Sunday, July 28, 2013 — ST 4544

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4544
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, June 30, 2013
Setter Jeff Pearce
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4544]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time
★★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, July 20, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, July 27, 2013[see note]
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 █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Times for the Times
Notes This puzzle appears on the Sunday puzzles pages in the Saturday, July 27, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. Due to a recently implemented paywall on its web site, I am no longer able to personally verify the puzzle appearing in the Vancouver Sun.

Introduction

After two weeks of very difficult puzzles from Anax (Dean Mayer) and Tim Moorey, Jeff Pearce delivers one that is more suited to my league.

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   Loose type of article found in mid-Arkansas (10)

6a   Is about to enter America, a huge territory (4)

The wordplay is a reversal (about) of IS contained in (to enter) {A (America) + A (from the clue)}.

9a   A canal with rats ruined the city (5,5)

10a   Finally strummed strange instrument (4)

Rum^[5] is dated British slang meaning odd or peculiar ⇒ it’s a rum business, certainly.

12a   Something designed for smoking  jacket (6)

13a   Going fast? It’s the German way (8)

An autobahn^[5] is a German, Austrian, or Swiss motorway [multi-lane, controlled-access, divided highway]. German autobahns^[7] have no general speed limit, but the advisory speed limit (Richtgeschwindigkeit) is 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph).

In the clue, "way" is used in the sense of road. I must assume that the first part of the clue ("Going fast?") is intended to distinguish an autobahn from any other type of German road.

15a   The son’s rent review results in unfavourable reaction (7,4)

18a   Magician takes short drink right outside court (ll)

Neck^[5] is British slang meaning to swallow (something, especially a drink) ⇒ after necking some beers, we left the bar.

21a   Where batsman is to step up (8)

In cricket, a crease^[5] is any of a number of lines marked on the pitch at specified places. The crease refers to the position of a batsman during their innings ⇒ England were 15 for 3 overnight, with Stewart and Russell at the crease. Note that in cricket the crease is a line — unlike hockey, where it is an area. Thus, it would seem that the batsman would be found "at the crease" (as per the usage example cited) rather than "in [the] crease".

22a   Penny introducing another girl to a course in Granada? (6)

The wordplay is P (penny) + {ELLA (another girl) next to (introducing; meeting) A (from the clue)}. I have to conclude that "introducing" is used in the sense of meeting, rather than inserting (the action which I was mistakenly attempting to accomplish). Having interpreted "introducing" in the correct sense, it would seem that one must then make the further leap of logic to interpret "meet" in the sense of abut. Thus "introducing" ⇒"meeting" ⇒"abutting". The convention that ELLA follows A flows from the logic that for ELLA to be introduced to A, A must already exist (have already been written). Thus ELLA must be written after A.

24a   Leading 11 start to entertain when at home to Millwall (4)

The number "11" is a cross reference to clue 11d. It indicates that the solution to clue 11d must be substituted in its place to complete the clue.

Anthony Eden^[5], 1st Earl of Avon (1897 – 1977) was a British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister of the UK from 1955 to 1957. His premiership was dominated by the Suez crisis of 1956; widespread opposition to Britain’s role in this led to his resignation.

Millwall Football Club^[5] is an English professional football [soccer] club based in South Bermondsey, south-east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its Millwall name despite having last played in the Millwall area of the Isle of Dogs in 1910. The nickname of the club is now The Lions — thus it is not surprising that their home ground is known as The Den.

The surface wording of the clue may be intended to refer to at home^[5] in the sense of ready to receive and welcome visitors — at-home^[5] being a dated term for a period when a person has announced that they will receive visitors in their home.

25a   Pray for one man in plastic (10)

An error at 19d, misdirected me to go with suppliance^[10] — which means supplication. Not only does the wordplay not parse, it is a noun rather than a verb. However, it does contain Crosswordland's stereotypical Scotsman.

26a   Send back a weekly magazine (4)

27a   Take a cut or lose one’s job (3,3,4)

Down

1d   Enter - it's a key on a modern keyboard (6)

2d   Embarrassed about eating pub grub (6)

3d   Weapon and new helmet for war (12)

4d   Part of pipeline put back in river (4)

5d   Disorder follows when Uncle Bert is indecent outside university (10)

7d   Runner barely on the pitch? (8)

In Britain, a pitch^[5] is an area of ground marked out or used for play in an outdoor team game ⇒ a football pitch. In cricket, though, rather than the entire playing surface, pitch refers to only a specific area of the playing surface, namely the strip of ground between the two sets of stumps ⇒ both batsmen were stranded in the middle of the pitch. The pitch is the area on which the batsmen run after hitting the ball — if it were not otherwise occupied by today's daring (or should that be baring) runner.

