Sunday, November 14, 2010 (ST 4402)

The Sunday London Times Puzzle Number ST 4402
Publication Date in The Sunday London Times Sunday, October 10, 2010
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4402]
Times for the Times Review Written By talbinho

Introduction

This puzzle has some very difficult wordplay. In fact, in more than a few instances, I first found the solution and then reverse engineered the wordplay.

Today's Errata

The review at Times for the Times incorrectly shows the date of publication in the U.K. as September 10 rather than October 10.

There is likely an error in the clue at 13d. However, I have charitably chosen to treat it as very clever wordplay (see Commentary on Today's Puzzle).

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues

box - (in phrase box the compass) chiefly Nautical 1 recite the compass points in correct order

gin ² - noun 3 (also gin trap) a trap for catching birds or small mammals

traveller - noun (usually Traveller) British a Gypsy or other nomadic person

Appearing in Solutions

angelica - noun

• a tall aromatic plant of the parsley family, with large leaves and yellowish-green flowers. It is used in cooking and herbal medicine
• the candied stalk of angelica, used in confectionery and cake decoration

creeper - noun 3 informal (creepers) short for brothel creepers: plural noun, informal soft-soled suede shoes

L ² - abbreviation 2 learner driver [and, by extension, student]

mayblossom - one of the common names for Crataegus monogyna, or Common Hawthorn, a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia. Other common names include may, maythorn, quickthorn, whitethorn, motherdie, and haw.

plumbago - noun 1. any plumbaginaceous plant of the genus Plumbago, of warm regions, having clusters of blue, white, or red flowers; also called leadwort

terai - noun 1 a wide-brimmed felt hat, typically with a double crown , worn chiefly by travellers in subtropical regions

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with talbinho's review at Times for the Times, to which a link is provided in the table above.

1a Rambler has just one shoe (7)

Another name for a rambler (rose) is CREEPER, which is also a British term for a soft-soled suede shoe. As it is actually a shortened form of brothel creeper, the origin of the term would likely be intriguing. Unfortunately, Oxford Dictionaries online fails to provide this information - so we must use our imagination.

5a Changes of menu are good for a girl (7)

As talbinho points out in his review, the word "good" is superfluous to the cryptic reading - thrown in merely to smooth the surface reading.

11a Primate on English isle a Neanderthal type? (3-3)

Sometimes 'ignorance is bliss'. Not realising that "the Isle of Man isn't even part of the UK, let alone England", I was unhindered by geographical reality and easily solved this clue.

19a Odd end, as internal piping leads to lines of pillars (10)

To translate the surface reading into the cryptic reading, one often has to discard the existing punctuation - and sometimes insert additional (or alternative) punctuation. Such is the case here where the cryptic reading of the clue could be stated as, "Odd end as; internal piping leads to /\ lines of pillars". Here the fulcrum symbol ("/\") is used to delineate the boundary between the wordplay and the definition. Thus the first part of the wordplay is an anagram (odd) of END AS and the second part is COLON (internal piping; i.e., part of the large intestine) is placed before (leads to). When these two pieces of wordplay are combined, the result is COLONNADES (COLON|NADES*). I like to think of this type of clue as being like an instruction manual or recipe book, where we have:

• Step1: Odd end as [start with an anagram (odd) of END AS];
• Step 2: internal piping leads to [then place COLON (internal piping) in front (leads to)];
• Result: lines of pillars [to get the result COLONADES]

22a Douglas chap, perhaps, seen to drag two poles to his home? (8)

I learned a lot about the Isle of Man today, discovering from talbinho that Douglas is the capital of the Isle of Man. I had presumed that the reference was to the town in Scotland.

23a Fellow caught one short of a century, agitated (6)

The surface reading refers to cricket, where it is seemingly fairly common for a batsman to score one hundred runs (known a a century) before being out. Thus the clue describes a situation where a batsman (fellow) being upset when he is caught out (i.e., the ball he hits is caught by a fielder) after scoring 99 runs - one short of a century. I didn't see the Roman numeral (IC = 99) until after I had solved the clue, having reasoned instead that "short of" means "just before" so "one short of a century" would be "I before C (hundred)".

28a Bearskins, it's said they favour? (7)

This cryptic definition (signalled by the question mark) brought a smile once the answer was exposed.

29a Whale of a weight, Manx cat carried (7)

The definition is "whale" and the solution is GRAMPUS. The wordplay is GRAM (a weight) + (carried) PUS (Manx cat). A Manx cat is tailless, so we have PUSS (cat) without its final letter (tailless). The word "carried" is used as a charade indicator, perhaps in the sense "to have (something) on the surface or skin; bear: e.g., carries scars from acne". Since "carry" can mean 'to support', this construct would have worked really well in a down clue.

13d Everyone can sew badly, making these excuses (10)

The definition is "these excuses" indicating that the solution is a particular type of excuses, namely ALLOWANCES. The wordplay is ALL (everyone) + O + an anagram (badly) of CAN SEW. In cryptic crossword puzzles, the letter O is often clued by terms such as 'nothing', 'love' (a score of zero in tennis), or 'duck' (a batsman's score of naught in cricket). Today's setter seems to have taken this idea to the absolute extreme, and literally included nothing in the clue to represent the letter O.

17d Girl decorating some cakes (8)

I zeroed in on the wrong girl here, thinking it might be Angelina, figuring that the wordplay might be either:

• INA (girl) on (decorating) ANGEL (some [type of] cake); or
• LINA (girl) on (decorating) ANGE (some cake; i..e., ANGEL without its final letter).

Instead, the girl is ANGELICA, which is also the candied stalk of the angelica plant used in cake decorating.

24d There's a lot in gin for the traveller (5)

A "gin" is a type of trap. Terms such as "a large number", "many", and - in this case - "a lot" often signify a large Roman numeral. Today's puzzle is brought to us by the the number M. Thus, the wordplay translates as "There is M (a lot) in TRAP (gin)". In Britain, a Gypsy, hobo or TRAMP is called a traveller.

Signing off for this week - Falcon