This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on July 18, 2009
Introduction
A fairly straightforward puzzle today.
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4338].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
4d Simple to obtain a port, in Spain (9)
The port in Spain is TARRAGONA, and a simple is a medicinal herb. However, I was unable to find any reference to tarragon having medicinal properties.
13d Ancient site giving splendour to London district (7)
Luckily, this clue was not too difficult to solve once the checking letters had been found. The solution is comprised of POMP (splendour) plus EII (E11) to give POMPEII, where E11 is a postcode district in London (talbinho identifies the location). Unlike postal codes in Canada, which have a standard format (ANA NAN), postcodes in the UK can have a variety of formats (AN NAA, ANN NAA, AAN NAA, AANN NAA, ANA NAA, or AANA NAA) where A indicates an alphabetic character and N a numeric character.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009 (ST 4337)
This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on July 12, 2009
Introduction
I found this to be an extremely difficult puzzle. I almost threw in the towel several times, but persevered and, in the end, completed it successfully (albeit after spending most of the morning and nearly all the afternoon working on it). Therefore, it gave me a great deal of satisfaction to see on Times for the Times that even the Brits found it quite difficult.
The difficulty of the puzzle was further exacerbated by the fact that there were errors in two of the clues. I would undoubtedly have saved myself considerable time and effort if I had only remembered that these, in fact, had been identified in comments to last week's puzzle on Times for the Times. But, like talbinho, this fact slipped my mind and I ended up having to discover the errors for myself.
Writers on Times for the Times were scathing in their assessments of not only the errors in this puzzle, but of the quality of this particular puzzle, in general. I have commented in the past about the syndicated British puzzles being published in Canada (weeks or months after their publication in the UK) replete with their original errors. It is surprising that the British papers have so little pride in their product that they don't bother to correct these errors when they syndicate the puzzles. Or, perhaps, they just want to provide the colonies with a true British experience!
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4337].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
11ac Went by car, right to the end - southeastern limit for vehicles (5)
The "logic" of this clue is that "went by car" is DROVE and by moving R (right) to the end, produces DOVER - presumably the most southeastern point to which vehicles can travel in England. If one were in the mood to quibble (and this puzzle certainly does its best to create such a mood), one might argue that Chunnel trains are vehicles and they certainly travel beyond Dover.
14ac Wild boar blocking friend by curved path (8)
This is the first of the two clues containing an error. The correct clue would be:
14ac Wild boar blocking friend by a curved path (8)
19ac There's not any grass for sniffing (6)
Here "grass" (verb, defn. 3) is British slang for "inform" (as to the police).
20ac Volatile liquid's excellent accompaniment for gin (8)
I will continue to maintain that my initial answer of SCHNAPPS would be a much more appropriate (and tastier) choice.
22ac Play down silly dope's fault - not acceptable for the top people (4-5)
In this clue, "acceptable for the top people" is a reference to U (English) or English usage acceptable to the Upper Class. Therefore, we get "dope's fault - not U" being "dope's falt" which is an anagram of SOFT-PEDAL (as flagged by the anagram indicator silly).
3d Otherworldly type isn't for following Society (5)
I eventually found out that the solution ain't ALIEN.
8d Avoid possibility of loose tile and settle down domestically (4, 2, 3, 4)
This is the second clue with an error. In this case, it is the enumeration that is incorrect. The clue should read:
8d Avoid possibility of loose tile and settle down domestically (4, 2, 4, 3)
In this clue, by the way, "tile" (noun, defn. 6) is an informal term for a hat.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Introduction
I found this to be an extremely difficult puzzle. I almost threw in the towel several times, but persevered and, in the end, completed it successfully (albeit after spending most of the morning and nearly all the afternoon working on it). Therefore, it gave me a great deal of satisfaction to see on Times for the Times that even the Brits found it quite difficult.
The difficulty of the puzzle was further exacerbated by the fact that there were errors in two of the clues. I would undoubtedly have saved myself considerable time and effort if I had only remembered that these, in fact, had been identified in comments to last week's puzzle on Times for the Times. But, like talbinho, this fact slipped my mind and I ended up having to discover the errors for myself.