8d   Crazy inmate hiding Medical Officer's fossil (8)

An ammonite^[5] is (1) any extinct marine cephalopod mollusc of the order Ammonoidea, which were common in Mesozoic times and generally had a coiled partitioned shell [their closest modern relative being the pearly nautilus]; or (2) the shell of any of these animals, commonly occurring as a fossil.

11d   Sober yet drunk - not vice versa (12)

14d   Two sorts of brass chicken might come with it (5,5)

Bread sauce^[5] is sauce made with milk and breadcrumbs, typically eaten with roast chicken or turkey.

Brass^[5] is British slang for money ⇒ they wanted to spend their newly acquired brass.

Brass^[3,4,11] is an informal term [clearly not an exclusively British usage] meaning bold self-confidence, cheek, or nerve ⇒ he had the brass to ask for more time.

Sauce^[5] [equivalent to the North American term sass^[5]] is an informal and chiefly British expression meaning impertinence or cheek ⇒ ‘None of your sauce,’ said Aunt Edie.

16d   Being in drink almost books an event (8)

For cryptic effect, the setter has twisted the word order around. If one returns the clue to its natural word order (from a cryptic perspective), it is easily seen that the word "being" serves as a link word between the definition and wordplay. The natural word order would be:

• An event being in drink almost books.

which is certainly a less elegant surface reading than the phrasing which the setter has chosen to use,

17d   One extremely choice type of sherry is sweet (3,5)

In Britain, sweet^[5] is another name for pudding or dessert. While sweet can also mean candy^[5], I would say that here it means the former.

19d   Left in holiday location to tan? Just the reverse (6)

My initial attempts were aimed at reversing "left in holiday location"; that is, putting "holiday location in left". I eventually realized that I was on the wrong path, only to fall into another trap — opting for BLANCH rather than BLEACH. Needless to say, that choice was to haunt me at 25a.

20d   Invented cheese? (4,2)

This clue is an example of inverse wordplay. In normal wordplay, the wordplay occurs in the clue and the outcome of the wordplay is found in the solution. In inverse wordplay, the situation is reversed and the wordplay is in the solution and the outcome of the wordplay is contained in the clue itself.

The indication of inverse wordplay is often virtually implicit. In the present clue, the sole indication is the question mark which alerts us to be on the lookout for something a bit out of the ordinary.

To solve the clue, we need to find a synonym of "invented" (the definition) that could be interpreted as wordplay whose outcome means "cheese". The solution that we are looking for is MADE UP which not only means "invented" but, as wordplay, could be used to clue a reversal (up, in a down clue) of MADE with the outcome being EDAM (a type of Dutch cheese).

23d   Endlessly annoy hawk (4)

Hawk^[3,4,11] in the sense of clear phlegm from the throat.

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

Sunday, July 21, 2013 — ST 4543

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4543
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, June 23, 2013
Setter Tim Moorey
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4543]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time
★★★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, July 13, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, July 20, 2013 [see note]
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 █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Times for the Times
Notes This puzzle appears on the Sunday puzzles pages in the Saturday, July 20, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. As I no longer have access to the Vancouver Sun, I am unable to personally verify that this puzzle was published.

Introduction

While I found this puzzle much less difficult than the one last week (as evidenced by the comparatively smaller quantity of red ink in the chart above), it was by no means a cakewalk. I still needed to engage my electronic assistants earlier than I would have wished to.

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   Nervous head of Royal Mail again justifies letters put to one side (10)

The anagram indicator is "nervous". I would say that "justifies" is merely playing the role of a link word between the wordplay and definition.

Royal Mail^[7] is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. I have always thought it ironic that the Royal Mail delivers the post in Britain and Canada Post delivers the mail in Canada!

7a   Cracks showing in retro box (4)

9a   Main activity is abdominal surgery reportedly (5,10)

The main^[5] is an archaic or literary term referring to the open ocean.

10a   Pop in bar cheers mostly (4,2)

Cheers^[5] is a chiefly British — and very versatile — exclamation. Here it is used to express good wishes on parting or ending a conversation  ⇒ ‘Cheers, Jack, see you later.’ However, it can also be used to express good wishes before drinking  ⇒ ‘Cheers,’ she said, raising her glass. or to express gratitude or acknowledgement for something ⇒ Billy tossed him the key. ‘Cheers, pal.’

