Sunday, March 31, 2013 — ST 4527

This entry was posted on Monday, April 1, 2013 but has been backdated to place it in the proper sequence in the Blog Archive.

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4527
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, March 3, 2013
Setter Dean Mayer (Anax)
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4527]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time
★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, March 23, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, March 30, 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, March 30, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

It would seem that Dave Perry found this puzzle to be little more than a walk in the park. For me, it was more akin to a mountaineering expedition. I needed a fair amount of electronic help and had to reverse engineer the wordplay on several. I never did manage to sort out the wordplay on 13d and needed Dave Perry's explanation to understand it.

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   One doesn’t think about footballer’s wife being a dignified lady (7)

In the UK, a WAG^[5] (or Wag^[10]) [from the acronym WAGs 'wives and girlfriends'] is a wife or girlfriend of a sports player, typically characterized as having a high media profile and a glamorous lifestyle.

5a   Having boarded a ship, is big name in shipping (7)

Virtually without exception in cryptic crosswords, a ship will be a steamship (abbreviation SS^[5]).

Aristotle Onassis^[5] (1906 – 1975) was a Greek shipping magnate and international businessman who owned a substantial shipping empire and founded the Greek national airline, Olympic Airways (1957).

9a   I am filling in for top player (5)

Primo^[10] seems to be a musical term denoting the upper or right-hand part in a piano duet. Although not specifically documented in the dictionaries, I suppose the term might also be applied to the person who plays this part.

10a   It’s cruel to spread lies about awful truth (9)

11a/14a   Reason for daughter’s morning ritual? (3,8,2,3,5)

This is what I call an inverse wordplay clue (or, as Dave Perry puts it, a 'wordplay in solution' type clue). The solution contains some bit of wordplay that produces an element of the clue. The inverse wordplay indicator is "reason for" (which is another way of saying 'what is it that produces'). Thus the solution is some bit of wordplay that would produce the result "daughter". "Daughter" is an anagram of "the guard" and some wordplay that would produce the result "daughter" from "the guard"is THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD.

Changing the Guard^[7] refers to a formal ceremony in which sentries providing ceremonial guard duties at important institutions are relieved by a new batch of sentries. The ceremonies are often elaborate and precisely choreographed.

15a   King George eats only toast (5)

By tradition, the ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are the 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 — and that of her father, King George, was GR^[5] — from the Latin Georgius Rex.

17a   Happy? No  dice (3,2)

Cut up^[5] [possibly chiefly a British expression] means (of a person) very distressed ⇒ she was pretty cut up about them leaving.

18a   Cavalier’s rank hampering bid to retreat (8)

The wordplay is ARRANT (rank) containing (hampering; holding [back], restraining) a reversal (to retreat) of GO (bid; attempt). Since hamper means to "hold back", I think the setter might have been able to use it as both the containment indicator and the reversal indicator (which certainly would have made the clue far more difficult to solve).

20a   Head for London or Edinburgh, say — this may be A1 sign (7,6)

I missed the wordplay here, which (as Dave Perry reveals) is CAPITAL (A1) + LETTER (sign).

I readily see the first part, but I am still reluctant to accept that a sign and letter are the same thing. However, Collins English Dictionary does show sign as a synonym for letter^[10] — but, interestingly, does not list letter as a synonym for sign^[10].

The A1^[7] is the longest numbered road in the UK, at 410 miles (660 km). It connects London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

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.

22a   Black partner’s kept wife — never disappeared (5,4)

24a   Baton is something orchestra member may look at (5)

One meaning of baton^[5] is a staff of office or authority, especially one carried by a field marshal.

25a   Mister Bob Hope (7)

I deduced the solution from the definition and checking letters and then reverse engineered the wordplay. Bob^[2] is an informal term for a shilling (abbreviation s)^[2], a British monetary unit and coin, in use prior to the introduction of decimal currency in 1971, worth one twentieth of a pound or 12 old pence (12d).

