Monday, April 16, 2018 — DT 28615 (Published Saturday, April 14, 2018)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28615
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28615]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By 2Kiwis
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
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, April 14, 2018 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

This puzzle definitely constituted a good mental workout and caused me to do a bit of entomological research to uncover the wee beastie at 1a.

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   European pest // could be worrying (3,3)

May bug^[5] is another name for the cockchafer^[5] [I kid you not], a large brown European beetle which flies at dusk and is a destructive plant pest, both as an adult and a larva.

Although familiar with mayflies and June bugs, I am more than happy to have avoided an encounter with a cockchafer.

Scratching the Surface

The surface reading (not to mention the title of this box) takes on added significance — especially for male readers — once one becomes aware of the other name for this insect. A few of those commenting on Big Dave's Crossword Blog detected a political inference in the clue. Theresa May[7] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and currently engaged in orchestrating Britain's exit from the European Union — and no doubt seen as worrisome by Europeans.

5a   Animal // quietly burrowing into ground (8)

"quietly" = P (show explanation )

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.

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Here and There
A terrapin[5] (called turtle in North America*) is a freshwater turtle, especially one of the smaller kinds of the Old World. * Terrapin[5] is a US term for a small edible turtle with lozenge-shaped markings on its shell, found in coastal marshes of the eastern US.

9a   First animal to be identified in Oxford? (8)

Oxford University Press^[7] publishes a large number of dictionaries which you can find listed here^[7]. The 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the largest and most famous. The website OxfordDictionaries.com on which I rely heavily is based on the Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE) which — despite its confusingly similar name — is an entirely separate publication also produced by Oxford University Press.

10a   Object to // work attitude (6)

11a   History and memory anticipating the writer/'s/ beef dish (8)

In computer science, RAM^[10] is an acronym for random access memory, semiconductor memory in which all storage locations can be rapidly accessed in the same amount of time. It forms the main memory of a computer, used by applications to perform tasks while the device is operating.

"the writer" = I (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

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Anticipate^[5], as a charade indicator, is used in the sense to come or take place before (an event or process expected or scheduled for a later time) ⇒ this is to anticipate the argument.

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Pastrami^[5] is highly seasoned smoked beef, typically served in thin slices.

Delving Deeper

The recipe for pastrami[7] as we know it today was developed in the latter half of the 19th century in New York by Jewish immigrants from Romania.  The word pastrami is not — as I had always supposed — of Italian origin. Rather the word comes from Yiddish pastrame which in turn derives from Romanian pastrama. The modified “pastrami” spelling was probably introduced in imitation of the American English salami (a word which is of Italian lineage).

12a   Flinch /from/ east wind on run (6)

13a   Person losing faith // with a job brewing tea (8)

15a   Cast // the female lead in drama (4)

17a   Woman // oddly going missing in air raids (4)

19a   Roman army unit must welcome a tense // mission (8)

In the ancient Roman army, a legion^[5] was a division of 3,000–6,000 men, including a complement of cavalry.

"tense" = T (show explanation )

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

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20a   A cut in cover of Jeremy/'s/ old banger (6)

Banger^[5] is an informal British term for an old car in poor condition ⇒ they’ve only got an old banger.

21a   Two for eight, perhaps -- /it's/ a factor (4,4)

In mathematics, a factor^[5] is a number or algebraic expression by which another is exactly divisible.

Although I have marked the first part of the clue with a dotted underline to show that it is not a precise definition, it is a definition by example rather than a cryptic definition.

I found categorizing this clue to be problematic. I hesitated before marking it as a double definition — and I continue to be uncomfortable with the choice — as the two definitions seem to relate to the same thing. Perhaps the entire clue could be considered to be a cryptic definition.

22a   Ride, // in American terminology (6)

Delving Deeper
I was not surprised to find that the word canter[5] is not of American origin but originated in the early 18th century as short for Canterbury pace or Canterbury gallop, from the supposed easy pace of medieval pilgrims to Canterbury.

23a   Oblivious of danger // developing in a fraud (8)

24a   Harsh // pace, not without love (8)

"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).

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25a   Avoids // cunning wheezes (6)

Wheeze^[5] is an informal British term for a clever or amusing scheme, idea, or trick ⇒ a new wheeze to help farmers.

Down

2d   A mother with diatribe on husband /is/ a bloomer (8)

An amaranth^[10] is any of numerous tropical and temperate plants of the genus Amaranthus, having tassel-like heads of small green, red, or purple flowers.

3d   Model debates origin of designer // frame (8)

4d   Dip // in the morning -- wearing new cagoule (9)

Scratching the Surface

It is not clear to me in what sense the word dip[5] is being used in the surface reading — or even if it is a noun or verb. I thought it might denote a stupid or foolish person, but ruled that idea out when I discovered that sense of the word to be an informal North American usage. Dip is also an informal dated term for (noun) a pickpocket or (verb) to pick (someone's pocket). Once could conceivably read this meaning (as either a noun or a verb) into the surface of the clue. Or perhaps the surface reading reflects someone going for a brief swim to put their new waterproof garment to the test. Cagoule[5] (also spelled kagoul) is a British term for a lightweight, hooded, thigh-length waterproof jacket. Origin: 1950s: from French, literally ‘cowl’

5d   Consider // fool should be on time meeting old relation (4,4,7)

6d   Full // theatre -- allow encore at the end (7)

Rep^[5] is an informal term for a repertory theatre or company ⇒ the Birmingham Rep.

7d   One may require a second // for puzzle (8)

The meaning of the cryptic definition becomes clearer with the addition of some punctuation one may require a 'Second'. In other words, after making a motion, this person may require someone to say 'Second'.

8d   Bristles and beards ultimately /must be/ unnecessary (8)

14d   Dog food // that's dropped off back of a lorry (9)

Tailboard^[5] is a British term for a tailgate, a hinged flap at the back of a truck that can be lowered or removed when loading or unloading the vehicle.

15d   Issues /for/ people ruled by a monarch (8)

16d   Product designed to define viewers (8)

17d   Such photography /has/ popular female artist looking embarrassed (8)

"artist" = RA (show explanation )

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[10]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5] (also Royal Academy; abbreviation also RA^[10]), an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain. 

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18d   Independent person elected to lie badly, /being/ insolent (8)

"independent" = I (show explanation )

I^[1] is the abbreviation for independent, in all likelihood in the context of a politician with no party affiliation.

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"person elected" = 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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19d   Look for understanding in conversation (3-4)

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