Sunday, December 20, 2009 (ST 4354)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on November 8, 2009

Introduction

I felt that today's puzzle leaned a bit toward the difficult end of the scale - in part due to the rather convoluted wording of a few of clues.

Today's Glossary

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

Colchester Native - the native oyster, ostrea edulis (when harvested in the Colchester fishery)

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4354].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

4a Not positive it's found, for example, in an oyster (8)

I puzzled for a long time over the wordplay here before feeling I really understood it. The definition is given by "not positive" (NEGATIVE). If we were to delete the word "found" from the clue, the wordplay would be quite straightforward, "It (the solution, NEGATIVE) is EG (for example) in NATIVE (an oyster)". However, when the word "found" is inserted in the clue, I find that I then need to mentally insert extra words in the clue for the cryptic reading to make sense to me, as follows, "It (the solution) is found by putting EG in NATIVE" or "It (the solution) is the result had one found EG in NATIVE".

Native is an informal reference to a native oyster, in the same way that one might refer to a McIntosh apple as a McIntosh or a Mac.

11a One promise nearly everyone makes (5)

At first, I thought this might be an example of the rarely seen & lit. clue. The clue itself is a definition of AVOWAL. The clue also contains the wordplay "A (one) VOW (promise) AL {ALL without the final L (nearly everyone)}". However, since the word "makes" seems to be superfluous to the cryptic reading, it appears that it does not completely satisfy the criteria for an & lit. clue.

16a Hole crab made, injuring him? (?)

Yet another clue that made me think. The solution is an anagram of HOLE CRAB, but is the anagram indicator made or made injuring? If the latter, then the definition would be the rather vague "him" signifying BACHELOR. However, if the former, why would "injuring him" mean BACHELOR?

At least I seem not to be alone in my thinking, as talbinho comments "a poor clue with no real definition".

26a Disgusting state of Essex island? (8)

In his review, talbinho supposes that the solution to this clue is "probably tricky for overseas solvers". Actually, an Internet search on "Essex island" returned a list headed by the blatantly obvious solution.

15d Mixed in tea, beer's held to set one against it (8)

When one sees an 's in a clue, one must decide whether it signifies a possessive (not in this case), a contraction for is (once again, not in this case), or a contraction for has (bingo). Since the latter is the case, ALE (beer) is the container in this container-type clue. Otherwise (i.e., if the 's had stood for is), ALE would have formed the contents.

Substituting the essentially equivalent phrase "held by beer" for "beer has held", we can find the solution as an anagram (mixed) of IN TEA contained in (held by) ALE (beer).

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, Deccember 13, 2009 (ST 4353)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on November 1, 2009

Introduction

I found this to be a rather difficult puzzle - with more than the usual quota of obscure British expressions. Even after completing it, I was left in the dark about the wordplay for several clues. Luckily, I could rely on talbinho for an explanation.

Today's Glossary

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

CAB - abbreviation 1 Citizen's Advice Bureau [Chambers] or Citizens’ Advice Bureau [Oxford] or Citizens Advice Bureau [Wikipedia]: one of a network of independent charities throughout the UK that give free, confidential information and advice to help people with their money, legal, consumer and other problems.

CAMRA - abbreviation Campaign for Real Ale: an independent, voluntary, consumer organisation based in St. Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale and the traditional British pub. It is now the largest single-issue consumer group in the UK, and is a founding member of the European Beer Consumers' Union (EBCU).

fortissimo - music (abbreviation ff) adj very loud.

gash² [Collins] - adj Slang [probably Brit.] surplus to requirements; unnecessary, extra, or spare

ginger nut - [probably Brit.] noun a ginger-flavoured biscuit (cookie: the British term for cookie is biscuit, I don't know what name they have for biscuits) [known in North America as a ginger snap]

Herm - one of the Channel Islands

OR - abbreviation 3 military other ranks (by extension, men)

rom or Rom - noun a male Gypsy

soak - noun 2 informal a heavy drinker

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4353].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

13a A new hint to have sparkling wine for first course (9)

Since antipasti is the plural of antipasto, I wondered if there might be an inconsistency (in number) with the definition "first course". However, upon reflection, I concluded that a course could well consist of a number of antipasti.