26a   Now entering races — nothing to it (7)

The Tourist Trophy (TT)^[5] is a motorcycle-racing competition held annually on roads in the Isle of Man since 1907.

Down

1d   Field operative’s inside information (4)

2d   Blow-by-blow description of calls? (7-4,4)

Dave Perry describes this as a cryptic definition, and — despite all my efforts — I was not successful in uncovering any wordplay in the clue. Whistle-stop^[5] means very fast and with only brief pauses ⇒ a whistle-stop tour of Britain. The expression comes from rail travel. I think the idea is that when on a WHISTLE-STOP TOUR, one makes a call (a brief stop; or visit) every time the whistle blows, thereby making the stops blow by blow.

3d   Character brought to life via digital animation (5,6)

Glove puppet^[5] is a British term for a cloth puppet fitted on the hand and worked by the fingers. The North American term would be hand puppet^[5].

4d   Very tough pitch had to restrict runs (4-4)

Pitch as a ship would on a rough sea.

5d   Keep south of huge port (6)

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.

Ostend^[5] is a port on the North Sea coast of NW Belgium, in West Flanders. It is a major ferry port with links to Dover, England.

6d   Wooden, like horse (3)

Both horse^[5] and H^[5] are informal terms for heroin ⇒ ‘Tell me it’s not heroin.’ ‘It’s not H’.

7d   Sort of union one expects to join? (7,8)

A wedding where the bride is pregnant, one in which (as my mother would have said) "nothing's new but the cake".

8d   Supply 21 street lights (4,4,2)

12d   Becoming aged isn’t too disastrous (2,4,5)

13d   A little box of these ingredients, popularly (5,5)

I managed to get the correct solution without fully understanding why. Stock cube^[5] is the proper name for a cube of concentrated dehydrated meat, vegetable, or fish stock for use in cooking. However, most people would likely refer to them as OXO cubes.

I learned from Dave Perry's review that the wordplay is as follows: hidden (a little) in bOX Of. 

I dithered back and forth in my efforts to formally parse this clue. If we merely split the clue following the word "of", the wordplay, as we have seen, would lead to OXO. The remainder of the clue ("these ingredients, popularly") would also lead to OXO. However, the solution is STOCK CUBES (these ingredients), rather than OXO.

If we try to split the clue differently, the definition would be "these ingredients" leaving the wordplay to be "a little box of, popularly". While the definition is okay, the wordplay does not appear to work as STOCK CUBES would be 'OXO, formally', not 'OXO, popularly'.

Consequently (through a process of elimination), the clue must be a cryptic definition which we are expected to read as meaning 'these ingredients are popularly known as OXO'.

16d   Utter nonsense about regular characters in girlie movie (4,4)

True Grit^[7] is a 1969 American western film adapted from Charles Portis' 1968 novel True Grit. John Wayne stars as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn and won his only Academy Award for his performance in this film. In 2010, Joel and Ethan Coen wrote and directed another film adaptation of the story which is regarded as being more faithful to the novel than was the 1969 version.

19d   Extremely cheerful and always bright (6)

21d   Switch is off, mostly. Should that happen? (2,2)

23d   Uneasy when losing bits that are odd and even (3)

Nay^[5] is an adverb meaning 'or rather' (used to emphasize a more appropriate word than one just used) ⇒ permission to build the superstore will take months, nay years.

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, March 24, 2013 — ST 4526

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4526
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, February 24, 2013
Setter Jeff Pearce
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4526]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Dave Perry's Solving Time
★★
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, March 16, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, March 23, 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, March 23, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

This puzzle appeared in the UK on the Sunday preceding Saint David's Day which is celebrated on March 1. The fact that Saint David is the patron saint of Wales likely accounts for the several Welsh references in the puzzle.

I suppose that it is not an overly difficult puzzle. However, as usual, I did require a bit of help from my electronic assistants today.

