Sunday, November 11, 2012 - ST 4507

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4507
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, October 14, 2012
Setter Tim Moorey
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4507]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, November 3, 2012
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, November 10, 2012
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Times for the Times
Notes This puzzle appears on the Sunday Puzzles pages in the Saturday, November 10, 2012 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. The Date of Publication in the Toronto Star is unconfirmed as there is no entry for this date on the Saturday Star Cryptic Forum blog.

Introduction

Having been away from home last weekend, I only just found time to solve this puzzle today (a week later). I got hung up in the lower right hand quadrant. I failed to find the correct county as I didn't think to consider abbreviations. Moreover, I couldn't get County Down (in Ireland) out of my mind. I also could not recall the name of the Oriental man (who is usually introduced to us as a Scot).

Notes 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.

Across

1a   Express and Mail strongly dislike Sun getting stuck in (4- 5)

The Daily Express, the Daily Mail, and The Sun are all daily tabloid newspapers published in the United Kingdom.^[7] In Britain, the post^[5] is (1) the official service or system that delivers letters and parcels ⇒ (i) winners will be notified by post; (ii) the tickets are in the post, (2) letters and parcels delivered ⇒ she was opening her post, or (3) a single collection or delivery of mail ⇒ entries must be received no later than first post on 14 June. As a verb, post is a chiefly British term meaning to send (a letter or parcel) via the postal system ⇒ I’ve just been to post a letter; (ii) post off your order form today. In Canada, the word post may sometimes be heard used in this sense as a verb — but virtually never as a noun. The word mail is used instead (both as a verb and a noun). However, the word post lives on in the name of the service which delivers the mail — Canada Post. Did you notice the phrase "first post on 14 June" in one of the usage examples above? Apparently, the post is still delivered more often than once per day in Britain!

 

6a   I’ve made a booboo as nothing in musical works (4)

The solution is an exclamation that one may utter on making a mistake. In the field of music, Op. (also op.)^[5] is an abbreviation meaning opus (work). It is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication.

9a   Monetary agreement in Brussels? It’ll never get off the ground (3)

The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)^[7] is an umbrella term for the group of policies that set the conditions that must be met to allow a member of the European Union to adopt the euro currency. Brussels^[7], as the de facto capital of the European Union, is often used as a metonym for the EU.

10a   I work for spinster (5,6)

11a   Nobleman mostly ahead of time (4)

The British nobility^[7] consists of two entities, the peerage and the landed gentry. Members of the peerage are titled (duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron), and frequently referred to as peers or lords. The rest of the nobility is referred to as the landed gentry.

12a   Mean rock “Let It Be”, a fine number (4- 6)

Mean^[5] in the sense (especially of a place) poor in quality and appearance or shabby ⇒ her home was mean and small.

14a   Lozenges coming from Kent (Rochester) (7)

15a   Gendarme’s introduction is flipping hilarious, primarily in “Good Moaning”! (7)

In his review, Dave Perry explains the surface reading of this clue which is an allusion to the UK television sitcom 'Allo 'Allo.

17a   Swears about one form of therapy in forces (7)

Effect^[3] in the sense of the condition of being in full force or execution ⇒ a new regulation that goes into effect tomorrow. The wordplay is EFFS (swears; utters the F-word^[5]) containing (about) ECT (one form of therapy; electroconvulsive therapy^[5]).

19a   Not the first curry in bed for the bird! (4,3)

The British name for a chickadee is tit^[5] (or titmouse). The coal tit^[5] (Parus ater)  is a small Eurasian and North African tit (songbird) with a grey back, black cap and throat, and white cheeks. Balti^[7] is a type of curry served in a thin, pressed steel wok-like "balti bowl" which is served in many restaurants in the United Kingdom. In the surface reading of the clue, bird^[5] is undoubtedly used in the British slang sense of a young woman or a man’s girlfriend.

20a   Quick to include an old German coin in second- hand sale (4,6)

22a   Decline seen in most of the county (4)

Wiltshire (abbreviation Wilts.)^[5] is a county of southern England.

24a   Order hotel lunch and tea, disregarding hints of hungry ones? (4,3,4)

This is an & lit. (all-in-one) clue in which the entire clue both provides the definition and serves as the wordplay.

25a   Male from the Orient, as recalled (3)

 The wordplay is [AS]IAN (from the Orient) with AS deleted (as recalled).

26a   Worthies regularly lift company (4)

Lift^[5] is the British term for elevator^[5]. The Otis Elevator Company^[7] is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems today, principally focusing on elevators and escalators.

27a   Music at last from trumpeters? (4,5)

Down

1d   Tense here? Just the job (7,7)

Just the job^[5] is an informal British expression meaning exactly what is needed ⇒ (i) companionship from fellow walkers was just the job; (ii) ⇒ it is just the job for getting rid of stains.

2d   Prepare to fight in marketplace? Not on (6,3)

A market^[10] is a place, such as an open space in a town, at which a market is held. In cricket, the on^[5] (also called the on side) is the half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball ⇒ he played a lucky stroke to leg. Another term for this side of the field is the leg side^[5] (also called just the leg). The opposite side of the field is known as the off^[5] (or the off side).

3d   Man on newspaper gets lift (4)

The Financial Times (FT)^[7] is a British international business newspaper [conspicuously printed on pink newsprint].

4d   Walks in street in front of car (7)

Rolls^[10] is an informal term for a Rolls-Royce automobile.

5d   Catches up with small business associate right away (7)

6d   One such was Strauss, being top man for a waltz moving millions (7,3)

While I did manage to deduce the correct solution, I failed to see the wordplay which is an anagram (for a waltz) of {BEING TOP [M]AN with the M (millions) deleted (moving)}.

In cricket, the term bat^[5] can have any of several meanings, namely (1) a cricket bat, (2) a turn at playing with a bat [an instance of batting], or (3) a person batting (or, in other words, a batsman) ⇒ the team’s opening bat. In this usage example, the "opening bat" would be the first batsman for a team in the match (a term somewhat akin to a leadoff batter in baseball).

Andrew Strauss^[7] is a retired English cricketer and former captain of England's Test cricket team. A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss was also known for his fielding strength at slip or in the covers. The latter is not a reference to his off-field activities; "the covers" is an area of cricket field.

7d   Chambers has it as “set in place” (5)

Indeed, the first entry in The Chambers Dictionary for posit^[1] is "to set in place". In Britain, chamber^[10] is short for chamber pot, as is po^[10]. Thus the wordplay is POS (chambers) + (has) IT (given in the clue).

8d   Arousing snogs and then heartless involvement? (3- 5,6)

Snog^[5] is British slang which, as a verb, means to kiss and cuddle amorously ⇒ (i) [no object] the pair were snogging on the sofa; (ii) [with object]  he snogged my girl at a party and, as a noun, denotes a long kiss or a period of amorous kissing and cuddling ⇒ he gave her a proper snog, not just a peck.

13d   Friends from Prague mentioned utter defeats (10)

16d   It’s natural you find classroom students like this (9)

18d   Ways to be significantly ahead? (7)

Streets ahead of^[10] is an informal (possibly British) expression meaning superior to, more advanced than, etc.

Dave Perry characterises this clue as a double definition, although I might be more comfortable calling it a cryptic definition. "Ways" are streets; but as the expression "streets ahead of" means "significantly ahead of", the word "streets" must equate to merely the word "significantly" and not to the entire phrase "significantly ahead".

19d   Flying saucer seen above one in a break (7)

21d   Story made up about one Middle Eastern port (5)

23d   God entreated from below (4)

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Signing off for this week — Falcon