12a   Where you'd find lags  recorded (2,3,3)

In British slang, a lag^[5] is a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison ⇒ both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment [in other words, placed in the "can"]. In the film industry, the phrase "in the can^[5]" means that a production is on tape or film and ready to be broadcast or released ⇒ all went well, the film was in the can [referring to the metal canisters in which reels of motion picture film were distributed to cinemas for presentation].

13a   Rubber endlessly must erase slips (7)

Here the deletion indicator "endlessly" operates on each of the two words which follow.

15a   Colour of refurbished storey (6)

17a   Secret police force succeeded in arrest (6)

Stasi^[5] is the internal security force of the former German Democratic Republic [East Germany], abolished in 1989.

In the cryptic analysis of the clue, one must interpret succeed^[5] as meaning to take over a throne, office, or other position from ⇒ he would succeed Hawke as Prime Minister. When used in this sense, s^[5] is the abbreviation for succeeded [as one might see in charts outlining royal lineages].

l8a   Island in the end Ronald Reagan attacked (7)

This is a semi-& lit. (semi-all-in-one) clue as the entire clue forms the definition, while the latter portion of the clue provides the wordplay.

On October 25, 1983 [during the presidency of  Ronald Reagan], combined forces from the United States and several Eastern Caribbean nations invaded Grenada in an operation codenamed Operation Urgent Fury. The U.S. stated this was done at the behest of Prime Minister Eugenia Charles of Dominica. While the Governor-General of Grenada, Sir Paul Scoon, later stated that he had also requested the invasion, it was highly criticised by the governments of Britain, Trinidad and Tobago, and Canada. The United Nations General Assembly condemned it as "a flagrant violation of international law" by a vote of 108 in favor to 9, with 27 abstentions. The United Nations Security Council considered a similar resolution, which failed to pass when vetoed by the United States. [read more]

19a   Judge set out to get one assistant (8)

Mate^[5] is (1) a chiefly British term meaning an assistant or deputy in certain trades ⇒ a plumber’s mate or (2) an officer on a merchant ship subordinate to the master.

21a   Rat that’s seen on dam in Europe (6)

Having settled on the wrong definition at 21d, I was totally stymied here.

Rotter^[5] is an informal, dated British term for a cruel, mean, or unkind person ⇒ Rosemary had decided that all men were rotters. 

Rotterdam^[5] is a city in the Netherlands, at the mouth of the River Meuse, 25 km (15 miles) inland from the North Sea; population 582,951 (2008). It is one of the world’s largest ports and a major oil refinery, with extensive shipbuilding and petrochemical industries.

22a   Potential Chancellor once a fellow good at planning growth (10,5)

The wordplay is CAPABILITY (potential; "she has the potential to go far in her career") + BROWN (Chancellor once).

Gordon Brown^[7] is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer [a post equivalent to the Minister of Finance (Canada) or the Secretary of the Treasury (US)] in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007.

Lancelot Brown^[7] (1716 – 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. Remembered as "England's greatest gardener", he designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure.

24a   Art's partner has last month off initially (4)

Art deco^[5] was the predominant decorative art style of the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes and strong colours and used most notably in household objects and in architecture. Although the style originated in the 1920s, the name (in its condensed form) apparently only arose in the 1960, being shortened from French art décoratif  (decorative art), from the 1925 Exposition des Arts décoratifs in Paris.

25a   Shades of celebrated young women (10)

Down

2d   Conservative garment displayed in the capital of Morocco (3)

Rabat^[5] is the capital of Morocco, an industrial port on the Atlantic Coast.

An aba^[10] is (1) a type of cloth from Syria, made of goat hair or camel hair or (2) a sleeveless outer garment of such cloth.

Women wearing abayat and niqāb.

Aba is another name for the abaya^[7] "cloak", a simple, loose over-garment, essentially a robe-like dress, worn by some women in parts of the Muslim world including in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Traditional abayat are black and may be either a large square of fabric draped from the shoulders or head or a long caftan. The abaya covers the whole body except the face, feet, and hands. It can be worn with the niqāb, a face veil covering all but the eyes. Some women choose to wear long black gloves, so their hands are covered as well.

3d   Idiots holding small work line up? They may be moved in argument (9)

The expression move the goalposts^[5] means to unfairly alter the conditions or rules of a procedure during its course.

