Thursday, May 16, 2018 — DT 28638

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28638
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28638]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By 2Kiwis
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★★
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

I always find Jay's puzzles to be entertaining which this one is. It's also not too difficult.

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   Fish around Isle of Man /may be/ source of energy (7)

The Isle of Man^[5] (abbreviation IOM^[5]) is an island in the Irish Sea (show more ).

The island is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system. It was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes.

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9a   Building material // argument against Mediterranean island (8)

Crete^[5] is a Greek island in the eastern Mediterranean (show more ).

Crete is noted for the remains of the Minoan civilization which flourished there in the 2nd millennium BC. It fell to Rome in 67 BC and was subsequently ruled by Byzantines, Venetians, and Turks. Crete played an important role in the Greek struggle for independence from the Turks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming administratively part of an independent Greece in 1913.

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10a   People /having/ scruples about origin of trees (7)

11a   Insinuation /of/ popular sister taking Ecstasy before party (8)

"Ecstasy" = E (show explanation )

E^[5] is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy^* or a tablet of Ecstasy ⇒ (i) people have died after taking E; (ii) being busted with three Es can lead to stiff penalties.

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^* Ecstasy^[5] is an illegal amphetamine-based synthetic drug with euphoric effects, originally produced as an appetite suppressant. Also called MDMA (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine).

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12a   Buddy left gold /showing/ a lack of colour (6)

"gold" = OR (show explanation )

Or^[5] is gold or yellow, as a heraldic tincture.

In heraldry, a tincture^[5] is any of the conventional colours (including the metals and stains, and often the furs) used in coats of arms.

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Here and There
From a British perspective, buddy[5] is an informal North American term* for a close friend ⇒ they had become the best of buddies. * The equivalent British term would be 'mate'.

13a   New fruit pots containing Eastern // biscuits (5,5)

Here and There
The British use the term biscuit[3,4,11] to refer to a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or crackers in North America. A North American biscuit[5] is similar to what is known in Britain as a scone.

In the solution, Jay appears to have employed a "US plural".

A petit four^[10] (plural petits fours^*)  is any of various very small rich sweet cakes and biscuits [cookies] , usually decorated with fancy icing, marzipan, etc. 

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^* or, alternatively in the US, petit fours^[12]

15a   Hat // like picador displays (4)

A kepi^[5] is a French military cap with a horizontal peak.

Scratching the Surface
In bullfighting, a picador[5] is a person on horseback who goads the bull with a lance.

16a   Generic shifts observed by company // caretaker (9)

21a   Opportunity to purchase // small beer (4)

Scratching the Surface
Although it does not appear to fit the context here, small beer[5] is a British expression denoting a thing that is considered unimportant ⇒ even with £10,000 to invest, you are still small beer for most stockbrokers.

22a   Masculine type goes public, /producing/ delivery vehicles (4,6)

Float^[5] could be used in either of the following senses:

• to put forward (an idea) as a suggestion or test of reactions
• to offer the shares of (a company) for sale on the stock market for the first time

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Float^[5,10] is a British term for a small delivery vehicle, especially one powered by batteries ⇒ a milk float.

24a   Championships /appearing in/ TV credits (6)

25a   Lab equipment // trial with London Underground (4,4)

The Tube^[5] is a British trademark for the underground railway system in London ⇒ a cross-London trek on the Tube. The term "the tube" can also refer to a train running on the Tube ⇒ I caught the tube home.

27a   Persuasive talk /from/ Liberal in argument (7)

"Liberal" = L (show more )

The Liberal Party^[5] (abbreviation Lib.^[5] or L^[2])^* in Britain emerged in the 1860s from the old Whig Party and until the First World War was one of the two major parties in Britain. In 1988 the party regrouped with elements of the Social Democratic Party to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, now known as the Liberal Democrats. However, a small Liberal Party still exists although it has no representation in the UK Parliament, no Members of the European Parliament (MEP), no members of the Scottish Parliament, nor any members of the National Assembly for Wales.^[7] Today, the party holds only a handful of seats at the local government level.

