Monday, April 9, 2018 — DT 28610 (Published Saturday, April 7, 2018)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28610
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, December 14, 2017
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28610]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers
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 {date}, 2018 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

RayT returns today after a bit of a hiatus. He normally appears every second Thursday in The Daily Telegraph, but this was his first puzzle in four weeks. Seeing that it takes six weeks for the National Post (with its five puzzles a week schedule) to publish the number of puzzles appearing in five weeks in The Daily Telegraph (with its six puzzles a week schedule), we last saw RayT on Tuesday, March 6 (almost five weeks ago).

On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the Brits remain preoccupied with the fate of the England cricket team which was on a tour of Australia. At the time this puzzle appeared in The Daily Telegraph, the team was in Perth and engaged in its third Test Match against Australia (December 14-18, 2017). The first two matches in the series had been won by Australia.

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   Introduction /is/ formal meeting the Queen (6)

An appearance by Her Majesty is a hallmark of a RayT puzzle — and he wastes no time in introducing her today. This practice is supposedly actually a nod to his favourite musical group, the British rock band Queen.

"the Queen" = ER (show explanation )

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

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4a   Spread // betting odds before final? (8)

SP^[5] is the abbreviation for starting price^[7], the odds prevailing on a particular horse in the on-course fixed-odds^* betting market at the time a race begins.

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^* To the best of my limited knowledge in this field, this term would not be encountered in North America as betting on horse racing here is based on parimutuel betting rather than fixed-odds betting.

9a   King, // nearly everybody scoffed about King (6)

"king" = R (show explanation )

In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms^*, Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

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^* A Commonwealth realm^[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.

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Alfred^[5] (849–899),  known as Alfred the Great, was king of Wessex 871–99. Alfred’s military resistance saved southwestern England from Viking occupation. A great reformer, he is credited with the foundation of the English navy and with a revival of learning.

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, pommers describes Alfred as a Saxon King, you know, the one that burned the cakes!. In January 878 the Danes (Vikings) made a sudden attack on Chippenham, a royal stronghold in which Alfred had been staying over Christmas, "and most of the people they killed, except the King Alfred, and he with a little band made his way by wood and swamp, and after Easter he made a fort at Athelney in the marshes of Somerset*, and from that fort kept fighting against the foe." *  known as the Somerset Levels A legend, originating from 12th century chronicles, tells how when he first fled to the Somerset Levels, Alfred was given shelter by a peasant woman who, unaware of his identity, left him to watch some wheaten cakes she had left cooking on the fire. Preoccupied with the problems of his kingdom, Alfred accidentally let the cakes burn and was roundly scolded by the woman upon her return.

10a   Unit in action, // late (8)

12a   Fantastic bird returns calls /for/ drinks (8)

The roc^[5] is a gigantic mythological bird described in the Arabian Nights.

Scratching the Surface
It took me a while to twig why this clue was drawing such rave reviews from the Brits. Bird[5] is an informal British term for a young woman or a man’s girlfriend.

13a   Pub encounters ordeal regularly /finding/ keg (6)

The indicator "regularly" denotes a regularly spaced sequence of letters drawn from the fodder (ORDEAL). Today, this happens to be the even numbered sequence of letters, i.e., every other letter starting with the second. However, it could just as well be used to denote the odd numbered sequence of letters — or, as I have seen on rare occasions, some other regularly spaced sequence of letters.

15a   One maturing at manoeuvres, /revealing/ logic (13)

18a   Obstinacy // recanting sin about embracing sweetheart (13)

"sweetheart" = E (show explanation )

A common cryptic crossword construct is to use the word "sweetheart" to clue the letter 'E', the middle letter (heart) of swEet.

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22a   Illegal activity, in the main (6)

Click here for an explanation of the parsing of this clue and the markup applied to it.

This clue is a cryptic definition comprising a precise definition ("illegal activity") combined with cryptic elaboration ("in the main").

Despite being termed a 'precise definition', "illegal activity" could take many forms. The cryptic elaboration provides additional information about the definition that allows us to narrow down the range of possibilities that exist.

As the entire clue is a cryptic definition, it is marked with a dotted underline. The precise definition (embedded within the cryptic definition) is indicated by a solid underline.

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The main^[5] is an archaic or literary term for the open ocean.

24a   Repeated // sex considered to include love finally (8)

It^[2,5] (usually written in quotation marks, "it") is an informal term for sex appeal^* or sexual intercourse ⇒ (i) the only thing I knew nothing about was ‘it’; (ii) they were caught doing ‘it’ in the back seat of his car.

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^* Chambers 21st Century Dictionary considers this former sense to be an "old use" (Chambers' terminology for archaic, obsolete or old-fashioned). "It"^[7] (written in quotation marks) is a term that has come to mean sex appeal — although, in its earliest manifestation, it seems that the term pertained more to personality than to glamorous looks. Despite having been used as early as 1904 by Rudyard Kipling, the term was popularized  in the 1927 film It starring Clara Bow (who became known as the "It Girl").

26a   Practically gone with inert vaporised // gas (8)

27a   Rakish, // the Parisian stifling cry of pain (6)

"the Parisian" = LE (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

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28a   Cold and idle hanging around small // corridor (8)

"small" = S (show explanation )

S^[5] is the abbreviation for small (as a clothes size).

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29a   Donations following ends of priest's // hymns (6)

A psalm^[5] is a sacred song or hymn, in particular any of those contained in the biblical Book of Psalms and used in Christian and Jewish worship.

