Tuesday, June 5, 2018 — DT 28651

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28651
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, February 1, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28651]
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's mystery setter serves up a reasonably entertaining and not overly difficult exercise.

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   Revenue // including award close to unbelievable (6)

"award" = 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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4a   Means of communication // developed in chalet (8)

Chatline^[10,14] (also chat line) is a British term for a telephone service enabling callers to join in general conversation with each other ⇒ She started using chat lines basically for someone to talk to.

10a   Flight case? (9)

11a   Stylish // seconds displayed by marketplace (5)

12a   US city /showing/ elegance in the past (7)

13a   First woman carrying official document recalled /as/ devious (7)

"first woman" = EVE (show explanation )

In the Bible, Eve^[5,10] is the first woman, mother of the human race, fashioned by God from the rib of Adam, companion of Adam and mother of Cain and Abel^* [Genesis 2:18-25].

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^* not to mention Seth and her other sons and daughters [Gen 5:4]

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14a   Tedium /of/ bridge opponents facing night in Calais without end (5)

In the card game bridge, North^[5] and South^[5] comprise one partnership and play against East^[5] and West^[5] who form the other partnership.

Calais^[5] is a ferry port in northern France. Captured by Edward III in 1347 after a long siege, it remained an English possession until it was retaken by the French in 1558.

The French word for 'night' is nuit^[8].

15a   Perhaps fat // Greek character will accompany one in river (8)

Nu^[5] is the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Ν, ν).

The Trent^[5] is the chief river of central England, which rises in Staffordshire and flows 275 km (170 miles) generally north-eastwards, uniting with the River Ouse 25 km (15 miles) west of Hull to form the Humber estuary.

18a   Noted painting // represented animals round circle (4,4)

The word "represented" is deceptively used in lieu of re-presented^[5], meaning to present (something) again, especially for further consideration or in an altered form.

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The Mona Lisa^[5] is a painting (now in the Louvre in Paris) executed 1503–6 by Leonardo da Vinci. The sitter was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo; her enigmatic smile has become one of the most famous images in Western art.

20a   Crucial factor for a chef /in/ style (5)

23a   A voluntary group see ship // in confusion (2,1,4)

"voluntary group" = TA (show explanation )

In the UK, Territorial Army^[5] (abbreviation TA^[5]) was, at one time, the name of a volunteer force founded in 1908 to provide a reserve of trained and disciplined military personnel for use in an emergency. Since 2013, this organization has been called the Army Reserve.

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"see" = LO (show explanation )

Lo^[5] is an archaic exclamation used to draw attention to an interesting or amazing event ⇒ and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them.

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"ship" = SS (show explanation )

In Crosswordland, a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[5] ⇒ the SS Canberra.

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At a loss^[10] is used in the sense of uncertain what to do or bewildered.

25a   Car and tree obscured // row of houses (7)

As an anagram indicator, obscure^[5] is used in the sense of make unclear and difficult to understand.

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Terrace^[5] is a British term for:

• a row of houses built in one block in a uniform style ⇒ an attractive Regency terrace 
• an individual house in a terrace ⇒ modern furniture looks out of place in your Victorian terrace

26a   Motivated // swarm of people (5)

27a   'Knight time' -- humorous // feature in advertising? (4,5)

"knight" = N (show explanation )

A knight^[5] is a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a horse’s head, that moves by jumping to the opposite corner of a rectangle two squares by three. Each player starts the game with two knights.

N^[5] is the abbreviation for knight used in recording moves in chess [representing the pronunciation of kn-, since the initial letter k- represents 'king'].

As an aside, it is interesting to note that the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines: 

• K^[2] as an abbreviation used in chess for knight. 
• K^[2] is a symbol used in chess to represent a king. 
• N^[2] is a symbol used in chess to represent a knight.

The dictionary fails to specify how one differentiates an abbreviation from a symbol.

On the other hand, both The Chambers Dictionary and the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary list K or K.^[1,11] as an abbreviation for knight without specifying the specific context in which this abbreviation is used. However, the context may well be in an honours list rather than in a game of chess. In the UK, for instance, KBE^[5] stands for Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

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28a   Term in EU devised /for/ one defying authority (8)

29a   Cross // mongrel (6)

Does this clue not fail the "double definition" requirement that the two definitions used in the clue not be synonyms of each other? It seems that I am not the only one to feel that way as a couple of comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog make the same point.