20a Idiotic, a bunch of beer enthusiasts beginning to troll around - such may be found on the road (10)

Thankfully, this clue is easily solved from the definition (such as may be found on the road) and checking letters. The convoluted wordplay involving the obscure (at least to North American audiences) group of British beer fanciers was far more challenging - so much so that I only got it by reading talbinho's review. The wordplay is as follows:

MAD (idiotic) A CAMRA (bunch of beer enthusiasts) T (beginning to troll), all of which is reversed (around) to give TARMACADAM.

28a Italian city with university good for mathematician (6)

Like talbinho, I questioned "Italian city with university" as a definition for Turin, although Wikipedia does say, "Turin is home to one of Italy's oldest universities, the University of Turin, which still ranks among the best universities in Italy."

3d Group turned into old rockers, strapped up (8)

Despite having found the correct solution, the wordplay escaped me. I even had to reread talbinho's explanation a couple of times to comprehend what he was trying to explain. I think that the easiest way to understand the solution is to think of it as replacing the phrase "Group turned into old rockers" by the phrase "band aged"; i.e., when the band (group) aged, they became "old rockers".

9d One will get soak on island? Weather map may show that (8)

Deciphering the wordplay was far more difficult than finding the solution (which was pretty obvious from the definition and checking letters). A better knowledge of the Channel Islands and a better acquaintance with British slang terms for drunkards would have helped immensely.

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, Deccember 6, 2009 (ST 4352)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on October 25, 2009

Introduction

I'm a bit late this week in posting my blog. It is certainly not due to the puzzle being overly taxing - as it was anything but difficult. I just had a very busy Sunday.

Today's Glossary

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

M1 - a major motorway (highway) in England linking London and Leeds.

RE - abbreviation Royal Engineer (or sapper - noun 1 a military engineer who lays or detects and disarms mines. 2 Brit. a soldier in the Corps of Royal Engineers.)

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4352].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

1a Desires new form - stays required (7)

As in this example, one often sees words like "required" or "needed" appearing in clues. The implication of such constructions is usually that a word matching the definition is required (or needed) as the solution. Thus, this clue can be viewed as a terse presentation of what could be stated more verbosely as "The solution is an anagram (new form) of DESIRES, one which is required to be a word meaning 'stays'".

12a Overtaking inch into middle of coastal road (8)

Only after having solved this clue on the basis of the definition (coastal road) together with a couple of checking letters was I able to work out the wordplay. The use of "overtaking" as an anagram indicator seems rather dubious - a point on which talbinho concurs in his review.

22a I withdrew, then had a meal - to get thin? (8)

My interpretation is that this is an example of what might be called indirect wordplay (which may not be the recognized way of describing such a clue, but being unaware of any other, I'll settle for it). One first has to translate "I withdrew" into "I came back" which indicates a reversal (back) of I CAME or EMACI which is followed by (then) ATE (had a meal) to produce EMACIATE (to get thin).

29a Marshal reportedly is old naval hero (7)

Sir Walter Raleigh was an "English courtier, navigator, colonizer, and writer" - but was he a "naval hero". Since the description seemed not to raise the hackles of the Brits, the clue presumably could not have been too far off the mark.

21d Bird's taken off from motorway with something on a leaf (6)

While the wordplay here is not as blatantly indirect as in 22a, I find it still requires a bit of interpretation on the part of the solver to determine what action is needed to find the solution. If a bird "takes off", it goes up. Consequently, since this is a down clue, the wordplay is instructing us to reverse the word "bird" (i.e., make it go up).

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, November 29, 2009 (ST 4351)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on October 18, 2009

Introduction

I completed today's puzzle still having question marks in my mind concerning a few of the clues.

Today's Glossary

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

afters - singular noun, Brit colloq dessert; pudding.

ladette - noun Brit. 1. A young woman who behaves in a manner similar to a young man, namely being boisterous and loud and drinking to excess.

polythene - noun chiefly Brit. a tough, light, flexible plastic made by polymerizing ethylene, chiefly used for packaging. ORIGIN contraction of polyethylene. Beatles fans will surely remember Polythene Pam.

