Sunday, September 29, 2013 — ST 4553

This review was posted on Monday, October 7, 2013 but backdated so as to appear with the September puzzles in the Blog Archive listings.

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4553
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, September 1, 2013
Setter Jeff Pearce
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4553]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time ★★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, September 21, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, September 28, 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, September 28, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. Due to the paywall on its web site, I am no longer able to verify the puzzle that appears in the Vancouver Sun.

Introduction

I am running behind in my blog writing, so this is a review of the puzzle that appeared a week ago. The puzzle was solved over so many small sessions interspersed with solving a number of other puzzles that it is difficult to form a coherent impression of the puzzle.

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. The underlined portion of the clue is the definition.

Across

1a   Organs finally kept in bottles (6)

5a   Rotten coach out of sight of the audience (8)

The coach is a stage^[3,4,11] (short for stagecoach).

9a   Lecturer with endless fire within is chief troublemaker (10)

I must admit that, despite having found the correct solution, the wordplay remained a mystery until I read Dave Perry's review — even though I remember having previously encountered both of the following terms.

In Britain, a Reader^[5] is a university lecturer of the highest grade below professor ⇒ Dr Gardiner is Reader in Mathematics.

In British dialect, ingle^[5] is a domestic fire or fireplace.

10a   Moabite beheaded outside a Mormon settlement (4)

Ruth^[5] is a book of the Bible telling the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman, who married her deceased husband’s kinsman Boaz and bore a son who became grandfather to King David.

Utah^[7] is the most religiously homogeneous state in the US. Approximately 63% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS (Mormons), which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life. The world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is located in Utah's state capital, Salt Lake City.

11a   Borders club dropped opener (4)

In the surface reading, Borders^[5] (in all likelihood) refers to the boundary and adjoining districts between Scotland and England and club to a sports team.

12a   Cover band is after new hit when on the road (5,5)

Cover^[5] (in reference to insurance) means to protect against a liability, loss, or accident involving financial consequences ⇒ your contents are now covered against accidental loss or damage in transit. While the same verb form is used in both Britain and North America, we use a different form of the noun on this side of the pond. In the UK, the word cover^[5] is used to denote protection by insurance against a liability, loss, or accident ⇒ your policy provides cover against damage by subsidence. This is equivalent to the North American term coverage^[5] meaning the amount of protection given by an insurance policy ⇒ your policy provides coverage against damage by subsidence.

Third party^[5] (in the context of insurance) means covering damage or injury suffered by a person other than the insured ⇒ third-party liability. Although Oxford Dictionaries Online characterises this as a British term, it is certainly also used in Canada.

14a   Small bird going around jail (6)

A prion^[5] is a small petrel of southern seas, having a wide bill fringed with comb-like plates for feeding on planktonic crustaceans.

16a   Clobber best at Ascot when drunk (3)

Clobber^[5] is British slang for clothing, personal belongings, or equipment ⇒ I found all his clobber in the locker.

Ascot Racecourse^[7] is 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. 

18a   Plant that's muddy green or indigo, primarily (8)

Erigeron^[5] is a widely distributed herbaceous plant of the daisy family, which is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.

20a   Chicken and fish returned uncooked inside (6)

22a   Nice gym likely to collapse without stanchion at the back (10)

PE^[5] is the abbreviation for physical education (or Phys Ed, as it would likely be called by most school kids).

An archaic meaning of nice^[5] is fastidious or scrupulous. 

24a   Mad to ignore heart attack (4)

Dave Perry's comment "lift and separate required on 'heart attack'" refers to the fact that while "heart attack" happens to be a single entity in surface reading, it must be separated into two separate components in the cryptic reading — with "heart" being part of the wordplay and "attack" constituting the definition. The term is a play on the 'lift and separate' description commonly found in advertising for bras.

26a   Daily Chronicle hadn't any readers initially (4)

In Britain, daily^[5] (also called daily help) is a dated term for a woman who is employed to clean someone else’s house each day. Char^[5], another name for a charwoman^[5], is a dated term for a woman employed as a cleaner in a house or office.

27a   Perhaps Candy Crush payment is delayed by novice (10)

If 24a required one to "lift and separate", this clue requires that one substitute, lift and separate. To understand the wordplay, one must recognize that the phrase "put on ice" is synonymous with "is delayed". That is the substitution step. Then one must lift and separate the phrase, with "put on" serving as a charade indicator and ICE as the charade fodder. Thus the wordplay becomes APP (perhaps Candy Crush) + RENT (payment) + (put on) ICE (acquired in the substitution).

29a   Southern part ol Bexley is an area suffering inflation (8)

Welling^[7] is a district in South East London and a part of the London Borough of Bexley.

