Sunday, August 15, 2010 (ST 4389)

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

Introduction

I found this puzzle to be fairly difficult - and relied heavily on my Tool Chest in order to complete it.

Today's Glossary

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

Appearing in Solutions

jumper - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun 4. Chiefly British A pullover sweater. [Note: in North America, a jumper is a type of dress known in the U.K. as a pinafore]

OED - abbreviation Oxford English Dictionary.

post² - noun 1 chiefly British the official service or system that delivers letters and parcels: winners will be notified by post; the tickets are in the post.

pot - noun potshot [Note: this definition appears in both the American Heritage Dictionary (as noun 11) and Collins English Dictionary (as noun 15)].

titch - noun British informal a small person.

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4389].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a Instruction on, say, propane container is deceptive (7,6)

The definition is "deceptive" with the solution being LEADING ASTRAY. The wordplay in this charade type clue is LEADIN (lead-in; instruction) + (on) GAS (say, propane; i.e., propane is an example of a gas) + TRAY (container). Like talbinho (who writes, "'Instruction' must give 'lead-in', which doesn't seem quite right; perhaps I have misunderstood this clue."), I questioned lead-in meaning instruction. Oxford defines lead-in as "an introduction or preamble which allows one to move smoothly on to the next part of something: the lead-in note". Perhaps that could be deemed to be an instruction of sorts.

There is a fair amount of discussion on Times for the Times regarding this clue. Some writers thought that "instruction" is LEAD with "on" meaning IN (which was apparently true in 1000 A.D.). Others suggested (as had occurred to me) that there might be a mistake in the clue with the word "instruction" having been substituted for the word "introduction".

As I have interpreted the clue, the word "on" is a charade indicator (or charade link word). However, I note that it violates the convention described by Anax (a setter of cryptic crossword puzzles) on Big Dave's site that, in an across clue, "A on B" always means "B + A" ("In an across clue, “on” tags one component to the end of another"). Here A on B (LEADIN on GAS) produces A + B (LEADINGAS).

Then again, here is what Peter Biddlecombe (a champion solver of cryptic crossword puzzles) has to say regarding "Anax’s advice about “A on B” as part of a charade in an across clue".

Although this could logically indicate (A,B) or (B,A), current crossword editors apparently follow a policy that it must indicate B,A. I’ve only known this for a year or so, and will probably never change my approach of just trying the two possibilities for my interpretations of A and B, and seeing which makes a word that fits checking letters and the definition. It’s not going to take me significantly longer, and if I do a puzzle that doesn’t follow this rule, or the editors change their minds, I’m not going to rely on a rule that doesn’t apply. A comment from Don Manley on the announcement posting for this page suggests that the rule is actually specific to the Times puzzle.

As for "specific to the Times puzzle", a convention apparently violated today.

17a Post taken by high-flyer? (7)

This is a cryptic definition of AIRMAIL, post being a British term for mail. In Canada, despite the fact that the organization that delivers the mail is called Canada Post, the fee for delivering mail is called postage, and we might even say that we post a letter, I don't think one would ever hear the mail referred to as the post.

19a Nice sauce fully available a short time ago (4,3)

In this clue Nice refers to the city on the French Riviera and serves as an indicator that we are looking for the French words meaning sauce (JUS; which actually means gravy, a type of sauce) and fully (TOUT). The definition is "available a short time ago" which leads, of course, to the solution JUST OUT.

24a Advertise widely what sounds like the correct entrance (9)

The definition is "advertise widely" with the solution being PROPAGATE. The wordplay in this homophone (sounds like) clue relies on the British speech characteristic of pronouncing "ER" as "A" so that "proper gate" sounds like "propa gate".

25d This is mean end! (3)

Despite having the correct solution, I had difficulty fully understanding the wordplay - even after reading talbinho's explanation. This clue seems to be a double definition, with the second meaning being end = AIM (as in goal). The first definition appears to be mean = AIM (where aim has the meaning "have the intention of achieving; we aim to give you the best possible service"). As for the "This is" part of the clue, I can only surmise that the clue is intended to be a cryptic definition which is saying, in effect "The solution (this) is a word that can have the meaning 'mean' or 'end'".

Signing off for this week - Falcon