Sunday, January 24, 2010 (ST 4359)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on December 13 , 2009.

Introduction

I struggled a lot with this puzzle, but I did eventually complete it. However, I was pretty much in the dark concerning the wordplay for a couple of clues.

When I saw talbinho's solving time of 4:08, I thought "Okay, my time is not so bad." Then the sad realization hit me - his time is not expressed in hours and minutes!

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4359].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a Permit prince to be vicious (6)

Solution: LET (permit) HAL (prince, King Henry V in several plays by William Shakespeare) /to be\ LETHAL (vicious)

I have a minor quibble with this clue, as it seems to me that something can very well be vicious (savage) without being lethal (deadly). But perhaps the meanings are close enough for crossword puzzle purposes or maybe these words have different connotations in the UK.

26a Navy takes Royal Engineers round fish (8)

This is one of the clues where the wordplay eluded me. It turns out that the wordplay is so straight forward (to the Brits, at least) that talbinho deemed that it didn't warrant even a word of explanation.

Solution: N (navy) contained in (takes ... round) SAPPERS (Royal Engineers) /\ SNAPPERS (fish)

It did not come to mind that another name for the Royal Engineers is sappers. Instead, I had reasoned that the solution must be of the form SNAPP(ER)S where ER is "RE (Royal Engineers) reversed (round)". Obviously, that false start quickly led to a deadend.

4d ... am ill with child? (7,8)

This clue contains a construction that is new to me - and one that I did not understand until I read the review and comments at Times for the Times. When I was working on the puzzle, I had wondered why the clue started with an ellipsis. In the past, when I had encountered an ellipsis at the beginning of a clue, the previous clue had always ended with an ellipsis. I knew that sort of construction is used by the setter to indicate that the two clues are linked in some manner (e.g., it may signal that the surface reading carries across the two clues).

But that is not the case today. In today's puzzle, the ellipsis is being used to indicate that the clue number itself is to be incorporated into the clue. Thus we are meant to cryptically interpret the clue as "4 a.m., ill with child?" with the question mark signalling that this is a cryptic definition, "4 a.m." being a clue to morning, "ill" being a clue to sick, and "with child" being a clue to during pregnancy. Putting all the clues together produces MORNING SICKNESS.

15d When thawed, something wet I care to drink (5,3)

Even after figuring out the correct solution (WATER ICE) and recognizing that it is an anagram of WET I CARE, I am really not sure of the wordplay. Water ice is another term for sorbet, a frozen dessert. I suppose if your sorbet were to melt, you could drink it. I believe the clue is meant to be a cryptic definition containing an anagram (i.e., a hybrid clue). However, what is supposed to be the anagram indicator? Is it "to drink", is it "something" or is it "thawed"? The latter, though probably the choice that linguistically makes the most sense is not adjacent to the fodder (the text on which it would operate, namely WET I CARE). Of the remaining two choices, I guess I would have to lean toward "to drink" being the anagram indicator. On the other hand, this being a cryptic definition, perhaps the normal rules don't apply and an explicit anagram operator is not required. I think talbinho sums up the clue nicely when he comments "a bit of a mess".

Note: According to Oxford, sherbet is a North American term for water ice or sorbet. In Canada (in my experience anyway), the terms sherbet and sorbet are both used, with the former probably being more prevalent. However, I am not familiar with the term water ice. It seems that outside North America, sherbet has quite different meanings, varying by the part of the world. In Britain, it is "a flavoured sweet fizzing powder eaten alone or made into a drink" (which suggests that it may be somewhat similar to Kool-Aid), in Arab countries it is "a drink of sweet diluted fruit juices", and in Australia it is a humourous term for beer.

18d Footballers resort to untruths (7)

Solution: GOALIES (footballers) /\ GOA (resort) {followed by (to) [?]} LIES (untruths)

I have a couple of minor quibbles with this clue. First, I'm not quite sure what to make of the word to; is it just padding or does it have a specific purpose. Although it seems to be a bit of a stretch (to say the least), I've suggested that it may be meant to be a proximity indicator (i.e., an indicator that shows that one part of a charade is placed in proximity to another part, such as words expressing the ideas of being adjacent to, preceding, or following).

Second, GOA is certainly far from being a resort that springs quickly to my mind. Perhaps it is a more popular holiday destination in Britain.

Signing off for this week - Falcon