I have added another entry in the table above which I hope you will find useful. The entry, entitled 'Dave Perry's solving time', represents the length of time that Dave Perry reports that it took him to solve the puzzle. I have somewhat arbitrarily chosen to let each star represent a period of 20 minutes or part thereof. 

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   Place rest on end of cue (4)

3a   Treacle running round fungus in bin, perhaps (10)

10a   Large stove is new in style (5)

The range [pun intended] of cooking devices to which the name range applies is much more limited in Britain than it is in North America. In North America, a range may use any type of fuel (wood, coal, oil, gas, electricity, etc.). However, in Britain, a range^[4] is specifically a large stove with burners and one or more ovens, usually heated by solid fuel. A cooking device that does not use solid fuel would be known in the UK as a cooker^[5] rather than a range.

11a   In other words it can be very useful! (9)

12a   American serial killer hides gun in front of house — a plot she may have penned? (6,8)

John Christie^[7] (1899 – 1953) was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and early 1950s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat in London. After Christie moved out in March 1953, the bodies of three of his victims were discovered hidden in an alcove in his kitchen. His wife's body was found beneath the floorboards of the front room. Christie was arrested and convicted of his wife's murder, for which he was hanged.

Dame Agatha Christie^[7] (1890 – 1976) was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She wrote 66 detective novels and more than 15 short story collections, most of which revolve around the investigations of such characters as Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple and Tommy and Tuppence. She also wrote the world's longest-running play The Mousetrap.

14a   Satisfied requests made by journalist (7)

15a   Welsh insect that 13 might detect? (7)

The numeral 13 is a cross reference indicator. To complete the present clue (15a), you must substitute the solution to the cross referenced clue (13d) in place of the cross reference indicator. Note that if the cross reference indicator can refer to only a single clue, the directional indication (i.e. across or down) is omitted.

17a   Succeed in sacking head and put the phone down (4,3)

The wordplay is [B]RING OFF (succeed in) with the first (head) letter deleted (sacking).

In Britain, the expression ring off^[10] means to terminate a telephone conversation by replacing the receiver; in other words, to hang up.

19a   Piece of cheese on toast — lightly cooked piece (7)

Rarebit^[5] (also called Welsh rabbit) is a dish of melted and seasoned cheese on toast, sometimes with other ingredients.

20a   Welsh factories arranged in a straight line (2,3,4,5)

23a   This grouse is docile when sloth returns (9)

Ai^[5] is another name for the three-toed sloth.

24a   Number three is odd (5)

We encounter a cryptic crossword convention here, where a bit of cryptic licence is employed to deduce that number must mean something that numbs [by analogy to the formation of nouns from other verbs, such as a counter being something that counts or a timer being something that times].

25a   Sally put short rope in larder (10)

The word sally^[10] is used in the sense of a jocular retort.

26a   Cold butter and jam (4)

Surely, Dave Perry intended to say "a ram being something that butts, i.e. a butter".

Down

1d   We hear grain left under it is where mouse might go (6,4)

2d   New banknote featuring a tree (5,4)

The tonka bean^[3] is a tropical South American tree (Dipteryx odorata) having pulpy, egg-shaped, one-seeded pods and fragrant seeds used as a substitute for vanilla and for flavoring tobacco and candies. It seems that the editors at Collins English Dictionary failed to read the memo informing them that the scientific name is no longer Coumarouna odorata^[4,7,10].

4d   Persuaded hospital department to make cuts — beginning at the bottom! (7)

5d   Surprisingly it’s raised above an orbit (7)

... the orbit^[5] here being the eye socket.

6d   Stuff I repeatedly fed Armstrong making him thus changed! (14)

Like Dave Perry, I also wondered about the use of "stuff" as an anagram indicator (or, as he calls it, an anagrind).

7d   Eg Willow or Holly seen in grounds of Buckingham Palace? (5)

From The official website of The British Monarchy, we learn that "At present, The Queen owns two Corgis: Willow and Holly ...".

8d   Drugs said to bring relief (4)

E^[5] is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒ (i) people have died after taking E; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties.

