Sunday, November 29, 2009 (ST 4351)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on October 18, 2009

Introduction

I completed today's puzzle still having question marks in my mind concerning a few of the clues.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

afters - singular noun, Brit colloq dessert; pudding.

ladette - noun Brit. 1. A young woman who behaves in a manner similar to a young man, namely being boisterous and loud and drinking to excess.

polythene - noun chiefly Brit. a tough, light, flexible plastic made by polymerizing ethylene, chiefly used for packaging. ORIGIN contraction of polyethylene. Beatles fans will surely remember Polythene Pam.

RSC - abbreviation 1 Royal Shakespeare Company: a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, England

TV - abbreviation 2. Slang transvestite.

wind up - noun 1 Brit. informal an attempt to tease or irritate someone. [Note that Oxford spells it wind-up, with a hyphen]

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4351].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

27a Forgetting one's complaint (8)

Talbinho seemed to like this clue fairly well, "... a much better CD." However, it took me quite a while to get my head around it - perhaps I am just obtuse. I finally came to the conclusion that the thrust of the clue is that if one is suffering from amnesia, they may well be unable to remember what illness they have (forgetting one's complaint) - and therefore would be described as being AMNESIAC.

4d Angry lady's maid on TV (5-7)

I did get the correct answer; but I was definitely puzzled by the wordplay. I looked in vain for a British television show called (or dealing with a) CROSS-DRESSER. It did not help that I did not think that a dresser is necessarily a "lady's maid". My understanding was reinforced by the fact that every reference I consulted defined it similar to Oxford, namely "noun 2 a person who looks after theatrical costumes". I initially thought that "lady's maid" might be an abigail.

19d Two-piece practised here with explosive results (6)

A ''two-piece" is a BIKINI, and clearly the latter part of the clue relates to Bikini Atoll, a U.S. nuclear test site from 1946-1958. I was not convinced that I fully grasped the wordplay and thought that Talbinho might provide some guidance. However he was not much impressed with this clue, stating "Bikini Atoll was a nuclear testing site, but the second definition ('practised here with explosive results') is horribly worded."

At that point, I decided to undertake some further research which led me to think that it perhaps is not such a bad clue - if one understands a bit about nuclear physics. In an atomic (fission) bomb, two sub-critical masses of fissile material are combined into a single super-critical mass (the amount of material needed to start an exponentially growing nuclear chain reaction). Thus could "two-piece" refer to the bomb (consisting of the two sub-critical masses of fissile material) that was tested ("practised") at Bikini Atoll "with explosive results". It still may not be the smoothest reading clue but perhaps it is not as bad as it originally might seem.

Should this reading of the clue be correct, then it would not be a two-part clue at all, but rather a cryptic definition with "two-piece" also serving as an additional reference to the swimsuit.

By the way, I found the story of the origin of the name bikini for the swimsuit rather interesting. "[T]he bikini swimsuit was named after the island in 1946. The two-piece swimsuit was introduced within days of the first nuclear test on the atoll, and the name of the island was in the news. Introduced just weeks after the one-piece 'Atome' was widely advertised as the 'smallest bathing suit in the world', it was said that the bikini 'split the atome'."

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, November 22, 2009 (ST 4350)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on October 11, 2009.

Introduction

It was a rather busy weekend and I still have not had time to complete the Sunday cryptic crossword. However, I am posting the link to Times for the Times for the benefit of those who may be looking for it.

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4350].

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, November 15, 2009 (ST 4349)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on October 4, 2009

Introduction

Although this puzzle was quite a quick solve, and the wordplay was anything but obscure, I found the puzzle to be very entertaining with most of the clues being very nicely phrased.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Midshipman Easy - a 1935 British adventure film

mo - Brit. a short while, a moment

prat - the buttocks

rum - Brit. odd, peculiar

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4349].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a See out trial runs? Impossible in this game (7,8)

Talbinho writes "another good anagram, but lacking an indicator". I (as did a number of those leaving comments on Times for the Times) supposed that "impossible" is intended to be the anagram indicator.