30a   Two ways to be shy (6)

Down

2d   I competed with climber (5)

3d   Man's taunts heard by City (7)

The wordplay is AL (man) + (has; 's) GIERS {sounds like (heard by) JEERS (taunts)}.

The surface reading is likely a reference to Manchester City F. C.^[7] (often referred to as simply City), an English Premier League football [soccer] club based in Manchester, England.

4d   Doctor enters holding tiny pill to replace sugar (9)

5d   Not even  funny (3)

5d   Man cuddling one gets sacked (5)

7d   Bird belonging to us used in a pancake (7)

The touraco^[5] is a fruit-eating African bird with brightly coloured plumage, a prominent crest, and a long tail. Also called loerie or lourie in South Africa.

8d   Starting to change concealing a heavenly body (5,4)

13d   Vivid, say, description of campers? (7)

15d   Carnival featuring injured war heroes (5-4)

A raree show^[10] is a street show or carnival.

17d   Elephant, perhaps, destroyed camp with an unknown herd (9)

In mathematics (algebra, in particular), an unknown^[10] is a variable, or the quantity it represents, the value of which is to be discovered by solving an equation ⇒ 3y = 4x + 5 is an equation in two unknowns. [Unknowns are typically represented symbolically by the letters x, y and z.]

19d   Officer  sweeping  public  common (7)

A quadruple definition!

21d   Wife sorted out yarn (7)

23d   Vessel - one touring end of archipelago to see creature (5)

25d   Trendy son carries copper anvil (5)

The symbol for the chemical element copper is Cu^[5].The incus^[5] is a small anvil-shaped bone in the middle ear, transmitting vibrations between the malleus and stapes.

28d   Small boxer dog (3)

Pug^[3,4,11] (short for pugilist) is a slang term for a boxer.

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for this week — Falcon

Sunday, September 22, 2013 — ST 4552

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4552
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, August 25, 2013
Setter Tim Moorey
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4552]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time ★★★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, September 14, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, September 21, 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, September 21, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. Due to the paywall on its web site, I am no longer able to verify the puzzle that appears in the Vancouver Sun.

Introduction

If not for a previously unknown musical term, I might have completed this puzzle without resorting to help from my electronic aids. That is a performance that I would never have expected to achieve based on Dave Perry's reported solving time of nearly an hour.

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. The underlined portion of the clue is the definition.

Across

1a   Queen in States is a detective story writer (6)

Like Dave Perry, I immediately wrote in ELLERY, although not without considerable misgivings — that eventually proved to be well-founded.

Ellery Queen^[5] is an American writer of detective novels; pseudonym of Frederic Dannay (1905 – 1982) and Manfred Lee (1905 – 1971). The novels feature a detective also called Ellery Queen.

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893 –  1957) was a renowned English writer. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between the First and Second World Wars that feature English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, that remain popular to this day. 

The ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus the cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina .

5a   Matt behind northern hill collapsed (4,4)

Mattz^[5] (or, as I am accustomed to seeing it spelled, matte) is an adjective used to describe a surface or colour which is dull and flat or without a shine ⇒ (i) prints are available on matt or glossy paper; (ii) a matt black. According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, it is spelled mat^[5] in the US.

A fell^[5] is a hill or stretch of high moorland, especially in northern England.

9a   Back rubbish strike around bistro? That's criminal (10)

10a   No yen for it in the corner (4)

It^[5] (usually written within quotation marks ‘it’) is an informal term for sexual intercourse or sex appeal ⇒ the only thing I knew nothing about was ‘it’.

The yen^[5] (abbreviation Y^[5]) is the basic monetary unit of Japan.

11a   A jewel from the east is extremely good (4)

I thought it meant big, but according to Collins English Dictionary, mega^[4] is a slang term meaning extremely good, great, or successful.

12a   Principal Muslim leaders said to be showing signs of rejection (10)

14a   Beautiful lady to a certain extent proves the rule (6)

In the Bible, Esther^[5] is a woman chosen on account of her beauty by the Persian king Ahasuerus (generally supposed to be Xerxes I) to be his queen. She used her influence with him to save the Israelites in captivity from persecution.

16a   Ship's officer maintains European river is not up to much (8)

The Oder^[5] is a river of central Europe which rises in the mountains in the east of the Czech Republic and flows northwards through western Poland to meet the River Neisse, then continues northwards forming the northern part of the border between Poland and Germany before flowing into the Baltic Sea.

18a   Beard? Mug’s not up for it! (4,4)

Beard^[5] means to boldly confront or challenge (someone formidable) ⇒ he was afraid to beard the sultan himself.

I interpreted face down^[4] to mean to confront and force (someone or something) to back down. However, Dave Perry suggests that it is a cryptic definition of a beard — DOWN (as in short, soft hairs) on the FACE.

