Puzzle at a Glance
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Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph
DT 28689 | |
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph
Saturday, March 17, 2018 | |
Setter
Unknown | |
Link to Full Review
Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28689 – Hints]Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28689 – Review] | |
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By
Big Dave (Hints)crypticsue (Review) | |
BD Rating
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| 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
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Notes
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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.
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Introduction
This puzzle appeared in the UK on St. Patrick's Day. Many of those commenting on Big Dave's Crossword Blog are preparing to watch the fifth and final round of the Six Nations Championship. This competition is deemed to represent the rugby union championship of the northern hemisphere. Should you wish to check the results against the predictions (or wishful thinking) of some of the writers, Wales defeated France 14-13, Scotland beat Italy 29-27, and Ireland triumphed over England 24-15. As Ireland had locked up the championship after round four having won their first four games giving them an insurmountable lead, defeating England in round five was icing on the cake (especially given the day on which the match was played).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:
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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)
Explanatory Box
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| 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:
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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.
ExamplesI 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.
A few examples may help to illustrate these points more clearly.
The first example is a clue used by Jay in DT 28573:
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).
- 4d Fellow left work // a failure (4)
The second example is a clue used by Giovanni in DT 28575:
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.
- 29a Female going to match // travels with mother in advance (10)
The third example is a clue used by Rufus is DT 28583:
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/).
- 18d Knight caught by misplaced big blow /is/ staggering (8)
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)
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
1a Snake /and/ rodent let out by river (7)
5a Male in favour of sitting in bed /for/ relaxation (7)
9a Clothes primarily large? Admit // one could be in a big top (5)
The verb own[3,10] can mean to admit or confess and in this sense can be either transitive or intransitive. When intransitive it is often followed by up, to or up to ⇒ (i) [transitive]
I own that I have been sly, thievish, mean, a prevaricator, greedy, derelict, / and I own that I remain so yet(Walt Whitman); (ii) [intransitive]
When confronted with the evidence the thief owned up to the crime.
10a Dancing is a talent /or/ tease (9)
11a Shame about our pal cavorting /to get/ approval (10)
12a Beats a retreat, protecting // powerful ruler (4)
A tsar[5] (also czar or tzar) was an emperor of Russia before 1917.
14a Orders // stir unions to get agitated outside court (12)
"court" = CT (show explanation )
Ct[2] is the abbreviation for Court in street addresses — and possibly in other contexts as well.
hide explanation
Ct[2] is the abbreviation for Court in street addresses — and possibly in other contexts as well.
hide explanation
18a Poorly American with temperature getting fixed portion of food, /for/ example (12)
Poorly[5] (adjective) is a British term meaning unwell ⇒
she looked poorly.
Delving Deeper
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While North Americans might use the word poorly to mean 'in poor health', we would likely use it as an adverb in a statement such as I am feeling poorly today. On the other hand, Oxford Dictionaries provides the following examples of British usage: (i) I didn't manage too many lengths today but I haven't been for 2 weeks since being poorly sick.; (ii) Zoe Bird, 26, was forced to walk for an hour to reach her home with poorly toddler son Ryan after they were forced to leave the car.; (iii) Jakey on the other hand is poorly due to having an injection.. |
21a Beryl regularly consumes a small // piece of cake (4)
22a General/'s/ vast banquet (10)
25a Spouting off about exercises // working (9)
"exercises" = PE (show explanation )
26a Competition // finally reduced by 50 per cent (5)
27a Wanted // gentleman to conceal achievement? On the contrary (7)
The phrase "on the contrary" tells the solver to reverse the logic of the statement immediately preceding it. Doing so restates the wordplay to read "achievement to conceal gentleman".
28a Slim // model's rear shown in poster (7)
A poster[1] is a person who posts [mails] a letter.
Post[5] is a chiefly British* term for mail[5], including in the sense of letters and parcels sent or received.
* In an ironic twist, the post in Britain is delivered by the Royal Mail while, in Canada, the mail is delivered by Canada Post.
Down
1d About to go over impressive lifting // procedure used in the kitchen (6)
2d Men // shown up in conversations, poor things (6)
3d Isolation // unit needed in outbreak of illness (10)
4d It spins up and down (5)
The phrase "up and down" does not provide a second independent means of finding the solution [thus I have not inserted the usual double slashes]. Rather it provides additional information or elaboration related to the definition, telling us that the solution is a palindrome.
5d Fabricate // hamper -- university needs to replace one (9)
6d Miserly // average // plan (4)
This is a triple definition. In the third definition, mean is used in the sense of intend ⇒
what did you mean to do?.
7d Leaving out // nothing on assignment (8)
8d Guess // the pay increase after middle of October (8)
Rise[5] is the British* term for an increase in salary or wages ⇒
non-supervisory staff were given a 5 per cent rise.
13d He tampers with circulation to keep oxygen /in/ air (10)
The symbol for the chemical element oxygen is O[5].
15d Bound to admit blunder, if // scared (9)
16d Tree -- do we set up shelters over // bits chopped up? (8)
"over" = O (show explanation )
On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O[5] denotes over(s), an over[5] being a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.
hide explanation
On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O[5] denotes over(s), an over[5] being a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.
hide explanation
17d Smears -- // they're often seen on children's knees (8)
Here and There
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| Plaster[10] is the name used in Britain, Australia and New Zealand for what is commonly known in North America as a band-aid*, an adhesive strip of material, usually medicated, for dressing a cut, wound, etc. * From a British perspective, Band-Aid[5] is a North American trademark for a piece of sticking plaster of a type having a gauze pad ⇒ she put a Band-Aid on Belinda's arm. |
19d Deputy to close // bank (6)
20d One polishing rag? (6)
Rag[5] is an informal term for a newspaper, typically one regarded as being of low quality.
23d Golf club's evicting wife? // Creeps! (5)
A wedge[5] is a golf club with a low, angled face for maximum loft or a shot made with a wedge ⇒
Davies hit a wedge to within a yard of the hole.
24d Pretty good // trade show (4)
As Big Dave points out in his hints, one might even consider this to be a triple definition:
- Pretty // good // trade show (4)
Key to Reference Sources:Signing off for today — Falcon
[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)
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