Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 28918 | |
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Monday, December 10, 2018 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28918] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
Miffypops | |
BD Rating
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| 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
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Introduction
Miffypops last reviewed DT 28912 which was published in the National Post on Thursday, May 30, 2019. Should you happen to recall, the solution to clue 20a in that puzzle was LADY GODIVA. At the time, several visitors to Big Dave's Crossword Blog commented on the lack of an illustration for the clue. Today, Miffypops has atoned for that oversight with a battery of illustrations featuring the sparingly clad lady.Lady Godiva[5] (d.1080) was an English noblewoman, wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. According to a 13th-century legend, she agreed to her husband's proposition that he would reduce unpopular taxes only if she rode naked on horseback through the marketplace of Coventry. According to later versions of the story, all the townspeople refrained from watching, except for peeping Tom, who was struck blind as a punishment.
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:
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The review of a clue takes the following general structure:
#a/d Clue containing parsing markup (num*)
* num = numeration
Explanations pertaining to the wordplay (or first definition in a double definition)
(Horizontal separator)
Explanatory Box
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| 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 program, 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:
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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 directly from a dictionary or at least phrased in a non-misleading fashion similar to one that would be found in a dictionary
- 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 (for example, defining topiary as "clip art")
- a "whimsical definition": a definition "invented" by the setter often by extrapolating a non-existent meaning for a word from a similar word (for example, defining a bird as a "winger" [something possessing wings] or a river as a ''flower" [something that flows] or to extrapolate that, since disembowel means 'to remove the innards of ', that discontent must mean 'to remove the contents of')
- a "definition by example": the presence of one of these is often flagged with a question mark (for example, defining atoll as "coral?" where an atoll is but one form that coral may take).
I identify precise definitions by marking them with a solid underline in the clue and other varieties of definition (such as cryptic definitions, whimsical definitions, definitions by example, etc.) 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.
ExamplesI 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.
A few examples may help to illustrate these points more clearly.
The first example is a clue used by Jay in DT 28573:
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).
- 4d Fellow left work // a failure (4)
The second example is a clue used by Giovanni in DT 28575:
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.
- 29a Female going to match // travels with mother in advance (10)
The third example is a clue used by Rufus is DT 28583:
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/).
- 18d Knight caught by misplaced big blow /is/ staggering (8)
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)
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
| 7a | British, in a spot, // don't vote (7) |
| 9a | The acre? Wrong: you need a bigger measure of land (7) |
The entire clue is a cryptic definition of "a measure of land larger than an acre" in which the wordplay is embedded.
The hectare[5] is a metric unit of square measure, equal to 100 ares (2.471 acres or 10,000 square metres).
| 10a | Keen to press old // skirt (5) |
As a containment indicator, perhaps we can think of press[5] in the sense of to apply pressure to (a flower or leaf) between sheets of paper in order to dry and preserve it.
| 11a | Conductor /of/ opera, name in Italy (9) |
Tosca[7] is an opera by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica (1857–1919) and Giuseppe Giacosa (1847–1906). It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1900.
Arturo Toscanini[5] (1867–1957) was an Italian conductor. He was musical director at La Scala in Milan (1898–1903; 1906-8) before becoming a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York (1908–21).
| 12a | Punishment given after assault: article by school principal // became prominent in the news (3,3,9) |
In Britain, head[5] is short for headmaster[5] (a man who is the head teacher in a school), headmistress[5] (a woman who is the head teacher in a school), or head teacher[5] (the teacher in charge of a school).
| 13a | Personal assistant brought in important // item of stationery (7) |
PA[5] is an abbreviation used in Britain* for personal assistant.
* It is the use of the abbreviation that is British, not the term itself. Even in North America, I would think the abbreviation is not entirely unheard of.
| 16a | Nobleman's wife // expected short game (7) |
A duchess[5] is either:
- the wife or widow of a duke
- a woman holding a rank equivalent to duke in her own right
| 19a | Foremost of Spaniards during Iraq tour, dining out -- // Torquemada, perhaps (5,10) |
Tomás de Torquemada[5] (c.1420–1498) was a Spanish cleric and Grand Inquisitor*. A Dominican monk, he became confessor to Ferdinand and Isabella, whom he persuaded to institute the Inquisition in 1478. He was also the prime mover behind the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in and after 1492.
