Sunday, March 6, 2011 (ST 4418)

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4418
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, January 30, 2011
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4418]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, February 26, 2011

Introduction

The Brits seem to have found this puzzle on the easy side. However, I found it to be fairly challenging.

Today's Glossary

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

[Items marked with an asterisk are from a Cumulative Glossary of entries appearing, since the beginning of this year, in either this blog or its companion blog, the National Post Cryptic Crossword Forum.]

Appearing in Clues

biscuit - noun 1 British a small baked unleavened cake, typically crisp, flat , and sweet: a chocolate biscuit [Known in North America as a cookie.]

• North American a small, soft round cake like a scone

cookie - noun 1 North American a sweet biscuit 3 Scottish a plain bun

dishy - adjective informal

1. chiefly British (of a man) sexually attractive.
2. North American scandalous or gossipy: she's the perfect candidate for a dishy biography

Windies - colloquial name for the West Indian cricket team

Appearing in Solutions

brandy snap - noun British a crisp rolled gingerbread wafer, usually filled with cream

canon¹ - noun 4 Music a piece in which the same melody is begun in different parts successively, so that the imitations overlap

draughts - noun British a board game for two players, played on a draughtboard. Each player starts with twelve disc-shaped pieces in three rows along one side of the board , and moves them diagonally with the aim of capturing all the opponent's pieces. [Known in North America as checkers.]

*or² - noun gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture

PE - [2^nd entry] abbreviation physical education

père - French father

*R² - abbreviation [13th entry] Cricket [not to mention baseball] (on scorecards) run(s)

RU - [3^rd entry] abbreviation rugby union

rugby (also rugby football) - noun a team game played with an oval ball that may be kicked, carried , and passed from hand to hand. Points are scored by grounding the ball behind the opponents‘ goal line (thereby scoring a try) or by kicking it between the two posts and over the crossbar of the opponents’ goal.  See also rugby league and rugby union

rugby league - noun a form of rugby played in teams of thirteen, originally by a group of northern English clubs which separated from rugby union in 1895. Besides having somewhat different rules, the game differed from rugby union in always allowing professionalism.

Origin: (mid 19th century) named after Rugby School (see Rugby), where the game was first played

rugby union - noun a form of rugby played in teams of fifteen. Unlike rugby league, the game was originally strictly amateur, being opened to professionalism only in 1995.

snap - noun 4 British a card game in which cards from two piles are turned over simultaneously and players call ‘snap’ as quickly as possible when two similar cards are exposed [Note: a game that is also played in Canada - at least, I recall having played it]

• [as exclamation] said when one notices that one has or does the identical thing to someone else: ‘Snap!’ They looked at each other's ties with a smile.

speed camera - noun a roadside camera triggered by speeding vehicles, taking either video footage or a photograph of the vehicle with a record of its speed

TR - abbreviation Turkey (international vehicle registration)

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

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

17d   20 not starting to attack fall guy (9)

This is a cross-reference type of clue, where "20" indicates that we must insert the solution to clue 20d at this point in the clue. Doing so, the clue becomes:

• Abscond not starting to attack fall guy (9)

The definition is "fall guy" for which the solution is SCAPEGOAT. The wordplay is SCAPE {eSCAPE (abscond) without its first letter (not starting)} + {GO AT (to attack)}.

20d   Muscles ultimately required to stop prisoner's bolt (7)

The definition is "bolt" as '(of a person) move or run away suddenly in an attempt to escape' with the solution being ABSCOND. The wordplay is {ABS (muscles) + D [final letter (ultimately) of requireD]} containing (to stop) CON (prisoner) giving us ABS(CON)D.

Signing off for this week - Falcon