In the CGI.pm doc, check under section "SPECIAL FORMS FOR IMPORTING HTML-TAG FUNCTIONS" $query->start_td works fine, though you are right that using a bare start_td won't, requiring you to mention the need in the use, ala 
use CGI qw( :standard *td );

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In reply to Re^2: Using hash values as CGI query types by shenme
in thread Using hash values as CGI query types by Nevtlathiel

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