In his review, Dave Perry refers to a "greengrocer's apostrophe". Greengrocer^[5] is a British term for a retailer of fruit and vegetables. In the UK, the misuse of apostrophes with plural nouns is known as the ‘greengrocer’s apostrophe’ because of its association with the prices of fruit and vegetables displayed in shops, as in banana’s 65p per kilo and lovely, ripe tomatoe’s. 

9d   Being corrupt the hopeless MP hosts one evil character (14)

Mephistopheles^[7] is a demon featured in German folklore. He originally appeared in literature as the demon in the Faust legend, and he has since appeared in other works as a stock character version of the Devil.

13d   Chemical making pork pies harder to produce … (5,5)

Pork pie^[5] is a British term for raised pie made with minced, cooked pork, typically eaten cold. Pork pie^[10] (or porky) is also Cockney rhyming slang for a lie.

16d   … and dealer of such — extremely beautiful one — concealed 7 perhaps (9)

Often the ellipses between clues serve no purpose in the cryptic reading of the clues. However, that is not the case today. The word "such" refers back to the solution to clue 13d (in effect, being a cross reference indicator). The numeral 7 is also a cross reference indicator, pointing  to the solution to clue 7d.

Corgi is an imprint (trade name) belonging to Transworld Publishers Inc.^[7], a British publishing division of Random House. Transworld publishes fiction and non fiction titles by various best-selling authors under several different imprints. Hardbacks are either published under the Doubleday or the Bantam Press imprint, whereas paperbacks are published under the Black Swan, Bantam or Corgi imprint.

18d   Clash following loud band (7)

In music notation, the direction for loud is forte (abbreviation f)^[5].

19d   Bird concealed in kangaroo’s territory (7)

21d   Prisoner skips soup for bloody fight (5)

One of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded, the Battle of the Somme^[7] took place during the First World War between 1 July and 18 November 1916 in the Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of the same name.

22d   Swimmer’s second trophy (4)

A scup^[5] is a common porgy (fish), Stenotomus chrysops, with faint dark vertical bars, occurring off the coasts of the north-west Atlantic.

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, March 17, 2013 — ST 4525

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4525
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, February 17, 2013
Setter Tim Moorey
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4525]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, March 9, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, March 16, 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, March 16, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

I thought that today's puzzle was a bit less formidable than some recent ones that have come our way. It still provided a satisfying challenge, though.

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   What’s replaced a horse and cart etc around west side of London? (7,7)

This is an & lit. (all-in-one) clue. Chelsea tractor^[5] is British slang for a large four-wheel drive vehicle used mainly in urban areas. Chelsea^[7] is an affluent area of central London, England.

10a   Put clock back and forward (5)

To address Dave Perry's query, forward^[5] is used in a sense meaning to dispatch or send (a document or goods) ⇒ apply by forwarding a CV.

11a   It’s foremost in Athens, cut off on crumbling soil (9)

Another & lit. clue. The Acropolis^[5] is the ancient citadel at Athens, containing the Parthenon and other notable buildings, mostly dating from the 5th century BC.

12a   Gathered hot stuff from Dijon on the radio (8)

Dijon mustard^[5] is a medium-hot mustard, typically prepared with white wine and originally made in Dijon, France.

13a   Rock of Gibraltar primarily covered by good course on Spain (6)

The wordplay is G (Gibraltar primarily; first [primary] letter of Gibraltar) contained in (covered by) {G (good) + RUN (course) + E ([International Vehicle Registration code for] Spain)}. Grunge^[5] (also grunge rock) a style of rock music characterized by a raucous guitar sound and lazy vocal delivery. The IVR code for Spain^[5] comes from the name of the country in Spanish, España.

15a   Passing appeal to head of state (5)

A request to a monarch might begin, "O King, I beseech thee ... "

17a   Ability to inspire people in daily lives by degree? (8)

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 and char^[5] is another name for a charwoman^[5], a dated term for a woman employed as a cleaner in a house or office. 

