National Post Cryptic Crossword Forum: Monday, July 16, 2018 — DT 28680 (Published Saturday, July 14, 2018)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28680
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28680]
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
Notes
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, July 14, 2018 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Sometimes one can sort out the overall structure of the wordplay correctly and still be unable to complete the solution due to an inability to see an obvious element. Such was the case at 19d where I inexplicably failed to spot a common four-letter tree despite already having two of the letters. Oh well, I suppose my electronic assistants had a good chuckle over that.

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

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

1a Document required for transferring estate // car? (10)

A conveyance^[5] is a legal document effecting the transfer of property in the case of an unregistered title ⇒ the wife's solicitors will submit a draft conveyance or transfer to the husband's solicitors.

Conveyance^[5] is a humorous or formal term for a means of transport; a vehicle ⇒ adventurers attempt the trail using all manner of conveyances, including mountain bikes and motorcycles.

Scratching the Surface
Estate car^[5] is the British name for a station wagon^[5].

6a Check // containers on the way back (4)

10a Insomniac crackpot's accommodating // city (5)

Accra^[5] is the capital of Ghana, a port on the Gulf of Guinea.

11a Bank employee gets hold of artist -- very // representative (9)

"artist" = RA (show explanation )

A Royal Academician (abbreviation RA^[10]) is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts^[5] (also Royal Academy; abbreviation also RA^[10]), an institution established in London in 1768, whose purpose is to cultivate painting, sculpture, and architecture in Britain.

hide explanation

"very" = V (show explanation )

The abbreviation v (or v.)^[1,2,5,10] stands for very. Although this definition is found in most of my British dictionaries, it does not appear in any of my American dictionaries. Unfortunately no explanation is given as to the specific context in which one might encounter this usage. The only possibility that I can imagine is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments.

hide explanation

12a Advertise // concert, anticipating on-target earnings (7)

OTE^[5] is short for on-target earnings^[5], the expected salary of a salesperson, including bonuses and commission ⇒ on-target earnings are potentially very high.

Here and There
The British term prom^[5] (or Prom) — short forpromenade concert^[5] — denotes a concert of classical music at which a part of the audience stands in an area without seating, for which tickets are sold at a reduced price. The most famous series of such concerts is the annual BBC Promenade Concerts (known as the Proms), instituted by Sir Henry Wood in 1895. Prom^[5], in the sense of a formal dance, is a North American expression.

Here and There

The British term prom^[5] (or Prom) — short forpromenade concert^[5] — denotes a concert of classical music at which a part of the audience stands in an area without seating, for which tickets are sold at a reduced price. The most famous series of such concerts is the annual BBC Promenade Concerts (known as the Proms), instituted by Sir Henry Wood in 1895.

Prom^[5], in the sense of a formal dance, is a North American expression.

13a Comfort seamstress hugging returning // expert (7)

14a Wise man touring America registers // snack food (7,5)

Sausage roll^[5] is a British term for a piece of sausage meat wrapped in pastry and baked.

18a Gives approval for // bit of bridge needing impressions (6-6)

In the card game bridge, a rubber^[3] is:

a series of games of which two out of three or three out of five must be won to terminate the play
an odd game played to break a tie

21a 22/'s/ doctor needing season to start late (7)

The numeral "22" is a cross reference indicator (show more ).

To complete the clue, a solver must replace the cross reference indicator with the solution to the clue starting in the light^* identified by the cross reference indicator.

The cross reference indicator may include a directional indicator but this is customarily done only in situations where there are both Across and Down clues originating in the light that is being referenced.

^* light-coloured cell in the grid

hide

23a Mass-market // power with uranium found in Arctic environment (7)

"power" = P (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

The symbol for the chemical element uranium is U^[5].

24a Celebrities will eat fish -- // they flock together (9)

The ling^[5,10] is any of a number of long-bodied edible marine fishes including various species of large East Atlantic fish related to the cod, in particular Molva molva, which is of commercial importance.

The starling^[5] is a gregarious Old World songbird with a straight bill, typically with dark lustrous or iridescent plumage but sometimes brightly coloured.

Delving Deeper
Although the starling^[7] is not native to the Americas, having been introduced here, it competes for habitat with native birds and is considered to be an invasive species. The European starling was purposefully introduced to North America in 1890–1891 by the American Acclimatization Society, an organization dedicated to introducing European flora and fauna into North America for cultural and economic reasons. Eugene Schieffelin, chairman at the time, allegedly decided all birds mentioned by William Shakespeare should be in North America. The bird had been mentioned in Henry IV, Part 1, and a hundred of them were released from New York's Central Park.

Delving Deeper

Although the starling^[7] is not native to the Americas, having been introduced here, it competes for habitat with native birds and is considered to be an invasive species.

