Friday, August 3, 2018 — DT 28694 (Bonus Puzzle No. 1)

Prologue

On Friday, August 3, 2018, the National Post skipped puzzles DT 28694 and DT 28695. Unfortunately, this date happened to coincide with the first day of a camping vacation in an area with very limited Internet access. In anticipation of my retreat from civilization, I had prepared a number of reviews in advance based on the long-established publication pattern^* of the National Post. As a result, my reviews appeared several days late from August 3 to August 13. I have retitled the reviews to reflect the date on which the puzzles were published by the National Post.

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^* Prior to August 3, I believe that the National Post had not skipped a puzzle since Tuesday, December 19, 2017 on which date two puzzles (DT 28529 and DT 28530) were skipped.

Given that the review of this puzzle has been written, I have decided to offer it to readers of the blog as a "bonus" puzzle. Here, for your enjoyment is DT 28694.

Review of The Puzzle

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28694
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, March 23, 2018
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28694]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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
The National Post skipped this puzzle on Friday, August 3, 2018.

Introduction

Like KiwiColin at Comment #34 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, I suspect that most solvers on this side of the pond will find today's puzzle considerably more of a challenge than did the Brits — and for many of them it was no walk in the park.

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   Character in front of the bars at the Albert Hall in summer? (6,4)

This clue requires a knowledge not only of differences between British and American musical terminology but also of British music venues and the British concert calendar.

The Royal Albert Hall^[7] is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, which has held the Proms^* concerts annually each summer since 1941.

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^* The term prom^[5] (or Prom) is short for promenade concert^[5], a British term for 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 English conductor Sir Henry Wood (1869–1944) in 1895.

In Western musical notation, the staff^[7] (US) or stave (UK) (plural for either: staves) is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending on the intended effect, are placed on the staff according to their corresponding pitch or function. Musical notes are placed by pitch, percussion notes are placed by instrument, and rests and other symbols are placed by convention.

The absolute pitch of each line of a non-percussive staff is indicated by the placement of a clef symbol at the appropriate vertical position on the left-hand side of the staff (possibly modified by conventions for specific instruments). For example, the treble clef, also known as the G clef, is placed on the second line (counting upwards), fixing that line as the pitch first G above 'middle C'.

A bar^[7] (or measure) is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats, each of which are assigned a particular note value. The word bar^* is more common in British English, and the word measure is more common in American English, although musicians generally understand both usages.

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^* Originally, the word bar derives from the vertical lines drawn through the staff to mark off metrical units. In British English, the vertical line is also known as a bar, but often the term bar-line is used in order to avoid confusion between the two meanings of bar. In American English, the word bar stands for the lines and nothing else.

9a   Component of alphabet (Hebrew) (4)

This is an &lit. clue^[7] (or, as some prefer to call it, all-in-one clue) in which the entire clue is both definition and wordplay.

Beth^[5] is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

10a   Novel final item of furniture // that can be blown up (10)

11a   Winter sports feature /has/ a Parisian faced with terrible risk (3,3)

"a Parisian" = UN (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is un^[8].

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12a   Swimmer /making/ money one paper's written about inside (7)

The Financial Times^[7] (abbreviation FT) is a British international business newspaper that is printed on conspicuous salmon pink newsprint.

15a   Top // man, I will be standing by mother (7)

Who are they talking about?

On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat suggests we start with a man’s name (Miller, Beerbohm or Mosley, perhaps). Max Miller[7] was the stage name of Thomas Henry Sargent (1894–1963), an English comedian who was widely regarded as the greatest stand-up comedian of his generation. He was known for his flamboyant suits, his wicked charm, and his risqué jokes which often got him into trouble with the censors. Sir Max Beerbohm[7] (1872–1956) was an English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the Saturday Review from 1898 until 1910, when he relocated to Rapallo, Italy. In his later years he was popular for his occasional radio broadcasts. Max Mosley[7] is the former president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association that represents the interests of motoring organisations and car users worldwide. The FIA is also the governing body for Formula One and other international motorsports.

16a   Stories // lacking freshness, start to finish (5)

17a   Rex inclined /to be/ ecstatic (4)

"Rex" = R (show explanation )

In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms^*, Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

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^* A Commonwealth realm^[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.

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18a   Firm favoured /making/ bit of money (4)

19a   Thrive, /making/ pounds in time of prosperity (5)

"pounds" = L (show explanation )

The pound^[5] (also pound sterling) is the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence. While the symbol for pound (or pounds) is £, it is often written as L^[10].

The Chambers Dictionary defines the upper case L^[1] as the abbreviation for pound sterling (usually written £) and the lower case l^[1] as the abbreviation for pound weight (usually written lb) — both deriving from the Latin word libra^* .

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^* In ancient Rome, the libra^[5] was a unit of weight, equivalent to 12 ounces (0.34 kg). It was the forerunner of the pound.

