This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on May 23, 2010
Introduction
I worked on this puzzle while doing maintenance on my computer - taking advantage of the lengthy wait times required for the computer to repeatedly reboot or perform other seemingly endless tasks - which no doubt spoiled much of the enjoyment of the puzzle for me.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Appearing in Solutions
OB - abbreviation 1 old boy: noun 1 Brit a former male pupil of a school.
Solway Firth - a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland.
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4382].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
10a Eye part of the maize cob, you'll hear (6)
As best as I can tell, this is meant to be a homophone (sounds like) clue. I know that the Brits are known to add aitches (or should that be h'aitches) to the beginning of some words and drop them from others. As well, they drop the letter R from the end of words and add it to others.
Apparently, EAR pronounced by a Brit comes out sounding something like ee-AH. Therefore, CORN EAR sounds like CORNEA.
24a Girl lives with boy (6)
The definition is "girl" for which the solution is ISABEL. The wordplay is IS (lives) + (with) ABEL (boy).
26a The first note from poetic song to her (6)
The definition is "her", with the clue calling for a girl's name as the solution. The girl is ODETTE and the wordplay is T (the first; i.e., the first letter of the word "the") + TE (note; as in do, re, mi, ...) following (from) ODE (poetic song). I think "from" signifies following as in the phrase "From the time I was a child ...". With this interpretation, the word "to" would seemingly be a link word joining the wordplay to the definition.
I also considered (and rejected) an alternative interpretation in which the words "from" and "to" might be used in combination to denote the idea of following.
Note that there appears to be a typo on Times for the Times, where the solution is shown as ODETTA - even though the explanation leads to the correct solution ODETTE.
19d Flier taking a route over rocky height? (7)
I may be mistaken (given that no one commented on this point on Times for the Times), but I thought that "route" meaning VIA was more than a bit iffy. Route is either a noun or a verb, while via is a preposition - so I fail to see how they can be equivalent.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010 (ST 4381)
This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on May 16, 2010
Introduction
I certainly found some of the wordplay in today's puzzle to be rather tricky - for example, 6d and 21d. However, I persevered and eventually succeeded in cracking all the clues.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Appearing in Clues
Chips - nickname for a carpenter.
guy1 - verb ridicule.
make a song and dance about something - colloq to make an unnecessary fuss about it.
Appearing in Solutions
animadversion - noun criticism or censure
appro - abbreviation Brit. informal approval
cock - noun 3 Brit. informal nonsense.
County Down - one of the six counties forming Northern Ireland
London EC Postcode Area - a group of postcode districts in central London, England which includes almost all of the City of London.
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4381].
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Introduction
I certainly found some of the wordplay in today's puzzle to be rather tricky - for example, 6d and 21d. However, I persevered and eventually succeeded in cracking all the clues.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Appearing in Clues
Chips - nickname for a carpenter.
guy1 - verb ridicule.
make a song and dance about something - colloq to make an unnecessary fuss about it.
Appearing in Solutions
animadversion - noun criticism or censure
appro - abbreviation Brit. informal approval
cock - noun 3 Brit. informal nonsense.
County Down - one of the six counties forming Northern Ireland
London EC Postcode Area - a group of postcode districts in central London, England which includes almost all of the City of London.
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4381].
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010 (ST 4380)
This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on May 9, 2010
Introduction
For the most part, it was a relatively easy puzzle today. However, I did get stymied on one clue by failing to take into account some differences between British and North American pronunciation.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Appearing in Solutions
beat - verb 8 move across (land) to raise game birds for shooting. DERIVATIVE beater noun.
British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) - a former British aircraft manufacturer; a predecessor company to British Aerospace (BAe)
desmid - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun Any of various green unicellular freshwater algae of the family Desmidiaceae, often forming chainlike colonies.
River Test - a river in Hampshire, England
solipsist - noun one who espouses solipsism, a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing; also : an extreme egocentrist
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4380].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
9d Inner voice Hamlet blamed for cowardice (10)
The literary reference is to "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all", the 28th line in Hamlet's soliloquy that begins "To be or not to be – that is the question:".
23d Greek character said to be employed to raise birds (4)
Despite recognizing that we are looking for a letter from the Greek alphabet and that "said" is a homophone (sounds like) indicator, I was not able to completely fathom the wordplay. I did consider the possibility that "raise" might be a reversal indicator in this down clue - but that proved not to be the case.
The clue relies on two distinct characteristics of British speech. The first is the British pronunciation of the word "beta" which sounds like bee·ta (compared to the North American pronunciation BAY·ta). You can listen to these two pronunciations here (just click on the British and American flag icons at the top of the entry).
The second characteristic is the British propensity to not pronounce the final R in words, or rather, to pronounce ER as A. Thus the word "beater" is also pronounced bee·ta. We see a clue like this from time to time in British puzzles and I have yet to learn to recognize them. Perhaps those living in the Boston area fared betta'.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Introduction
For the most part, it was a relatively easy puzzle today. However, I did get stymied on one clue by failing to take into account some differences between British and North American pronunciation.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Appearing in Solutions
beat - verb 8 move across (land) to raise game birds for shooting. DERIVATIVE beater noun.
British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) - a former British aircraft manufacturer; a predecessor company to British Aerospace (BAe)
desmid - [American Heritage Dictionary] noun Any of various green unicellular freshwater algae of the family Desmidiaceae, often forming chainlike colonies.
River Test - a river in Hampshire, England
solipsist - noun one who espouses solipsism, a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing; also : an extreme egocentrist
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4380].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
9d Inner voice Hamlet blamed for cowardice (10)
The literary reference is to "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all", the 28th line in Hamlet's soliloquy that begins "To be or not to be – that is the question:".
