Tuesday, April 10, 2018 — DT 28611

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28611
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, December 15, 2017
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28611]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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

Today's review appears late because it seems that I forgot to push the publish button.

Having taken pride in recognizing several of the last few pangrams^* to make their appearance, I totally missed today's.

---

^* A pangram is a puzzle in which every letter of the alphabet appears at least once in the solutions to the clues.

In the intro to his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat remarks that the puzzle contains a nod to the Ashes. At the time this puzzle was published in the UK, the England cricket team was Down Under in the midst of a Test match against the Aussies.

The Ashes^[10] is a cremated cricket stump in a pottery urn now preserved at Lord's [a cricket ground in London, England]. Victory or defeat in Test matches between England and Australia is referred to as winning, losing, or retaining the Ashes.

The concept of The Ashes originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval [a cricket ground in London, England], their first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to "regain those ashes". The English media therefore dubbed the tour the quest to regain the Ashes.

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 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.

hide explanation

Across

1a   Bishop comes to unusual Serbian // city (8)

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

A bishop^[5] is a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a mitre, that can move any number of spaces in any direction along a diagonal on which it stands. Each player starts the game with two bishops, one moving on white squares and the other on black.

hide explanation

---

Brisbane^[5] is the the capital of the state of Queensland in Australia. It was founded in 1824 as a penal colony.

Scratching the Surface
Serbia[5] is a republic in the Balkans that was once part of Yugoslavia.

5a   Sealing device /for/ cleaner (6)

9a   Grade C is terrible // shame (8)

10a   Pub with group of miners // who provided fair entertainment? (6)

The National Union of Mineworkers^[7] (NUM) is a trade union for coal miners in Great Britain,

---

P. T. Barnum^[7] (1810–1891) was an American showman, politician and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017).

Delving Deeper

The phrase "There's a sucker born every minute"[7] is often attributed to P. T. Barnum although there is no evidence that he actually said it. In fact, the statement may have been uttered by a rival showman about the crowds flocking to see Barnum's shows even after they had been debunked as hoaxes — and, to top things off, this was likely not the first use of the expression. In 1835, when he was 25, Barnum began his career as a showman with his purchase and exhibition of a blind and almost completely paralyzed slave woman, Joice Heth, whom an acquaintance was trumpeting around Philadelphia as George Washington's former nurse, and to be 161 years old. Though slavery was outlawed in New York at the time, he exploited a loophole that allowed him to lease her for a year for $1,000, borrowing $500 to complete the sale. Before the lease was up, Heth died in February 1836 at no more than 80 years old. Near the end of her life, Barnum had worked her for 10 to 12 hours a day. Ever the opportunist, after her death Barnum hosted a live autopsy of her body in a New York Saloon. Spectators paid 50 cents to see the dead woman cut up, as he “revealed” that she was likely half her purported age. Barnum followed that with the exhibition of Charles Stratton, the dwarf "General Tom Thumb" ("the Smallest Person that ever Walked Alone") who was then four years of age but was stated to be 11. With heavy coaching and natural talent, the boy was taught to imitate people from Hercules to Napoleon. By five, he was drinking wine and by seven smoking cigars for the public's amusement.

Who is he talking about?
On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat describes the NUM as the miners’ organisation once led by Arthur Scargill. Arthur Scargill[7] is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002. A former Labour Party member, he is now the party leader of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), which he founded in 1996.

12a   Fellow attached to many different clubs (6)

Some on Big Dave's Crossword Blog question the use of the word "attached" in this clue (Comment #7). I suggest that it may be used in the sense of to appoint (someone) for special or temporary duties ⇒ I was attached to another working group.

13a   City resident // presenting three articles about province (8)

Northern Ireland^[5] (abbreviation NI^[5]) is a province of the United Kingdom occupying the northeast part of Ireland.

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat describes Northern Ireland as part of the UK which is not in Great Britain. Although the terms Great Britain and United Kingdom are commonly used synonymously — the UK Olympic Team is even officially branded as Team GB[7] rather than Team UK — strictly speaking, the terms do have different meanings. (show more ) Politically speaking, Great Britain[5] comprises the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales, although the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom. Geographically speaking, Great Britain[7] is the island on which the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales are largely situated (these countries extend beyond the boundaries of geographical Great Britain to take in other nearby islands). Most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island. The term "Great Britain" often extends to include surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales, and is also sometimes loosely applied to the UK as a whole. The United Kingdom[5] is a political unit that includes the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales and the province of Northern Ireland. Full name United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The British Isles[5,7] is a geographical term for the archipelago comprised of the island of Great Britain, the island of Ireland, and over 1000 surrounding smaller islands such as the Hebrides and the Channel Islands. show less

---

Athens^[5] is the capital of Greece.

15a   The French and British soon to meet /in/ the country (7)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

Anon^[5] is an archaic informal term meaning soon or shortly ⇒ I'll see you anon.

---

Lebanon^[5] is a country in the Middle East, with a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea.

16a   Mist /with/ tree not totally visible (4)

"tree" = HAZEL (show explanation )

The hazel^[5] is a temperate shrub or small tree with broad leaves, bearing prominent male catkins in spring and round hard-shelled edible nuts in autumn.

hide explanation

20a   Criminal // who robbed the rich? (4)

Robin Hood^[5] was a semi-legendary English medieval outlaw, reputed to have robbed the rich and helped the poor. Although he is generally associated with Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, it seems likely that the real Robin Hood operated in Yorkshire in the early 13th century.

21a   Butterfly -- // something flying up, keeping very quiet (7)

In cricket, skyer^[5] (or skier) denotes a hit which goes very high.