Writers on Times for the Times were scathing in their assessments of not only the errors in this puzzle, but of the quality of this particular puzzle, in general. I have commented in the past about the syndicated British puzzles being published in Canada (weeks or months after their publication in the UK) replete with their original errors. It is surprising that the British papers have so little pride in their product that they don't bother to correct these errors when they syndicate the puzzles. Or, perhaps, they just want to provide the colonies with a true British experience!
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4337].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
11ac Went by car, right to the end - southeastern limit for vehicles (5)
The "logic" of this clue is that "went by car" is DROVE and by moving R (right) to the end, produces DOVER - presumably the most southeastern point to which vehicles can travel in England. If one were in the mood to quibble (and this puzzle certainly does its best to create such a mood), one might argue that Chunnel trains are vehicles and they certainly travel beyond Dover.
14ac Wild boar blocking friend by curved path (8)
This is the first of the two clues containing an error. The correct clue would be:
14ac Wild boar blocking friend by a curved path (8)
19ac There's not any grass for sniffing (6)
Here "grass" (verb, defn. 3) is British slang for "inform" (as to the police).
20ac Volatile liquid's excellent accompaniment for gin (8)
I will continue to maintain that my initial answer of SCHNAPPS would be a much more appropriate (and tastier) choice.
22ac Play down silly dope's fault - not acceptable for the top people (4-5)
In this clue, "acceptable for the top people" is a reference to U (English) or English usage acceptable to the Upper Class. Therefore, we get "dope's fault - not U" being "dope's falt" which is an anagram of SOFT-PEDAL (as flagged by the anagram indicator silly).
3d Otherworldly type isn't for following Society (5)
I eventually found out that the solution ain't ALIEN.
8d Avoid possibility of loose tile and settle down domestically (4, 2, 3, 4)
This is the second clue with an error. In this case, it is the enumeration that is incorrect. The clue should read:
8d Avoid possibility of loose tile and settle down domestically (4, 2, 4, 3)
In this clue, by the way, "tile" (noun, defn. 6) is an informal term for a hat.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009 (ST 4336)
This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on July 5, 2009
Introduction
I worked at this puzzle on and off all day between doing other things, so it is hard to know how much time I actually spent on it. The bottom right-hand corner did give me the most problems. I ended up with one clue for which I didn't comprehend the wordplay - although it was very nearly two.
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4336].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
17ac English public school rule Dan breaks (7)
After doing a great many crossword puzzles, I was beginning to believe that there is only one public school in England (the famous four-letter one on the Thames). Apparently, there must be another at Arundel, although I could find no reference to any likely candidate through a fairly exhaustive Internet search. Aside from some schools in Canada and the US which I quickly dismissed, I found only one entry relating to a school in England - Arundel CE Primary School (but, based on its low-profile Internet presence, this would seem to be a pretty obscure school to rate mention in the puzzle).
By the way, what the Brits refer to as a public school would be called a private school in North America.
25d As a rule, give up second outing (5)
Despite getting the correct solution (from the checking letters and the first part of the clue), I puzzled over the wordplay for a very long time. I had almost resigned myself to throwing in the towel on this one, when the answer hit me.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Introduction
I worked at this puzzle on and off all day between doing other things, so it is hard to know how much time I actually spent on it. The bottom right-hand corner did give me the most problems. I ended up with one clue for which I didn't comprehend the wordplay - although it was very nearly two.
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4336].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
17ac English public school rule Dan breaks (7)
After doing a great many crossword puzzles, I was beginning to believe that there is only one public school in England (the famous four-letter one on the Thames). Apparently, there must be another at Arundel, although I could find no reference to any likely candidate through a fairly exhaustive Internet search. Aside from some schools in Canada and the US which I quickly dismissed, I found only one entry relating to a school in England - Arundel CE Primary School (but, based on its low-profile Internet presence, this would seem to be a pretty obscure school to rate mention in the puzzle).
By the way, what the Brits refer to as a public school would be called a private school in North America.
25d As a rule, give up second outing (5)
Despite getting the correct solution (from the checking letters and the first part of the clue), I puzzled over the wordplay for a very long time. I had almost resigned myself to throwing in the towel on this one, when the answer hit me.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009 (ST 4335)
This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on June 28, 2009
Introduction
It is always humbling to read the British reviewers discussing their solving times. They seem to complete the entire puzzle in the time it takes me to solve a single clue!
