Wednesday, April 11, 2018 — DT 28612

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28612
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, December 16, 2017
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28612 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28612 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (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

The blog appears late today, not due to me forgetting to press 'Publish', but because of too many other things on my plate.

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   Simple dish // homeless patient cooked (7,8)

A Spanish omelette may be a simple dish but dictionaries provide varying recipes for it.

One camp favours tomatoes, onions, and green peppers:

• Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary: an omelet made with tomatoes, onions, and green peppers^[11]
• Webster’s New World College Dictionary: (US) an omelet folded around a sauce of chopped onion, green pepper, and tomato^[12]
• Collins English Dictionary: an omelette made by adding green peppers, onions, tomato, etc, to the eggs^[4,10]

A second group supplements the above ingredients with potatoes or perhaps even replaces them entirely with potatoes:

• Chambers 21st Century Dictionary: a type of omelette that contains diced vegetables such as potato, peppers, onion, tomato, etc and which is often served without being folded over^[2]
• Oxford Dictionaries: an omelette containing chopped vegetables, especially potatoes, often served open rather than folded^[5]

One dictionary goes so far as to define two separate variants:

• American Heritage Dictionary: (1) an omelet served with an often spicy sauce of tomatoes, onions, and peppers or (2) an omelet filled with sliced, fried potatoes and onions (also called Spanish tortilla)^[3]

Finally one dictionary just throws in the towel and declares:

• The Chambers Dictionary: an omelette made with various vegetables^[1]

The dictionaries also cannot agree as to whether the dish should be served open or folded and, of course, the US dictionaries spell the second word as omelet.

9a   Very small isle/'s/ missile (9)

The Isle of Man^[5] is an island in the Irish Sea which is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system.

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The Minuteman^[7] is a United States land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

10a   A place to keep things // up (5)

11a   Material /from/ lake along with piece of land in it? (5)

Lisle^[5] (also lisle thread) is a fine, smooth cotton thread used especially for stockings ⇒ (i) black lisle stockings; (ii) silks, lisles, and chiffons.

12a   Act to secure Spielberg film//  an Oscar perhaps (9)

"Spielberg film" = ET (show explanation )

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

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Oscar^[5] (trademark in the US) is the nickname for a gold statuette given as an award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, presented annually since 1928 for achievement in the film industry in various categories.

13a   Plant/'s/ automated payment system rejected debts (8)

BACS^[10] is an acronym for Bankers' Automated Clearing System, a method used in the UK of making payments direct to a creditor's bank without using a cheque.

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Scabious^[5] is a plant of the teasel family, with pink, white, or (most commonly) blue pincushion-shaped flowers.

14a   Progress // of you and me in Anglican Church (6)

"Anglican church" = CE (show explanation )

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

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Anglican^[5] (adjective) means relating to or denoting the Church of England or any Church in communion with it.

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Origin: from the Latin phrase Anglicana ecclesia 'the English church' in the Magna Carta

16a   Monitors // report of Bohemians (6)

Bohemia^[5] is a region forming the western part of the Czech Republic. Formerly a Slavic kingdom, it became a province of the newly formed Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

18a   Toper // or libertine mostly in retreat, held by doctor and in Germany (8)

In German, und^[8] is a conjunction meaning 'and'.

22a   Flops // create serif, apparently (9)

This clue is an instance of reverse wordplay. The solution (BACKFIRES) can be viewed as consisting of a reversal indicator (BACK) combined with fodder (FIRES). When this wordplay is executed, it produces the outcome "SERIF" (a reversal of FIRES) that can be found in the clue itself. The split phrase "create ... apparently" in the clue is the reverse wordplay indicator.

This is the reverse of the situation we find in a 'normal' clue, where the wordplay appears in the clue and the outcome arising from the execution of the wordplay is found in the solution.

A reverse wordplay clue is not unlike the premise of the TV game show Jeopardy — where contestants are given the answer and must respond with a question. Here the solver is given the outcome of the wordplay operation and must find the indicator and fodder which would produce it.

Personally, having a background in mathematics and engineering, I would much prefer to use the term 'inverse wordplay' rather than 'reverse wordplay' as this type of construct is analogous to the concept of inverse functions found in those fields. Furthermore, describing the present clue as an "inverse reversal' seems so much more elegant than calling it a 'reverse reversal'.

However, I have resigned myself to the fact that this idea is unlikely to find traction.

23a   Pound // belonging to Heath Robinson (5)

Scratching the Surface

William Heath Robinson[7] (signed as W. Heath Robinson, 1872–1944) was an English cartoonist and illustrator, best known for drawings of eccentric machines. In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson" has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption, similar to "Rube Goldberg" in the U.S. It is perhaps more often used in relation to temporary fixes using ingenuity and whatever is to hand, often string and tape, or unlikely cannibalisations. Its popularity is undoubtedly linked to Second World War Britain's shortages and the need to "make do and mend".

24a   Honour an independent // Arab (5)

"order" = OM (show explanation )

The Order of Merit^[7] (abbreviation OM^[5]) is a dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by King Edward VII, admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, and is limited to 24 living recipients at one time from these countries plus a limited number of honorary members. The current membership includes one Canadian (former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien).

