Sunday, May 30, 2010 (ST 4378)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on April 25, 2010

Introduction

A bit of a tricky puzzle today with a lot of obscure terms - many of them British, but seemingly not all. I completed the puzzle but needed talbinho to explain the wordplay in 10a.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Clues

electrics - likely British plural noun 1 electrical appliances. 2 colloq wiring.

Appearing in Solutions

chappal - noun South Asia sandal: a leather sandal with a single strap attached at the sides and passing between the first two toes

cramp ring - a ring formerly supposed to have virtue in averting or curing cramp, as having been consecrated by one of the kings of England on Good Friday

glue ear - U.K. complaint affecting children's hearing: a condition affecting young children that results from poor drainage of the middle ear.

iron pan - Geology a hard layer of precipitated iron salts often found below the surface of sands and gravels

mouth harp - South Midland and Southern U.S. noun harmonica; also called mouth organ

pea-souper - noun Brit. a very thick yellowish fog

RA - abbreviation 4 Royal Artillery

RAF - abbreviation Royal Air Force

TT - abbreviation 2 Tourist Trophy: noun an award given to the winner of the motorcycle races that are held annually on the Isle of Man

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4378].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

9a Join listener - on this condition (4,3)

I had never heard the expression glue ear. Judging from dictionary entries (it appears only in U.K. dictionaries or is designated as U.K. usage), it would seem to be strictly a British term:

• [Cambridge] - noun A medical condition which is common in children, in which the middle part of the ear becomes filled with a liquid which prevents them from hearing correctly. Over half of all children in Britain get glue ear at some time before they are 16, and it can lead to permanent hearing loss.
• [Chambers] - noun deafness and discharge from the ear caused by a build-up of fluid in the middle ear.
• [Collins] - noun accumulation of fluid in the middle ear in children, caused by infection and sometimes resulting in deafness
• [Encarta] - noun U.K. complaint affecting children's hearing: a condition affecting young children that results from poor drainage of the middle ear. It is a common cause of impaired hearing during early years, sometimes leading to educational disadvantage if untreated.
• [Oxford] - noun blocking of the Eustachian tube by mucus, occurring especially in children and causing impaired hearing.

The medical term is otitis media.

10a Lotteries force me to return (7)

Oh, why is it that we can sometimes scale mountains, yet stumble over molehills? Although I saw that the second part of the solution was a reversal of SELF, I think that I must have gotten hung up on thinking that the first part was also a reversal. As a result, I was unable to see where RAF came from or what it had to do with force until I read talbinho's explanation. Surely, my body will be black and blue for days from the self-inflicted kicks.

15a A luxury car trapped by outgoing tide, briefly remained (7)

I am not overly enamoured with "outgoing" as an anagram indicator; methinks it would be better suited to be a reversal indicator.

2d Music-maker opening hotel, a ruined pub initially (5,4)

Mouth harp (or merely harp), meaning harmonica or mouth organ, is a term used regionally in midland (Indiana, Ohio and Illinois) and southern U.S. states. A possibly-related regional U.S. name for a harmonica is harpoon, which brings to mind:



6d Self-help facility agency accepted after electrics installed (9)

What a ghastly clue. It not only has an awkward surface reading and convoluted wordplay, with a Briticism thrown in, but I can find no justification for one substitution. The definition is "self-help facility" for which the solution is CAFETERIA. The wordplay in this Babushka doll style clue is CIA (agency) containing (accepted) {AFTER containing (installed) E (electrics)} or C(AF(E)TER)IA. Electrics is a British expression meaning either electrical appliances or wiring. As for the substitution of E for "electrics", the stock answer is likely "It can be found in [the unabridged version of] Chambers", although it does not appear in the online version of Chambers which shows it as an abbreviation for electron, electronic, and electromotive force. Even if it were a recognized abbreviation for electric, I think that it would be a bit of a stretch to extend that to electrics in the sense implied by the clue. On this point, I see that my thinking appears to be well aligned with that of talbinho and others at Times for the Times.

Signing off for this week - Falcon