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.

4d   What's possibly only OK with onset of libido? (5)

This clue has a bit of a twist to it. It may help to rephrase the clue in a more straightforward manner. Effectively, the clue is saying that one could form an anagram (possibly) of {the solution (for which the word "what" is standing in) + L (the onset [first letter] of Libido)} with the result being ONLY OK.

In a normal anagram clue, one would find an anagram indicator and anagram fodder in the clue with the anagram (which is the result of the indicator operating on the fodder) appearing in the solution.

There is also a type of clue that I call an inverse anagram (and others prefer to call a reverse anagram) in which the anagram is found in the clue and the indicator and fodder make up all (or part of) the solution.

The current clue is yet another variant in which the anagram (only OK), the indicator (possibly), and a portion of the fodder (L) appear in the clue and the solution is the remainder of the fodder.

5d   Latin stranger is more cunning (7)

Leery^[10] can mean wary, cautious, uncertain, suspicious, doubting, careful, shy, sceptical, dubious, unsure, distrustful, on your guard, or chary. I didn't see "cunning" in the list — did you?

6d   In one action plan take to arms miles away (2,1,6)

7d   One's grabbed by silly arse in lift (5)

Lift^[5] is the British term for elevator^[5].

Arse^[3,4] is the British name for that part of the anatomy that is known as the ass^[3,4] on this side of the Atlantic. It would seem that the term is considered less vulgar in the UK than in North America.

8d   Competitive event in which the toss takes place after the start? (7,4)

A pancake race^[5] is a race in which each competitor must toss a pancake from a pan as they run, traditionally held in some places on Shrove Tuesday.

11d   Note police force is on top of very large cut - there's no rush (4,2,5)

While, in Britain, the preferred spelling of the musical note is te^[4], the setter has found it convenient to use the alternate spelling (ti^[4]), which happens to be the more common spelling in the US.

The Metropolitan Police Service^[7] (widely known informally as the Met^[5])is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police. The Met also has significant national responsibilities such as co-ordinating and leading on counter-terrorism matters and protection of the British Royal Family and senior figures of Her Majesty's Government. The Met is also referred to by the metonym Scotland Yard after the location of its original headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The Met's current headquarters is New Scotland Yard, in Victoria.

The sizes of clothing that North Americans would describe as plus-size^[7] (or often big and tall in the case of men's clothing) would be called outsize (OS^[5]) in Britain.

14d   No longer married, masses cite singular feelings of joy! (9)

I was caught way off base here in my attempts to decipher the wordplay. I thought that "cite" must be a homophone indicator, that "no longer married" was being used to clue EX, and "singular" was to be replaced by S (with singular being a grammatical term). Thus, I was trying to find something that I could append to EX such that the result would sound like ECSTASIE (with the final S coming from "singular").

As I was to find out from Dave Perry's review, "no longer married" is an instruction to delete the M from MASSES and the anagram indicator is SINGULAR (where singular^[5] is used in the sense of strange or eccentric in some respect).

16d   Top performers begin on vessels (4-5)

Seemingly a British expression, the star turn^[5] is the person or act that gives the most heralded or impressive performance in a programme ⇒ (i) he was stopped by the arrival on stage of the star turn; (ii) she was the star turn of the night.

18d   Nice rag flourished for straight sort of nose (7)

A Grecian nose^[5] is a straight nose that continues the line of the forehead without a dip.

20d   What bride says about a husband in a state (5)

21d   True change of direction upfront for William, say (5)

The definition could equally well be "true" or "William,say". Unfortunately, I opted for the wrong choice.

23d   River's character mentioned (3)

The Wye^[5] is a river which rises in the mountains of western Wales and flows 208 km (132 miles) generally south-eastwards, entering the Severn estuary at Chepstow. In its lower reaches it forms part of the border between Wales and England.

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

Sunday, July 14, 2013 — ST 4542

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4542
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, June 16, 2013
Setter Dean Mayer (Anax)
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4542]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time
★★★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, July 6, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, July 13, 2013
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 █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Times for the Times
Notes This puzzle appears on the Sunday puzzles pages in the Saturday, July 13, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

I definitely was not on the same wavelength as Anax when I attempted to solve this puzzle. After beating my head against a brick wall over a period of time of several days, I finally threw in the towel and resorted to peeking at Dave Perry's review. I must say that I have not fared so poorly on a puzzle in a very long time.

