Thursday, May 24, 2018 — DT 28643

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28643
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28643]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Mr K
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

This puzzle offers an enjoyable solve that incorporates a few rather unfamiliar usages of common words.

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   Courage // to pull out (5)

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Mr K informs us that the first definition produces a word for courage derived from its meaning of the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal. Pluck[5] is a name for the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal as food. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary: pluck (n.) c. 1400, "act of plucking," from pluck (v.). Meaning "courage, boldness" (1785), originally in pugilism slang, is a figurative use from earlier meaning "heart, viscera" (1610s) as that which is "plucked" from slaughtered livestock. Perhaps influenced by figurative use of the verb in pluck up (one's courage, etc.), attested from c. 1300.

4a   Identify all letters /in/ time (5)

10a   County // partition comprising cereal crop? (8)

Cornwall^[5] is a county occupying the extreme southwestern peninsula of England.

11a   Royal Engineers in temper, // tied up (6)

"Royal Engineers" = RE (show explanation )

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

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12a   Pretty // tune carried by little creature (6)

Pretty^[5] (adverb) means to a moderately high degree or fairly ⇒ (i) he looked pretty fit for his age; (ii) it was a pretty bad injury.

13a   Vehicle I abandoned, // gone! (8)

14a   Crucial game // ends in unexpected failure: drink! (7)

A decider^[5] is a game, goal, point, etc. that settles a contest or series of contests.

16a   Musical // organ behind orchestra leader (6)

Oliver!^[7] is a British musical based on English writer Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. It premièred in London's West End in 1960 and on Broadway in 1963 and was made into a musical film in 1968.

17a   Trout swimming around black // fish (6)

"black" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for black used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ 2B pencils.

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The turbot^[5] is a European flatfish of inshore waters, which has large bony tubercles on the body and is prized as food.

19a   Suppose // papa has to start again (7)

Papa^[5] is a code word representing the letter P, used in radio communication.

21a   Beginning in Norway, Laotian moving // across the country (8)

22a   Minister /in/ power tries to reform (6)

"power" = P (show explanation )

In physics, P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power [among other things] in mathematical formulae.

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23a   Little // affront (6)

24a   New Testament book including Church of England // stories (8)

Romans^[10] is a book of the New Testament (in full The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans), containing one of the fullest expositions of the doctrines of Saint Paul, written in 58 AD.

"Church of England" = 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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25a   Dull writing // needs beauty on page (5)

"page" = P (show explanation )

In textual references, the abbreviation for page is p^[5] ⇒ see p 784.

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Prose^[5] is used in the sense of plain or dull writing, discourse, or expression ⇒ closely typed in best office prose.

While the clue shown above was published in the printed edition of The Daily Telegraph, a different version appeared on the Telegraph Puzzles website:

• Dull writing // increased on page (5)

26a   Cheap drink // put down carelessly (5)

Plonk^[5] is an informal British term for cheap wine of inferior quality ⇒ we turned up at 8 p.m., each clutching a bottle of plonk.

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Origin: 1930s (originally Australian) probably an alteration of blanc in French vin blanc ‘white wine’

Down

2d   Sign sailor died /in/ onesie (7)

In astrology, Leo^[10] (also called the Lion) is the fifth sign of the zodiac, symbol ♌, having a fixed fire classification and ruled by the sun. The sun is in this sign between about July 23 and Aug 22.

"sailor" = TAR (show explanation )

Tar^[5] is an informal, dated nickname for a sailor. The term came into use in the mid 17th century and is perhaps an abbreviation of tarpaulin, also used as a nickname for a sailor at that time.

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You Be the Judge

A British onesie is quite a different garment than a North American onesie. Actually, the North American version bears far more resemblance to a leotard than does the British version. A leotard[5] is a close-fitting one-piece garment, made of a stretchy fabric, which covers a person's body from the shoulders to the top of the thighs, worn by dancers or people exercising indoors. A British onesie[5] is a loose-fitting one-piece leisure garment covering the torso and legs ⇒ I'd had a bath and was in my onesie ready to settle down for yet another reality TV marathon. A North American  onesie[5] is a one-piece close-fitting lightweight garment worn by a young child, usually having sleeves but leaving the legs uncovered and fastening with press studs [snaps] at the crotch.

3d   Shorten link /in/ game (8,6)

Contract bridge^[10] is the most common variety of the card game bridge, in which the declarer receives points counting towards game and rubber only for tricks bid and made, with any additional tricks (overtricks) counting as bonus points.

5d   State supports friend /making/ unnecessary fuss (7)

Here and There
Palaver[2] is used in a seemingly British sense meaning a long, boring, complicated and seemingly pointless exercise; in other words, an unnecessary fuss ⇒ What a palaver!. * American dictionaries list palaver[3,11] as meaning either idle chatter or talk intended to charm or beguile.

6d   Fish // left lonesome at sea (5,4)

Lemon sole^[5] is not a fish recipe but rather a common European flatfish of the plaice family. It is an important food fish.

7d   Quick // money earned, cash initially invested (4)

Pacy^[5] (also pacey) [conspicuously absent from American dictionaries] is an adjective meaning moving or progressing quickly ⇒ a pacy thriller.

8d   Prescribed stroll, // authorised (14)

Constitutional^[5] is a dated term for a walk taken regularly to maintain or restore good health^* ⇒ she went out for a constitutional.

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^* Given its purpose, it might well have been recommended by a physician.

9d   Sheltered by sympathiser, enemies // calm (6)

15d   Switch rotated on // explosive device (9)

18d   Functional // Italian island retreats headed by American (6)

Elba^[5] is a small island off the west coast of Italy, famous as the place of Napoleon’s first exile (1814–15).

19d   Star/'s/ path originally followed by sailor adrift (7)

Polaris^[5] is another name for the Pole Star^[5] (also North Star), a fairly bright star located within one degree of the celestial north pole, in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is a triple star, the bright component of which is a cepheid variable.

Scratching the Surface

Because Polaris[7] lies nearly in a direct line with the axis of the Earth's rotation "above" the North Pole—the north celestial pole—Polaris stands almost motionless in the sky, and all the stars of the northern sky appear to rotate around it*. Therefore, it makes an excellent fixed point from which to draw measurements for celestial navigation. * As is well demonstrated by the illustration in Mr K's review.

20d   Festival, North // Japanese possibly? (7)

Festival^[3] is used in the sense of an occasion for feasting or celebration, especially a day or time of religious significance that recurs at regular intervals.

22d   Father's enthralling mass // ceremony (4)

"mass" = M (show explanation )

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

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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