Sunday, June 7, 2009 (ST 4326)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on April 26, 2009

Links to solutions:

A solution for today's puzzle is available at Times for the Times [ST 4326].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

After checking the solution on Times for the Times, I see a missed a bit of the nuance in the wordplay for:

10ac Two foreign articles we put on are not English pants and vest? (9)

I had taken "put on" to mean "wear" and had missed the WE + ARE - E wordplay.

19ac Floater taking limited number - gosh! (4)

I missed this one entirely. Although being far from confident in my solution, I had settled on NEAT (where "Neat!" would be a slang exclamation meaning "Gosh!").

24ac Foster maybe to admit what he didn't quite do! (5)

I got the correct solution (being the only word that fit), but had no idea of most of the wordplay (other than, possibly, "admit" being "own" - as in "own up"). I guess I've been away from nursery rhymes too long.

1d Having the enemy in to complete a quartet? (4-11)

I got the solution based on part of the clue, but see from Times for the Times that I missed a key aspect of the wordplay dealing with "time".

21d Coloured rod with fish on (6)

I had the correct solution, but wasn't content with my understanding of the wordplay. I am not any happier with the explanation on Times for the Times. The solution given there would seem to imply that "coloured rod" is CRAYON which is composed of "fish" [CRAY] plus "on" [ON]. The problem is that, to the best of my knowledge, while a "crayfish" is a crustacean somewhat similar to a lobster, no fish exists called a "cray". I had assumed that the "fish" was a RAY, but that leaves the "C" unaccounted for. As always, I stand to be corrected.

Signing off for today - Falcon