On a housekeeping note, I have modified the basis on which I attribute stars to Dave Perry's solving time. Starting with today's puzzle, it will be one star for every 15 minutes or portion thereof — rather than the previous practice of one star for every 20 minutes or portion thereof. The relationship between solving times and stars is an arbitrary assignment on my part, although the original allotment was based on a review of solving times for several months of puzzles. However, based on experience with puzzles since introducing this feature, I have come to believe that a shorter time per star would be more appropriate. I have finally decided to implement the change today, as I just can't accept that this puzzle does not merit four stars for difficulty.

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   Film Society in 15 making reservations (8)

The number "15" is a cross reference to clue 15a. To complete the present clue, replace the cross reference indicator by the solution to the cross referenced clue.

5a   Division of British farm (6)

The British do not seem to make a distinction between a farm and a ranch as would a North American.

9a   Made life difficult somewhat, turning dirty (7)

10a   Armed vessel you casually note in attack (7)

11/13 Skewed voting’s so contentious here (3,10,4,7)

I initially thought that the 10-letter word might be CONVENTION (which was available from the copious anagram fodder provided) — as in a political convention to pick a party leader. I eventually began to suspect that the reference might be to a British television counterpart to shows such as American Idol/Canadian Idol. As it turns out, I was heading down the right path. Nevertheless, although I have heard of the show in question, it did not come to mind.

The Eurovision Song Contest^[7] is an annual song competition held among many of the active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world.

14a   5 used in popular music (3)

Again, the number in the clue ("5" in this case) is a cross reference indicator.

15a   It can be frustrating, mate (3)

16a   Treat injured in a rugby team. They'll adapt (11)

The Lions could be any of several British rugby teams:

• The Great Britain national rugby league team^[7], which is nicknamed "The Lions";
• The British and Irish Lions^[7], a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales which tours every four years, with tours rotating among Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa;
• The Rugby Lions^[7], a rugby union club based in Rugby, Warwickshire in England (where the game was founded); or
• The Swinton Lions^[7], an English professional rugby league club from Swinton, Greater Manchester.

Rugby union (RU)^[5] is a form of rugby played in teams of fifteen, in contrast to rugby league^[5], which is played in teams of thirteen. The latter game was originated 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.

17a   Actor's joke about area in Tinsel Town not quite funny (5,8)

In British and Irish slang, a cod^[10] is a hoax or trick.

20a   Orgy lover primarily into weed (7)

21a   AC/DC fan's admission given half empty beer -— "I like a drink" (7)

The misdirection here is that we are expected to think of AC/DC^[7] as the Australian hard rock band. However, in sexual slang, AC/DC^[7] may refer to bisexuality (with "bi" being a shortened version of "bisexual"). Thus, a fan of the AC/DC lifestyle might come out of the closet with the admission "I'm bi".

22a   Visit fantastic old swimmer (6)

23a   Means to catch some sleep, which is OK in certain circumstances (8)

Agrément^[10] means formal approval for a construction project to proceed

Down

1d   In south of France, one's not promising to head north (4)

Midi^[7] is the south of France.

2d   Protection device placed around extremely fierce river (6,3)

The Tyne^[5] is a river in NE England, formed by the confluence of two headstreams, the North Tyne, which rises in the Cheviot Hills, and the South Tyne, which rises in the northern Pennines. It flows generally eastwards, entering the North Sea at Tynemouth.

3d   Is this a fair clue for "fluctuated"? (15)

Yes, according to Oxford Dictionaries Online, roller-coaster^[5] (although spelled with a hyphen) can be a verb meaning to move, change, or occur in a dramatically changeable manner ⇒ the twentieth century fades behind us and history roller-coasters on.

4d   Fertilizer and moisture - it explodes (6,7)

Sodium nitrate^[5] is a white powdery compound used mainly in the manufacture of fertilizers.

6d   Brother, as it were, has a problem (4,4,7)

This is an instance of inverse word play (or, as some call it, reverse word play). In such a clue, an indicator in the clue (in this case, the phrase "as it were") signals that clue contains an element (in this case, the word "brother") that could be produced by interpreting the solution to the clue as wordplay. In this case, the solution to the clue is RUNS INTO TROUBLE (has a problem) which could be parsed as R (runs) contained in (into) BOTHER (trouble) with the result being BROTHER.

7d   Relative of Ruth returning home to accept an award (5)

Naomi^[7] is Ruth's mother-in-law in the Old Testament Book of Ruth.

