Wednesday, September 18, 2019 — DT 29002

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29002
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29002]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Mr K
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

A rather gentle mental workout today. And, on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the Brits seem to have finally gotten over the collapse of their rugby team against Scotland.

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^*)

---

^* num = numeration

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

(Horizontal separator)

---

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 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: 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 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).

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 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.

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.

hide

Across

1a	Son, unfriendly in front of editor, /gets/ told off (7)

"son" = S [genealogy] (show reference )

In genealogies, s^[5] is the abbreviation for son(s) ⇒ m 1991; one s one d^*.

---

^* married in 1991; one son and one daughter.

hide

5a	Credit cards // snap around end (7)

9a	Spoils // game in seconds (5)

"game" = RU [rugby union] (show explanation )

Rugby union^[10] (abbreviation RU^[5]) is a form of rugby football played between teams of 15 players (in contrast to rugby league^[5], which is played in teams of thirteen).

Rugby union^[7] is the national sport in New Zealand, Wales, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Madagascar.

hide

10a	Half interested, ready for Macron // to explain (9)

Emmanuel Macron^[5] is a French statesman who has been president of France since 2017.

"ready for Macron" ⇒ French word meaning 'ready' = PRET (show explanation )

The French word meaning 'ready' is pret^[8].

hide

11a	Wife exercises with hoop after the man's // muttering (10)

"wife" = W [genealogy] (show reference )

The abbreviation for 'wife' is w^[1,2,12] or w.^[3,4,10,11] [although no context is provided, it likely comes from the field of genealogy].

hide

"exercises" = PE [phys ed] (show reference )

PE^[5] is an abbreviation^* for physical education.

---

^* In my experience, phys ed^[3,11,12,14] is the more common shortened form in North America.

hide

12a	Person who's smashing // plate (4)

14a	Engineer repairs tip -- no // sweat (12)

18a	In spite of everything, // neither vessel at sea ignores island (12)

21a	Pool // game with international appearing for university (4)

Ludo^[5,7] (from Latin ludo, "I play")  is the British name for a strategy board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to the rolls of a single die.  (show more )

Ludo is derived from the Indian game Pachisi, but simpler. The earliest evidence of this game in India is the depiction of boards on the caves of Ajanta (which date to the 2nd century BC). In England, Pachisi was modified to use a cubic die with dice cup and patented as "Ludo" in 1896.

The Royal Navy took Ludo and converted it into a board game called Uckers.

hide

The game and its variations are popular in many countries and under various names. In North America, the game is sold under the brand name Parcheesi. Variations of the game are sold under the brand names Sorry!, Aggravation, and Trouble.

As a child, I owned a copy of this game — part of a compendium of board games which must have been imported from the UK — and so I am very familiar with the British name.

"international" = I (show reference )

I.^[10] is the abbreviation for International.

hide explanation

---

Lido^*[5] is a British term for a public open-air swimming pool or bathing beach.

---

^* The name comes from the Italian word lido, meaning 'shore'. Lido^[5] is also the name of a beach resort in northeastern Italy located on an island reef (also named Lido) in the northern Adriatic which separates the Lagoon of Venice from the Gulf of Venice.

22a	Old politician in jail is gathering acceptable // friends (10)

"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].

hide

The adjective on^[10] is used informally to denote tolerable, practicable, acceptable, etc. ⇒ your plan just isn't on.

25a	Scandal // in Eton as unruly head of science is imprisoned (9)

Scratching the Surface

Eton College[7], often informally referred to simply as Eton, is an English independent boarding school for boys located in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor". It is one of ten English schools, commonly referred to as public schools, regulated by the Public Schools Act of 1868. Click here for an explanation of terms such as independent school and public school pertaining the British school system. Here and There In Britain, an independent school[10] is a school that is neither financed nor controlled by the government or local authorities; in other words, an independent school[2] is not paid for with public money and does not belong to the state school system. In Britain, a public school[2] is a particular category of independent school, namely a secondary school, especially a boarding school, run independently of the state and financed by a combination of endowments and pupils' fees. Another category of independent school is the private school[2,5] which is a school run independently by an individual or group, especially for profit and supported wholly by the payment of fees. What we in North America would call a public school[2], is known in the UK as a state school[5] or a maintained school*. * In England and Wales, a maintained school[5] is a school that is funded by a local education authority. hide explanation

26a	Almost keen to capture large // bird (5)

"large" = L [clothing size] (show reference )

L^[5] is the abbreviation for large (as a clothing size).

hide

27a	Looking for // Neptune, we hear? (7)

In Roman mythology, Neptune^[7] is the god of water and of the sea. His counterpart in Greek mythology is Poseidon.

28a	Presume // American quietly gets ensnared by cult (7)

"quietly" = P [music notation] (show reference )

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

hide

Down

1d	Cons -- /and/ those who guard them (6)

Screw^[5] is a prisoner's derogatory informal term for a warder^* ⇒ she was frightened by the look of the screws.

---

^* Warder^[5] is a British term for a guard in a prison.

2d	Nothing to cook in // base (6)

3d	Regularly find rising juice before fruit // goes off (10)

4d	More withered // veterans initially dropped off by motorist (5)

5d	Budding // plant's container -- lean it precariously (9)

6d	Powerless couples /displaying/ affectation of superiority (4)

"power" = P [symbol used in physics] (show reference )

In physics, P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power [among other things] in mathematical formulae.

hide

7d	Time to misbehave with current female? One Conservative/'s/ wicked (8)

"current" = I [symbol used in physics] (show reference )

In physics, I^[5] is a symbol used to represent electric current in mathematical formulae.

hide

"Conservative" = C [member of British political party] (show more )

The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.^[10] or Con.^[10].

