Thursday, September 6, 2018 — DT 28720

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28720
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, April 23, 2018
Setter Mister Ron (Chris Lancaster)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28720]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★★
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 █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

This puzzle was published on Saint George's Day (the feast day of the patron saint of England) which also happened to be the day on which Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to her third child, Prince Louis.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

Click here for an explanation of conventions and symbols used in explaining the parsing of clues.

The purpose of this article is to explain the conventions and symbols that I use on this blog in explaining the parsing of clues.

Legend: The following symbols are used in reviews: "*" anagram "~" sounds like "<" indicates that the preceding letters are reversed "( )" encloses contained letters "_" replaces letters that have been deleted "†" indicates that the word is present in the clue

The review of a clue takes the following general structure:

#a/d   Clue containing parsing markup (num^*)

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^* num = numeration

Explanations pertaining to the wordplay (or first definition in a double definition)

(Horizontal separator)

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Explanations pertaining to the definition (or second definition in a double definition) and solution.

Explanatory Box

An explanatory box provides additional information about the clue. In most cases this information will not necessarily help in solving the clue but provides information about the clue. In the case of the weekday syndicated Daily Telegraph puzzles, such information is often intended to help the North American solver appreciate how the clue may be perceived by a British solver. These boxes may also provide information on people, places, films, television programmes, works of art and literature, etc. mentioned in the clue. Although the titles of these boxes will usually be drawn from a standard list, I do occasionally throw in a title specifically suggested by the subject at hand. The standard titles include: Scratching the Surface - an explanation of the surface reading of the clue Delving Deeper - in-depth information pertaining to a subject mentioned in an explanation The Story Behind the Picture - for weekday puzzles, information about an illustration found on Big Dave's Crossword Blog What did he/she/they say? - for weekday puzzles, an explanation of a remark made in a review or comment on Big Dave's Crossword Blog What are they talking about? - for weekday puzzles, an explanation of a discussion on Big Dave's Crossword Blog One box that may provide information that could prove helpful in solving the clue is the following: Here and There - for weekday puzzles, discusses words whose British meaning differs from their North American meaning

Note that there are many types of cryptic crossword clue and it is not my intention to exhaustively go through all of them here. I will only deal with clue types to the extent necessary to explain the conventions and symbols used on the blog. Furthermore, be aware that, in the world of cryptic crosswords, there seems to be an exception to every rule.

With one exception that I can think of, cryptic crossword clues provide two routes to the solution. These are commonly referred to as the definition and wordplay. While these terms serve well for most clues, there are some cases where the more formal terms of primary indication and subsidiary indication may be more appropriate.

Most cryptic crossword clues consist of a definition (primary indication) and wordplay (subsidiary indication). The definition may be a "precise definition" (a definition that is either taken straight from a dictionary or at least phrased in a non-misleading fashion) or it may be a "cryptic definition" (a definition misleadingly phrased so as to misdirect the solver either with respect to the meaning of the definition as a whole or to an incorrect sense of a word used in the definition).

The only type of clue that I can think of where there are not two ways of finding the solution are those in which the entire clue is a cryptic definition.

I identify precise definitions by marking them with a solid underline in the clue and cryptic definitions by marking them with a dotted underline.

In clues in which both definition and wordplay are present, the two parts of the clue combine to provide an overall meaningful statement (the surface reading) which usually bears no relationship to the underlying cryptic reading of the clue. In some cases, an extra word or phrase will be inserted into the clue to create a meaningful link between the definition and wordplay. I define clues which contain such a link word or link phrase as having an explicit link and clues which contain no link word or link phrase as having an implicit link.

I mark the existence of an explicit link by enclosing the link word or link phrase between forward slashes (/link/) and mark the existence of an implicit link with double forward slashes (//) positioned between the definition and wordplay.

Examples

A few examples may help to illustrate these points more clearly.

The first example is a clue used by Jay in DT 28573:

• 4d   Fellow left work // a failure (4)

Here the definition is "a failure" which is marked with a solid underline to show that it is a precise definition. The wordplay parses as F (fellow; abbrev.) + L (left; abbrev.) + OP (work; abbrev. used in music) which gives us the solution F|L|OP. The double forward slashes (//) between the definition and wordplay indicate the existence of an "implicit link" between the two parts of the clue (that is, no extra words are inserted into the clue to form the link).

The second example is a clue used by Giovanni in DT 28575:

• 29a   Female going to match // travels with mother in advance (10)

Here the definition "female going to match" is cryptic (the setter is attempting to misdirect our thoughts to a sports event rather than a marriage ceremony) and thus is marked with a a dotted underline. The wordplay is {RIDES (travels) + (with) MA (mother)} contained in (in) BID (advance) giving us the solution B(RIDES|MA)ID. As in the first example, the double forward slashes indicate the presence of an implicit link.

