Sunday, September 26, 2010 (ST 4395)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on August 22, 2010

Introduction

I found this - while not overly challenging - to be quite an enjoyable puzzle to solve. It was, unfortunately, marred by an error in the clue at 25a. Looking at the bigger picture, there are 28 clues in today's puzzle with only one error. It just might behoove you to keep that in mind as you work through the puzzle.

Today's Errors

Those who read the comments section of the posting on Times for the Times relating to last weeks puzzle (ST 4394) will know that there is an error in this puzzle at 25a, which should read:

25a Reminder left inside - one of 28 here (4)

As published (in the Ottawa Citizen, as was the case in The Sunday London Times), the clue contained the word "remainder" rather than "reminder". According to the comments at Times for the Times, this error which appeared in the printed version of the puzzle in the U.K. was fixed, at some point, in the online version. Nevertheless, in was not fixed in the syndicated version.

By the way, don't be deceived by the apparent typo in talbinho's review. The error is in clue 25a (not 26 as shown in his review).

Today's Glossary

A selection of abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues

institute - verb 2 to initiate something or cause it to begin • to institute legal proceedings

journo - noun colloquial, originally Australian a journalist

Appearing in Solutions

raise - verb 9 to bring into being; to provoke • raise a laugh • raise the alarm

Battle of the Somme - one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded, this battle took place during the First World War between 1 July and 18 November 1916 in the Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of the same name.

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4395].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

"At" as a Charade Link Word

In today's puzzle, we encounter four instances of the word "at" being used as a link word in a charade type clue:

• 10a Commend leader of psychiatrists at institute (6)
• 21a Excellent drink at The Queen at start of binge (6)
• 6d After an hour at work put an end to game (9)

In each case, the word "at" means 'beside', as in the expression "standing at the bar". For example, in 21a, the definition is "excellent" and the wordplay is SUP (drink) + (at) ER (the Queen) + (at) B (start of binge) to produce the solution SUPERB.

22a Filter natural water from small stone (6)

The definition is "filter" and the wordplay is RAIN (natural water) following (from) ST (small stone; i.e., the first letters of the word "stone") to give STRAIN. In clues such as this, selection indicator words such as "small" are used to indicate an unspecified number of letters taken from the fodder word (but I would say that the number is one or two, in most cases).

At Times for the Times, there is some discussion of the use of "from" to mean 'after' with jackkt commenting "Don't really understand how 'from' works into 22ac indicating that 'RAIN' goes after 'ST'" and tony_sever replying "I thought 'from' in 22A was pushing things a little but not enough to be objectionable - I read it as 'starting from'". I certainly had no difficulty accepting "from" meaning 'after', as in "From his twenty-first birthday, he celebrated each passing year by getting together with a bunch of buddies at a local pub". Words like "from" can take so many different meanings that unless one finds precisely the right one, the clue can often seem to make no sense at all.

7d Stop daughter following poet (4)

I first tried unsuccessfully to solve this clue by parsing it as "Stop /\ daughter following poet". Eventually, I realized that it parses as "Stop; daughter following /\ poet".

Signing off for this week - Falcon