Wednesday, November 7, 2018 — DT 28766

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28766
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, June 15, 2018
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28766]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers (subbing for Deep Threat)
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

I found this puzzle from Giovanni, peppered as it was with cryptic definitions, to be very reminiscent of the style of Rufus.

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   Cold sort of teacher, head /showing/ ill temper (10)

In addition to being a title applied to a Jewish religious leader, rabbi^[5] is also a term for a Jewish scholar or teacher, especially one who studies or teaches Jewish law.

"head" = NESS (show explanation )

Ness^[5] (a term usually found in place names) means a headland or promontory ⇒ Orford Ness.

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6a   Fashionable // little bird losing its tail (4)

9a   Broadcast // supporting the old man not allowed out (10)

Gate^[5,10] is a British term meaning to confine or restrict (a pupil or student) to the school or college grounds as a punishment ⇒ he was gated for the rest of term.

10a   Wild animal // turning up in the morning rolled over (4)

The puma^*[5] is a large American wild cat (Felis concolor) with a plain tawny to greyish coat, found from Canada to Patagonia.

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^* also known as the cougar^[5], mountain lion^[5], or (in North America) panther^[5]

I suspect the various names for the beast may well predominate in different regions. In the part of the country where I reside, the animal would most likely be called a cougar or a mountain lion. Around here I would expect to hear the term puma used rarely, if ever, and the term panther even less frequently. Of course, this animal has virtually disappeared from this area and the occasional reports of sightings are often put in the same bucket as sightings of a Sasquatch.

12a   Boy eating beefburger ultimately /becoming/ fat (4)

13a   Author/'s/ holy book I want badly (4,5)

Mark^[5] is the second Gospel in the Christian Bible, traditionally ascribed to St Mark^*, an Apostle, companion of St Peter and St Paul.

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^* Most scholars now regard the Gospel According to Mark as the earliest written gospel and some also reject the tradition which ascribes it to Mark the Evangelist and regard it as the work of an unknown author^[7].

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Mark Twain^[5] (1835–1910) was an American novelist and humorist; pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. His best-known novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), give a vivid evocation of Mississippi frontier life.

15a   Criminal // taken in by parson is transformed (8)

16a   Djibouti's leading character is this (6)

As PeterK points out in Comment #29 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog The ‘D’ is not silent when enunciated correctly ... — although it may be in "common speech".

18a   Strikes -- // so politician must get stuck in (6)

"politician" = MP (show explanation )

In Britain (as in Canada), a politician elected to the House of Commons is known as a Member of Parliament^[10] (abbreviation MP^[5]) or, informally, as a member^[5].

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20a   More sensitive, // suppressing expression of pain in row (8)

23a   Cheat who may have a heart hidden away? (4-5)

I always thought that this cheat was called a card shark^[12]. But I would guess from perusing the dictionaries — although I found nothing to confirm my suspicion — that card shark may well be a North American corruption of the term card-sharp^[2] (or card sharp^[5] or cardsharp^[10]).

24a   Seaside town // journey being reported (4)

Ryde^[7] is a British seaside resort and the most populous town on the Isle of Wight.

26a   Servant /in/ front half of magnificent parades (4)

Pageant^[5] is used in the sense of a public entertainment consisting of a procession of people in elaborate, colourful costumes.

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Historically, a page^[5] was a man or boy employed as the personal attendant of a person of rank.

27a   Eager // to proceed, I had to carry on (10)

28a   Amphibians -- // not all left stranded (4)

Eft^[5] is a dialect name for newt^[5], a small slender-bodied amphibian with lungs and a well-developed tail, typically spending its adult life on land and returning to water to breed. Eft is also the zoological term for the juvenile stage of a newt.

29a   Sound excellent in cranium -- due to this? (7,3)

The entire clue provides a cryptic definition which includes embedded wordplay.

"excellent" = AI (show explanation )

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.

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Down

1d   African Christian /is/ nabbed, we hear (4)

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, pommers indicates that cop^[5] is used in an informal sense meaning to catch or arrest (an offender) ⇒ he was copped for speeding.

I wondered if this might be a British usage. Although this sense of the word is identified as British when used as a noun, that does not seem to be the case when it used as a verb.

Cop^[10] (noun) means an arrest (especially in the phrase a fair cop).