The third example is a clue used by Rufus is DT 28583:

• 18d   Knight caught by misplaced big blow /is/ staggering (8)

Here the definition is "staggering" which is marked with a solid underline to show that it is a precise definition. The wordplay parses as N ([chess symbol for] knight) contained in (caught in) an anagram (misplaced) of BIG BLOW producing the solution WOBBLI(N)G. Finally, forward slashes mark the link word (/is/).

I also use distinctive underlining to mark &lit.^[7] and semi-&lit. clues. Note that the reviewers on Big Dave's Crossword Blog generally prefer to refer to these clue types by the less pretentious names of all-in-one or semi-all-in-one clues respectively.

In an &lit. clue^[7] (or all-in-one clue) the entire clue provides not only the definition (when read one way), but under a different interpretation also serves as the wordplay.

In future, I will mark such clues with a combined solid and dashed underline. Although this is a departure from past practice, it would seem to make more sense than using a dotted underline as I have in the past). Henceforth, the dotted underline will be reserved for cryptic definitions.

In a semi-&lit. clue (or semi-all-in-one clue), either:

• the entire clue acts as the definition while a portion of the clue provides the wordplay; or
• the entire clue acts as the wordplay while a portion of the clue provides the definition.

For these clues, I will mark the definition with a solid underline and the wordplay with a  dashed underline. This means that a portion of the clue may have a solid underline, a portion of the clue may have a dashed underline and a portion of the clue may have a combined solid and dashed underline.

One final clue type is what I characterize as a cryptic definition comprised of a precise definition combined with cryptic elaboration. For example, in DT 28560 (setter unknown) the following clue appears:

•  26d   Heroic exploit, whichever way you look at it (4)

As the entire clue is a cryptic definition, it is marked with a dotted underline. The 'precise definition' is "heroic exploit" and is indicated by a solid underline.

Given the numeration, the precise definition could give rise to at least two solutions, DEED or FEAT. However, the 'cryptic elaboration' ("whichever way you look at it") indicates that the solution is a palindrome thereby immediately eliminating one of the two obvious choices.

Note that the part of the clue that I have called 'cryptic elaboration' does not provide a second independent route to the solution (as the wordplay would do in most other types of clue). Rather it merely provides a piece of additional information (elaboration) related to the 'precise definition'.

Again, this approach is a departure from past practice, but like the other changes mentioned previously is intended to remove inconsistencies in the way that I have been applying parsing markup to clues. The markup rules that I have been using until now evolved bit-by-bit over a long period of time resulting in some degree of internal inconsistency.

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Across

1a   Start // to understand wizard (3,8)

Wizard^[5] (adjective) is a dated, informal British term denoting wonderful or excellent ⇒ (i) how absolutely wizard!; (ii) I've just had a wizard idea.

Cracking^[5] is an informal British^* term meaning excellent ⇒ (i) he is in cracking form to win this race; (ii) a cracking good story.

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^* Although British dictionaries consider this usage to be British, this meaning of cracking^[3] is also found in the American Heritage Dictionary.

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Get cracking^[5] is an informal expression meaning to act quickly and decisively ⇒ most tickets have been snapped up, so get cracking if you want one.

7a   Fight /and/ shout about ending in uproar (5)

8a   Brief // article is thrown back into river (9)

The Trent^[5] is the chief river of central England, which rises in Staffordshire and flows 275 km (170 miles) generally north-eastwards, uniting with the River Ouse 25 km (15 miles) west of Hull to form the Humber estuary.

10a   General change brought about // that flows with the wind (3,4)

Robert E. Lee^[5] (1807–1870) was an American general. He was the commander of the Confederate army of Northern Virginia for most of the American Civil War. His invasion of the North was repulsed at the Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and he surrendered in 1865.

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Lee tide^[1] (or leetide^[2]) is a nautical term for a tide moving in the same direction as the wind.

11a   Saying // first of prayers, itinerant heading for basilica (7)

12a   Reportedly use // woodland (5)

Weald^[2,10] is an archaic or poetic British term for an area of open or forested country.

13a   Dame lacking guts, though bet // she's introduced to society (9)

16a   Business people // need smart manoeuvres (9)

Tradesman^[12] is a chiefly British term for person engaged in trade; especially, a storekeeper.