"very quiet" = PP (show explanation )

Pianissimo^[5,10] (abbreviation pp^[5,10]) is a direction used in music to mean either (as an adjective) very soft or very quiet or (as an adverb) very softly or very quietly.

hide explanation

---

The skipper^[5] is a small brownish mothlike butterfly with rapid darting flight.

25a   After study look for // mastery (8)

"study"= CON (show explanation )

Con^[5] is an archaic term meaning to study attentively or learn by heart (a piece of writing)  ⇒ the girls conned their pages with a great show of industry.

hide explanation

Quest^[5] (verb) is used a literary sense meaning to search for or seek out ⇒ they quest wisdom.

26a   Spite /shown by/ nasty little creatures following mum (6)

28a   Obsequious // host following modern miss around (6)

29a   Circumspection /of/ one head backing conflict (8)

"head" = NESS (show explanation )

Ness^[5] (a term usually found in place names) means a headland or promontory ⇒ Orford Ness.

hide explanation

30a   Some monument undraped /and/ plain (6)

"plain" = TUNDRA (show explanation )

The tundra^[5] is a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen.

hide explanation

31a   Receiver of holy letter about hostelry /gets/ unpleasant sensation (8)

The Epistle to Titus^[5] is a book of the New Testament, an epistle of St Paul addressed to St Titus^*.

---

^* St Titus^[5] (1st century AD) was a Greek churchman. A convert and helper of St Paul, he was traditionally the first bishop of Crete.

Tinnitus^[5] is a medical term for a ringing or buzzing in the ears.

Down

1d   Ornament // Edward found in stream (6)

Beck^[5] is a Northern English dialect term for a stream.

2d   Imprisoned // at home, expressed grief audibly (6)

3d   Be joining skipper finally on ship -- // a German (8)

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat writes the answer is ... a doughnut. A Berliner[5] is a doughnut with jam filling and vanilla icing. There is a widespread misperception (see Comment #9 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog) that U.S. President John F. Kennedy made an embarrassing mistake by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner"[7] ("I am a Berliner") in a June 26, 1963 speech in West Berlin.  (show more ) By not leaving out the indefinite article "ein," he supposedly changed the meaning of the sentence from the intended "I am a citizen of Berlin" to "I am a Berliner" (a Berliner being a type of German pastry, similar to a jelly doughnut).  However, according to Wikipedia that is an "urban legend"[7] — albeit one perpetuated by such well-known institutions as The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, MSNBC, CNN, and Time magazine as well as several novels and "nonfiction" works. It seems that "fake news" predates Donald Trump. According to some grammar texts, the indefinite article can be omitted in German when speaking of an individual's profession or origin but is in any case used when speaking in a figurative sense (as Kennedy was doing). show less

4d   Pleasant // member of family becoming heartless (4)

6d   More than one saw // notice over long period (6)

7d   General /as/ one who would eat human flesh hot not cold! (8)

Hannibal^[5,7,10] (247–182 BC) was a Carthaginian general. In the second Punic War (218–201) he invaded Italy, crossing the Alps with an army including war elephants and about 40,000 men, and repeatedly defeated the Romans, but failed to take Rome itself.

8d   Those left, having ignored a // prompt (8)

11d   Agent having imbibed drink, upset, // bad-tempered (7)

"drink" = PORT (show explanation )

Port^[5] (also port wine) is a strong, sweet dark red (occasionally brown or white) fortified wine, originally from Portugal, typically drunk as a dessert wine. The name is a shortened form of Oporto, a major port from which the wine is shipped.

hide explanation

---

Stroppy^[5] is an informal British term meaning bad-tempered and argumentative ⇒ Patricia was getting stroppy.

14d   Sailor on a steamship, // incompetent fool (7)

"sailor" = JACK (show explanation )

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.

hide explanation

"steamship" = SS (show explanation )

SS^[5] is the abbreviation for steamship ⇒ the SS Canberra.

hide explanation

17d   Stocky // England batsman once in tricky test (8)

Graeme Hick^[5] is a former English cricketer, born in Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe), who played for England [the cricket team that represents England in international competition].

Scratching the Surface
Test[5] (short for Test match)[5] denotes an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries ⇒ the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies.

18d   Huge quantity // swirling in a tum, no? (8)

Scratching the Surface
Tum[2] is a colloquial British name for the stomach.

19d   Vet, I will struggle with an ox /creating/ bother (8)

22d   Seabird // spotted in wonderful Margate (6)

The fulmar^[5] is a gull-sized grey and white seabird of the petrel family, with a stocky body and tubular nostrils.

Scratching the Surface
Margate[7] is a seaside town in East Kent, England. For at least 250 years, Margate has been a leading seaside resort in the UK, drawing Londoners to its beaches, Margate Sands.

23d   Boss dismissing men /is/ not mincing words (6)

"men" = OR (show explanation )

In the British armed forces, the term other ranks^[5] (abbreviation OR^[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

hide explanation

24d   Big meals, // fine food, with seconds devoured (6)

"fine" = F (show explanation )

F^[5] is an abbreviation for fine, as used in describing grades of pencil lead [a usage that Oxford Dictionaries surprisingly characterizes as British].

hide explanation

27d   Christmas visitors // marvellous? Not entirely (4)

Magic^[2,5] (adjective, also used as an exclamation) is a colloquial British term denoting excellent, marvellous, great, wonderful, or exciting ⇒ it was a great time, magic.

In Christianity, the Magi^[2] (plural of magus) were the three wise men or astrologers from the east who brought gifts to the infant Jesus, guided by a star. Also called the Three Kings and the Three Wise Men.

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