The Order of Merit^[7] (abbreviation OM^[5]) is a dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by King Edward VII, admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, and is limited to 24 living recipients at one time from these countries plus a limited number of honorary members. The current membership includes one Canadian (former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien).

8d   Mixed success with young girl (3-3-4)

10d   Grab bags to throw off on travels (13)

12d   A dissector's careless cut? (10)

14d   Feeding one fish to a rodent is not necessary (9)

18d   Wastrel disposed to hold up wastrel (5)

19d   American students thick? That's about right (4)

Fraternity^[5] (and its short form, frat^[5]), in the sense of a male students' society in a university or college, is a North American usage.

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

Sunday, July 7, 2013 — ST 4541

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4541
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, June 9, 2013
Setter Jeff Pearce
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4541]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time
★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, June 29, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, July 6, 2013
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, July 6, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

I did manage to complete this puzzle without electronic aid. However, I did need to do a fair bit of research after the fact to confirm the existence of some of the obscure solutions that I worked out from the wordplay (7d and 15d, for instance), to explain elements of the wordplay (such as the British exclamation used in 1d), and to identify the hangman's victim at 28a.

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   Coffee journalist sent back is spoiled (7)

5a   It’s evil if camel is whipped (7)

Malefic^[5] is a adjective that might be used in a literary work to describe something causing harm or destruction, especially by supernatural means ⇒ she was hypnotized by the spider’s malefic eyes.

I think we are meant to interpret the phrase "it's evil" as meaning 'the solution is a synonym for "evil"'.

9a   Grouse being docile when sloth returns (9)

The ai^[5] is the three-toed sloth^[10], not to be confused with the unau^[10] which has only two toes.

10a   Monkey’s racket at front of pen (5)

11a   Short swine’s indecent crime (6)

12a   After one month a batter is going off (8)

Dave Perry seems to suggest that the original meaning of the word decadent is rotting (going off). If so, one may have to go back to its Latin roots to find this meaning. Although the word decadent comes from a Latin word meaning 'to decay'", I can find no evidence that the word ever meant "rotting" in English. As far as I could discover, the term has always referred to "mental or moral" decay, rather than physical decay.

14a   Amateur might be talented with it (10)

16a   Tart left in cooler (4)

18a   A bag for wine (4)

Sack^[5] is a historical term for a dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from Spain and the Canaries.

19a   Large drinks required before lead violinist does this! (6- 4)

To perform a double-stop^[5] is to play (two notes or parts) simultaneously on a violin or related instrument by drawing the bow over two strings.

22a   Taking steps to get a few locals involved? (3- 5)

A local^[7] is a pub convenient to a person’s home.

23a   Like plug to be attached to sink in the bog (6)

26a   Make a speech that’s florid but not new (5)

27a   Disapprove of note on legal document (9)

Like Dave Perry, I had not previously seen this word used as a verb. In an archaic usage, reprobate^[7] means to express or feel disapproval of ⇒ his neighbours reprobated his method of proceeding.

28a   After time hangman’s victim gets type of 18D? (7)

Ruth Ellis^[7] (1926 — 1955) was the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom, after being convicted of the murder of her lover, David Blakely.

29a   Disregard information about the French court (7)

Gen^[5] is British slang for information ⇒ you’ve got more gen on him than we have.

Down

1d   Lobster, say, upset brill on hull under dam (7)

The abbreviation d.^[10] for dam is used in animal pedigrees, with dam^[10] denoting a female parent.

Brill^[5] is British slang for excellent; marvellous ⇒ (i) a brill new series; (ii) [as exclamation] ‘She says I can spend half-term with you.’ ‘Hey, brill!’ .

2d   Bone from a large bird in France (5)

3d   Slices about scars? (4,4)

The abbreviation c^[5] comes from circa (meaning approximately or about).

4d   End of underground is without a platform (4)

5d   Is student of lepidopterology expecting this? (6-2-2)

I thought that this was an extremely clever clue. A "student of lepidopterology" (someone who studies moths and butterflies) could well expect — upon completion of their studies — 'to be a mother' (or, in a more literary turn of phrase, 'a mother to be') where a 'mother' is someone who collects and studies moths rather than a female parent.

6d   Sailor from overseas takes small vehicle to city (6)

Lascar^[5] is a dated term for a sailor from India or SE Asia ⇒ [as modifier] the manning of British ships by lascar crews.

7d   Let leaf grow oddly around bean (9)

A flageolet^[5] is a French kidney bean of a small variety used in cooking.

