Thursday, July 19, 2018 — DT 28683

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28683
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, March 10, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28683 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28683 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) gnomethang (Review)
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
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.

Introduction

The chatter on Big Dave's Crossword Blog revolves around the the Six Nations Championship^[7], an annual international rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. On the day that this puzzle was published in the UK, England was defeated by France in a game played in Paris. Much of the discussion concerns an upcoming game between England and Ireland to be played in London the following Saturday — which just happened to be St. Patrick's Day. Despite the 4d talk from the Brits, Ireland would not only win that game but go on to win the championship.

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   Finding // university by accident, almost (10)

The phrase a near thing^[5] (or a close thing) denotes a narrow avoidance of something unpleasant ⇒ we got him out, but it was a near thing.

6a   Slight // mispronunciation (4)

10a   Trainee // accountant upset Irish priest (5)

Reversed Reversals
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, gnomethang has reversed the reversals. It the accountant that must be reversed — not the priest.

To elaborate on Big Dave's hint, the official designation CA^[5] for Chartered Accountant is used in Scotland — and was formerly employed in Canada. However, Canadian CAs — together with CGAs (Certified General Accountants) and CMAs (Certified Management Accountants) — have adopted the CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) designation (show more ).

Outside Scotland, the term "chartered accountant" is used by members of the accounting profession in the UK who belong to certain professional bodies.

In the UK (apart from Scotland) the designatory letters are ACA^[10] (Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants) or FCA^[10] (Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants). The designatory letters ACA and FCA are also employed in the Republic of Ireland although there I would presume that they stand for Associate of Chartered Accountants Ireland and Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland respectively — Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) being the Irish counterpart to the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales (ICAEW) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).^[7]

In addition to the organizations already mentioned there are a plethora of other bodies representing accountants in the UK. In fact, in the UK there are no licence requirements for individuals to describe themselves or to practise as accountants. However, those who use the description "chartered accountant" must be members of one of the organisations mentioned above or a recognised equivalent body in another Commonwealth country.

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Father Ted^[7] is a British sitcom that originally aired from 1995 until 1998. Written by Irish writers and featuring a predominantly Irish cast, the programme is set on the fictional Craggy Island, a remote location off Ireland's west coast. As a result of various past incidents, Father Ted Crilly, together with fellow priests Father Dougal McGuire and Father Jack Hackett, have been exiled on the island where they live together in the parochial house with their housekeeper Mrs. Doyle.

11a   Last drink // cheers! (7,2)

Split the solution (6,3) to get the last drink.

"drink" = SUP (show explanation )

As a verb, sup^[5] is a dated or Northern English term meaning to take (drink or liquid food) by sips or spoonfuls ⇒ (i) she supped up her soup delightedly; (ii) he was supping straight from the bottle.

As a noun, sup^[5] means

• a sip of liquid ⇒ he took another sup of wine
• (in Northern England or Ireland) an alcoholic drink ⇒ the latest sup from those blokes at the brewery

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What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, gnomethang describes bottom as last in a table. Table[5] is a [seemingly British] term for a list of rivals or competitors showing their positions relative to one another; a league table ⇒ the team's slide down the First Division table. In North America*, one would use the word standings[5] in this context. * The word standings would also appear to be used in the UK

12a   Terrorists capturing second priest // from the Holy Land (7)

The Irish Republican Army^[7] (IRA) is any of several paramilitary movements in Ireland in the 20th and 21st centuries dedicated to Irish republicanism, the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic. It was also characterised by the belief that political violence was necessary to achieve that goal.

"priest" = ELI (show explanation )

In the Bible, Eli^[5] is a priest who acted as a teacher to the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1-3).

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13a   Was tunnelling long time to get outside new // prison (7)

14a   A soccer table represented // sporting event (8,4)

An obstacle race^[5] is a race in which various obstacles, such as fences, pits, and climbing nets, have to be negotiated.

Scratching the Surface
"Soccer table" may denote a table soccer[5] (or foosball) game. On the other hand it may refer to team standings (see discussion at 11a).

18a   Putting emphasis on // not getting enough runs? (12)

The setter seems to have invented a new meaning for the word underscore patterned on the word underachieve.

21a   What golfer should avoid missing middle of green // all the way? (7)

23a   Free // lunch Ainsley provides (7)

Scratching the Surface
Ainsley[7] is both a unisex given name and a surname.

24a   Unfortunate occurrence /in/ fluid mechanics (9)

Scratching the Surface
Fluid mechanics[5] is the study of forces and flow within fluids.