20a   Trim  wood (6)

22a   Stub of ginger in hot eppetiser bringing out sweat (10)

Perspirate^[10] is a synonym for perspire — one that is rarely used according to The Chambers Dictionary.

24a   Indifferent  couple of notes (2-2)

In music, tonic sof-fa (or sol-fa^[3]) refers to the set of syllables  used to represent the tones of the scale. In the US, the names of the notes are generally spelled do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti while, in the UK, they are known as doh (or do), ray (or re), mi (or me), fah (or fa), soh (or so or sol), lah (or la), and te (or ti)^[4] [where more than one spelling is shown, the first is the primary spelling with variant spelling(s) following].

26a   Fruit to give on leaving (4)

27a   Recorders perhaps ordered prison as nothing new (10)

A sopranino^[5] is a musical instrument, especially a recorder or saxophone, higher than soprano.

29a   Some smuggle in sterling from part of Ireland (8)

Sterling^[5] could refer to (1) British money ⇒ prices in sterling are shown or (2) short for sterling silver ⇒ [as modifier] a sterling spoon.

Leinster^[5] is a province of the Republic of Ireland, in the south-east of the country, centred on Dublin.

30a   Bury’s awfully vengeful front pair sent off (6)

Bury^[7] is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The clue is likely a reference to Bury Football Club, an association football team plays in League Two, the fourth tier in the English football league system.

Down

2d   Knowing top card, fight to replace clubs (5)

3d   Rot found in two English trees (7)

Like Dave Perry, I questioned the wording in this clue.

4d   Mother's champion in very big Broadway hit (9)

In response to Dave Perry's query, smasheroo^[10] is listed in Collins English Dictionary as being US slang meaning something having popular success.

5d   Well, it's appropriate (3)

6d   Primate is supporting line on other ranks (5)

In the British armed forces, other ranks (abbreviation OR)^[5] refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

7d   Female's not just come here for amusement (7)

Funfair^[5] is a chiefly British term for a fair consisting of rides, sideshows, and other amusements ⇒ (i) a travelling funfair set up every year or (ii) [as modifier] a funfair ride.

8d   Bad reaction on first taste of claret, lacking in body? (9)

13d   Chaps enthralled by tune in the country (7)

15d   Draw male working in Express (9)

The Daily Express^[7] is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom. It is the flagship title of Express Newspapers, which also publishes the Sunday Express.

17d   Need repast abroad? Avoid rump of stallion in a stew (9)

The clue is an allusion to the 2013 meat adulteration scandal^[7] that is ongoing in Europe in which foods advertised as containing beef were found to contain undeclared horse meat, as much as 100% of the meat content in some cases, and other undeclared meats, such as pork. The issue came to light on 15 January 2013, when it was reported that horse DNA had been discovered in frozen beefburgers sold in several Irish and British supermarkets.

19d   With choppy sea bird is moving in one direction (7)

In addition to denoting situated in or towards the east, eastern^[10] may also mean facing or moving towards the east.

21d   Harsh slant given to news in tabloid (7)

23d   Rick Stein to get one image within another (5)

Rick Stein^[7] is an English chef, restaurateur and television presenter [host]. He owns several restaurants in England and Australia, as well as having written or presented a number of cookery books and television programmes.

As an anagram indicator, rick^[5] is used in the sense of to form into a rick or ricks; in other words, to stack ⇒ the nine cords of good spruce wood ricked up in the back yard.

25d   19 capital only mentioned (5)

To complete the clue, one must replace the number "19" (which serves as a cross reference indicator) by the solution to clue 19d.

28d   A bit repeated by property expert (3)

In a comment left today on Times for the Times, someone wonders "I thought 'per' meant 'for each' or 'by way of'. The clue wasn't difficult to solve, but where does 'a bit' come in??". Answer: Per is a bit of "proPERty" and a bit of "exPERt".

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for this week — Falcon

Sunday, September 15, 2013 — ST 4551

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4551
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, August 18, 2013
Setter Dean Mayer (Anax)
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4551]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time ★★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, September 7, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, September 14, 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, September 14, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. Due to a recently implemented paywall on its web site, I am no longer able to verify the puzzle appearing in the Vancouver Sun.

Introduction

Having returned from my recent travels, I hope that service on the blog will return to normal — for the immediate future, at least.

Perhaps the long absence from cryptic crosswords put me out of practice, but I needed quite a bit of help from my electronic assistants with today's puzzle.

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   Confused setter’s headed west due to change in platform (5-2)

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as compiler, setter, author, or writer to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must usually substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used  in the clue. However, today Anax adds a couple of flourishes to the clue, combining this device with the verb to be, in addition to introducing a reversal.