26a Lively guy involving women in lark? (7)

Surely, given that the solution is SWINGERS, this is a clue on which the imagination could really run wild. I wondered whether the word has the same connotation in Britain as it does in North America. Oxford provides the following definitions (among others) for the verb swing: "be lively, exciting, or fashionable" and "swap sexual partners or engage in group sex". While the setter may have intended the former, I would expect that the later may well be the more common understanding in North America.

2d Twist and Shout succeeded for many (9)

Although I was not able to find a reference, apparently S is an abbreviation for succeeded. I presume that this would be in the sense that Elizabeth II succeeded George VI, and that you might find this notation in tables of royal lineages, as an example. Nevertheless, I do not rule out the possibility that I may be informed that it is a cricket or football term.

7d Jack, perhaps, is, in short, behind (5)

I guess that I couldn't see the wordplay for the commas - surely, this clue contains almost the highest density of commas possible in a sentence. More to the point, I had no idea that prat is slang for the buttocks.

13d Midshipman not staying relaxed (4-3)

In my search for an explanation as to why midshipman equates to easy, I found a reference to the 1935 British film, Midshipman Easy (see Today's Glossary). However, talbinho's review hints that easy may, in general, be a term for a midshipman - though I was not able to find it in a dictionary. If that is indeed the case, the name of the film may actually have been derived from this association, or - on the other hand - perhaps the term arose from the film (or the book on which the film was based).

22d M East national upset in a short time (5)

In this clue, "upset" is not an anagram indicator, but rather it is a reversal indicator and "short time" is not a min (minute) but a mo (moment).

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, November 8, 2009 (ST 4348)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on September 27, 2009

Introduction

A fairly average puzzle - but one that seems to have provided quite a bit of grist for the blog.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

CH - abbrev. Companion of Honour: a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, an order (decoration) of the Commonwealth realms

dress circle - a circular or curving division of seats in a theater, opera house, etc., usually the first gallery, originally set apart for spectators in evening dress

Hansard - an official printed daily report of what has happened in the British (or Canadian) parliament

hock - Brit. a dry white wine from the German Rhineland

quarrel - a short heavy square-headed arrow or bolt for a crossbow or arbalest

The Order of the Companions of Honour

Most dictionaries state that this is a British order, and I have written in another blog that it is an order of the Commonwealth of Nations. It would appear that the former assertion is incomplete and the latter, upon reflection, is an overstatement. This seems to be a case of that which is concise not being true and that which is true not being concise. As near as I can determine, the correct interpretation would be that it is an order of the Commonwealth realms (a fairly small subset of the nations within the Commonwealth of Nations), being those members of the Commonwealth who have the Queen as their Head of State. Although even the Queen's own website is vague on this point, it would appear that the Queen makes these awards in her respective roles as sovereign of each realm. Thus, when she confers the honour on a citizen of the UK, she does so as Queen of the United Kingdom. Equally, when she confers the honour on a citizen of Canada, she does so as Queen of Canada. Therefore, it can be said that this is a British order for some recipients, a Canadian order for other recipients, an Australian order for yet others, etc. Therefore, the dictionaries' statement that this is a British order would seem to be - at best - incomplete. I believe if this were considered to be a British honour, then Canadian citizens would be forbidden from accepting it (remember Conrad Black who relinquished his Canadian citizenship in order to accept a British knighthood).

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4348].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

11a She's returning us to hospital for a brief spell (5)

Whether you favour the British spelling (sanitorium) or favor the American spelling (sanitarium), "a brief spell" (abbreviation) of this hospital remains the same.

19a Its ugly facial features resultant from a growth? (7)

There is an anagram in this clue, although I managed to overlook it - perhaps because the checking letters pretty much gave the solution away.

28a Keen, clear-cut incisiveness needed, in this position? (5-4)

Even after solving this clue, it continues to cry out to me that I have overlooked some nuance in the wordplay - and it would appear that talbinho feels the same way.

5d Hock - his and her new, alternative tipple (7)

I had questions about the wordplay in this clue, essentially the same ones raised by talbinho.

16d Providing her services with small charge (9)

I, as did talbinho, found the wording of this clue somewhat questionable. In my opinion, it would have been better worded "One providing her services with small charge".