Down

1d   At home, tight-knit group pens note // privately? (2,6)

In Britain^*, re is considered to be a variant spelling of ray^[5] which, in solmization, can denote either:

• (in tonic sol-fa) the second note of a major scale
• the note D in the fixed-doh system

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^* Judging by entries in American dictionaries, only the 're' spelling would appear to be used in the US and I would say that this also likely applies in Canada.

2d   Tribal lot round port /producing/ kind of trumpet (7)

Rio de Janeiro^[5] (commonly known as Rio) is a city in eastern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast. The chief port of Brazil, it was the country’s capital from 1763 until 1960, when it was replaced by Brasilia.

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A clarion^[5] (historical) is a shrill narrow-tubed war trumpet.

3d   Drink /and/ spoil a ceremonial event almost in Georgia (9)

"Georgia" = GA (show explanation )

Not only is GA^[5] the abbreviation for the US state of Georgia in official postal use, but Ga^[10] is a common abbreviation for Georgia in other contexts as well.

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A margarita^[5] is a cocktail made with tequila and citrus fruit juice.

5d   Hot and bothered author in hotel, // irritatingly sanctimonious (6,4,4)

6d   Section of libretto's captivating /in/ opera (5)

Tosca^[7] is an opera by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica (1857–1919) and Giuseppe Giacosa (1847–1906). It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1900.

7d   Fashionable to conceal trouble at rising // type of restaurant (7)

8d   Admission /in/ course of dinner? (6)

Here and There

In the US and Canada, an entrée[2,10] is the main course of a meal. Most UK dictionaries, define entrée[2,10] as a dish served before a main course; in particular, a small dish served after the fish course and before the main course at a formal dinner. Strangely, the primary entry in Oxford Dictionaries defines entrée[5] in the US fashion as being the main course of a meal. Does this indicate that the US usage is beginning to take hold in the UK?

9d   A sincere canon's arranged //  initial survey (14)

Scratching the Surface
A canon[5] is a member of the clergy who is on the staff of a cathedral, especially one who is a member of the chapter* ⇒ he was appointed canon of Christ Church, Oxford. * The chapter[5] is the governing body of a religious community or knightly order.

16d   Mutual action /in/ The Caretaker, for instance? Not initially (9)

The Caretaker^[7] is a play by British playwright Harold Pinter (1930–2008). It premiered in London's West End in 1960 and on Broadway in 1961. A film adaptation followed in 1964.

17d   Loathsome // act surrounding trial (8)

19d   Cockney has to enter old stronghold /that's/ rather inferior (2,1,4)

A cockney^[5,10] is a native of East London [specifically that part of East London known as the East End^[5]], traditionally one born within hearing of Bow Bells (the bells of St Mary-le-Bow^[7] church).

Cockney is also the name of the dialect or accent typical of cockneys, which is characterised by dropping the aitch (H) from the beginning of words as well as the use of rhyming slang (show explanation ).

Rhyming slang^[5] is a type of slang that replaces words with rhyming words or phrases, typically with the rhyming element omitted. For example, butcher’s, short for butcher’s hook, means ‘look’ in cockney rhyming slang.

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An aitch dropped by the setter in the clue indicates that the solver must also drop one in the solution.

21d   'Small' bet with grand in // boastful style (7)

The clue parses as S (small: abbrev.) + WAGER (bet) containing (with ... in) G (grand; abbrev.).

The use of the letter 'G' as an abbreviation for 'grand' is a North American usage that the Brits appear to have accepted (show more ).

While the abbreviation G for "grand" is deemed by British dictionaries to be an Americanism, it seems to be one that is well known to Brits — undoubtedly from American gangster films. It is frequently seen in British crossword puzzles and never seems to garner the abuse that usually greets the appearance of American terms.

Grand^[5] is an informal term for a thousand dollars or pounds ⇒ he gets thirty-five grand a year. While the term "grand" itself would seem to be commonly used in the UK, the informal abbreviation G^[5] meaning grand appears to be regarded as a North American usage ⇒ I was up nine Gs on the blackjack tables.

G is defined in various British dictionaries as follows:

• Oxford Dictionaries: (North American informal) abbreviation for grand, a thousand dollars)^[5].
• Chambers 21st Century Dictionary: (North American slang) abbreviation for a grand, 1000 dollars^[2].
• Collins English Dictionary: (mainly US slang) a symbol for grand (a thousand dollars or pounds)^[4,10].

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22d   Managed to get on top of St Paul's, say, briefly -- /that's/ irregular (6)

St Paul's Cathedral^[7] is an Anglican cathedral in London, England. It sits on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London. Its dome, among the highest in the world, has dominated the skyline for over 300 years.

24d   Maybe Indian // company brought up English article (5)

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