a speed, score or sum, etc of 100

Today's Links

Big Dave's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26017].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

8a Artist fashionable after good month at university (7)

As a rule, "at university" is UP; but there is an exception to every rule, as today's puzzle proves.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 (DT 26016)

This puzzle was originally published Tuesday, August 25, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

While not a terribly difficult puzzle today, I did manage to stumble over one clue.

Today's Glossary

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

describe - [American Heritage® Dictionary ] tr.v. 4 To trace the form or outline of: describe a circle with a compass

MB - abbreviation 1 Bachelor of Medicine, Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus

nurse¹ - verb 3 treat or hold carefully or protectively

sister - noun 5 (often Sister) Brit. a senior female nurse

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26016].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

2d A wit badly described by brand new U.S. novelist (4,5)

It took a bit of pondering to figure out why "described" is a container indicator. It is used in the sense of to form the outline of. Thus MARK (brand) and N (new) form the outline of TWAI, an anagram (badly) of A WIT.

9d Nursing home's senior nurse left (8)

A couple of Briticisms in this clue did me in. In Britain, a senior female nurse is a Sister. While I knew that "home" is IN (as "at home"), I didn't recognize "nursing" as a container indicator. Furthermore, I was working on the mistaken notion that "left" was an instruction to delete some letters. All the British dictionaries provide a definition for nurse along the lines of "to hold carefully or protectively", a sense of the word that I did not find in American dictionaries. My best effort attempt at a solution was MINISTER, on the basis that nurses minister to the needs of their patients (although in North America, one might be more apt to use this word in relation to a member of the clergy than to a nurse). Of course, I learned from Gazza's review that the right solution ironically is SINISTER.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Monday, December 14, 2009 (DT 26015)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, August 24, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26014 which was published Saturday, August 22, 2009 in the Daily Telegraph

Introduction

It was not an overly difficult puzzle today - certainly much easier than some to which we have been subjected recently. However, I did fail to find the solution to one clue and missed some elements of the wordplay on a few others.

Today's Glossary

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

roll-on - noun 2 Brit a woman's light elastic corset.

solo - noun 4 (in full solo whist) a card game based on whist, in which various declarations are made and the declarer does not have a partner

tell ¹ [American Heritage® Dictionary] - v.tr. 8. To name or number one by one; count: telling one's blessings; 16 windows, all told.

Today's Links

Tilsit's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26015].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Unusual combination of destructive and constructive forces (4)

I'm afraid I overlooked the military amalgamation of the Royal Artillery (RA) with the Royal Engineers (RE). Instead, I prepared a chemical alloy of radium (Ra) and rhenium (Re). It was somewhat plausible, definitely being an "unusual combination", with radium satisfying the "destructive" criterion (a "highly toxic radioactive metallic element, remarkable for its active spontaneous disintegration") and rhenium supplying the "constructive" factor (a "metallic element whose very high melting point makes it a useful ingredient in alloys"). Although, I must admit that I was a little uneasy about not properly accounting for the word "forces" in the clue.

6d Row of drunks? (4)

Much to my chagrin, I was not able to figure out this clue. "Row" is used in the sense of a street (row¹ noun 4 often in street-names: a street with a continuous line of houses on one or both sides). From Tilsit I learn that the solution is that proverbial address to which drunks are said to be destined.

7d Sort of deodorant put on by women (4-2)

Tilsit says that a "roll-on" is a type of panty-hose, while Chambers defines it as a type of corset. However. the two may not necessarily be mutually exclusive - it may simply be a type of body shaping panty-hose. In any case, it is an undergarment worn by British women.

18d Guarantees certain bonds (8)

Before reading Tilsit's review, I had failed to notice the "certain bonds" equals SURE TIES wordplay. Instead I had thought of bond in the financial instrument sense, and thought "certain bonds" might refer to bail bonds, for example. Since this would just be a type of guarantee (one to appear in court), I considered this to be an extremely weak double definition. However, once the true wordplay was pointed out, I developed a much improved opinion of the clue.

22d Quickly remove label showing exorbitant price (3,3)

Here, I thought "label" might be considered to be a bit of padding to facilitate the surface reading. "Quickly remove" on its own - it seems to me - defines the solution.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Saturday, December 12, 2009 - Colours of the Season

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon gives us a few holiday themed clues, highlighted in rich tones of red, green, ruby and plum.

Today's Glossary

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

Ty Cobb - legendary Detroit Tiger, nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", generally regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time

rudesby - noun 1. an uncivil, turbulent fellow

shucks - exclamation informal, chiefly N. Amer. used to express surprise, regret, etc.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Truly keeping grand (7)

This is an & lit. (or "all-in-one") clue. The clue can be read two ways. In the first reading "truly keeping grand" is a definition of REGALLY. In the second reading, the wordplay is REALLY (truly) containing (keeping) G (grand).

