I was learning “the south wind” in Clarke’s book and it has a back D cut in it. She shows cutting the D with a high E. If that is the way you cut a back D… its going to take a bit of practice.
Bob
Have you not got the CD that goes with the book? Can you hear what she does?
I am replying with out looking at either the book, or listening to the CD, but I would guess it is cut with a ghost e. I would say the lesson would say what is done, either for this tune, or in some earlier lesson.
Pwrt
I might have missed it but while the tune is the last song in exercise 18i nt he book, she does not discuss the song and unless i copied the CD and somehow left off that song… Its not on the CD either. The CD goes from Dohertys reel to the next exercise?
And what is a ghost e?
you can get to a back D via a ghost d but that wouldn’t strictly be a cut in my opinion as the back D wouldn’t be constant
chew on this for a wee bit. might take awhile, but when/once you get it… wow
Staccatto dots here actually DO indicate complete chanter closure (aka ccc) as do the rests. and yes, after the repeat sign, the second ‘d’ is graced by the ghost d, and played stacatto just as in the first ex. This isnt in Heathers book afaik. Leave the drones & regs out of the thing for a few years. Now if only i could figure out how to do upper octave gracenotes on a low D crann…hmmmm 
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/5323/8d6a.jpg
oh, wait… 
here SORRY!!! ive forgotten about you illitera..OOPS! (I meant…abc ‘notation’ types 
) 
mehhehhehhehheheh ~!
|?| :lick:C# abc, d R8, e d R16 c-d. [or] |:lick: abc,d, “d#/Eb?” d, c, d OR
there. never let it be said Im ‘non-inclusive’, “insensitive”, or any o that palavah 
Here is the offending measure with the cut
Someone else from C&F (Dave Moulton) sent me a message to my blog that one way to do this cut is to use the edge of my back d thumb to create a rapid cut. And with this line up of d’s I found that I could do that. But in addition to that. I found that if I played this measure with my e holes open and I do the rapid back d thumb thing… and… little short high octave e pops out. Have I discovered the secret I was looking for (with some help)?
I’ve been puzzling over this. If you scan ahead a little you see the same cut reappearing in more and more difficult contexts. It is doable as written but it feels very clumsy.
I’ve lost somewhere along the line the CD, so that’s not much help.
personally i would nt flick the back d, if that’s what youre indicating, but it might work well for others. WHY? b/c 9x outta 10, you will have to close the 2nd D to up the bag pressure for E. If you FLICK, then the thumb will be in a bad position to effect that close…but it you use two rapid closes its simply a matter of repitition, yadig? so.
here’s my advice.
Divide & conquer.
Practice (molto largo, ad infinitum) just the two d’s, staccatto, long- short; long-short.etc
Next, ignore the fact the the E is written as a grace, and play: ||: (rest) e, d, c. :||
(bearing close attention to the requisite bag pressure) then…
, GRADUALLY lengthening the d, and shortening the e, & c, until the porportion is close to idiom.
Lastly, combine the two “cells” for interpretation as written. And thank you for utilizing actual music notation. 
PS, FWIW, Ive seen far more offensive measures of music. & nailed those SOB"s mercilessly onto a 2X4 by breaking them down into ever smaller bits.