Friday, January 26, 2018 — DT 28559

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28559
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, October 16, 2017
Setter Rufus (Roger Squires)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28559]
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

If you visit Big Dave's Crossword Blog, you will find Miffypops in a bit of a testy mood today. Can't be arsed^[5] is vulgar British slang denoting that one does not want to do something due to having no interest in or enthusiasm for it. Despite the comment, he seems to have done a fine job on his review.

I strongly recommend that you watch the Killard House School Choir video that Miffypops has inserted into his review. This school is located in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland. The performance is amazing — especially when you consider that this school provides education for children with special educational needs including Moderate Learning Difficulties, Speech and Language Difficulties and Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

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.

Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in semi-all-in-one (semi-&lit.) clues. All-in-one (&lit.) clues and cryptic definitions are marked with a dotted underline. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   Wild parrot, // bird of prey (6)

4a   Includes /in/ shows of affection (8)

9a   Jack's posh way /appears/ ridiculous (6)

The entry for jack in The Chambers Dictionary would fill a page if it were not spread over parts of two pages. Among the definitions, one finds jack^[1] defined as (often with capital) a sailor. In the Royal Navy, according to Oxford Dictionaries, able seaman^[5] (abbreviation AB^[5]), is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman. On the other hand, Collins English Dictionary tells us that an able seaman^[10] (also called able-bodied seaman) is an ordinary seaman, especially one in the merchant navy, who has been trained in certain skills.

"posh" = U (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 explanation

Pedantary Commentary
I am sure most readers of Miffypops' hint will recognize that the word "Jack's" is not plural — it's possessive.

10a   How a sale should be organised, // all things considered (2,1,5)

12a   Lugs, // body parts for hearing (4)

13a   Use a blade and cut down // tree (5)

Rowan is another name for the European mountain ash^[10] (Sorbus aucuparia), a rosaceous tree having clusters of small white flowers and bright red berries.

14a   Pointless search /for/ way through (4)

17a   Only just obtained freedom? (6,6)

Here — and throughout the puzzle — the setter uses a question mark to flag cryptic definition. However, not every question mark flags a cryptic definition and not every cryptic definition is flagged by a question mark.

20a   Possibly fall in late? Go /for/ punishment (12)

Scratching the Surface
Fall in[5] means to take one's place in a military formation ⇒ the soldiers fell in by the side of the road.

23a   Measure round a // highway (4)

The rod^[5] is a historical British unit of measure that can refer to either:

• a linear measure, especially for land, equal to 5 ½ yards (approximately 5.029 m)
• a square measure, especially for land, equal to 160th of an acre or 30 ¼ square yards (approximately 25.29 sq m)

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops writes that the unit of measure in question is commonly used for allotments. Allotment[5] is a British term for a plot of land rented by an individual for growing vegetables or flowers. This term is also used in Canada — at least in Ottawa — although one would be more apt to hear it referred to here by the full version of the name, allotment garden[7].

24a   Clothing once /displayed by/ father in streets (5)

A spat^[5] (usually spats [as they are worn in pairs]) is a short cloth gaiter^* covering the instep and ankle.

---

^* A gaiter^[5] (usually gaiters [for the same reason as above]) is a protective covering of cloth or leather for the ankle and lower leg ⇒ gaiters to keep snow out of your boots.

25a   The woman's love // champion (4)

"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).

hide explanation

28a   Rife, conceivably, // it spreads rapidly (8)

This clue is a reverse anagram. The solution (WILDFIRE) can be viewed as anagram indicator (WILD) and anagram fodder (FIRE) that produce the result "rife" which appears in the clue. The word "conceivably" in the wordplay is the reverse anagram indicator.

In a 'normal' clue, the wordplay appears in the clue and the result arising from the execution of the wordplay is found in the solution. For instance, in a clue of the anagram type, the anagram indicator (operator) and anagram fodder (the material on which the indicator operates) would appear in the clue and the result of performing the anagram operation would be found in the solution.

On the other hand, in a 'reverse anagram', this situation is reversed. The anagram indicator and fodder are found in the solution and the result of executing the anagram operation appears in the clue. This is not unlike the premise of the TV game show Jeopardy — where contestants are given the answer and must respond with a question. Here the solver is given the result of the anagram operation and must find the anagram indicator and fodder which would produce it.

