Sunday, April 24, 2011 (ST 4425)

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4425
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, March 20, 2011
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4425]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, April 16, 2011

Introduction

While today's puzzle was not overly difficult, it had a fair smattering of British references. Fortunately, I was familiar with many of them - otherwise, I am sure the puzzle would have been considerably more challenging.

Today's Glossary

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

[An asterisk beside an entry merely indicates that it has been taken it from a Cumulative Glossary of entries which have previously appeared, in either this blog or its companion blog, the National Post Cryptic Crossword Forum.]

Appearing in Clues

Meanings listed in this section may reflect how the word is used in the surface reading of the clue. Of course, that meaning may be contributing to the misdirection that the setter is attempting to create.

Cornwall - a county occupying the extreme south-western peninsula of England; county town, Truro.

Nottingham - a city in east central England, the county town of Nottinghamshire; population 237,600 (est. 2009).

Appearing in Solutions

Andrew Bonar Law (1858 – 1923) - British Conservative Party statesman and Prime Minister who, having been born in the colony (now Canadian province) of New Brunswick, is the only British Prime Minister to have been born outside the British Isles. He was also the shortest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century, spending 211 days in office.

curate's egg - noun British a thing that is partly good and partly bad: this book is a bit of a curate's egg
[origin: (early 20th century) from a cartoon in Punch (1895) depicting a meek curate who, given a stale egg at the bishop's table, assures his host that ‘parts of it are excellent’]

a dog's dinner (or breakfast) - phrase British informal a poor piece of work ; a mess: we made a real dog's breakfast of it

Elia - pseudonym of English essayist Charles Lamb (1775 – 1834)

Emma, Lady Hamilton (1765 – 1815) - mistress of Lord Nelson and muse of painter George Romney.

*lo - exclamation archaic used to draw attention to an interesting or amazing event: and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them

lobelia - noun a chiefly tropical or subtropical plant of the bellflower family, in particular an annual widely grown as a bedding plant. Some kinds are aquatic, and some grow as thick-trunked shrubs or trees on African mountains. Genus Lobelia, family Campanulaceae: many species, including the popular blue-flowered L. erinus

Lord North (Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, 1732 – 1792) -  Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782 who led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence.

Sherwood Forest - a Royal Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, that is famous through its historical association with the legend of Robin Hood.

tat¹ - noun British colloquial rubbish or junk

tile - [Collins English Dictionary] noun 5 British, old-fashioned slang a hat

Worcestershire - a county of west central England, part of Hereford and Worcester between 1974 and 1998

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.

23a   Man at 6 frequently up in the air (5)

Here, "man at 6" is a cross reference to clue 6d. Thus, making the appropriate substitution, the current clue becomes "Gangster frequently up in the air (5)".

Signing off for this week - Falcon