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