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by 7dpenguin pinch hitting for talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4335].
Commentary on This Week's Puzzle
19d Bigot's angry with drink (7)
I am puzzled by the role played by "angry" in this clue. A "bigot" is a REDNECK, and a Redneck is also a cocktail (although it does not appear to be recognized by the International Bartender's Association as an IBA Official Cocktail). I had thought maybe "angry" was RED and "drink" was NECK, but could find no drink called a Neck, although I did find one called a Horse's Neck.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Introduction
It is always humbling to read the British reviewers discussing their solving times. They seem to complete the entire puzzle in the time it takes me to solve a single clue!
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by 7dpenguin pinch hitting for talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4335].
Commentary on This Week's Puzzle
19d Bigot's angry with drink (7)
I am puzzled by the role played by "angry" in this clue. A "bigot" is a REDNECK, and a Redneck is also a cocktail (although it does not appear to be recognized by the International Bartender's Association as an IBA Official Cocktail). I had thought maybe "angry" was RED and "drink" was NECK, but could find no drink called a Neck, although I did find one called a Horse's Neck.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009 (ST 4334)
This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on June 21, 2009
Introduction
I achieved a fairly respectable completion time on this puzzle despite going down one dead end street.
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4334].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
There were several new terms for me in today's puzzle, among them ODALISKS (9ac) and USANCE (28ac). However, I managed to work both of them out from the wordplay before going to the dictionary to confirm that these words actually exist. A somewhat similar case is the appearance of ID meaning "fish" in 8d. I searched through many reference sources before finding in Wikipedia (as did an anonymous commenter on Times for the Times) that this is an alternate spelling of ide (with which I am familiar from its frequent appearances in crossword puzzles).
Like those commenting on Times for the Times, I was a bit perplexed by the use of "required" in 19d, as the word seemed totally superfluous to both the cryptic wordplay and the surface reading.
In his blog on Times for the Times, talbinho wonders whether the Nursery Rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" would be known abroad. The Mother Goose rhymes are certainly well known in Canada and the U.S. - and I dare say throughout the English-speaking world.
In his blog , talbinho also expresses some disagreement with the use of "junction" for T. However, I thought this usage was fine, as junction can be defined as "2. A place where two things join or meet, especially a place where two roads or railway routes come together and one terminates" and a T-junction as "a junction where two roads or pipes etc. meet to form a T".
The dead end street that I ventured down was in 27d, where I initially had opted for HAIR as the solution on the basis that hair is often used to symbolize or indicate fineness (e.g., "to adjust a setting just a hair") and hair may need cutting. LAWN as a fabric was yet another new term for me.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Introduction
I achieved a fairly respectable completion time on this puzzle despite going down one dead end street.
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4334].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
There were several new terms for me in today's puzzle, among them ODALISKS (9ac) and USANCE (28ac). However, I managed to work both of them out from the wordplay before going to the dictionary to confirm that these words actually exist. A somewhat similar case is the appearance of ID meaning "fish" in 8d. I searched through many reference sources before finding in Wikipedia (as did an anonymous commenter on Times for the Times) that this is an alternate spelling of ide (with which I am familiar from its frequent appearances in crossword puzzles).
Like those commenting on Times for the Times, I was a bit perplexed by the use of "required" in 19d, as the word seemed totally superfluous to both the cryptic wordplay and the surface reading.
In his blog on Times for the Times, talbinho wonders whether the Nursery Rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" would be known abroad. The Mother Goose rhymes are certainly well known in Canada and the U.S. - and I dare say throughout the English-speaking world.
In his blog , talbinho also expresses some disagreement with the use of "junction" for T. However, I thought this usage was fine, as junction can be defined as "2. A place where two things join or meet, especially a place where two roads or railway routes come together and one terminates" and a T-junction as "a junction where two roads or pipes etc. meet to form a T".
The dead end street that I ventured down was in 27d, where I initially had opted for HAIR as the solution on the basis that hair is often used to symbolize or indicate fineness (e.g., "to adjust a setting just a hair") and hair may need cutting. LAWN as a fabric was yet another new term for me.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
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