Personally, I would much prefer to use the term 'inverse anagram' rather than 'reverse anagram' as this type of construct is analogous to the concept of inverse functions in mathematics. However, I have resigned myself to the fact that this idea is unlikely to find traction.

Plus ça change ...
Were one to think that the photo used by Miffypops to illustrate his review was of recent vintage, one would be mistaken. It was taken May 3, 2013 near Camarillo, California.

29a   A Titan out // to win (6)

Scratching the Surface

In Classical Greek mythology, the Titans and Titanesses[7] were members of the second order of divine beings, descending from the primordial deities and preceding the Olympian deities. Based on Mount Othrys, the Titans most famously included the first twelve children of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Father Heaven). They were giant deities of incredible strength, who ruled during the legendary Golden Age, and also composed the first pantheon of Greek deities.

30a   Think again // about ship crossing rough seas (8)

On the Crosswordland seas, you will rarely go wrong in assuming that a ship is a steamship (abbreviation SS^[5]).

31a   A spell of horse-play? (6)

I either did not know or had forgotten the polo term.

Chukka^[5] is the British spelling (US chukker) for each of a number of periods (typically six, of 71/2 minutes each) into which play in a game of polo is divided.

Down

1d   Model creating // response (8)

As an anagram indicator, model^[5] (verb) means to fashion or shape (a three-dimensional figure or object) in a malleable material such as clay or wax ⇒ use the icing to model a house.

2d   Secretary's blade // that could open up a computer (8)

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 don't think the abbreviation is entirely unheard of.

3d   /It's/ yours and mine, // of course (4)

The key parts of a clue are the wordplay and the definition. Sometimes they stand on their own and sometimes they require some supporting infrastructure — which usually takes the form of a link word or link phrase positioned between them. Occasionally, the supporting infrastructure will be found elsewhere in the clue. Such is the case today, where it comes at the beginning of the clue. Of course, we could rephrase the clue to put the supporting infrastructure back in its customary place at the middle of the clue:

• Of course /it [the solution] is/ yours and mine (4)

5d   What a bad summer will do? (12)

A summer^[1] is someone or something that does sums^*.

---

^* I had supposed this sense of the word to be a whimsical invention of the setter, but it is found in The Chambers Dictionary as a noun corresponding to the verb sum.

6d   Disputes /in/ banks (4)

7d   Voices // so rich when blended (6)

8d   Boil, /or/ the spot on top (6)

11d   Swiss cantons or American states, maybe? (7,5)

This clue works for anyone who resides outside the borders of Switzerland or the USA. Fortunately, the setter chose not to include Canadian provinces on the list.

15d   Takes over // domestic vessels (5)

My knowledge of polo may be rusty, but I am on top of my game in cricket.

An over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

16d   Express // linking two points (5)

The word "linking" is a charade indicator as the solution involves "linking two points" (or the "linking [of] two points").

18d   Visible record of alternating current's limits (8)

My dictionaries fail to reach consensus on the definition of tidemark. The Chambers Dictionary, the Chamber's 21st Century Dictionary and Oxford Dictionaries define tidemark^[1,2,5] as a mark left or reached by the sea on a shore at the highest point of a tide. On the other hand, Collins English Dictionary, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, and the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary define tidemark^[3,4,10,11] as a line or mark on a shore indicating the highest or lowest level reached by the tide.

19d   It means one can't get off at night (8)

21d   Prize having been put up, // one picks the winning ticket (6)

22d   Each year, girl /makes/ Spanish dish (6)

Paella^[5] is a Spanish dish of rice, saffron, chicken, seafood, etc., cooked and served in a large shallow pan.

26d   Amphibians, /with/ short feet going in two directions (4)

Eft^[5] is a dialect^* word 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.

---

^* Oxford fails to specify any particular dialect. One might infer from Miffypops' observation in his review that it is the Crosswordland dialect.

27d   Justification for deciding to scratch (4)

Scratching the Surface
Scratch[5] (said of a competitor) means to withdraw from a competition ⇒ due to a knee injury she was forced to scratch from the race.

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)

Signing off for today — Falcon