RSC - abbreviation 1 Royal Shakespeare Company: a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, England

TV - abbreviation 2. Slang transvestite.

wind up - noun 1 Brit. informal an attempt to tease or irritate someone. [Note that Oxford spells it wind-up, with a hyphen]

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4351].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

27a Forgetting one's complaint (8)

Talbinho seemed to like this clue fairly well, "... a much better CD." However, it took me quite a while to get my head around it - perhaps I am just obtuse. I finally came to the conclusion that the thrust of the clue is that if one is suffering from amnesia, they may well be unable to remember what illness they have (forgetting one's complaint) - and therefore would be described as being AMNESIAC.

4d Angry lady's maid on TV (5-7)

I did get the correct answer; but I was definitely puzzled by the wordplay. I looked in vain for a British television show called (or dealing with a) CROSS-DRESSER. It did not help that I did not think that a dresser is necessarily a "lady's maid". My understanding was reinforced by the fact that every reference I consulted defined it similar to Oxford, namely "noun 2 a person who looks after theatrical costumes". I initially thought that "lady's maid" might be an abigail.

19d Two-piece practised here with explosive results (6)

A ''two-piece" is a BIKINI, and clearly the latter part of the clue relates to Bikini Atoll, a U.S. nuclear test site from 1946-1958. I was not convinced that I fully grasped the wordplay and thought that Talbinho might provide some guidance. However he was not much impressed with this clue, stating "Bikini Atoll was a nuclear testing site, but the second definition ('practised here with explosive results') is horribly worded."

At that point, I decided to undertake some further research which led me to think that it perhaps is not such a bad clue - if one understands a bit about nuclear physics. In an atomic (fission) bomb, two sub-critical masses of fissile material are combined into a single super-critical mass (the amount of material needed to start an exponentially growing nuclear chain reaction). Thus could "two-piece" refer to the bomb (consisting of the two sub-critical masses of fissile material) that was tested ("practised") at Bikini Atoll "with explosive results". It still may not be the smoothest reading clue but perhaps it is not as bad as it originally might seem.

Should this reading of the clue be correct, then it would not be a two-part clue at all, but rather a cryptic definition with "two-piece" also serving as an additional reference to the swimsuit.

By the way, I found the story of the origin of the name bikini for the swimsuit rather interesting. "[T]he bikini swimsuit was named after the island in 1946. The two-piece swimsuit was introduced within days of the first nuclear test on the atoll, and the name of the island was in the news. Introduced just weeks after the one-piece 'Atome' was widely advertised as the 'smallest bathing suit in the world', it was said that the bikini 'split the atome'."

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, November 22, 2009 (ST 4350)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on October 11, 2009.

Introduction

It was a rather busy weekend and I still have not had time to complete the Sunday cryptic crossword. However, I am posting the link to Times for the Times for the benefit of those who may be looking for it.

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4350].

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, November 15, 2009 (ST 4349)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on October 4, 2009

Introduction

Although this puzzle was quite a quick solve, and the wordplay was anything but obscure, I found the puzzle to be very entertaining with most of the clues being very nicely phrased.

Today's Glossary

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

Midshipman Easy - a 1935 British adventure film

mo - Brit. a short while, a moment

prat - the buttocks

rum - Brit. odd, peculiar

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4349].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a See out trial runs? Impossible in this game (7,8)

Talbinho writes "another good anagram, but lacking an indicator". I (as did a number of those leaving comments on Times for the Times) supposed that "impossible" is intended to be the anagram indicator.

26a Lively guy involving women in lark? (7)

Surely, given that the solution is SWINGERS, this is a clue on which the imagination could really run wild. I wondered whether the word has the same connotation in Britain as it does in North America. Oxford provides the following definitions (among others) for the verb swing: "be lively, exciting, or fashionable" and "swap sexual partners or engage in group sex". While the setter may have intended the former, I would expect that the later may well be the more common understanding in North America.

2d Twist and Shout succeeded for many (9)

Although I was not able to find a reference, apparently S is an abbreviation for succeeded. I presume that this would be in the sense that Elizabeth II succeeded George VI, and that you might find this notation in tables of royal lineages, as an example. Nevertheless, I do not rule out the possibility that I may be informed that it is a cricket or football term.