18d Shrank from having quarrel end nastily outside (8)

I figured out that "shrank" is NARROWED where "end nastily outside" accounts for the N...ED (anagram of END as a container). But I mistakenly presumed that "quarrel" is ROW, leaving me perplexed as to where the AR comes from - having never before encountered the other meaning of "quarrel" as an ARROW. I expected that talbinho's review would clear up the confusion, but as he accepted "arrow" without comment, I was forced to do some additional research.

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, November 1, 2009 (ST 4347)

This puzzle was "originally" published in The Sunday London Times on September 20, 2009

Introduction

In the text above, you may have observed that I placed quotation marks around the word originally. The reason for doing this is that talbinho, in his blog at Times for the Times, has identified that much of the puzzle is not at all original, having been recycled from a puzzle published in the Times in July 2008 (which would have subsequently appeared in the Citizen in the late summer or early fall of 2008). This was before I started this blog and I do not remember doing the puzzle myself. In any event, I certainly do not profess to have the remarkable power of recall that talbinho so obviously possesses. Since the puzzle was as good as new to me, I rather enjoyed doing it. I also enjoyed reading the comments on Times for the Times, especially sotira's anecdote about the newspaper astrology columnist fired for recycling predictions.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Arkle - a famous Irish Thoroughbred racehorse

sp - abbrev. starting price: horse-racing the final odds that are offered on a horse just before the race begins

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4347].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

17a Problem about copper - short, fat and beefy (8)

Although I got the correct solution, I was not able to fathom the wordplay. I discovered from talbinho's review that my difficulty arose from blindly assuming that "about" must be a container indicator, when, in reality, it is a reversal indicator.

4 Boy's final poem (6)

Even after determining the correct solution, I had to ponder the wordplay in this clue for quite a while before understanding it. As has been pointed out to me (probably on more than one occasion), "'s" (apostrophe-s) can have several meanings; among which are the possessive, an abbreviation for "is", and an abbreviation for "has". In this case, it is the latter. Thus the clue is equivalent to, "Boy has final poem" and the wordplay is SON (boy) has (charade indicator) NET (final). I have noticed that the word "has" often seems to be used as a charade indicator (as though it meant "plus").

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, October 25, 2009 (ST 4346)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on September 13, 2009

Introduction

The Brits had some rather scathing opinions regarding the quality of this puzzle - chief amongst them being the major error in the clue at 22a. Once again, the Times neglects to correct the puzzle in syndication. I expect that my stock line of "giving us colonials the true British experience" is beginning to wear a bit thin. Hopefully, "Today's Errors" does not become a regular feature of this blog!

Today's Errors

22a Worried about oil plant (8)

Supposedly the answer ABUTILON is an anagram (worried) of ABOUT OIL. However, the letters do not match, leading me to theorize that the anagram fodder should be ABOUT LIN, where LIN might possibly be a British term for linseed oil. However, I could find no evidence to support such a supposition, and Talbinho, in his review at Times for the Times, confirms that there is, in fact, an error in the clue.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

abutilon - flowering maple

CH - abbrev. Companion of Honour: designates a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, an order of the Commonwealth of Nations which has as its insignia an oval medallion

RE - abbrev. Royal Engineers: a corps in the British Army

theodolite - a surveying instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles

tick - Chiefly Brit. a moment

transit - (noun, defn. 5) a surveying instrument similar to a theodolite that measures horizontal and vertical angles

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4346].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

13d Abandoned hotel to die in transit, in America (10)

This was the second last clue to be solved and I may only have solved it due to having spent a couple of summers working as a surveyor while at university. In this clue, "abandoned" is seemingly serving as an anagram indicator, although "in transit" would, at first blush, appear to be the more obvious choice. The answer, THEODOLITE, is a surveying instrument and is an anagram of HOTEL TO DIE. The wordplay in the clue suggests that the instrument is called a theodolite in Britain and a transit in America. I am not sure on what basis "abandoned" qualifies as an anagram indicator.

A Note on Transits and Theodolites

Based on my recollection of my surveying experience from some thirty years ago, both terms were in use at that time in Canada. Contrary to talbinho's assertion, a theodolite is not used to measure distances, but rather to measure horizontal and vertical angles. While both transits and theodolites are used for this purpose, a theodolite (as I recall) is a far more sophisticated instrument than a transit.

I am pleased to see my recollection confirmed by Wikipedia. Apparently, a "transit theodolite" was originally a theodolite that could be transited (i.e., the telescope could be rotated around its horizontal, transverse axis [by the way, I saw one dictionary describe transit as "to rotate horizontally" which is, at best, misleading and, at worst, erroneous.]) However, "In the middle of the 20th century, "transit" came to refer to a simple form of theodolite with less precision, lacking [certain] features". One would commonly see transits used on construction sites. In my summer job as a student, I worked with the Geodetic Survey of Canada doing first-order horizontal control surveys (surveys used in the production of high precision topographical maps) and we, of course, used very sophisticated and precise theodolites and other instruments.

Talbinho's confusion about theodolites measuring distance may arise from their use in the process of triangulation. By knowing the length of one side of a triangle and the angles of two corners, one can calculate the lengths of the other two sides. In triangulation, one would measure the length of one side of the triangle using a tape measure (or other distance measuring instrument) and the angles of two corners using a theodolite (or transit). Thus, while a theodolite does not measure distance directly, it is used in the process of triangulation which establishes distances.

One of the major purposes for transiting a survey instrument (be it a transit or a theodolite) is to compensate for errors in the calibration of the instruments. By first taking a set of measurements with the telescope in one position, then transiting the telescope and repeating the measurements, and averaging the results of the two sets of measurements, certain inaccuracies in the calibration of the instrument cancel each other out, thus providing a more accurate result.

Enough about surveying.

Signing off for this week - Falcon

Sunday, October 18, 2009 (ST 4345)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on September 6, 2009

Introduction

Although today's puzzle was not overly difficult, the challenge was somewhat elevated by the two errors present in 19a.

Today's Errors

19a Entertaining lass could show ogreish curls (6,4)

There is an error in the clue (which was present when originally published in The Times). The clue should read:

19a Entertaining lass could show ogrish curl (6,4)

The setter of the puzzle explained the errors thus on Times for the Times, "Blame me the setter for the extra S and the ST keyboarder for the extra E. Oh dear, sorry, a rare occurrence of two independent cock-ups in one clue! I've notified the crossword editor in case the puzzle gets reprinted."

Well, the setter's heads up to the crossword editor seems to have been in vain, as we have the evidence published in today's Ottawa Citizen that the ST editor took no action to correct the puzzle in syndication.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

County Meath - Irish county, north-west of Dublin

Lord North - Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782

Plymouth Argyle - English football (soccer) club

the gods - (noun, defn. 4) theatre the gallery (the upper floor in a theatre, usually containing the cheapest seats or the part of the audience seated there)

circle - (entry 3, defn. 3) theatre the section of seats above the main level of the auditorium, usually comprising the dress circle and the upper circle (and, presumably below the gallery)

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4345].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

22a PM who is opposed to East-West partnership? (5)

Although I got the correct solution, I had an uneasy feeling that I had missed something in the wordplay. However, talbinho put my mind at ease, making me aware that I had overlooked the fact that "East-West partnership" is a reference to the game of bridge.

29a Traffic starts to disappear slowly across part of London (8)

In his review, talbinho wonders about "EALING - possibly an awkward reference for overseas subscribers?". I found the solution from the definition and checking letters, and then ran to my reference sources to see if a district named Ealing really exists in London - and, indeed, it does.

4d More elevated clique won't be far below the gods (5,6)

Despite completely missing the theatrical reference in this clue, I still managed to come up with the correct solution.

I presume that the terminology used in the clue and its solution may be British - or maybe I am just too provincial. I am personally familiar with the seating plan of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, where the levels are designated Orchestra (main level of the auditorium), Mezzanine (presumably equivalent to the Dress Circle), Amphitheatre (presumably equivalent to the Upper Circle) and Balcony (presumably equivalent to the Gallery - or "the gods").

Signing off for this week - Falcon