Introduction
I worked hard to solve this puzzle and, in the end, carelessly overlooked one clue. Perhaps that was for the best, as I likely would have expended considerable time fruitlessly had I attempted to solve the clue - since a test run of my solving tools failed to find the solution.
Today's Errors
There may be errors in two of the clues in today's puzzle.
10a Hesper - evening star - orbiting the globe (6)
Hesper (or Hesperus) is "the planet Venus in its appearance as the evening star". However, the phrase "- evening star -" is completely extraneous to the clue. Here is how talbinho attempts to explain its appearance:
a lovely anagram but a bizarre clue. Given that 'orbiting' is the only possible anagram indicator, my guess is that '- evening star -' was included in error, and was an annotation to a draft version or something (such as might have been included to reassure a typesetter who hadn't come across the word)Thus the clue likely should have read merely:
10a Hesper orbiting the globe (6)15a Threatening who's not well-favoured towards you? (4,8)
The consensus at Times for the Times is that a word is missing from this clue which may have been intended to read along the lines:
15a Threatening client who's not well-favoured towards you? (4,8)Today's Glossary
Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Appearing in Clues
wipe the floor with - phrase informal inflict a humiliating defeat on: they wiped the floor with us in a 3-0 win
Appearing in Solutions
albert (also albert chain) - noun British a watch chain with a bar at one end for attaching to a buttonhole; Origin: mid 19th century, named after Prince Albert
Albert Herring - a comic chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten, his Op. 39
bye-law - alternative spelling of by-law, noun 1 British a regulation made by a local authority or corporation
[Note: Chambers and Oxford both show the spelling as by-law and bye-law, while Collins opts for bylaw and bye-law; however, it seems our setter prefers byelaw]calf love - [Collins English Dictionary] noun [possibly British] temporary infatuation or love of an adolescent for a member of the opposite sex; also called puppy love [Note: the term puppy love is certainly familiar to North Americans, but (to the best of my knowledge) calf love is not used here]
copper1 - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 4 Chiefly British a large vessel, formerly of copper, used for boiling or washing
holt2 - noun the burrowed lair of an animal, esp an otter
mate1 - noun 3 British informal a friend or companion: my best mate Steve
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4396].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
9a Having set sail, three-master is in Eastern sea (8)
I wasted a bit of time becalmed in the Red Sea until I discovered that the winds were more favourable in the Mediterranean.
2d & 3d In comic opera, watch her jewellery! (6,7)
I noticed (as did a commenter at Times for the Times), that an "albert" is a watch chain, not a watch.
6d Former pilot's acrobatic deed (7)
While talbinho says "some confusion between acrobatics and aerobatics, I think", I personally don't think one can quibble with the clue as Oxford gives the origin of the word aerobatics as "First World War: from aero- + a shortened form of acrobatics".
7d Wiped the floor with worsted (8)
The surface reading suggests cleaning up a spill using a piece of woolen fabric. However, "worsted" here is a verb, not a noun, and means 'got the better of; defeated'. In this double definition type clue, "wiped the floor with" means 'inflicted a humiliating defeat'.
It is interesting to note that, as a verb, worst is a synonym for best which means 'outwit or get the better of (someone)' whereas, as adjectives or adverbs, these words are antonyms!
11d Without being without space, visitor dances (7)
In his review, talbinho says "unfortunately the comma between 'space' and 'visitor' ruins the clue". However, I have come to understand that one of the basic rules of cryptic clues is that punctuation is present for the surface reading of the clue and should be ignored in the cryptic reading. Of course, there is a corollary to this rule which states that one should ignore the rule if the punctuation is important to the cryptic reading.
14d Regulations along a route passing through Wales need to be changed (7)
The definition is "regulations" with the solution being BYELAWS (a new - perhaps British - spelling of the word for me). The wordplay seems to be BY (along a route passing through) + an anagram (need to be changed) WALES. If that is the correct explanation, then the phrase "along a route passing through" would appear to be a long and convoluted way to express the idea by - but then Wales is the location of the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (or Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, for short).
By the way (which, incidentally, could mean 'along a route'), the British dictionaries define bylaw as a British term, especially when referring to regulations enacted by local levels of government. However, bylaw is a common term in Canada (and apparently other Commonwealth countries). The United States on the other hand tends to use terms such as code, ordnance and regulation.
25d Otter's refuge - when heated, plunge in lake (4)
I didn't realize that I had overlooked this clue until I reached this point in reading talbinho's review. In any event, I probably would have failed to find the solution anyway, as a test run of my tools failed to produce the answer.
An otter's refuge (lair) is called a HOLT (a new word to me). This is what I like to think of as a recipe style clue, where the wordplay takes the form of a set of steps in a procedure. Thus we have:
Step 1: heated = HOT
Step 2: plunge in (i.e., insert) L (lake) = HO(L)T
In his review, talbinho dubs this "dubious wordplay". However, it is a style that one does see from time to time.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
This one includes -- as you've already mentioned -- several examples of why cryptics sometimes drive me crazy. I long ago accepted that everyone in the UK knows that apparently the only motor race worth watching (as I was pithily informed by a compiler once when I asked him who in heck in North America had even heard of the damned race) is the annual Tourist Trophy motorcycle race on the Isle of Man -- hence a cryptic clue reference to "race" almost always points the solver to the presence of "TT" in the answer. But the last time I heard "copper" used to describe a receptacle was in the Alistair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol" where Bob Cratchit's daughter urges her brother to "Come and hear the pudding singing in the copper, Peter!" (And even then I assumed for several years that the pudding cooker in question was a "copperpeter" before I began listenting more closely.) But "byelaws", "calf love", "Albert Herring"? Come on SLTC. Could you not have a nearby resident Canadian give your puzzles the once over before releasing the export version? Even "holt" only came to light when I solved the possible four-letter word by dropping the "L" (lake) in "HOT", and got confirmation by Googling "otter holt" (which actually turned up some photos of holes in riverbanks -- thank you, internet). So colour me a little irritated this week, if only because I wish sometimes they'd make an effort to accommodate the Atlantic crossing.
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