* Grand Inquisitor[5] was the title of the director of the court of Inquisition, especially in Spain and Portugal. The Spanish Inquisition[5] was an ecclesiastical court established in 1478 and directed originally against converts from Judaism and Islam but later also against Protestants. It operated with great severity and was not suppressed until the early 19th century.
| 23a | Sweetheart gets upset about ending in adventure // novel (4,5) |
Beau Geste[7] (1924) is an adventure novel by English writer P. C. Wren (1875–1941), which details the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable jewel from the country house of a relative.
| 24a | Permission // to depart (5) |
| 25a | Draw // large aquatic mammal close to quay (7) |
"large" = L [clothing size] (show explanation )
| 26a | Remove // another carat (7) |
Carat[5] (abbreviation ct[5]) is the name of two measures:
- a measure of the purity of gold, pure gold being 24 carats
- a unit of weight for precious stones and pearls, equivalent to 200 milligrams
Down
| 1d | Race // the old lady runs with floppy hat on (8) |
"runs" = R [cricket notation] (show explanation )
| 2d | Difficulty /encountered in/ powerful vessel (8) |
| 3d | Grab // small part (6) |
Miffypops parses this clue as a double definition:
- Grab // small part (6)
This led to a lengthy search to explain "part" being used to clue "natch" — a search which, in fact, was successful.
According to The Chambers Dictionary:
So, not being averse to grabbing a small rump when the opportunity presents itself, I have chosen to go with that option.
- natch2 (dialect) noun the rump
| 4d | Untidy writing /produced by/ son on edge (6) |
"son" = S [genealogy] (show explanation )
| 5d | Good-natured tolerance /of/ coppers going round at one (8) |
Pence[5] is a plural form* of penny[5], a British bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound and the smallest denomination in Britain's modern decimal currency system. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p[5].
* Both pence and pennies have existed as plural forms of penny since at least the 16th century. The two forms now tend to be used for different purposes: pence refers to sums of money (five pounds and sixty-nine pence) while pennies refers to the coins themselves (I left two pennies on the table). The use of pence rather than penny as a singular (the chancellor will put one pence on income tax) is not regarded as correct in standard English.
| 6d | Careless, // extremely rude young lady (6) |
| 8d | Tobacco // tin open (5) |
The symbol for the chemical element tin is Sn[5] (from late Latin stannum).
Snout[5] is an informal British term for tobacco or a cigarette.
| 9d | Partner, // hot on American group (7) |
| 14d | Still coming over to cover separate // social event (3,5) |
| 15d | Republican vacating flat, and unpleasant // house (7) |
"Republican" = R (show explanation )
A Republican[5] (abbreviation R[5] or Rep.[5]) is a member or supporter of the Republican Party[5], one of the two main US political parties*, favouring a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy. It was formed in 1854 in support of the anti-slavery movement preceding the Civil War.
* the other being the Democratic Party
In the UK, republican[5] can refer to an advocate of a united Ireland but the abbreviation does not seem to apply to that usage.
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A Republican[5] (abbreviation R[5] or Rep.[5]) is a member or supporter of the Republican Party[5], one of the two main US political parties*, favouring a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy. It was formed in 1854 in support of the anti-slavery movement preceding the Civil War.
* the other being the Democratic Party
In the UK, republican[5] can refer to an advocate of a united Ireland but the abbreviation does not seem to apply to that usage.
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House[5] is used in the sense of a noble, royal, or wealthy family or lineage; in other words, a dynasty ⇒
the power and prestige of the House of Stewart.
| 17d | Choose randomly /from/ play's actors on a great deal (4,4) |
| 18d | Italian resort, // resort on high (8) |
Sorrento[5] is a town on the west coast of central Italy, situated on a peninsula separating the Bay of Naples, which it faces, from the Gulf of Salerno.
| 19d | Chatter /from/ Hollywood star about principal character in 'Betrayed' (6) |
Clark Gable[5] (1901–1960) was an American actor, famous for films such as It Happened One Night (1934), for which he won an Oscar, and Gone with the Wind (1939).
Gabble[5] means:
- (verb) to talk rapidly and unintelligibly ⇒
he gabbled on in a panicky way until he was dismissed
- (noun) rapid unintelligible talk ⇒
she wasn't very good at the random gabble of teenagers
Scratching the Surface
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| Betrayed[7] is a 1954 war drama film starring Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Victor Mature, and Louis Calhern. The picture, Gable's last for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was filmed on location in the Netherlands and England, and was based on the story of turncoat Dutch resistance leader Christiaan Lindemans. |
| 20d | Determined // old magistrate imprisoning leader of gang, and daughter (6) |
Historically, a doge[5] was the the chief magistrate of Venice or Genoa.
"daughter" = D [genealogy] (show reference )
| 21d | Not fairly matched // in fun event (6) |
| 22d | Headdress, // first-class, shown in painting put up (5) |
"first-class" = AI (show explanation )
Key to Reference Sources:Signing off for today — Falcon
[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)
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