8d   One winds up chap wearing hat (7)

In Britain, the phrase wind someone up^[5] means either (1) to tease or irritate someone ⇒ she’s only winding me up or (2) to make (someone) tense or angry ⇒ he was clearly wound up and frantic about his daughter.

13d   Problem  an angler might have? (3,2,5)

One could treat the entire clue as a cryptic definition or split it into a double definition. In the case of the second option, one must interpret the later portion of the clue as "[something] an angler might have".

15d   Left university with fresher heading for judge’s study at night (9)

Lucubrate^[5] is an archaic term meaning to write or study, especially by night.

Like Dave Perry, I pieced the solution together from the wordplay which I interpret to be L (left) + U (university) + (with) CUB (fresher) + (heading for) RATE (judge). I must confess that I don't fully understand why "fresher" is used to clue CUB. The best rationale that I can see is that cub^[5] is an archaic term for a young man, especially one who is awkward or bad-mannered and fresher^[5] is an informal British term for freshman.

17d   Quickly spread out after boss appears (8)

18d   Bear left after drink (7)

As a verb, sup^[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒ (i) she supped up her soup delightedly; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle. As a noun, it means (1) a sip of liquid ⇒ he took another sup of wine or (2) in Northern England or Ireland, an alcoholic drink ⇒ the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery.

20d   Here’s a gift! (7)

A double definition that also lets us know that this should be an exceptionally easy clue to solve.

21d   Nightmare featuring run in old bit of wood (6)

Deal^[4] may be (1) a plank of softwood timber, such as fir or pine, or such planks collectively or (2) the sawn wood of various coniferous trees, such as that from the Scots pine (red deal) or from the Norway Spruce (white deal).

I had thought that this might be a British expression until I discovered that this meaning also appears in The American Heritage Dictionary. However, even though it would appear not to be an exclusively British term, I would suspect that it is used far more commonly in the UK than it is here. Personally, I would use the term lumber rather than deal, but the Brits certainly wouldn't. In Britain, the word lumber^[5] has a totally different meaning than it does in North America, being articles of furniture or other household items that are no longer useful and inconveniently take up storage space ⇒ [as modifier] a lumber room.

24d   On speed one can be raging (5)

25d   Distance between  a pair of horses (4)

A span^[5] is a matched pair of horses, mules, or oxen. This meaning is characterised by Oxford Dictionaries Online^[5] and Chambers 21st Century Dictionary^[2] — though not Collins English Dictionary^[10] — as being a North American or US usage respectively. 

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

Sunday, June 30, 2013 — ST 4540

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4540
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, June 2, 2013
Setter Tim Moorey
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4540]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time
★★★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, June 22, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, June 29, 2013
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, June 29, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

Having had a break from cryptic crosswords for the best part of a month, this was a daunting challenge to face as I plunged back in. Granted my puzzle-solving skills are undoubtedly a bit rusty, but Dave Perry's solving time would seem to indicate that this puzzle was no walk in the park for him.

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   The earliest you can answer appeal quietly (4)

The wordplay is A (answer) + SA ([sex] appeal) + P (quietly; piano).

SA^[5] is an informal, dated abbreviation for sex appeal.

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either soft or quiet (as an adjective) or softly or quietly (as an adverb).

4a   Nag firmly established couple (10)

The wordplay is STABLE (firmly established) + MATE (couple; as a verb meaning, for example, to engage in sexual intercourse).

9a   Balls turn and one’s tense in play (5,8)

Balls^[5] is a British term meaning nonsense or rubbish (often said to express strong disagreement).

10a   Marches banned in South Coast resort? Correct (6)

Marches^[5] is an area of land on the border between two countries or territories, especially between England and Wales or (formerly) England and Scotland ⇒ the Welsh Marches. It would appear that the word "Marches" is always written with a capital letter and always ends in -es (that is, Marches would seem not to be a plural form of March or Marche).

Brighton^[5] is a resort on the south coast of England, in East Sussex; population 127,700 (est. 2009). It was patronized by the Prince of Wales (later George IV) from circa 1780 to 1827, and is noted for its Regency architecture.

Righto^[5] is an informal British exclamation expressing agreement or assent ⇒ ‘Coming to pick up the kids?’ ‘Righto.’.

