Friday, March 16, 2018 — DT 28594

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28594
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, November 25, 2017
Setter Mister Ron (Chris Lancaster)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28594 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28594 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) crypticsue (Review)
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
Notes
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

Today's puzzle is a relatively gentle — but nevertheless quite enjoyable — offering from Mister Ron (show explanation ).

The Daily Telegraph Cryptic Crossword (unlike the Toughie Crossword which appears in the same paper) is published without attribution. However, the identity of some of the setters has become known. In some cases, the setter is known on Big Dave's Crossword Blog by the nom de plume he uses when setting Toughie Crosswords or crosswords in other publications while in other cases he is known by an alias he has adopted when commenting on Big Dave's Crossword Blog. In most — if not all — of these cases, the true identity of the setter is also known.

Nevertheless, the identity of some setters remains a mystery and some time ago it became the practice on Big Dave's Crossword Blog to refer to these unknown setters as "mysterons"^*. Sometime later, the 2Kiwis (Big Dave's New Zealand blogging duo) took to calling the individuals in this group Mr Ron (which sounds like 'mysteron'). One of these mystery setters (now known to be Chris Lancaster who uses the alias Samuel when setting the Toughie Crossword) subsequently adopted the alias Mister Ron when commenting on Big Dave's Crossword Blog. Thus Mister Ron refers to a specific (no longer unidentified) setter and Mr Ron refers to any of the remaining unidentified setters.

Information on the setters can be found in the article How do you know the names of the setters? on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.

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^* The Mysterons are a fictional race of extraterrestrials that are featured in the British science-fiction Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967–68).

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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 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   Book accommodation with credit, /and/ transport for Halloween (10)

"book" = B (show explanation )

The abbreviation for book is b^[1,12] (or b.).^*

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^* Although neither of the two dictionaries in which a listing for this abbreviation is found provide information on the context in which it is used, I would guess that it might be in publishing, in particular in bibliographies or footnotes and endnotes in academic works when referencing one or more books in a series of books ⇒ see b. 3, p. 233.

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Tick^*[5] (used in the phrase on tick) is an informal British term meaning credit ⇒ the printer agreed to send the brochures out on tick.

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^* The term apparently originates as a short form for ticket in the phrase on the ticket, referring to an IOU or promise to pay.

6a   As drink might be // ordered (4)

9a   Let go manual worker, // one taking others for a ride (10)

10a   Fix son's // legs (4)

12a   Good boy, // happy (4)

13a   Uncertainty following detective arresting Beds town/'s/ dangerous element (9)

Beds.^[5] (or Beds^[10]) is the abbreviation for Bedfordshire^[5], a county of south central England.

Luton^[5] is an industrial town in Bedfordshire, England, to the north-west of London.

15a   Figure // pathogen out (8)

16a   Forces // politician into terrible lies (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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18a   Cry, /having/ starter of sour milk product (6)

Scratching the Surface
Starter[5] is a British* name for the first course of a meal. * according to Oxford Dictionaries, the term is British, but it is certainly one that I would say is by no means foreign to Canada

20a   Seethe at dodgy // art lover (8)

Aesthete^[5] is the British spelling of a word that would be spelled esthete in the US.

23a   Affair /resulting in/ daughter before marriage? (9)

24a   Plunder // part of subsidiary in recession (4)

26a   Animal /from/ island west of Bute extremely cross (4)

The ibex^[5] is a wild mountain goat with long, thick ridged horns and a beard, found in parts of central Asia and in Ethiopia^*.

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^* Incredibly, after specifying this geographic range for the animal, Oxford Dictionaries proceeds to give an example of a species (Capra pyrenaica) found in the Pyrenees!

Scratching the Surface
Bute[10] is an island off the coast of southwestern Scotland, in Argyll and Bute council area: situated in the Firth of Clyde, separated from the Cowal peninsula by the Kyles of Bute. Chief town: Rothesay. Pop: 7228 (2001). Area: 121 sq km (47 sq miles)

27a   Broken grate included in quotes // smokes (10)

28a   Prime Minister /from/ European country (not its south-west) (4)

Anthony Eden^[5], 1st Earl of Avon (1897–1977) was a British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1955-7. His premiership was dominated by the Suez crisis of 1956; widespread opposition to Britain’s role in this led to his resignation.

29a   Persistent // crew in the middle, not fast? (10)

In the Christian Church, Lent^[5] is the period preceding Easter, which is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church^* it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, and so includes forty weekdays [excluding the six Sundays that fall during this period but including Saturdays].