23d Greek character said to be employed to raise birds (4)
Despite recognizing that we are looking for a letter from the Greek alphabet and that "said" is a homophone (sounds like) indicator, I was not able to completely fathom the wordplay. I did consider the possibility that "raise" might be a reversal indicator in this down clue - but that proved not to be the case.
The clue relies on two distinct characteristics of British speech. The first is the British pronunciation of the word "beta" which sounds like bee·ta (compared to the North American pronunciation BAY·ta). You can listen to these two pronunciations here (just click on the British and American flag icons at the top of the entry).
The second characteristic is the British propensity to not pronounce the final R in words, or rather, to pronounce ER as A. Thus the word "beater" is also pronounced bee·ta. We see a clue like this from time to time in British puzzles and I have yet to learn to recognize them. Perhaps those living in the Boston area fared betta'.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010 (ST 4379)
This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on May 2, 2010
Introduction
I found today's puzzle to be not too difficult, and was able to complete almost all of it before hauling out the Tool Chest. However, I did miss the wordplay on one clue.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Appearing in Clues
do1 - verb 14 colloq to cheat someone
rum - adjective Brit. informal, dated odd; peculiar
Appearing in Solutions
banshee - noun (in Irish legend) a female spirit whose wailing warns of a death in a house
boloney - alternate spelling of baloney
cakehole - noun Brit. informal a person’s mouth
ice tea - according to Wikipedia, a corruption of iced tea
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4379].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
14a ... and one at church leaves cold drink (3,3)
Judging by talbinho's comments, the ellipsis was missing from the puzzle published in the online version of The Sunday London Times. The inclusion of the ellipsis is meant to indicate that clues 13a and 14a are linked. I thought perhaps that the pronoun "one" was referring back to the previous clue, and that the second clue therefore should be interpreted as either "a Conservative at church ..." or even possibly as "an Archdeacon at church ...". However, I think that neither of these postulates is true. The two clues would appear to stand alone without any additional information provided by linking them. The only connection that I can see between them is that the first clue mentions "Archdeacon" and the second mentions "church", and that mere fact alone must have seemed sufficient in the mind of the setter to create a link between the clues.
On the other hand, perhaps the ellipsis in 14a is alluding to the fact that it is a charade type clue (the solution to 13a being CHARADES)!
1d This classification protects mole finally threatened (3-6)
Although I managed to obtain the correct solution, the wordplay eluded me as I missed seeing the anagram.
5d Drunk man goes to leading expert in private (8)
The wordplay seems to be {SOT (drunk) + ERIC (man)} attached to (goes to; in this case, following) E (leading expert; i.e., the initial letter in the word "expert") which makes E + SOT + ERIC or ESOTERIC. The definition must therefore be "in private" (or merely "private", if "in" is considered to be a link word between the wordplay and the definition). Chambers has esoteric meaning "understood only by those few people who have the necessary special knowledge; secret or mysterious" and private as "kept secret from others; confidential". Methinks there is a difference between esoteric and confidential, but who am I to quibble with the setter.
On the other hand, if I were to plant my tongue firmly in my cheek, I might suggest that this is an &lit. (all in one) clue with the reading of the full clue providing a definition by example of the term "esoteric".
12d Fast winger starts to order some truffles with lots of bread (7)
This winger may be fast, but it definitely won't fly.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Introduction
I found today's puzzle to be not too difficult, and was able to complete almost all of it before hauling out the Tool Chest. However, I did miss the wordplay on one clue.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Appearing in Clues
do1 - verb 14 colloq to cheat someone
rum - adjective Brit. informal, dated odd; peculiar
Appearing in Solutions
banshee - noun (in Irish legend) a female spirit whose wailing warns of a death in a house
boloney - alternate spelling of baloney
cakehole - noun Brit. informal a person’s mouth
ice tea - according to Wikipedia, a corruption of iced tea
Links to Solutions
A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4379].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
14a ... and one at church leaves cold drink (3,3)
Judging by talbinho's comments, the ellipsis was missing from the puzzle published in the online version of The Sunday London Times. The inclusion of the ellipsis is meant to indicate that clues 13a and 14a are linked. I thought perhaps that the pronoun "one" was referring back to the previous clue, and that the second clue therefore should be interpreted as either "a Conservative at church ..." or even possibly as "an Archdeacon at church ...". However, I think that neither of these postulates is true. The two clues would appear to stand alone without any additional information provided by linking them. The only connection that I can see between them is that the first clue mentions "Archdeacon" and the second mentions "church", and that mere fact alone must have seemed sufficient in the mind of the setter to create a link between the clues.
On the other hand, perhaps the ellipsis in 14a is alluding to the fact that it is a charade type clue (the solution to 13a being CHARADES)!
1d This classification protects mole finally threatened (3-6)
Although I managed to obtain the correct solution, the wordplay eluded me as I missed seeing the anagram.
5d Drunk man goes to leading expert in private (8)
The wordplay seems to be {SOT (drunk) + ERIC (man)} attached to (goes to; in this case, following) E (leading expert; i.e., the initial letter in the word "expert") which makes E + SOT + ERIC or ESOTERIC. The definition must therefore be "in private" (or merely "private", if "in" is considered to be a link word between the wordplay and the definition). Chambers has esoteric meaning "understood only by those few people who have the necessary special knowledge; secret or mysterious" and private as "kept secret from others; confidential". Methinks there is a difference between esoteric and confidential, but who am I to quibble with the setter.
On the other hand, if I were to plant my tongue firmly in my cheek, I might suggest that this is an &lit. (all in one) clue with the reading of the full clue providing a definition by example of the term "esoteric".
12d Fast winger starts to order some truffles with lots of bread (7)
This winger may be fast, but it definitely won't fly.
Signing off for this week - Falcon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