While this sense of the verb does not appear in the American Heritage Dictionary, it would seem that it might be included within the scope of the entry in the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary where cop^[11] is defined as to catch or nab,

Personally, I thought of cop^[3] in the sense of to get hold of; to gain or win ⇒ (i) a show that copped four awards; (ii) copped a ticket to the game.

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A Copt^[5] is a member of the Coptic Church^[5], the native Christian Church in Egypt, traditionally founded by St Mark, and adhering to the Monophysite doctrine rejected by the Council of Chalcedon. Long persecuted after the Muslim Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century, the Coptic community now make up about 5 per cent of Egypt's population.

2d   Socially awkward types // ask to be moved when girl comes in (7)

In Britain, anorak^[5] is an informal, derogatory term for a studious or obsessive person with unfashionable and largely solitary interests ⇒ with his thick specs, shabby shoes, and grey suit, he looks a bit of an anorak. The term derives from the anoraks^* worn by trainspotters (see below), regarded as typifying this kind of person.

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^* An anorak^[5] is a waterproof jacket, typically with a hood, of a kind originally used in polar regions. Although the terms anorak and parka^[7] are sometimes used interchangeably, they are actually quite different garments. Strictly speaking, an anorak is a waterproof, hooded, pull-over jacket without a front opening, and sometimes drawstrings at the waist and cuffs, and a parka is a hip-length cold-weather coat, typically stuffed with down or very warm synthetic fiber, and with a fur-lined hood.

Trainspotter^*[5] is a British term for a person who collects train or locomotive numbers as a hobby.

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^* The name is also often used in a derogatory sense to refer to a person who obsessively studies the minutiae of any minority interest or specialized hobby ⇒ the idea is to make the music really really collectable so the trainspotters will buy it in their pathetic thousands.

3d   Requirement for a jet-setter to get on? (8,4)

My initial attempt of BOARDING RAMP was no more helpful than pommers' initial try of BOARDING CARD.

4d   Close thing /in/ inlet, one in loch (4,4)

Loch Ness^[5] is a deep lake in northwestern Scotland, in the Great Glen. Forming part of the Caledonian Canal, it is 38 km (24 miles) long, with a maximum depth of 230 m (755 ft).

5d   Reticent to admit sin /produced by/ drink (6)

Sherry^[5] is a fortified wine originally and mainly from southern Spain.

7d   A laugh about English // type of transport (7)

Haulage^[5] is a British term for the commercial transport of goods ⇒ But the thrust of future transport policy must be to maximise the transfer of heavy goods from road to rail so that road haulage can concentrate on medium and short distances to and from rail heads.

8d   Restrictions ripped apart /in/ retail outlet (5,5)

11d   Portraits once briefly roughed out /for/ series of drawings (5,7)

Strip cartoon^[10,14] (British) is another term for comic strip.

14d   What could be going or gone as part of our language (10)

I did entertain marking this clue as a double definition:

• What could be going or gone /as/ part of our language (10)

However, the two "definitions" would essentially amount to the same thing — which is hardly acceptable in a double definition. Therefore, I think that the best approach in to designate the entire clue as a cryptic definition [Note; this is also what pommers has opted to do in his review].

17d   Company problem involving male, // a sort of 'key worker'? (8)

Perhaps it is the juxtaposition of this clue and 19d that makes me believe that the setter had a musical context in mind. However, in addition to a person who composes music [using notes in various keys], composer^[10] could also refer to or a person [such as a linotype operator] who composes type for printing [working at a keyboard].

19d   It's not grand for a pianist to play (7)

21d   State // of Asian country area (7)

22d   Wise person carrying English Bible -- hoping to convert me? (6)

As I see it, the entire clue is a cryptic definition (containing embedded wordplay) which one would interpret as meaning "Someone whom a missionary might be hopeful of converting".

Authorized Version^[5] (abbreviation AV)^[5] is a chiefly British term for an English translation of the Bible made in 1611 at the order of James I and still widely used, though never formally ‘authorized’. It is also called the King James Bible [a name by which it is undoubtedly far better known in North America].

25d   Turn /taking/ bishop to close (4)

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

A bishop^[5] is a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a mitre, that can move any number of spaces in any direction along a diagonal on which it stands. Each player starts the game with two bishops, one moving on white squares and the other on black.

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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