Thursday, May 10, 2018 — DT 28633

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28633
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, January 11, 2018
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28633]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Kath
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, RayT adds yet another fairly benign mental workout to the string we have enjoyed all week.

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

7a   Altering in development /becomes/ intrinsic (8)

9a   Some cut opiate /leading to/ bliss (6)

Utopia^[5] is an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect ⇒ (i) misplaced faith in political utopias has led to ruin; (ii) a romantic vision of Utopia.

---

Origin: the word was first used in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More.

Delving Deeper
Utopia[7] is a work of fiction and political philosophy by English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) published in 1516 in Latin. The work describes the political system of an imaginary ideal island nation.

10a   Double // victory by close of tournament (4)

11a   Represent // criminals with connection, hiding irritated expression (10)

12a   Tour the French /will make/ three times (6)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

14a   Part, in essence, reveals // theatricality (8)

15a   Doubtful after sermon, extremely // condescending (6)

Sniffy^[11] is an informal term denoting inclined to sniff, as in scorn; in other words, disdainful.

17a   Straight // leading man then oddly embraced (6)

20a   Sweet-talk - // dupes are converted (8)

22a   Leader of English gathers backing /and/ respect (6)

23a   Female faces fee increase, accommodating new // consort (10)

24a   Like to be seen in church /in/ suit (4)

"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.

hide explanation

---

This is a suit heard before a judge.

25a   Help rejected in pub // restaurant? (6)

Indian^[5] is an informal British term for an Indian meal or restaurant.

26a   Adolescent // born to revolt in great agitating (8)

Down

1d   Unknowingly // posh answer — piercing answer, unfortunately (8)

"posh" = U (show explanation )

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners.

The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable). 

hide explanation

2d   Government announced // control (4)

3d   Sage /and/ onion top left in stock (6)

4d   Sex described by discreet // text on screen (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.

---

^* Chambers 21st Century Dictionary considers this 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").

The use of the word "described" as a containment indicator is a common cryptic crossword device which relies on describe^[1,2,12] being used in the sense of to trace the outline of or delineate ⇒ skaters describing circles on the ice.

Thus, in today's clue, we have IT (sex) contained by (described by) SUBTLE (discreet) with the rationale for the wordplay being that the container (SUBTLE) forms an outline around the contained entity (IT).

5d   Body // beginning to glaciate in Antarctica? (10)

The question mark indicates that "Antarctica" is an example of the term needed.

6d   'Good Morning America' welcoming a time /for/ break (6)

Scratching the Surface
Good Morning America[7] is an American morning television show that is broadcast on the ABC television network.

8d   Starts to lead imposingly, approaching // straight (6)

13d   Plant // in a pot is potentially harbouring alien (10)

"alien" = 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.

hide explanation

16d   Shameless // criminal absconded within walls of Fleet (8)

Lag^[5] is an informal British term for a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison ⇒ both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

Scratching the Surface
Fleet Prison[7] was a notorious London prison by the side of the River Fleet. The prison was built in 1197, was rebuilt several times, and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.

18d   Go too far, // partner being topless on march (8)

19d   Snooze, burying one's // face defiantly (6)

21d   Task // Queen performed on opening of do (6)

"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.

hide explanation

22d   Regular supporting the Spanish // team (6)

"the Spanish" = EL (show explanation )

In Spanish, the masculine singular form of the definite article is el^[8].

hide explanation

---

Eleven^[5] (often appearing as a Roman numeral XI) is the number of players in^* a cricket^[7] side [team] or an Association football^[7] [soccer] team — and is frequently used as a metonym for such a team ⇒ at cricket I played in the first eleven.

---

^* Note that in Britain a player is "in a side" or "in a team" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America.

24d   Chinwag harmlessly about trivialities initially (4)

In this semi-all-in-one clue, the definition is embedded within the wordplay which constitutes the entire clue.

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