15d Perfume ingredient list including wonder from the east (9)

In an across clue, the phrase "from the east" is used to indicate that the letters run right to left (i.e., east to west), a reversal of their normal order. However, since this is a down clue, should not the wordplay read "wonder from the south", to indicate that the letters run from bottom to top?

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1a P(A|BU)LUM - PLUM (fruit) containing (with ... inside) A BU (bug mostly)

5a MODICUM - ODIC (of a lyric poem) contained in (retained by) MUM (mother)

9a _SUS|HI_ - hidden word in (offered by) jeSUS HImself

10a S(EVEN)TIES - EVEN (unvarying) contained in (in) STIES (pens)

11a PERUS|A|L - PERU'S (South American country's) A (one) L (lake)

12a RE(G)ALLY - & lit. clue; REALLY (truly) containing (keeping) G (grand)

13a {RED (LET)TER DAY}* - an anagram of (awfully) RARE TEDDY containing (bears) LET (allow)

18a {GREENSLEEVES}* - an anagram of (playing) SEVEN REELS EG

21a HATCH|ET - HATCH (devise) ET (extraterrestrial)

23a WAS|SAIL - WAS SAIL (put out to sea)

25a {CONCORDAT}* - an anagram of (corrupt) DOCTOR CAN

26a WAIVE~ - sounds like (heard) WAVE (roller)

27a SP(RING)Y - RING (band) contained in (in) SPY (sight)

28a RU(DES)BY - RUBY (certain port) containing (accepting) DES (of French)

Down

1d PAS|SPORT - PA'S (dad's) SPORT (recreational activity)

2d BEST|RIDE - BEST (superlative) RIDE (transportation)

3d L|AIRS - L (left) AIRS (vents)

4d {MISTLETOE}* - an anagram of (novel) TITLE SOME

5d M|OVER - M (married) OVER (again)

6d DEN|I|GRATE - DEN (study) plus (with) I (one) GRATE (framework)

7d CHILLY~ - sounds like (by the sound of it) CHILI (bean dish)

8d MOSE(Y)S - MOSES (Hebrew prophet) containing (taking) Y (year)

14d EARTHBORN* - an anagram of (reformed) ABHORRENT

15d ROS(EWA<)TER - ROSTER (list) containing (including) EWA {reversal of (from the east) AWE (wonder)}

16d A(VIA)RIES - ARIES (ram) contains (goes around) VIA (by way of)

17d PSALTERY* - an anagram of (new) RAP STYLE

19d S|HUCKS - S (small) HUCK'S (Huckleberry (Huck) Finn, a character created by American writer Mark Twain)

20d A|TONER - A TONER (cleansing solution)

22d T(ODD)Y - TY (legendary American baseball player Ty Cobb) contains (swallows) ODD (strange)

24d SO|WED - SO (subsequently) WED (got married)

Signing off for today - Falcon

Friday, December 11, 2009 (DT 26013)

This puzzle was originally published Friday, August 21, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26011 and DT 26012 published in the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, August 19 and Thursday, August 20, 2009 respectively.

Introduction

I certainly found this puzzle to be a considerable challenge. As I had a number of other commitments to attend to this weekend, I worked on it off-and-on over two days before finishing it.

Given the struggle that I was having with the puzzle, I was dumbfounded when I first arrived at the expected puzzle (DT 26011) on Big Dave's site to see the introduction begin, "This is an easy puzzle ...". Thankfully, a peek at the first clue showed that the National Post had not published the next puzzle in the sequence. Once I did find the correct puzzle, I was greatly relieved to see that the degree of difficulty had been rated as four stars.

An erroneous solution at 8d caused me lots of problems in the north-east corner.

Today's Glossary

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

Clare of Assisi - founder of the Order of Saint Clare

Ely - a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England

Geordie - colloq noun 1 someone who was born on or who lives on Tyneside. 2 the Tyneside dialect.

hock² - noun a white wine, originally only one made in Hochheim, on the River Main, in Germany, but now applied to all white wines from the Rhine valley.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester - English Libertine and friend of King Charles II

St Ives - a town in Cornwall, England

Today's Links

Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26013].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

1a Stones incorporating Californian singer and N.Y. players? (8)

The players in question could be Yankees or Mets, but not Knicks, Giants, Jets, Rangers or Islanders.

13a Plant girl on tandem? (5)

You will find a hint here.

6d Big hit winning everything (5,4)

Libellule seems to have overlooked (understandably so, I should point out) that the setter may be on a baseball theme today (or perhaps this clue is just a coincidence). In baseball, a grand slam is a home run with the bases loaded, scoring four runs (thus it is definitely a "big hit"). This usually involves the batter hitting the ball out of the park, but occasionally one may see an "inside the park" home run.

8d Common person accounting for about half of the population? (8)

Having opted for an incorrect solution, EARTHMAN, greatly impeded me in completing the remainder of the north-east corner. Eventually suspecting that it might be wrong, I peeked at Libellule's hint which showed me the error of my ways. Once I had corrected this error, the rest of the corner fell into place fairly quickly.