19a   Challenge of French partner before marriage (8)

In the French language, de^[8] is a preposition meaning 'of'.

20a   Famous result of PM Heath leaving office (5)

Sir Edward "Ted" Heath^[7] (1916 – 2005) was a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975 and as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974.

23a   Jolly soiree abroad with victory for Italy (4,2)

In Britain, jolly^[5] is used as an adverb to mean very or extremely ⇒ that’s a jolly good idea.

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Italy is I^[5].

25a   Could be a Frenchman’s pain threshold (8)

Obviously, my French is better than my British English. I recognized that "pain" is the French word for bread. However, I needed Dave Perry's explanation that doorstep^[5] is British slang for a thick slice of bread ⇒ [as modifier] doorstep sandwiches.

28a   Top Russian wine for pop (3,2,4)

Pop^[5] is British slang meaning to pawn (something) ⇒ I wouldn’t ever sell it—I popped it.

Vladimir Putin^[7] is a Russian politician who has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. Putin previously served as President from 2000 to 2008, and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. Putin was also previously the Chairman of United Russia (the largest political party in Russia).

In Britain, hock^[5] is a dry white wine from the German Rhineland.

29a   Spread say, with jam all over (5)

If (like myself) you are the type of person to butter — or apply margarine to — your toast before adding the jam, then this also works as a cryptic definition. In fact, I totally missed the wordplay described by Dave Perry. Marge^[5] is British slang for margarine.

30a   Reportedly capital behind traditional composition (11,3)

London^[5], of course, is the capital of the United Kingdom. Derrière^[5] (the French word for "behind") is used euphemistically in English to mean a person’s buttocks.

The Londonderry Air^[7] is an air [tune] that originated from County Londonderry in Ireland (now Northern Ireland). It is popular among the Irish diaspora and is very well known throughout the world. The tune is played as the victory anthem of Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games. "Danny Boy" is a popular set of lyrics to the tune.

The wordplay is sounds like (reportedly) LONDON DERRIERE (capital behind).

Down

2d   County and Test can be enjoyed here (9)

Hampshire^[5] is a county on the coast of southern England. The River Test^[7] is a river in Hampshire, England. The river has a total length of 40 miles (64 km). Its upper reaches are known throughout the world for the excellent quality of its fly fishing for trout. I must admit that I missed the fishing angle. Instead, I supposed that the reference was to cricket, where a Test (short for Test match)^[5] is an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries ⇒ the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies.

3d   Coffee that’s smoother and not French outwardly (5)

4d   An escape in competition is not permanent (10)

5d   Single digit about right for rent (4)

6d   A small character admits one disparaging remark (9)

7d   Unfinished story being broadcast and one’s hooked (5)

8d   Comparatively ill-advised  food cooked in fat? (6)

A rasher^[5] is a thin slice of bacon — which is typically fried in (its own) fat.

9d   Motors manufactured in Norwegian city (6)

Tromsø^[5] is the principal city of Arctic Norway, situated on an island just west of the mainland; population 53,622 (2007).

14d   Could be carer so weak, one’s sent out? (10)

Yet another & lit. clue.

16d   Slide long said somehow to be engulfing Sweden (9)

Depending on the instrument being used, in some aspects, musical term glissando^[10] takes on almost diametrically opposite meanings. On the harp or piano, it is a rapidly executed series of notes, each note of which is discretely audible. On the violin, viola, etc. it is another name for a portamento^[10], a smooth slide from one note to another in which intervening notes are not separately discernible.

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Sweden is S^[5]. 

18d   Yours truly’s so long with strain injury in parts of foot (9)

Ta-ta^[5] is a British way to say goodbye ⇒ well, I’ll say ta-ta, love.

21d   Block knocked up with a spruce (6)

Spruce^[3] is used as an adjective meaning neat, trim, and smart in appearance  ⇒ a good-looking man; spruce and dapper, and very tidy (Anthony Trollope).