Down

1d   Fish // settle around top of ice (6)

Settle^[5] is used in the sense of to move or adjust (something) so that it rests securely ⇒ she settled her bag on her shoulder.

As an initial letter indicator, top^[10] is used in the sense of beginning ⇒ (i) the top of the hour; (ii) at the top of the programme; (iii) let's run through the piece once more time from the top.

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The plaice^[5] is a North Atlantic flatfish which is a commercially important food fish.

2d   Grass // due to face time trapping bloke (9)

It would seem that the wordplay here can be parsed in either of two ways.

In his review, pommers appears to parse it as {IN FOR (due) + (to face) T (time; abbrev.)} containing (trapping) MAN (bloke).

I would parse it slightly differently as {IN FOR (due to face) + T (time; abbrev.)} containing (trapping) MAN (bloke).

However, Rabbit Dave at Comment #2 says "I couldn’t fully parse my answer to 2d as I was trying to make “due to face” clue the first five letters, and so I was very glad of pommers’ review". I'm afraid that I don't understand his problem. It seems to me that the following statements are all equivalent:

• “Having disobeyed, the child was due a scolding.”
• “Having disobeyed, the child was due to face a scolding.”
• “Having disobeyed, the child was in for a scolding.”

In fact, I would be more likely to say

• “Having disobeyed, the child was due for a scolding.”

making "due to face" a better choice in my mind than "due".

Bloke^[5] is an informal British^* term for a man ⇒ he’s a nice bloke.

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^* British, but certainly very familiar to anyone on this side of the pond who has ever watched a British film or television programme

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Grass^[5] is an informal British term meaning:

• (noun) a police informer; and
• (verb) to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ (i) someone had grassed on the thieves; (ii) she threatened to grass me up.

This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper being rhyming slang (show explanation ) for 'copper').

Rhyming slang^[5] is a type of slang that replaces words with rhyming words or phrases, typically with the rhyming element omitted. For example, butcher’s, short for butcher’s hook, means ‘look’ in Cockney rhyming slang.

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3d   Time /is/ pressing? (7)

5d   American writer close to Walt // Whitman? (4)

Edgar Allan Poe^[5] (1809–1849) was an American short-story writer, poet, and critic. His fiction and poetry are Gothic in style and characterized by their exploration of the macabre and the grotesque. Notable works: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (short story, 1840); ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (detective story, 1841); ‘The Raven’ (poem, 1845).

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Walt Whitman^[5] (1819–1892) was an American poet. In 1855 he published the free verse collection Leaves of Grass, incorporating ‘I Sing the Body Electric’ and ‘Song of Myself’; eight further editions followed in Whitman's lifetime.

6d   Like former US President missing old // state (7)

In cooking, à la^[5] denotes (with respect to a dish) cooked or prepared in a specified way ⇒ fish cooked à la meunière. The term is also used informally to mean in the style or manner of ⇒ afternoon talk shows à la Oprah.

Barack Obama^[5] is a American Democratic statesman, 44th president of the US 2009–17 (show more ).

He was the first African American to be elected to the presidency, and was re-elected in 2012 for a second term. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

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7d   Teacher/'s/ expression of disapproval over arithmetic, perhaps (5)

"over" = O (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O^[5] denotes over(s), an over^[5] being 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.

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The three Rs^[5] of reading, writing and arithmetic (reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic) are regarded as the fundamentals of learning ⇒ why couldn't they just leave well alone and let pupils concentrate on the three Rs?.

8d   Don't leer horribly, /it's/ suggestive (8)

11d   Look, // part of leg limps excessively (7)

14d   King nearly takes unoccupied // pieces (7)

"king" = K (show explanation )

K^[5] is an abbreviation for king that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

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In chess, a piece^[5] is a king, queen, bishop, knight, or rook, as opposed to a pawn ⇒ indicate which piece or pawn is taken.

16d   The same // pattern, retaining knot (hitch) applied evenly (9)

Scratching the Surface
A hitch[5] is a knot of a particular kind, typically one used for fastening a rope to something else.

17d   The man's agitation /seeing/ Jennifer Lopez, for example (8)

Jennifer Lopez^[7] is an American singer, actress, dancer and producer of Puerto Rican descent.

19d   Presenters // like to accept new job cut (7)

Presenter^[5] is a British^* term for a person who introduces and appears in a television or radio programme.

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^* In North America, more specific terms such as host, emcee, announcer or anchor might be used for such a person. Some — or all — of these terms are also used in the UK but presenter is a catchall term that covers all the bases.

Here and There
As pommers infers in his review, from a British perspective, anchor[5] is a North American term for an anchorman or anchorwoman* ⇒ he signed off after nineteen years as CBS news anchor. * The Brits would refer to such a person as an anchorman or anchorwoman but not an anchor. This must be one of the few instances where North Americans have out-abbreviated our friends across the pond.

20d   Tapers // point on pointed missiles (7)

21d   Individuals doing little except remain sedentary initially (6)

The acrostic or initialism clue is another hallmark of a RayT puzzle. The entire clue forms the wordplay in which the definition is embedded (although pommers — perhaps distracted by a family crisis — has stated exactly the opposite at Comment #32 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog).

23d   Dated /being/ in severe trouble (5)

25d   Iron outside of tie /for/ party (4)

The symbol for the chemical element iron is Fe^[5] (from Latin ferrum).

Here and There
I suppose the solution could be considered to be a party on either side of the pond. Fete[5] (also fête) is a British term for a public function, typically held outdoors and organized to raise funds for a charity, including entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments ⇒ a church fete. Fete[5] (also fête) is a North American term for a celebration or festival.

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