7d Jack, perhaps, is, in short, behind (5)

I guess that I couldn't see the wordplay for the commas - surely, this clue contains almost the highest density of commas possible in a sentence. More to the point, I had no idea that prat is slang for the buttocks.

13d Midshipman not staying relaxed (4-3)

In my search for an explanation as to why midshipman equates to easy, I found a reference to the 1935 British film, Midshipman Easy (see Today's Glossary). However, talbinho's review hints that easy may, in general, be a term for a midshipman - though I was not able to find it in a dictionary. If that is indeed the case, the name of the film may actually have been derived from this association, or - on the other hand - perhaps the term arose from the film (or the book on which the film was based).

22d M East national upset in a short time (5)

In this clue, "upset" is not an anagram indicator, but rather it is a reversal indicator and "short time" is not a min (minute) but a mo (moment).

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, November 8, 2009 (ST 4348)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on September 27, 2009

Introduction

A fairly average puzzle - but one that seems to have provided quite a bit of grist for the blog.

Today's Glossary

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

CH - abbrev. Companion of Honour: a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, an order (decoration) of the Commonwealth realms

dress circle - a circular or curving division of seats in a theater, opera house, etc., usually the first gallery, originally set apart for spectators in evening dress

Hansard - an official printed daily report of what has happened in the British (or Canadian) parliament

hock - Brit. a dry white wine from the German Rhineland

quarrel - a short heavy square-headed arrow or bolt for a crossbow or arbalest

The Order of the Companions of Honour

Most dictionaries state that this is a British order, and I have written in another blog that it is an order of the Commonwealth of Nations. It would appear that the former assertion is incomplete and the latter, upon reflection, is an overstatement. This seems to be a case of that which is concise not being true and that which is true not being concise. As near as I can determine, the correct interpretation would be that it is an order of the Commonwealth realms (a fairly small subset of the nations within the Commonwealth of Nations), being those members of the Commonwealth who have the Queen as their Head of State. Although even the Queen's own website is vague on this point, it would appear that the Queen makes these awards in her respective roles as sovereign of each realm. Thus, when she confers the honour on a citizen of the UK, she does so as Queen of the United Kingdom. Equally, when she confers the honour on a citizen of Canada, she does so as Queen of Canada. Therefore, it can be said that this is a British order for some recipients, a Canadian order for other recipients, an Australian order for yet others, etc. Therefore, the dictionaries' statement that this is a British order would seem to be - at best - incomplete. I believe if this were considered to be a British honour, then Canadian citizens would be forbidden from accepting it (remember Conrad Black who relinquished his Canadian citizenship in order to accept a British knighthood).

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4348].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a She's returning us to hospital for a brief spell (5)

Whether you favour the British spelling (sanitorium) or favor the American spelling (sanitarium), "a brief spell" (abbreviation) of this hospital remains the same.

19a Its ugly facial features resultant from a growth? (7)

There is an anagram in this clue, although I managed to overlook it - perhaps because the checking letters pretty much gave the solution away.

28a Keen, clear-cut incisiveness needed, in this position? (5-4)

Even after solving this clue, it continues to cry out to me that I have overlooked some nuance in the wordplay - and it would appear that talbinho feels the same way.

5d Hock - his and her new, alternative tipple (7)

I had questions about the wordplay in this clue, essentially the same ones raised by talbinho.

16d Providing her services with small charge (9)

I, as did talbinho, found the wording of this clue somewhat questionable. In my opinion, it would have been better worded "One providing her services with small charge".

18d Shrank from having quarrel end nastily outside (8)

I figured out that "shrank" is NARROWED where "end nastily outside" accounts for the N...ED (anagram of END as a container). But I mistakenly presumed that "quarrel" is ROW, leaving me perplexed as to where the AR comes from - having never before encountered the other meaning of "quarrel" as an ARROW. I expected that talbinho's review would clear up the confusion, but as he accepted "arrow" without comment, I was forced to do some additional research.

Signing off for this week - Falcon