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^* It would be more correct to say "Protestant churches" as Lent is defined differently in the Roman Catholic Church^[7].

Down

1d   Polish // expert (4)

2d   What greedy cat might do /in/ shared area (7)

According to the whimsical logical conventions of Crosswordland, if to eat too much food is to overeat, then to lap too much milk must be to overlap.

3d   Hammy // actor with dilemma performing (12)

4d   A poet's drunk, working /to find/ something that stirs (8)

5d   Revolutionary massage /for/ angelic figure (6)

"revolutionary" = CHE (show explanation )

Che Guevara^[7] (1928–1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.

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7d   Sheeran providing something cool, // something monumental (7)

Ed Sheeran^[7] is an English singer-songwriter. The single "The A Team" from his 2011 debut album + (read as "plus") was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.

Behind the Picture

Big Dave illustrates his hints with a picture of the Chrysler Building[7], an Art Deco-style skyscraper located on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan. At 1,046 feet (318.9 m), the structure was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. It is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework. As of 2018, the Chrysler is the sixth-tallest building in the city, tied with The New York Times Building.

8d   Question Time taking precedence with teacher/'s/ demanding boss (10)

Master^[5] is a British term for a male schoolteacher.

Scratching the Surface
In the UK, question time[5] is a period* during parliamentary proceedings in the House of Commons when MPs may question ministers ⇒ (i) the issue arose several times at question time; (ii) rowdy question-time exchanges. * On the other hand, for us in Canada, question period is a time during parliamentary proceedings in the House of Commons when MPs may question ministers.

11d   Area where they get the Daily Express? (8,4)

Here and There
Commuter belt[5] is a British* term for the area surrounding a city from which a large number of people travel to work each day ⇒ the London commuter belt. * From a British perspective, bedroom community[5] is a North American term for a residential suburb inhabited largely by people who commute to a nearby city for work ⇒ a bedroom community outside of Los Angeles.

Scratching the Surface
The Daily Express[7] is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom.

14d   Desperate wives' third // card-school (5,5)

I was not able to find the term "card-school" in any of the several dictionaries that I consulted. However, Mr. Google to the rescue; according to a contributor to a discussion on the WordReference.com website, a card school is a group of people who meet to play cards - usually poker.

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A whist drive^[1,2,7,10] is a a social gathering where the card game whist is played. According to Collins English Dictionary "the winners of each hand move to different tables to play the losers of the previous hand " while Chambers 21st Century Dictionary says there is "a change of partner after every four games". For The Chambers Dictionary, such an occasion is a progressive whist party while for Wikipedia it is a social event at which progressive games of whist are played.

17d   Bill interrupts peaceful // song (8)

A bill^[5] is a poster or handbill^* ⇒ he has been hard at work bill posting in a poster and sticker^** campaign.

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^* a handbill^[5] is a small printed advertisement or other notice distributed by hand
^** a sticker^[5] is an adhesive label or notice, generally printed or illustrated ⇒ (i) a disabled sticker for our car; (ii) warning stickers on the glass.

19d   Replace // engineers on holiday, we are told (7)

"engineers | soldiers" = RE (show explanation )

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

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Here and There

The British use the word holiday(s) where North Americans might say vacation[5]. (read more ) Holiday[5,10] (often holidays) is a chiefly British term for a period in which a break is taken from work or studies for rest, travel, or recreation ⇒ (i) I spent my summer holidays on a farm; (ii) Fred was on holiday in Spain. According to British dictionaries, the usual US and Canadian term for such a break is vacation. However, I am accustomed to hearing the two terms used almost interchangeably in this sense — in much the same manner that I use fall and autumn interchangeably. This may not be the case in all parts of Canada, but I grew up in the Maritimes and have lived in Eastern Ontario for most of my life, both areas where British influence is particularly strong. In Britain, the word vacation[5] has a very specific meaning, a fixed holiday period between terms in universities and law courts ⇒ the Easter vacation. In North America, such a period might be called a break[7]. hide explanation

21d   Record list rewritten by European /for/ Romans, say? (7)

"record" = EP (show explanation )

EP^[10] (abbreviation for extended-play) is one of the formats in which music is sold, usually comprising four or five tracks.

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Romans^[10] is a book of the New Testament (in full The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans), containing one of the fullest expositions of the doctrines of Saint Paul, written in 58 AD.

22d   Source of power /from/ spirit in seance on a regular basis (6)

25d   A sibling/'s/ unchanged (2,2)

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