5a   Damn banks cut bank activity (7)

Shin^[10] is a mainly British term, referring to a cut of beef, the lower foreleg.

9a   The P in Peterhouse (3)

Rho^[5] is the seventeenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ρ, ρ).

10a   Metal that is wood (7)

In golf, brassie^[5] is a rather antiquated name for a number two wood [so named because the wood was originally shod with brass].

11a   Very many men put off about ecstasy (7)

12a   One failing to hold down good job in insurance (4,8)

16a   Thus writer’s not bothered by son's honesty (15)

17a   Initially brilliant contraption for organising personal effects? (6,9)

18a   Text about each hair style they create? (12)

The definition is written in Yoda-speak.

SMS^[10] stands for short message service: a system used for sending text messages to and from mobile phones.

21a   Nasty smell by area in pub (7)

In British and Irish slang, hum can be a verb meaning to smell unpleasant ⇒ when the wind drops this stuff really hums^[5,10] or (2) a noun meaning a bad smell^[2] or an unpleasant odour^[10].

23a   Cloud over. Rubbish! That’S smoke (7)

In cricket, an over (abbreviation O)^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

24a   Chains regularly employed in prison (3)

25a   Accurately represented in opera, if not in life (2,5)

Tosca^[7] is an opera in three acts by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924) to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica (1857 – 1919) and Giuseppe Giacosa (1847 – 1906). It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900.

26a   Duke in Ferrari visits Tyneside becoming target of offence (3,4)

Enzo Ferrari^[7] (1898 – 1988) was an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobile marque.

Tyneside^[5] is an industrial conurbation (an extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of a central city) on the banks of the River Tyne, in NE England, stretching from Newcastle upon Tyne to the coast.

Down

1d   A phone company? Yes, possibly (4)

I was not aware that moby^[10] is an informal name for a mobile phone — at least in the UK. Thus, I wasted copious amounts of time trying to introduce BT (British Telecom) into the solution, not to mention attempting to use 'maybe' as a synonym for "possibly".

2d   Cross country run’s abandoned in ancient Chinese capital (4)

Xi'an^[7] is one of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history. It is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, having held the position under several of the most important dynasties in Chinese history,^[3] including Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang. Xi'an is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and home to the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

3d   Do irons twist? Not with awkward bends (11)

4d   Sopranos against opening fancy media event (5,10)

5d   Discovered rock is not a sound component for base of building (10,5)

6d   One silly old man's upset (3)

7d   One following old rock group is dying (2,8)

R.E.M.^[7] was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. R.E.M. disbanded amicably in September 2011.

8d   Giving bent information, ie story that’s wrong (10)

As Dave Perry points out, the definition "giving bent" means a predilection to giving.

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

13d   Cool rascal entertained by foolish rudeness (11)

14d   Criticism over dress that’s not automatic (5,5)

Stick^[5] is British slang for severe criticism or treatment ⇒ I took a lot of stick from the press.

15d   Goes beyond strange desires (10)

19d   Whole ring used for wrestling (4)

20d   Now in the red (4)

22d   Male duck, a bird that couldn’t fly (3)

In cricket, a duck^[5] is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] ⇒ he was out for a duck. This is similar to the North American expression goose egg^[5] meaning a zero score in a game.. In British puzzles, duck is used to indicate the letter "O" based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter.

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for this week — Falcon

Sunday, September 8, 2013 — ST 4550

Vacation Edition

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4550
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, August 11, 2013
Setter Jeff Pearce
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4550]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time ★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, August 31, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, September 7, 2013[see note]
Notes This puzzle appears on the Sunday puzzles pages in the Saturday, September 7, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. Due to a recently implemented paywall on its web site, I am no longer able to verify the puzzle appearing in the Vancouver Sun. I am currently on vacation. Today's abbreviated posting was prepared prior to my departure and provides a link to the review at Times for the Times for the puzzle that I expect to be published today.

Signing off for this week — Falcon

Sunday, September 1, 2013 — ST 4549

Vacation Edition

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4549
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, August 4, 2013
Setter Tim Moorey
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4549]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time Unknown
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, August 24, 2013[see note]
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, August 31, 2013[see note]
Notes This puzzle appears on the Sunday puzzles pages in the Saturday, August 31, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. As there is no entry for August 24 at the Saturday Star Cryptic Forum website, information regarding the publication of this puzzle in the Toronto Star is a presumption. Due to a recently implemented paywall on its web site, I am no longer able to verify the puzzle appearing in the Vancouver Sun.

Introduction

As was the case with the puzzle from last weekend, this is another that sits unfinished for the moment. As I am getting ready to embark on another trip, the postings for the next week or two will again follow the abbreviated vacation format.

Signing off for this week — Falcon