The wordplay is a reversal (knocked up) of PAD (block) + PER (a; "30 frames a second" = "30 frames per second"). [I would say that "PAR" (rather than PER) in Dave Perry's review is clearly a typo.]

One meaning for block^[10] found in Collins English Dictionary (number 26 out of 30, to be precise) is a pad of paper.

In Britain, to knock someone up^[5] commonly means to wake or attract the attention of someone by knocking at their door. The meaning, common in North America, to make a woman pregnant apparently also exists in the UK. However, I don't believe either of these meanings is involved in this clue. In the cryptic reading, I think "knocked up" simply means pushed up. As knock up^[10] can also mean to assemble quickly or improvise, this may well be the meaning intended in the surface reading.

22d   Email correspondent, important to get one in place (3,3)

A keypal^[5] is a person with whom one becomes friendly by exchanging emails; an email penfriend ⇒ I mainly use the Internet for sending emails to my keypals. Note that in the foregoing citation from Oxford Dictionaries Online, keypal is spelled as a single word. I only found keypal^[10] in one other reference source, Collins English Dictionary, where it was likewise spelled as a single word. The enumeration also seems to have been a bone of contention in the UK, as reported by Dave Perry.

24d   Perhaps lunch at home and straight spirit starts to come out (3,2)

26d   It’s miserable when short of clubs in card game (5)

In card games, C^[1] is an abbreviation for club or clubs (for instance, in describing bidding sequences in bridge).

27d   School instructed a child leaving (2-2)

In Britain, co-ed^[5], when used as a noun, means a school or college providing coeducation whereas in North America it means a female student in a coeducational college or university. You can imagine the image created in the mind of a North American should a British student happen to mention that he had gained entry to a co-ed.

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)

Happy St Patrick's Day — Falcon

Sunday, March 10, 2013 — ST 4524

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4524
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, February 10, 2013
Setter Dean Mayer (Anax)
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4524]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, February 2, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, February 9, 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, March 9, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

I struggled with this one, and needn't to call my electronic reinforcements into action early — and work them strenuously.

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   Dead skin — it’s all over (6)

"It"^[2] is an old [which would presumably indicate that the currency of the term is less dated than archaic] slang term for sex appeal. The expression, although having appeared in the writing of Rudyard Kipling as early as 1904, appears to have come into widespread use as a result of the 1927 film It^[7] starring Clara Bow (who became known as the 'It girl'^[7]). SA^[5] is also an informal, dated term for sex appeal.

5a   Online Android resource full of old material (8)

In the cryptic reading, material must be interpreted as an adjective.

9a   Clairvoyant’s digital watch? (10)

10a   Christian Scientist wanted dynamic hosts (4)

Mary Baker Eddy^[5] (1821 – 1910) was an American religious leader and founder of the Christian Science movement. Long a victim to various ailments, she believed herself cured by a faith healer, Phineas Quimby, and later evolved her own system of spiritual healing.

11a   Contrivance old lady enters in beach resort? (7,7)

This is an & lit. (all-in-one) clue. A bathing machine^[10] is a small hut, on wheels so that it could be pulled to the sea, used in the 18th and 19th centuries for bathers to change their clothes.

13a   Change into  suit (6)

A rather appropriate follow-on clue to 11a.

14a   Rip off clothes put on pagan (8)

I'm really not certain that a pagan is the same thing as a hedonist.

16a   Dog swallowing number one whale product (5,3)

Train oil^[5] is oil obtained from the blubber of a whale (and formerly of other sea creatures), especially the right whale. The name has nothing to do with railway equipment. The word train comes from a Middle Dutch word meaning 'tear' (because it was extracted in droplets).

18a   Romantic spot around dock (6)

Sloppy^[5] is an informal term meaning (of literature or behaviour) weakly or foolishly sentimental ⇒ lovers of sloppy romance.

20a   If you want an example, I’ll give you one (6,8)

Give someone one^[5] is British vulgar slang meaning (said with respect to a man) to have sexual intercourse with a woman.