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"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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An Omani^[5] is an inhabitant of Oman^[5,7], officially the Sultanate of Oman, an Arab country at the southeastern corner of the Arabian peninsula.

25a   Person awaited on stage to hold mass, that woman/'s/ sponsor (9)

Waiting for Godot^[5] is a play by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), in which two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), wait for the arrival of someone named Godot who never arrives, and while waiting they engage in a variety of discussions and encounter three other characters. In a poll conducted by the British Royal National Theatre in 1990 it was voted the "most significant English language play of the 20th century".

"mass" = M (show explanation )

In physics, m^[5] is a symbol used to represent mass in mathematical formulae.

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A godmother^[5] is a woman who presents a child at baptism and promises to take responsibility for their religious education.

26a   Provider of child benefits /in/ disorganised firm hates charts (6,9)

Down

1d   Looks happy picking up current // figures of speech (7)

"current" = I (show explanation )

In physics, I^[5] is a symbol used to represent electric current in mathematical formulae.

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2d   Forgetting // men injured in the East (7)

3d   Imprisoned frequently, I am last to escape // with moments to spare (2,3,4,2,4)

The nick^[5] is an informal British term for prison ⇒ he’ll end up in the nick for the rest of his life.

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, gnomethang presents a very interesting parsing for this clue. I (as did Big Dave) parsed the wordplay in a rather more mundane fashion IN THE NICK (imprisoned) + OFT (frequently) + IM (I am; contraction) + E (last [letter] to escapE).

4d   Simple // detective left out joke (8)

Sherlock Holmes^[7] is a fictional character created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). A London-based "consulting detective" whose abilities border on the fantastic, Holmes is known for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to adopt almost any disguise and his use of forensic science to solve difficult cases.

5d   Servant // reclined, getting up after me (6)

Menial^[5] (noun) is a dated term for a domestic servant.

6d   A felonious agent corrupted // worldwide body once (6,2,7)

The League of Nations^[5] was an association of countries established in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles to promote international cooperation and achieve international peace and security. It was powerless to stop Italian, German, and Japanese expansionism leading to the Second World War, and was replaced by the United Nations in 1945.

7d   Foot, // Left-winger with short period in office (7)

Trot^[5] is an informal, chiefly derogatory term for a Trotskyist or supporter of extreme left-wing views ⇒ (i) a band of subversive Trots; (ii) he declared that the Corporation was a ‘nest of long-haired Trots’.

Trotter^[5] could mean either:

• a pig's foot used as food ⇒ (i) brawn [headcheese] would be made from the trotters and the ears; (ii) he lay down the half-eaten trotter
• (humorous) a human foot ⇒ dainty little trotters

Scratching the Surface
Michael Foot[7] (1913–2010) was a British Labour Party politician and man of letters. He was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983.

8d   Limit // time among former Engineers (7)

The engineers making an appearance today are not the usual Corps of Royal Engineers^[5] (abbreviation RE^[5]) but rather the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers^[7] (abbreviation REME; pronounced phonetically as "Reemee"), a corps of the British Army that has responsibility for the maintenance, servicing and inspection of almost every electrical and mechanical piece of equipment within the British Army from battle tanks and helicopters to dental tools and cooking equipment/utensils.

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^* the field engineering and construction corps of the British army who are also known as the sappers

15d   Holy warrior // terribly scared about pursuit of Saracens (8)

Saracens Football Club^[7] are an English professional rugby union team based in London, England. Established in 1876, they currently play in the English Premiership, the top level of domestic rugby union in England, and are the reigning champions of the European Rugby Champions Cup, which they have won twice consecutively, in 2016 and 2017.

Rugby union^[10] (abbreviation RU^[5]) is a form of rugby football played between teams of 15 players (in contrast to rugby league^[5], which is played in teams of thirteen).

A crusader^[5] is a fighter [on the European side] in the Crusades^[5], a series of medieval military expeditions made by Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries.

Scratching the Surface
The meaning of Saracen[10] has evolved over the ages. At the time of the Roman Empire, it meant a member of one of the nomadic Arabic tribes, especially of the Syrian desert, that harassed the borders of the Roman Empire in that region. Later, at the time of the crusades, the name was used for a Muslim, especially one who opposed the crusades. Later yet again, the term came to mean any Arab.

16d   Bread // making cool, fab rock (7)

Cobloaf (alternate spelling of cob loaf^[10]) is another term for cob^[10], a British term for a round loaf of bread.

17d   Liking to take top off /displaying/ charm (7)

19d   A poor actor receiving support /in/ Lincoln? (7)

Abraham Lincoln^[5] (1809–1865) was an American Republican statesman, 16th President of the US 1861-5.

Scratching the Surface
The surface reading might allude to Lincoln[7], a 2012 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln. On the other hand, it may merely be a reference to the English east coast county of Lincoln[10] (short for Lincolnshire[5]).

20d   Girl coming out on craft // abandons ship (7)

Debark^[10] is a less common word for disembark.

21d   Very unfortunate // US soldier in vehicle overturned (6)

"US soldier" = GI (show explanation )

A GI^[5] is a private soldier in the US army ⇒ she went off with a GI during the war.

Contrary to popular belief, the term apparently is not an abbreviation for general infantryman, but rather derives from the term government (or general) issue (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces).

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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