The wordplay instructs us to delete the borders [first and last letters] (Marches banned) from BRIGHTON (South Coast resort). The usage here may be a bit suspect in that Marches refers to an area on the border between two territories, whereas the setter seems to have used it to mean areas on two different borders of a single territory. I suppose that one might argue that this is acceptable given that England has Marches on its border with Wales as well as on its border with Scotland.

11a   Not an immediate promise of marriage from great admirer (8)

12a   Cultivation of remote dynasty (7)

Ming^[10] refers to the imperial dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644.

13a   Heard copper so long (3,3)

Cu^[5] is the symbol for the chemical element copper.

14a   Travel period reduced? That’s the absolute truth (6)

16a   Mabel’s beaten after spades and hearts shuffle {7)

18a   Look after famous engineer with Italian red wine (8)

Isambard Kingdom Brunel^[7] (1806 – 1859) was an English mechanical and civil engineer who built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering.

Lo^[5] is an archaic exclamation used to draw attention to an interesting or amazing event ⇒ and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them.

Brunello di Montalcino^[7] is a red Italian wine produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montalcino located about 120 km south of Florence in the Tuscany wine region. 

20a   Lustful Romeo having been bedded was exhausted (3,3)

Romeo^[5] is a code word representing the letter R, used in radio communication.

22a   They should succeed perhaps in English art work {5,8)

The fodder for the anagram is PERHAPS IN E ART where E is the abbreviation for "English". I recall having encountered a similar construction recently in another puzzle, in which part of the anagram fodder consists of an abbreviation for a word that appears in the clue.

23a   Is new remix one of Jagger’s band brought about, rock creating a stink? (10)

Swinestone^[10] (or stinkstone) is a type of limestone that emits an unpleasant odour when rubbed or struck.

Mick Jagger^[7] is the lead vocalist and a founding member of the British rock band The Rolling Stones.

24a   London area broadcast excited but tails off (4)

Soho^[7] is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable transformation. It now is predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues.

Down

2d   Arab troubled by US aid (5)

3d   American player in jug (7)

This American is a baseball player.

4d   Styled as tailor? About right (9)

This is an & lit. clue — a type of clue in which the entire clue functions as both the definition (under one interpretation) and the wordplay (in accordance with a second interpretation).

5d   Loving party in first-class arena (7)

6d   Miss old rope (5)

7d   Give authority to Member, one not entirely old-fashioned (7)

Contrary to Dave Perry, I interpreted the wordplay to be M^[10] (Member) + AN (one) + DATE {DATE[D] (old-fashioned) with the final letter deleted (not entirely)}. [Upon reading the comments section on Times for the Times, I see that my interpretation is confirmed by Peter Biddlecombe, the crossword puzzles editor for The Sunday Times.]

8d   Three in order overlook what's next? Reportedly so (9)

The wordplay is an anagram (in order) of THREE + something that sounds like (reportedly) FOUR (what's next [after three]).

12d   Cabaret that surprises greatly and how! (5,4)

In Britain, the term "cabaret" refers to a form of entertainment, whereas in North America, it refers to the venue in which this entertainment is performed. Cabaret^[10] is (1) a floor show of dancing, singing, or other light entertainment at a nightclub or restaurant or (2) (mainly US) a nightclub or restaurant providing such entertainment.

13d   Flight is scariest in turbulence, enthralling all initially (9)

15d   Nice little hotel is what oldies may have earned (7)

Nice^[5] is a resort city on the French Riviera, near the border with Italy; population 348,721 (2007). A pension^[5] is a small hotel or boarding house in France and other European countries.

16d   Is poor car getting a run out abroad a Ford model? (7)

The Ford Scorpio^[7] is an executive car (intended to compete with Mercedes and BMW) that was produced by the European division of the Ford Motor Company from 1985 through to 1998. A variant known as the Merkur Scorpio was sold briefly on the North American market during the late-1980s

17d   They could reproduce  bats (7)

Bonkers^[5] is an informal, chiefly British term meaning mad or crazy ⇒ you’re stark raving bonkers!.

In Britain, bonk^[5] means to have sexual intercourse ⇒ the young couple bonking upstairs. Thus a bonker is someone having sexual intercourse.

19d   Rolls is entering for nothing in parking areas (5)

I was slightly surprised by this clue as I had learned from a previous puzzle that parking lot^[5] is a North American term for what would be called a car park in Britain. In the surface reading, Rolls refers to a Rolls-Royce automobile.

21d   Gag about small person? Censor it! (5)

Titch^[5] is an informal British term for a small person ⇒ the titch of the class.

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