21a   This bread’s very good, thanks (4)

Pi^[5] is an informal British short form for pious. Ta^[5] is an informal British exclamation signifying thank you ⇒ ‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully.

22a   Couldn’t stand backing top launderette (10)

Launderette^[4] is a British and New Zealand name for laundromat. Washateria^[7] is an alternate US name for laundromat, especially in Texas. 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.

23a   Cut his plastic and note returned payment (4,4)

Shin^[5] is a British term for a cut of beef, the lower foreleg.

24a   Baby’s wind? Not quite (6)

Pampero^[5] is a strong, cold south-westerly wind in South America, blowing from the Andes across the pampas towards the Atlantic.

Down

2d   Small fall (7)

An & lit. (all-in-one) clue.

3d   Format correctable in home computer (10,5)

4d   Something sweet from bread maker? Bravo! (11)

5d   Similar to self-loathing one suffers (5,3,5,2)

6d   Be punished a year after parking (3)

7d   As songsmith, he’s done well. As pensmith, he’s done badly (7,8)

Stephen Sondheim^[7] is an American composer and lyricist known for his contributions to musical theatre.

8d   Papers cutting Jamaican articles in news (7)

TING being the way a Jamaican might pronounce 'thing'.

12d   Assistants, while netting fish, beat it (5-2-4)

13d   Save boat that’s capsized (3)

15d   Examine timelines? (3)

Ry^[5] is the abbreviation for railway.

17d   Man in the corner is husband after a bird? (7)

The phrase "after a bird" used in the sense 'like a bird'.

19d   Virgin Island you might say is silly (7)

22d   Start to write the letter (3)

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, March 3, 2013 — ST 4523

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4523
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, February 3, 2013
Setter Jeff Pearce
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4523]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, February 23, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, March 2, 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, March 2, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

I found today's puzzle to be quite challenging. Strangely, the last two clues to be solved were a pair of seemingly innocuous clues in the southeast corner 19d and 22a.

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   I’m not out for a good time (4-2-4)

I would think that Dave Perry's comment ("although I wasn't aware that the phrase had any particular connection with having a good time") is either sarcasm or he's missed the point of the clue. The clue plays on the phrase "out for a good time" in the sense of being ready for or looking forward to a good time. The setter clearly intends for us to misinterpret the clue as meaning "I'm not looking for a good time".  The key to finding the solution is to apply a very literal meaning to the first three words of the clue.

6a   Book, for instance, found outside court (4)

Acts^[10] refers to the Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book of the New Testament, describing the development of the early Church from Christ's ascension into heaven to Paul's sojourn at Rome.

9a   Aircraft carries lots of gum and one substance used by modellers (10)

10a   Recall arrest at American festival (4)

Lag^[5] is British slang which can be used either as a noun denoting a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison ⇒ both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment or (as in this clue) as a verb meaning to arrest or send to prison ⇒ they were nearly lagged by the constables. The latter usage is considered by Oxford Dictionaries Online to be archaic.

12a   Solution to mystery points towards decapitated old character (6)

Dave Perry says he does not "like the definition 'solution of mystery'". I admit that this also raised questions in my mind. After some considerable thought, I concluded that the idea must be that if 'mystery' were a clue in a crossword puzzle, then its solution could well be 'enigma'.

Sigma^[5] is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Σ, σ).

13a   In Rome I love to tour a brook in the city (8)

Amo is the first person singular of the Latin verb amare (to love). Without doubt, this is among the first verbs learned by any student studying Latin. In cryptic crosswords, the word "tour" is often used as a containment indicator based on a cryptic interpretation of its meaning "to go around".

Amarillo^[5] is an industrial and commercial city in northwestern Texas, in the Panhandle; population 187,236 (est. 2008).

15a   Appliance cannot tip or spin (11)

18a   Argue about foremost of Sunday’s puzzles (5,6)

In the surface reading, the apostrophe indicates possession (the puzzles that appear on Sunday) but in the cryptic reading, it is to be interpreted as a contraction for "is" making the expanded wordplay "about foremost of Sunday is puzzles" meaning the first letter of Sunday is contained in a synonym for "puzzles".