11d Drinks a lot of water in Geordieland from what we hear (4)

I only solved this clue with the help of the hint from Libellule. Unfortunately, even though the setter has apparently misplaced Geordieland (according to comments on Big Dave's blog), I cannot fall back on that as an excuse for my lack of success on this clue. I'm afraid that my knowledge of the geography of England is not sufficiently detailed for this error to have had any impact whatsoever on my ability to solve the clue. While I did think that the clue might be referring to a lake, it never occurred to me that I should actually be looking for a river.

20d Politician not in power in European country (4)

Although I figured out the right country, the wordplay baffled me - and I only deciphered it with the aid of Libellule's hint. In hindsight, I think I should have gotten it with a little bit of work, but I suppose I was just too worn down by that time to make the effort.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Thursday, December 10, 2009 (DT 26010)

This puzzle was originally published Tuesday, August 18, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I found it to be a relatively challenging puzzle today, one that required me to open my Tool Chest early and use the tools extensively. I thought that I had completed the puzzle successfully (albeit with a question mark about the wordplay for one clue), only to discover that I had the wrong solution for that clue.

Today's Glossary

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

batman - noun dated (in the British armed forces) an officer’s personal valet or attendant.

daily - noun 2 (also daily help) Brit. dated a domestic cleaner.

DI - abbreviation 2 Detective Inspector.

domestic - noun 1 (also domestic worker or domestic help) a person employed to do domestic tasks. 2 informal a violent quarrel between family members.

orderly - noun 2 a soldier who carries orders or performs minor tasks for an officer.

smack - noun a single-masted sailing boat used for coasting or fishing.

stodge - noun informal, chiefly Brit. 1 food that is heavy, filling, and high in carbohydrates. 2 dull and uninspired material or work.

U³ - abbreviation 2 united.

Today's Links

Tilsit's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26010].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

17a Aim head of arrow tip (6)

Like Tilsit, I initially had a question in my mind about this clue ("Not sure about SPIRE as “tip”."). However, Chambers does give a couple of definitions that could fit:

• spire¹ - noun 2 anything tall and tapering, eg a flower spike, the top of a tree, etc.
• spire² - noun 2 zool the top part of a spiral shell.

26a Metal nuts get replaced by new (8)

My take on the wordplay in this clue varies ever so slightly from that given by Tilsit in his review. I would say that the anagram indicator is simply replaced (rather than replaced by) and that by is a positional indicator (signifying beside). Replaced here has the sense of the letters being put in new places (i.e., positions).

Using this wordplay, the clue parses as:

TUNGSTEN (metal) /\ anagram of (replaced) {NUTS GET} beside (by) N (new)

2d Absorbed and immersed in speech (4)

I didn't like this clue much when I first saw it. Now - after pondering it for a bit - I have perhaps warmed to it to the point where I can tolerate it. Since absorbed and immersed mean the same thing (Chambers: be immersed in something to be occupied or involved deeply in it; to be absorbed), the clue could just as well have been phrased "Immersed and absorbed in speech".

19d Plug hole's entrance (6)

I think I just presumed that the solution must be ADVERT, having developed the (perhaps erroneous) impression from another recent puzzle that advert is the British contraction for advertisement, whereas ad is a North American version. However, I discovered from Tilsit's review that my answer was, in fact, wrong.

Signing off for today - Falcon

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 (DT 26009)

This puzzle was originally published Monday, August 17, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

The National Post has skipped DT 26008 published Saturday, August 15, 2009 in the Daily Telegraph

Introduction

Today Ottawa is experiencing its first major snowfall of the winter. Having risen late this morning and spending the morning at the gym and the early part of the afternoon clearing the snow from my driveway, it was mid-afternoon before I had a chance to tackle the puzzle. Luckily, it was not too difficult and I completed it in a very respectable time.

Today's Glossary

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

E-boat - noun a German torpedo boat used in the Second World War.

MB - abbreviation 1 Medicinae Baccalaureus (Latin), Bachelor of Medicine.

slip - noun 10 cricket a one of three fielders (first slip, second slip and third slip) standing near to and roughly in line with the wicket-keeper on the on side; b (often slips) this fielding position.

sneak - verb 3 Brit. informal inform someone in authority of a person’s misdeeds.

trooper - noun 2 chiefly Brit. a ship used for transporting troops.

Whit - noun Whitsun or Whitsuntide, in the Christian church: the week beginning with Whit Sunday, particularly the first three days.

Whitstable - a seaside town in Kent, England, famous for its oysters

Today's Links

Gazza's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26009].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

6d It takes pluck to remove it (6)

As it turns out, the solution is not FEATHER. However, taking into consideration Gazza's reservations about the real solution, it just might be a better fit.

19a Go quietly to spill the beans (5)

Working on the assumption that "spill" must be an anagram indicator led me astray on the wordplay. Despite this, as well as the fact that the British slang meaning of sneak was totally unknown to me, I still managed to find the correct solution from the definition and checking letters.

Signing off for today - Falcon