The Conservative Party^[5] is a major right of centre British political party promoting free enterprise and private ownershipthat emerged from the old Tory Party^* under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s. Since the Second World War, it has been in power 1951–64, 1970-74, and 1979–97. It governed in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats from 2010 until the general election of May 2015, in which it was returned with a majority.

---

^* Historically, a Tory^[10] was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.

hide

8d	Seizing // animal by lower jaw and tail in building (8)

13d	People on buses perhaps // see prangs developing and start to shout (10)

Scratching the Surface
Prang[5] is an informal British term meaning: (verb) crash (a motor vehicle or aircraft) ⇒ Ernie pranged his sports car last month (noun) a crash involving a motor vehicle or aircraft ⇒ he had numerous prangs and near misses in his motoring life

15d	Training // fish to follow reduced group of whales (9)

The ling^[5] is any of a number of long-bodied edible marine fishes including large eastern Atlantic fish of the genus Molva related to the cod, in particular Molva molva, which is of commercial importance.

16d	Broken nails, say, /producing/ criticism (8)

17d	I have sent over study by the Church /for/ authentication (8)

"church" = CE [Church of England] (show reference )

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

hide

19d	Voice quality encapsulates good, upper-class // dialect (6)

"good" = G [academic result] (show reference )

The abbreviation G^[a] for good comes from its use in education as a mark awarded on scholastic assignments or tests.

---

^[a] Collins English to Spanish Dictionary

hide

"upper class" = U [upper class] (show explanation )

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners.

The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable). 

hide

20d	Snake European caught with tense // appearance (6)

Asp is a name applied to at least four different species of snakes (show more ):

• the European asp^[7], a small southern European viper (Vipera aspis) with an upturned snout.
• the Egyptian cobra^[7] (Naja haje), one of the largest cobra species native to Africa, second to the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca).
• the Saharan horned viper^[7] (Cerastes cerastes), a venomous viper species native to the deserts of Northern Africa and parts of the Middle East.
• the Saharan sand viper^[7] (Cerastes vipera), also known as the Egyptian asp or Cleopatra's asp, a venomous viper species endemic to the deserts of North Africa and the Sinai Peninsula.

hide

"European" = E (show explanation )

E^[1,2] is the abbreviation for European (as in E number^*).

---

^* An E number^[1,4,10,14] (or E-number^[2,5]) is any of various identification codes required by EU law, consisting of the letter E (for European) followed by a number, that are used to denote food additives such as colourings and preservatives (but excluding flavourings) that have been approved by the European Union.

hide

"caught" = C [cricket notation] (show explanation )

In cricket, one way for a batsman to be dismissed is to be caught out^[5], that is for a player on the opposing team to catch a ball that has been hit by the batsman before it touches the ground.

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation c.^[2,10] or c^[5] denotes caught (by).

hide

"tense" = T [grammar term] (show reference )

Grammatically speaking, t.^[10] is the abbreviation for tense.

hide explanation

23d	Rubbish // boxers? (5)

Rubbish^[3,4,11] (noun) is used in the sense^* of nonsense (foolish words or speech).

---

^*Note: Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) considers the word rubbish^[5] (in all senses) to be British — despite it not being characterized as such by American dictionaries. I would think that, as a noun, the word has long ago become accepted in North America. That is not the case, however, when it is used as an adjective or verb. (show more )

In North America, the word rubbish^[3,11] is employed only as a noun whereas, in the UK, it is also used as an adjective or verb:

• Rubbish^[5] (adjective) is an informal British term denoting very bad; worthless or useless ⇒ (i) people might say I was a rubbish manager; (ii) she was rubbish at maths^*.

  ---

  ^* In Britain, the short form for mathematics is maths^[5] ⇒ her mother was a maths teacher, rather than math^[5] as is the case in North America ⇒ she teaches math and science.

• Rubbish^[4,5] (verb) is an informal British term meaning to criticize severely and reject as worthless ⇒ he rubbished the idea of a European Community-wide carbon tax.

hide

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

---

In Britain, the word pants^[5] does not mean trousers^* as it does in North America. Rather, it refers to underwear — specifically men's undershorts or women's panties (the latter otherwise known as knickers^[5] to the Brits).

---

^* Then again, this usage may be — or have been — a regional usage in the UK as evidenced by the following observation made by Lincoln Latic in a comment on my review of DT 28909 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog:

I didn’t see this [pants used as a synonym for trousers] as an Americanism. I grew up in the northwest of England (before the big influx of Americanisms into the language) and ‘pants’ was the usual term for trousers. You had short pants as a real youngster then progressed into long pants as you got older which for most of us was when you were nearly at the end of primary school probably around aged 9 or 10. What most people consider ‘pants’ refers to now, were called underpants because they went under your pants.

24d	Artist // somewhat weird? A little (4)

The rule in cryptic crosswords is that the solver can ignore punctuation — except, of course, in cases in which it should not be ignored! That is, punctuation may be — but is not necessarily — pertinent.

Scratching the Surface

Salvador Dalí[5] (1904–1989) was a Spanish painter. (show more ) A surrealist, he portrayed dream images with almost photographic realism against backgrounds of arid Catalan landscapes. Dalí also collaborated with Buñuel in the production of the film Un Chien andalou (1928). Notable works: The Persistence of Memory (1931). hide Dalí[7] was highly imaginative, and also enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. To the dismay of those who held his work in high regard, and to the irritation of his critics, his eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork.

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 Advanced 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