Sunday, August 28, 2011 - ST 4443

Puzzle at a Glance
Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4443
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, July 24, 2011
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4443]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, August 20, 2011

Introduction

I certainly seem to have found this puzzle much more of a challenge than the Brits did. There are a fair number of British references - including a disputed flyspeck of a rock in the Atlantic Ocean (apparently Britain's equivalent to Hans Island).

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.

Ascot Racecourse - a famous English racecourse, located in the small town of Ascot, Berkshire, used for thoroughbred horse racing. It is one of the leading racecourses in the United Kingdom, hosting 9 of the UK's 32 annual Group 1 races. The course is closely associated with the British Royal Family, being approximately six miles from Windsor Castle.

The centrepiece of Ascot’s year, Royal Ascot (held in June) is one of Europe's most famous race meetings, and dates back to 1711. It is a major event in the British social calendar, and press coverage of the attendees and what they are wearing often exceeds coverage of the actual racing. There are 3 enclosures attended by guests on Royal Ascot week - with the Royal Enclosure being the most prestigious. The dress code for the Royal Enclosure is strictly enforced. For women, only a day dress with a hat or fascinator is acceptable, with rules applying to the length of the dress. In addition, women must not show bare midriffs or shoulders. For men, black or grey morning dress with top hat is required.

domestic - noun 1 (also domestic worker or domestic help) a person who is paid to help with cleaning and other menial tasks in a person’s home.

Appearing in Solutions

*AB² - abbreviation [1^st entry] able seaman, noun a rank of sailor in the Royal Navy above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman

abradant - [American Heritage Dictionary] adjective abrasive

Angers - a town in western France, capital of the former province of Anjou

banger - noun British informal 1 a sausage: bangers and mash

charwoman - noun British dated a woman employed as a cleaner in a house or office.

ff - abbeviation Music fortissimo, adverb & adjective (especially as a direction) very loud or loudly: the movement ends with a fortissimo coda

H² - abbreviation [1^st entry] hard (used in describing grades of pencil lead): a 2H pencil

Ir. - abbreviation 1 Ireland. 2 Irish.

lowlander - [an inhabitant of] the Lowlands, the region of Scotland lying south and east of the Highlands

[Battle of] Naseby - a major battle of the English Civil War, which took place in 1645 near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Royalist army of Prince Rupert and King Charles I was decisively defeated by the New Model Army under General Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.

*RA - abbreviation [3^rd entry] (in the UK) Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Academy

Royal Academy of the Arts (also Royal Academy) - an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose was to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

*read - verb 5 chiefly British study (an academic subject) at a university: I'm reading English at Cambridge; [no object] he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics.

Rockall - an extremely small, uninhabited, remote rocky islet in the North Atlantic Ocean. It gives its name to one of the sea areas named in the shipping forecast provided by the British Meteorological Office.

Rockall - an uninhabited British island in the N Atlantic, 354 km (220 miles) W of the Outer Hebrides. Area: 0.07 ha (0.18 acres) [102 feet long x 83 feet wide]

rune - noun 1 [1^st entry] a letter of an ancient Germanic alphabet, related to the Roman alphabet: [i] long ago, a rune had been carved in the centre of the stone, [ii] the pommel and guard are embellished with runes

sett (also set) - noun 1 the earth or burrow of a badger.

sword of Damocles - phrase used to refer to an extremely precarious situation.

Damocles - a legendary courtier who extravagantly praised the happiness of Dionysius I, ruler of Syracuse. To show him how precarious this happiness was , Dionysius seated him at a banquet with a sword hung by a single hair over his head.

*up - adverb 4 [2^nd entry] British at or to a university, especially Oxford or Cambridge: they were up at Cambridge about the same time

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.

1a   Eric it could be in the tall grass (4,4)

The wordplay here is a reverse anagram. In a regular anagram type clue, the clue contains an anagram indicator and fodder (the letters on which the anagram indicator operates) and the answer to the anagram is found in the solution to the clue. In a reverse anagram, the answer to the anagram is part of the clue and the anagram indicator and fodder are contained in the solution to the clue.

In case at hand, the definition is "tall grass" with the solution being WILD RICE. "Eric" could be an anagram of RICE - which might be clued in a cryptic crossword as "wild rice". Thus the answer to the anagram (Eric) is found in the clue and the anagram itself (wild rice) is contained in the solution - in fact, in this case, it constitutes the entire solution.

29a   Birds in at least three quarrels? (8)

Whether by coincidence - or not - there seems to be a major bit of misdirection present here. I quickly recognized that "quarrels" might be ARROWS (see definition below), but then was at a loss to explain the remainder of the wordplay. As Dave Perry explains, the definition is "quarrels" with the solution being SPARROWS. The wordplay is SPAR (quarrel) + ROWS (at least two more quarrels). It seems that ARROWS play no part in it!

• quarrel² - noun historical a short, heavy square-headed arrow or bolt used in a crossbow or arbalest.

Signing off for this week - Falcon