Sunday, May 16, 2010 (ST 4376)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on April 11, 2010

Introduction

It was a rather challenging puzzle today, if you ask me. There were a few Briticisms and several quite obscure terms (at least to me). There were also some nice plays on words, a type of clue that I rather enjoy - especially when I can solve them. I did guess at a couple of solutions, anticipating that talbinho's explanation would clarify the wordplay. Alas, I was still puzzled on at least one clue after reading his review.

Today's Glossary

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

Used in clues:

George - noun airmen's slang the automatic pilot of an aircraft

Used in solutions:

Ascensiontide - the ten days from Ascension Day to the day before Whit Sunday

barathea - noun a fine woollen cloth

The Eros Statue - the popular (though erroneous) name for the Shaftesbury memorial, a monument in Piccadilly Circus, London, England (the statue actually portrays the twin brother of Eros, Anteros)

geyser - noun 2 Brit. a gas-fired water heater

maestoso - adverb & adjective Music in a majestic and stately manner

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4376].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

1a Cable a curate, distraught about a test result (13)

I am familiar with baccalaureate being "an academic degree conferred on someone who has successfully completed undergraduate studies". In the U.S., the term can also mean "a farewell sermon to a graduating class at their commencement ceremonies", while it may be known to those in some parts of the world (including the U.K.) as "an internationally recognized programme of study, comprising different subjects, offered as an alternative to a course of A levels in Britain". An A level (in full Advanced level) is "an examination in a single subject in England, Wales and N Ireland for which school and college students study until about the age of 18". Oxford gives one meaning of baccalaureate as "an examination qualifying candidates for higher education".

11a Picasso's intimate address (5)

This is either a very trivial clue or else one that has gone completely over my head. Surely there is more to it than merely a suggestion that Senor Picasso's intimates (close friends) address him as Pablo.

13a Small trendy gardens in America where British queens spent formative years (9)

To a Brit, the phrase "gardens in America" would signify "yards". In North America, we refer to the property surrounding our home as a yard, whether or not it is enclosed and/or cultivated. In Britain, a yard is "a piece of uncultivated enclosed ground adjoining a building". Thus we see that the key characteristics distinguishing a yard in Britain are that it is enclosed and uncultivated. In Britain, "a piece of ground adjoining a house, typically cultivated to provide a lawn and flowerbeds" is known as a garden. That seems to leave open the question of what the Brits would call a piece of ground that is unenclosed and uncultivated.

Thus what we in North America call a yard, in Britain would be called either a yard (if enclosed and uncultivated) or a garden (if cultivated). In North America, the term garden (in this context) would generally be used only to describe that part of the property used for flower beds (flower garden) or vegetable plots (vegetable garden). A North American would therefore commonly use the phrase "lawn and garden" to describe the totality of their property, while such a phrase would likely be seen to be redundant to a Brit, who could sum up the same idea in the single word "garden".

19a They're set to return. Plunging in river? (6)

I have to admit that it took a lot of pondering to decipher this clue. The sense of the clue is "They (the animals named in the solution) are a reversal of (return) SET TO containing (plunging in) R (river)". For effect, the setter has inverted the normal order of words and omitted punctuation (which the solver must insert). Thus the phrase "plunging in river" must be read as "plunging in, river" meaning "river plunging in". The entire wordplay then can be reduced to "OTTES with R plunging in" or OTTERS.

24a Psychological probe reveals Latin-American (5)

The term Cholo is new to me. Although the word was originally used as an ethnic slur, it seems to have taken on a variety of meanings in the U.S. and a number of countries throughout Latin America during different periods of history. As sometimes happens with pejorative words, "the term Cholo was turned on its head and used as a symbol of pride in the context of the ethnic power movements of the 1960s". It would seem that the word may or may not be seen as offensive, depending on the audience and the context in which it is used. It does seem to be a word carrying a lot of baggage - one which is likely to offend some, I am sure.

25a Wrong name on drug, medicine to get you going (5)

My initial thought was that the solution might be tonic. However, this medicine will get you going in a different way - giving you the trots.

23d Dare say the Americans believe it (5)

I dare say that we North Americans use the word guess differently (in one sense) than the Brits. Oxford says that I guess means "informal, chiefly N. Amer. I suppose", while Collins gives one meaning of guess as "Informal chiefly US and Canadian to believe, think, or suppose (something) I guess I'll go now".

Signing off for this week - Falcon