The European starling was purposefully introduced to North America in 1890–1891 by the American Acclimatization Society, an organization dedicated to introducing European flora and fauna into North America for cultural and economic reasons. Eugene Schieffelin, chairman at the time, allegedly decided all birds mentioned by William Shakespeare should be in North America. The bird had been mentioned in Henry IV, Part 1, and a hundred of them were released from New York's Central Park.

25a Landowner // left daughter taking in broadcast (5)

In Scotland, a laird^[5] is a person who owns a large estate.

26a Votes against // hooter being sounded (4)

Here and There
In this clue, we encounter two different British meanings for the word "hooter" — one in the cryptic reading and another in the surface reading. In Britain, hooter^{[3,5,10,11,12]} is an informal term for a person's nose rather than — as in North America — (somewhat or sometimes) vulgar slang for a woman's breast (usually used in the plural). Hooter^[5] is a British term for: a siren or steam whistle, especially one used as a signal for work to begin or finish the horn of a motor vehicle North Americans would likely think of a hooter^[3] as being an owl.

Here and There

In this clue, we encounter two different British meanings for the word "hooter" — one in the cryptic reading and another in the surface reading.

In Britain, hooter^{[3,5,10,11,12]} is an informal term for a person's nose rather than — as in North America — (somewhat or sometimes) vulgar slang for a woman's breast (usually used in the plural).

Hooter^[5] is a British term for:

a siren or steam whistle, especially one used as a signal for work to begin or finish
the horn of a motor vehicle

North Americans would likely think of a hooter^[3] as being an owl.

27a Happy to accept son is // dependable (10)

Down

1d Vices /shown by/ person elected in short order (6)

"person elected" = MP (show explanation )

In Britain (as in Canada), a politician elected to the House of Commons is known as a Member of Parliament^[10] (abbreviation MP^[5]) or, informally, as a member^[5].

hide explanation

2d Food from Mexico // boy set up outside a church (6)

3d Improve and take lad off /for/ a drink (10,4)

As shown by the discussion in the threads arising from Comment #3 and Comment #4 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, this drink is one enjoyed not only by infants but those in other circumstances as well.

4d Bill locks // ladies in green room, perhaps (9)

The green room^[5] is a room in a theatre or studio in which performers can relax when they are not performing.

5d Check weapon /for/ magnetism (5)

"check" = CH (show explanation )

In chess, ch.^[10] is the abbreviation for check^*.

^* Check^[5] means to move a piece or pawn to a square where it attacks (the opposing king) ⇒ he moves his knight to check my king again.

hide explanation

7d Story after count /will be/ revealing (8)

Tell^[3,5,11] is an archaic term meaning to enumerate or count (the members of a group) ⇒ (i) the shepherd had told all his sheep; (ii) telling one's blessings; (iii) 16 windows, all told. Tell^[10] can also mean to count (votes), especially in a parliament.

8d Left on boat with temperature missing elegance /shown by/ ocean dweller (8)

9d They may hold up lines of communication (9,5)

Scratching the Surface
The phrase lines of communication^[5] can denote: the connections between an army in the field and its bases hence, any system for communicating information or ideas ⇒bureaucracies are characterized by established lines of communication

15d Couple propping up the bar at football? (9)

Scratching the Surface
Prop up the bar^[5] is an informal expression meaning to spend a considerable time drinking in a pub ⇒ Keith was propping up the bar and waving a £10 note at the landlady [proprietress of the pub].

16d Takes unfair advantage of // Democrat taken in by jittery senator (6,2)

Like others (see the thread arising from Comment #1 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog), I initially wrote in TREADS ON. As I use a pencil to fill in the grid, no Tippex^* was required — merely a good old-fashioned eraser.

^* Tippex^[5] (also Tipp-Ex) is a British trademark for a type of correction fluid.

"Democrat" = D (show explanation )

A Democrat^[5] (abbreviation D^[5]) is a member or supporter of the Democratic Party^[5], one of the two main US political parties (the other being the Republican Party), which follows a broadly liberal programme, tending to support social reform and minority rights.

hide explanation

The phrasal verb trade on^[5] means to take advantage of (something), especially in an unfair way ⇒ the government is trading on fears of inflation.

17d Stubborn, /and/ planning bad route (8)

19d Plant // a tree across lake (6)

Turning an old adage on its head, it seems I couldn't see the tree for the forest.

An alpine^[5] is a plant native to mountain districts, often suitable for growing in rock gardens ⇒ a collection of alpines and dwarf bulbs.

20d Accept // honour (6)

22d Percussionist /must have/ love to support band (5)

"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).

hide explanation

Ringo Starr^[5] is an English rock and pop drummer; born Richard Starkey. He replaced Pete Best in the Beatles in 1962. After the band split up in 1970, he pursued a solo career as a musician, singer, and actor.

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

National Post Cryptic Crossword Forum

Monday, July 16, 2018

Monday, July 16, 2018 — DT 28680 (Published Saturday, July 14, 2018)

Introduction

Notes on Today's Puzzle

Across

Down

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