25a   Many a hoodie conceals // lout (5)

26a   Erect articulated // beams (4)

27a   One forecasts // where manta will swarm (10)

Scratching the Surface

The manta[5] (also manta ray[10]) is a devil ray that occurs in tropical seas and may reach very great size. * A devil ray[5] is large, long-tailed ray (show explanation ) that has a fleshy, hornlike projection on each side of the mouth. It occurs on or near the surface of warm seas and feeds on plankton. A ray[5] is a broad flat marine or freshwater fish with a cartilaginous skeleton, winglike pectoral fins, and a long slender tail. Many rays have venomous spines or electric organs. hide explanation

Down

1d   Ancient city feature -- // feral child (6)

"ancient city" = UR (show explanation )

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC. Ur^[7] is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.

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2d   Bear // close on river (6)

The River Ure^[7] is a stream in North Yorkshire, England, approximately 74 miles (119 km) long from its source to the point where it changes name to the River Ouse.

3d   Men upset with TV presenter's overlooking a // corrupt feature of Parliament once (6,8)

"men" = OR (show explanation )

In the British armed forces, the term other ranks^[5] (abbreviation OR^[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

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Presenter^[5] is a British^* term for a person who introduces and appears in a television or radio programme.

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^* In North America, more specific terms such as host, emcee, announcer or anchor might be used for such a person. Some — or all — of these terms are also used in the UK but presenter is a general term that covers all the bases.

Sir David Attenborough^[5] is an English naturalist and broadcaster, brother of English actor and filmmaker Richard Attenborough. He is known for films of animals in their natural habitats, including Life on Earth (1979), The Trials of Life (1990), and The Life of Mammals (2002).

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Rotten borough^[5] is a historical British term^* for a borough^** that was able to elect an MP despite having very few voters, the choice of MP typically being in the hands of one person or family.

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^* So named because the borough was found to have ‘decayed’ to the point of no longer having a constituency.
^** Borough^[5] is a historical British term for a town sending representatives to Parliament.

4d   Is rich but unfortunately // showing arrogance (9)

5d   Famous // collection of books in study turned up (5)

In Crosswordland, the term "books" or the phrases "collection of books" or "religious books" are commonly used to clue either the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT). Today, as is frequently the case, the clue provides no indication whether the reference is to the former or the latter.

7d   Left savages corrupt // US city (3,5)

8d   Was ashamed /being/ hired to guard gym (8)

"gym [class]" = PE (show explanation )

PE^[5] is an abbreviation^* for physical education.

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^* In my experience, phys ed^{[3,6,11,12,14]} is the more common shortened form in North America.

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9d   Criminal band done nicely -- // they robbed banks (6,3,5)

Bonnie and Clyde^[7] — Bonnie Parker (1910–1934) and Clyde Barrow (1909–1934) — were American criminals who traveled the central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, robbing people and killing when cornered or confronted. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "Public Enemy Era," between 1931 and 1935. Though known today for their dozen-or-so bank robberies, the duo most often preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and several civilians. The couple were eventually ambushed and killed by law officers near Sailes, Louisiana. Their exploits were revived and cemented in American pop folklore by Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.

15d   Fat // copper holds reason for coming up with time for fasting (9)

"copper" = CU (show explanation )

The symbol for the chemical element copper is Cu^[5] (from late Latin cuprum).

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"time for fasting" = LENT (show explanation )

In the Christian Church, Lent^[5] is the period preceding Easter, which is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church^* it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, and so includes forty weekdays [excluding the six Sundays that fall during this period but including Saturdays].

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^* It would be more correct to say "Protestant churches" as Lent is defined differently in the Roman Catholic Church^[7].

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16d   Patron/'s/ order accepted by one who fought Indians (8)

"order" = 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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Gen. George Custer (1839–1876) was an American cavalry general. He served with distinction in the American Civil War but led his men to their deaths in a clash (popularly known as Custer's Last Stand) with the Sioux at Little Bighorn in Montana.

17d   It may be possible /to make/ Mars visit one day (1,4,3)

In Greek mythology, Ares^[5] is the war god, son of Zeus and Hera. The equivalent god in Roman mythology is Mars.

19d   Chaos /has/ Prime Minister on edge (6)

Theresa May^[7] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party, having served as both since July 2016. She is the second female Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader in the UK after Margaret Thatcher.

20d   Sign up to follow space // command (6)

In printing, the en^[5] is a unit of measurement equal to half an em and approximately the average width of typeset characters, used especially for estimating the total amount of space a text will require.

22d   Joint // complaint when wife's ignored (5)

Whereas North Americans merely whine, it would seem that Brits both whine and whinge.

Whinge^[5] is an informal British term that means:

• (verb) to complain persistently and in a peevish or irritating way ⇒ stop whingeing and get on with it! 
• (noun) an act of complaining persistently and peevishly ⇒ she let off steam by having a good whinge

This may connote a stronger level of complaint than a whine^[5] which is defined as:

• (verb)to complain in a feeble or petulant way ⇒ (i) she began to whine about how hard she had been forced to work; (ii) My legs ache,’ he whined
• (noun) a feeble or petulant complaint ⇒ a constant whine about the quality of public services

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