Monday, April 5, 2010

Sunday, April 4, 2010 (ST 4370)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on February 28, 2010

Introduction

Truly, what a schmozzle. After writing this word, I thought that I had better check its meaning just to ensure that it really means what I thought it meant. To my surprise, I could not find it in any dictionary. Then I thought, what better way to describe today's puzzle than with a word that doesn't appear in any dictionary. Further investigation showed that Oxford thinks that it is spelled shemozzle or schemozzle, although judging by general usage, a lot of people seem to be on the schmozzle side with me (probably through confusing the word with schnozzle).

I spent far too much time trying to solve this puzzle before visiting Times for the Times, where I discovered that talbinho and most of those leaving comments were - for the most part - as baffled as was I.

As I solve a puzzle, I mark symbols beside clues as reminders of things that I might want to mention in this blog. The various symbols might indicate clues where I don't (fully) understand the wordplay, clues where I want to compare my interpretation to that of the British bloggers, clues that contain Briticisms or obscure words that I might wish to include in the Today's Glossary section of the blog, etc. I can truthfully say that there has probably never been another puzzle that has come anywhere near to generating as many markups as were produced by today's puzzle. I have marks against more than half of the clues - with multiple marks against some of them.

Needless to say, I won't bother writing about every one of these issues - it would certainly take me all day to do so (and the blog is already a day late). Besides, most of the points are covered in talbinho's review and the comments attached to it.

Errors in Today's Puzzle

Two of the clues in today's puzzle clearly contain errors, as evidenced by the fact that the clues were corrected in the online version of the puzzle posted on the Sunday London Times website (according to reports at Times for the Times). As usual, these corrections were not included in the syndicated puzzle.

2d Near disaster? Elaborate! (6)

This clue should read "Near to disaster? Elaborate!".

22d Capital article on Poles (6)

This clue should read "Capital articles on Poles".

In addition, there is an overwhelming consensus among those writing at Times for the Times that the following clue is also incorrect, although the Sunday London Times seems unwilling to admit to it.

9a Coping when animals initially pushed into troughs? (8)

As talbinho suggests in his review, this clue might make sense (which it certainly doesn't as published) if reworded to read "Those coping when animals initially pushed into troughs?".

At least we can be thankful that one error appearing in the online version of the puzzle in the U.K. did not creep into the syndicated version. According to those writing at Times for the Times, the solution to 25d was given in the online version as ROOT rather than FOOT. I expect that error did not appear in the printed version in Britain, as we tend to get the puzzle exactly as it appeared in the printed edition there.

Today's Glossary

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

covert - noun 1 a thicket in which game can hide

nous - noun 1 Brit. informal practical intelligence

pigeon2 - [Collins English Dictionary] Brit informal concern or responsibility (often in the phrase it's his, her, etc., pigeon)

simple - noun chiefly historical a medicinal herb, or a medicine made from one

Sir John Tenniel
- English illustrator

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4370].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

1a In Britain known as pigeon territory (8)

I must admit that I was completely baffled by this cryptic definition and did not even make an attempt to write a solution into the "lights" in the grid (lights being the term used to identify the unshaded cells in the grid). It did not help that I was unsure of two of the checking letters (despite actually having found the correct solutions for the respective intersecting clues), given that there was an error in the clue at 2d and I could not explain the wordplay at 3d.

As I was to find out, talbinho (although he managed to obtain the correct solution) was also "baffled by this" clue. Once I knew what the solution was, it occurred to me that there might be a British politician named Vince Pigeon whose supporters come from an area that is known as being pro-Vince. However, I quickly discarded that thought realizing that the Brits would have easily picked up on that were it the case.

The explanation was finally provided by a visitor to Times for the Times. I then found a reference to the expression "It's his pigeon" in Collins (see Today's Glossary). It is interesting to note that the Free Online Dictionary (where I found the Collins entry) also provides an entry from the American Heritage Dictionary which provides a somewhat similar meaning for pigeon, namely "
An object of special concern; an affair or matter".

10a Disbursement abroad, on deposit (6)

Here is another clue that I was unable to crack (and one which talbinho was unable to explain). A couple of visitors to Times for the Times attempt to provide explanations. The best one, to my mind, is "Regarding 10A, the clue for DEBRIS looks suspiciously like a cast-off clue for 12A, where the answer OUTLAY would fit nicely (OUTLAY = disbursement; OUT (= abroad) + LAY (= deposit)!".

[With tongue firmly planted in cheek], I imagine the explanation as follows: The setter originally had intended that the solution at 12a would be OUTLAY with the clue worded as above. When the decision was made to change the solution at 12a to OUTLAW, the now surplus former clue became debris which was shuffled off to serve as a clue for 10a. After all, this clue does appear to make no sense, one that might well be described as garbage - or debris

3d Raining all over the place - dig a ditch? (7)

While I recognized that INGRAIN could be an anagram of "raining" with the indicator being "all over the place", I had no idea why "dig a ditch" might mean ingrain. Judging by the feedback on Times for the Times, neither did anyone else.

19d Illustrator of bird in flight crossing head of estuary (7)

I had supposed that "in flight" must be intended as an anagram indicator. However, talbinho points out that it is actually a reversal indicator - one to which he takes minor exception ("I'm not keen on 'in flight' meaning 'upwards' but that's a minor nitpick."). I agree with him on that point. Perhaps "bird taking flight across head of estuary" would have been a more appropriate way to convey the idea of rising.

Signing off for this week - Falcon

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