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^* Although Lib.^[5] may be the more common abbreviation for the Liberal Party in Britain — likely to distinguish it from the the Labour Party^[5] (abbreviation Lab.^[5]) — Chambers 21st Century Dictionary indicates that L^[2] may also be used.

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Barney^[5] is an informal British term for a quarrel, especially a noisy one ⇒ we had a barney about his being drunk.

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Blarney^[5] is talk which aims to charm, flatter, or persuade (often considered typical of Irish people) ⇒ it took all my Irish blarney to keep us out of court.

28a   Learned /from/ two journalists accepting a cut criminally (8)

29a   Agents in Laos unhappily // shunning company (7)

"agents" = CIA (show explanation )

The Central Intelligence Agency^[5] (abbreviation CIA) is a federal agency in the US responsible for coordinating government intelligence activities. Established in 1947 and originally intended to operate only overseas, it has since also operated in the US.

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Down

2d   Mislaid details about head of Olympics /being/ quarantined (8)

3d   London police in charge, kettling everybody — /that's/ harsh (8)

The Met^[5] denotes the Metropolitan Police in London — otherwise known as Scotland Yard (show more ).

The Metropolitan Police Service^[7] (widely known informally as the Met^[5]) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police. The Met also has significant national responsibilities such as co-ordinating and leading on counter-terrorism matters and protection of the British Royal Family and senior figures of Her Majesty's Government. The Met is also referred to by the metonym Scotland Yard after the location of its original headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The Met's current headquarters is New Scotland Yard, in Victoria.

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What did they say?
In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis write The London police (not Scotland Yard, the other ones) .... This would have been better put as "A nickname for The London police (not Scotland Yard, the other one) ...".

"in charge" = IC (show explanation )

The abbreviation i/c^[2,5] can be short for either:

• (especially in military contexts) in charge (of) ⇒ the Quartermaster General is i/c rations
• in command (of) ⇒ 2 i/c = second in command.

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Kettle^[5] is a British term (said of the police) meaning to confine (a group of demonstrators or protesters) to a small area, as a method of crowd control during a demonstration ⇒ the plan was to get as close to the protest as possible without getting kettled.

4d   All a person needs to change // energy supplier (5,5)

5d   Depressed, // out of action, // drink (4)

6d   Scrape involving right // messy sort (6)

Scruff^[5] is an informal British term for a person with a dirty or untidy appearance.

7d   Most of dwelling accommodating a German /is/ atrocious (7)

"the German" = EIN (show explanation )

In German, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is ein^[8].

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8d   Courage, /as/ the girl's love is married (7)

"love" = O (show explanation )

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).

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11d   Complicated // at home, worried after endless deception (9)

I interpreted eat^[10] in the sense of to cause to worry or make anxious ⇒ what's eating you?.

However, in their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis suggest a different explanation.

Worry^[5] (said of a dog or other carnivorous animal) means to tear at or pull about with the teeth ⇒ I found my dog contentedly worrying a bone.

14d   Goes and covers roof /and/ points of entry (10)

Tile^[10] means to cover (in this case, a roof) with tiles (a common roofing material in Britain).

17d   Mysterious // English boozer to the north of Morecambe (8)

The British comic duo Morecambe and Wise^[7] (also known as Eric and Ernie), comprised of Eric Morecambe (1926-1984) and Ernie Wise (1925–1999), were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced".

Born John Eric Bartholomew, Morecambe^[7] took his stage name from his home town, the seaside resort of Morecambe.

Scratching the Surface
Morecambe[7] is a town on Morecambe Bay in Lancashire, England.

18d   A mistress full of energy needs a // special cosmetic ingredient (4,4)

"energy" = E (show explanation )

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

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Aloe vera^[5] is a gelatinous substance obtained from the aloe vera plant, used especially in cosmetics as an emollient.

19d   Suppress // son and parent (7)

20d   Shut down, /getting/ shot (5-2)

23d   Tycoon/'s/ overweight pet? (3,3)

Is " overweight pet" a second definition or a charade? I admit that I initially saw it as the former. However, when it came time to underline it, I realized that it is simply a charade.

26d   Fostered // source of rancour in graduate teacher (4)

A Bachelor of Education^[7] (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools, though in some countries additional work must be done in order for the student to be fully qualified to teach.

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