21a   He wears a flashy suit, ripped at a party at end of summer (8)

A toreador^[5] is a bullfighter, especially one on horseback.

22a   See small member of clergy before worship (6)

24a   Keen on eastern philosophy following appearance of second husband (4)

I spent a lot of time here trying to make a "second husband" appear rather than disappear. The idea of the wordplay is that if the letters in the name of the eastern philosophy were to march past an observation point, the solution to the clue would be formed by those remaining after S and H had passed by the observer (appeared).

25a   Sole trader? (10)

26a   Good copy makes you stare (4)

27a   This kind of night flier had headset working (6-4)

The death's-head moth^[10] is a European hawk moth, Acherontia atropos, having markings resembling a human skull on its upper thorax.

Down

1d   Police officer pockets penny for meal (6)

In Britain, a superintendent (super, for short)^[10] is a senior police officer higher in rank than an inspector but lower than a chief superintendent.

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound (and is abbreviated p). In the system formerly used, a penny was equal to one twelfth of a shilling or 240th of a pound (and was abbreviated d, for denarius).

2d   A fish I caught — it may have gone after fly (6)

The fly agaric^[10] is a saprotrophic agaricaceous woodland fungus, Amanita muscaria, having a scarlet cap with white warts and white gills — or, in layman's terms, a toadstool. It is poisonous but rarely fatal. The name comes from its use as a poison on flypaper. Agaric would "have gone after fly" in the name of this toadstool.

3d   Mascara stain ruined protective cloth (12)

An antimacassar^[10] is a cloth covering the back and arms of chairs, etc, to prevent soiling or as decoration.

4d   Pawn  some ham and wine (4)

In Britain, hock^[5] is a dry white wine from the German Rhineland.

5d   Abandoned tram in Merton when touring bohemian district (10)

Merton^[7] is a borough in southwest London, England.

Montmartre^[5] is a district in northern Paris, on a hill above the Seine, much frequented by artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it was a separate village.

7d   Old comedian entertains a sky pilot (8)

Charlie Chaplin^[7] (1889 – 1977) was a British comic actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent era.

Sky pilot^[3] is a slang term for a member of the clergy, especially a military chaplain.

8d   Big tankers are ageing so badly (8)

11d   Crazy French writer almost acquires final part of The Bill (12)

Marcel Proust^[7] (1871 – 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past). It was published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927.

14d   Old England paceman with new phone — it’s the modern way to sledge! (10)

In cricket, a paceman^[5] is a fast bowler. England refers to the England cricket team^[7], the overall term for the cricket teams which represent England and Wales in international competitions.

John Snow^[7] played cricket for Sussex and England in the 1960s and 1970s. Snow was England's most formidable fast bowler in his day.

In North America, one would be more apt to say sled than sledge — and not very apt to use it as a verb.

16d   Painful rash on the bottom after chap sits in grass (8)

In the UK, grass^[5] is used informally as a noun to denote a police informer and as a verb meaning to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ (i) [no object] someone had grassed on the thieves); (ii) [with object] she threatened to grass me up. This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper ⇒ 'copper').

17d   Dogs, say, cross over threshold … (8)

19d   … and one’s beginning to bark at bird (6)

Sometimes ellipses have no special significance — and, then, there are days like today where they play a crucial role. The ellipses indicate that the pronoun "one" refers to "dogs" in the previous clue.

20d   Visit the German when upset and become angry (3,3)

Der^[7] is one of the several forms of the German definite article.

23d   Moggy traps left wing of hapless bird (4)

Moggy is a variant spelling of moggie^[5], British slang for a cat, typically one that is does not have a pedigree or is otherwise unremarkable ⇒ I have three other cats (two moggies and one Bengal/Tonkinese cross).

A chat^[5], may be any of several songbirds having a harsh call.

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