18a   Picture // instant struggle (5)

"instant" = MO (show explanation )

Mo^[5,10] (abbreviation for moment) is an informal, British^[5] (or mainly British^[10]) term for a short period of time ⇒ hang on a mo!.

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19a   The setter's weight /is/ appropriate! (7)

"the setter's" = IM (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

Today, the setter has made the scenario slightly more complicated by combining "the setter" with the verb "to be"^* producing "the setter's" (a contraction of "the setter is") which must be replaced by "I'm" (a contraction of "I am").

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^* Although in the surface reading "the setter's" indicates possession, in the cryptic analysis it must be interpreted as "the setter is".

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22a   Hormone // is in lung, endlessly circulating (7)

23a   Iran's man trembling with love /for/ republic (3,6)

"love" = O (show explanation )

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).

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San Marino^[5] is a republic forming a small enclave in Italy, near Rimini. It is perhaps Europe’s oldest state, claiming to have been independent almost continuously since its foundation in the 4th century.

24a   Drunkard reversing after gold // cars (5)

The symbol for the chemical element gold is Au^[5] (from Latin aurum).

25a   Agree /it's/ CI2I on the telephone? (3,3,2,3)

Down

1d   Country // fair gatecrashed by United team after training (9)

Judging by what Miffypops says in his hint, the words "fair", "fete", and "gala" seem to be roughly synonymous. However, the descriptions in the dictionary suggest that a gala might be a bit more lavish event.

Fair^[3,10] is used in the sense of an event, usually for the benefit of a charity or public institution,  including amusements or entertainment and the sale of goods; in other words, a bazaar ⇒ a church fair.

A gala^[3,10] is a celebration or festive occasion, especially a lavish social event or entertainment.

Fete^[5] (mentioned by Miffypops in his hint) is a British term for a public function, typically held outdoors and organized to raise funds for a charity, including entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments  ⇒ a church fete.

"United" = U (show explanation )

In the names of sports clubs, U^[5] is the abbreviation for United^[5] — in Britain, a word commonly used in the names of soccer and other sports teams formed by amalgamation ⇒ Man U [Manchester United].

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2d   Bound to net everything, // scored! (7)

3d   European city, /where/ blackguard joins female (9)

Rotter^[5] is a informal, dated, chiefly British term for a cruel, mean, or unkind person ⇒Rosemary had decided that all men were rotters.

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Rotterdam^[5] is a city in the Netherlands, at the mouth of the River Meuse, 25 km (15 miles) inland from the North Sea. It is one of the world's largest ports and a major oil refinery, with extensive shipbuilding and petrochemical industries.

4d   Winner // hard to be found in group (5)

"hard" = H (show explanation )

H^[2,5] is an abbreviation for hard, as used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ a 2H pencil.

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5d   Briefly // exposing knees? Not quite (2,5)

Miffypops seems to have underlined the wrong portion of the clue.

6d   Caged by ogre, beautiful // bird (5)

The grebe^[5] is a diving waterbird with a long neck, lobed toes, and almost no tail, typically having bright breeding plumage used in display.

7d   We Brits also worked // in domestic service (5,6)

Below stairs^[5,10] is a dated British expression meaning in the basement of a house as occupied by servants. It can also denote in the servants quarters or in domestic service.

9d   Roughly nine accessing computers /to see/ game (5,6)

14d   Marsupial /in/ company with one bird (9)

The coot^[5] is any of several species of aquatic bird of the rail family, with blackish plumage, lobed feet, and a bill that extends back on to the forehead as a horny shield.

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The bandicoot^[5] is a mainly insectivorous marsupial native to Australia and New Guinea.

15d   English character cut after month /in/ story (9)

17d   School // fees unlimited, old money invested (7)

A ducat^[10] is any of various former European gold or silver coins, especially those used in Italy or the Netherlands.

18d   I'm up pole /in/ error (7)

20d   Criticise author Eliot, // rubbish! (5)

T. S. Eliot^[5] (1888–1965) was an American-born British poet, critic, and playwright; full name Thomas Stearns Eliot. Associated with the rise of literary modernism, he was established as the voice of a disillusioned generation by The Waste Land (1922). Four Quartets (1943) revealed his increasing involvement with Christianity. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.

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Pants^[5] is an informal British term meaning rubbish or nonsense ⇒ he thought we were going to be absolute pants.

21d   Last of spread, light /as/ butter perhaps? (5)

If one treats the solution as a noun, the definition is "butter perhaps" (as indicated above) with the word "as" serving as a link word. However, I think it would not be unreason to consider the solution to be an adjective, in which case the definition would be "as butter perhaps" and there would be no link word.

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)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
^[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon