Sunday, November 17, 2013 — ST 4560

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4560
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, October 20, 2013
Setter Dean Mayer (Anax)
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4560]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time Not indicated[Note 2]
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, November 9, 2013
Date of Publication in The Vancouver Sun Saturday, November 16, 2013[Note 3]
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 [1] This puzzle appears on the Sunday puzzles pages in the Saturday, November 16, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen. [2] Dave Perry comments "I can't really give a solving time for this one ... I did find it one of Dean's trickier ones, though, and I had to revisit it several times."  [3] Due to the paywall that has been erected on its web site, I am no longer able to verify the puzzle published in the Vancouver Sun.

Introduction

Not only did I find this to be a very difficult puzzle, I have struggled for most of the last week to solve some various serious computer glitches. I needed a fair amount of help from my electronic puzzle solving aids to complete this puzzle. Even then, there were several clues where I was unable to explain the wordplay even having the correct solution.

Writers at Times for the Times point out that there is a "theme" to this puzzle. It pays homage to Alton Towers, the most visited theme park in the UK. In addition to the park itself, nine of the park's rides (past or present) are found in the solutions.

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   Good to keep bowing? I'll wait (6)

Arc^[10], as a verb, means to form an arc. Thus to "keep bowing" is to "arc on".

A garçon^[5] (literally 'boy' in French) is a waiter in a French restaurant or hotel.

5a   Nerve gas? (8)

Backchat^[5] is an informal British term for rude or cheeky remarks made in reply to someone in authority ⇒ don’t interrupt! I’m not used to backchat or defiance!.

9a   Son's offence, stealing glossy handbags (9)

Glossy^[3] is a chiefly British term for a popular magazine printed on smooth-coated stock.

In Britain, handbags^[10] is a humorous term for a confrontation that does not lead to serious fighting, especially among soccer players. [from the idea of women fighting with their handbags]

10a   Academician will accept it as subject of education (4)

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[5]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5], an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

Educating Rita^[7] is a 1980 stage comedy by British playwright Willy Russell that was the basis of a 1983 Academy Award winning film. 

11a   Spoils  one associated with war (4)

The name of the Greek god Ares^[5] came to me almost immediately, so it is indeed puzzling why it took me so long to think of his Roman counterpart.

In Roman mythology, Mars^[5] is the god of war and the most important Roman god after Jupiter. The month of March is named after him.

13a   Number one is holding tight, lying about job (9)

14a   Pick up trousers? No, just shell suit (6)

In Britain, a shell suit^[5] is a casual outfit consisting of a loose jacket and trousers with elasticated waist, having a soft lining and a shiny polyester outer shell.

15a   Commitment against replacing shooter - there's no sense in it (8)

I arrived at the correct solution with the aid of a Word Finder program — but needed Dave Perry's review to understand the wordplay.

Oblivion^[5] is the state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening around one ⇒ they drank themselves into oblivion.

17a   Singer, one from New Zealand, entertains married ladies regularly (3,5)

Kiwi^[5] is an informal term for a New Zealander.

Kim Wilde^[7] (born Kim Smith) is an English pop singer, author, DJ and television presenter who burst onto the British music scene in 1981. In 1987 she had a major hit in the US when her version of The Supremes' classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On" topped the charts.

19a   I'm happy, in the early rounds, not to start from the back (6)

This is another case where I only twigged to the wordplay after reading Dave Perry's review.

A prelim^[5] is an event which precedes or prepares for another, in particular ... a preliminary round in a sporting competition ⇒ the prelims of the 400-meter free relay.

20a   Trunk full of powdered chalk in prison (5,4)

The Black Hole of Calcutta^[5] was a dungeon 6 metres (20 feet) square in Fort William, Calcutta (now Kolkata), where perhaps as many as 146 English prisoners were confined overnight following the capture of the city by the nawab of Bengal in 1756. Only twenty-three of them were still alive the next morning.

23a   You will turn over when being promiscuous (4)

Here I totally failed to grasp the simple, yet elegant, wordplay. It is a reversal (will turn ) of YE (you) containing (over) AS (when).

24a   Synthesizer producing low note (4)

25a   David's wife cleans the man's soul (9)

In ancient Egypt, ba^[5] was the supposed soul of a person or god, which survived after death but had to be sustained with offerings of food. It was typically represented as a human-headed bird. This is not to be confused with ka^[5], the supposed spiritual part of an individual human being or god, which survived (with the soul) after death and could reside in a statue of the person.

In the Bible, Bathsheba^[5] is the mother of Solomon. She was originally wife of Uriah the Hittite, and later one of the wives of David.

27a   Where situation is tense, unhappy in there (8)

Like Dave Perry, I solved 27a first — thereby giving me the solution to 13a.

28a   Run out then run in to say prayers (6)

In cricket, run out^[5] (abbreviation ro^[2]) means to dismiss (a running batsman) by breaking the wicket with the ball, or with the ball in the hand, while he is out of his ground^[10] (the area from the popping crease back past the stumps, in which a batsman may legally stand).

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation R^[5] denotes run(s).

Down

2d   Dipstick quietly dropped from hand (3)

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

3d   Sailors from Irish port take convoluted course (9)

Cork^[5] is a county of the Republic of Ireland, on the south coast in the province of Munster. It is also the name of the county town of Cork, a port on the River Lee; population 190,384 (2006).

4d   Man's humour recalled one's fierce rival (7)

This is another instance where I was not able to decipher the wordplay until I read Dave Perry's review.

Humour is used in the sense of a body fluid. There is quite a bit of discussion on Times for the Times as to whether or not this is stretching the definition. I found several dictionaries which defined the term in this sense — some narrowly, some more broadly. Collins English Dictionary defines humour^[10] fairly narrowly as any of various fluids in the body, especially the aqueous humour and vitreous humour. Chambers 21st Century Dictionary provides a similar definition for humour^[2], viz. a specified type of fluid in the body ⇒ aqueous humour. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word (for which it naturally uses the American spelling, humor^[2]) a bit more broadly as a body fluid, such as blood, lymph, or bile (in addition to its meanings of aqueous humor and vitreous humor). The broadest definition is found in the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary which defines humor^[11] as any animal or plant fluid, especially one of the body fluids once regarded as determining a person's constitution: blood, phlegm, black bile, or yellow bile.

Thus if we allow that humour may be "any animal or plant fluid" then "man's humour" could certainly include semen.

5d   Pig trotter finally taken from cut of meat (5)

Alas, for me, the word "breast" just does not evoke images of a cut of meat!

6d   As they say, dice completely white? (3,4)

Here "dice" is a verb used in cooking rather than a noun used in the casino.

White^[5] can be used as a noun to refer to a white thing, in particular the white ball (the cue ball) in snooker or billiards.

7d   Toymaker's soldiers used in Toy Story presentation (5)

Corgi Classics Limited^[7] is the current reincarnation of a British toymaker that manufactures die-cast models of cars and other vehicles.

Computer-generated imagery^[7] (abbreviation CGI^[5]) is the application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, films, television programs, commercials, and simulators.

8d   Theme park possibly roped into changes (5,6)

In tow (also on tow^[5]) means being towed by another vehicle or boat ⇒ (i) his boat was taken in tow by a trawler; (ii) the shallop [a type of sail boat] remained on tow when the ships left for the mainland.

Alton Towers Resort^[7] is a theme park and resort located in Alton, England, UK. In 2012, it was the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom and 9th most visited theme park in Europe.

12d   A fancy mobile, to a Henry Fielding character (6,5)

Although the woman appearing in the solution is a character in a novel by Henry Fielding, the setter uses only the author's surname in the definition.

The henry^[5] (abbreviation H) is the SI unit of inductance, equal to an electromotive force of one volt in a closed circuit with a uniform rate of change of current of one ampere per second. In the clue, the setter introduces a bit of cryptic misdirection by capitalizing the first letter of 'henry'.

Amelia Booth is the title character in Amelia^[7], a sentimental novel written by English author Henry Fielding (1707–1754) and published in December 1751. It was the fourth and final novel written by Fielding.

15d   United emerged victorious? We wouldn't all say that (3)

This is another tricky bit of wordplay that I only understood after reading Dave Perry's review.

The definition is "united" for which the solution is ONE. This is a homophone clue with a rather unusual homophone indicator, with the wordplay being sounds like WON (emerged victorious) to some people (we wouldn't all say that). Here the homophone indicator ("we wouldn't all say that") must be interpreted as 'sounds like ... to some people".

16d   Mum solves cryptic when eating dessert? (9)

In the UK, ice^[5] may refer to a  portion of water ice^[5], a dessert consisting of frozen fruit juice or flavoured water and sugar. As well, it could refer to an ice cream or ice lolly^[5], a piece of flavoured ice or ice cream on a stick (the former is known in North America as a popsicle^[5] and the latter would usually be referred to simply as ice cream on a stick).

18d   I'll bake pie that's nice (7)

Pie^[10] is a variant spelling of pi meaning, as a noun, a jumbled mixture and, as a verb, to mix up.

In the past, I have seen clues which have used this meaning of pie. However, I only recall seeing it used as a past participle (pied), making the wordplay much easier to explain. However, 'pie' could be either a noun or the present tense of the verb.

If pie is intended to be a noun, then the wordplay may involve interpreting the wordplay as 'a jumbled mixture of [the letters] ILL BAKE'. The rationale for this interpretation is that if an 'apple pie' is a pie [made] of apples, then it logically follows that an 'ILL BAKE pie' would be a pie (jumbled mixture) [made] of ILL BAKE.

On the other hand, if pie is intended to be a verb, then the wordplay may need to be read as "I'll bake; pie that". That is, interpret the wordplay to be a series of instructions where we start with the letters ILL BAKE; then pie them (mix them up).

Since pie is a transitive verb, the setter could have written the clue in Yoda-speak:

Pie I'll bake is nice.

19d   Author in topless attire upset poet (7)

Edmund Spenser^[5] (circa 1552–99) was an English poet. He is best known for his allegorical romance The Faerie Queene (1590; 1596), celebrating Queen Elizabeth I and written in the Spenserian stanza.

21d   Nettle right at the bottom of pasture (5)

Dave Perry comments "I didn't like this one as there's no indication that the R is being moved." I have observed that, at times, crucial bits of information may be implicit in cryptic crossword puzzles.

22d   Work can be involved (3,2)

In 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.

26d   Excellent start to radio broadcast (3)

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] meaning first class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for this week — Falcon