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21a   Peculiar // scoundrel with admissions of debt (7)

22a   Where to eat /from/ tin with adolescent (7)

24a   Green I spotted between river and lake // -- spring back (6)

Eco^[5] is an informal term denoting not harming the environment; in other words, eco-friendly^* ⇒ with its rustic bamboo construction and solar-heated shower, the accommodation looked eco enough.

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^* surely almost an instance of using a word to define itself

27a   Upset // male model after party (10)

In Britain, disco^[5] — in addition to being a style of music or dancing or a club at which such music is performed — can also refer to a party at which people dance to such music.

28a   Bird/'s/ bit of fun (4)

29a   Hugo Allen is such // a footballer! (10)

No, Hugo Allen is not a British footballer [soccer player] — although that was my guess as I solved the puzzle thinking that this was merely a very weak cryptic definition. When I could find no evidence of the existence of a soccer player of that name, I had to rethink my analysis. It turns out that the clue is far more clever than I first thought.

As the word "goal" is contained within the name HuGO ALlen, one might say that the name is a "goal keeper".

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A goalkeeper^[5] is a player in soccer [football to the Brits] or field hockey whose special role is to stop the ball from entering the goal.

Down

2d   Candid female blasting off /in/ row (4)

3d   Grumble about the Left taking independent // standpoint (6)

"independent" = I (show explanation )

I^[1] is the abbreviation for independent, in all likelihood in the context of a politician with no party affiliation.

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4d   Charge // hospital department with evidence of neglect? (7)

"hospital department" = ENT (show explanation )

Should you not have noticed, the ear, nose and throat (ENT^[2]) department is the most visited section, by far, in the Crosswordland Hospital.

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5d   Fifty absent (half missing) /in/ places of work (4)

6d   Opportunities for celebration // if seats can be arranged (7)

A fiesta^[5] is an event marked by festivities or celebration ⇒ the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

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Origin: In Spanish-speaking countries, a fiesta^[5] is a religious festival.

7d   Sculptor, // merry one? Oh, that's unusual! (5,5)

Henry Moore^[5] (1898–1986) was an English sculptor and draughtsman. His work is characterized by semi-abstract reclining forms, large upright figures, and family groups, which Moore intended to be viewed in the open air.

Three Way Piece No. 2 (The Archer)

The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre^[7] in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, opened in 1974. It comprises the world's largest public collection of Moore's work, most of it donated by him between 1971 and 1974. Moore's Three Way Piece No. 2 (The Archer) has also been on display in Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto City Hall since 1966.

8d   Quiet female leading old chaps on -- // remarkable thing (10)

"quiet" = P (show explanation )

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

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Besides being a female bird, especially a domestic fowl, hen can also be used as:

• (British) a term for a woman who is about to get married and is attending a celebration with female friends and relatives ⇒ today's naughty hens don't want to share the stories with their other halves
• (Scottish) an affectionate term of address to a girl or woman ⇒ and I really like you too, hen

12d   County with no barrier round -- // no real sign of alien invasion! (4,6)

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

Corn circle^[5] is another term for crop circle^[5], an area of standing crops which has been flattened in the form of a circle or more complex pattern. No general cause of crop circles has been identified although various natural and unorthodox explanations have been put forward; many are known to have been hoaxes.

Here and There

The equivalency of the terms corn circle and crop circle in the UK makes more sense if one is aware that the word "corn" has quite a different meaning in the UK than it does in North America. The plant known in North America (as well as Australia and New Zealand) as corn[5], is called maize[5] in the UK. In Britain, corn refers to the chief cereal crop of a district, especially (in England) wheat or (in Scotland) oats. Therefore, crop circles which typically appear in fields of wheat or oats, could understandably be known as corn circles. Just to further complicate the picture, in the UK, it would seem (unless I am misunderstanding the dictionary entries) that maize for human consumption is known as sweetcorn[5], the core of an ear of maize, to which the kernals are attached, is called a corncob[10], and when eaten straight from the cob it is referred to as corn on the cob[5]. This is almost as convoluted as cricket!

13d   Capture sound /of/ excited actor and daughter hugging French relation (4-6)

The French word for 'father' is père^[8].

14d   Everyone to be accommodated in empty houses /or/ rooms (5)

On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the error in the hint for this clue has not been corrected despite being pointed out in Comment #21 by Ora Meringue. However, I'm sure you can figure it out on your own.

15d   Wine /and/ fish Eastern maiden served up (5)

"maiden"  = M (show explanation )

In cricket, a maiden^[5], also known as a maiden over and denoted on cricket scorecards by the abbreviation m.^[10], is an over^* in which no runs are scored.

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^* An over^[5] is 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.

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Médoc^[5] is a red wine produced in Médoc, the area along the left bank of the Gironde estuary in southwestern France.

19d   Oxford college attendant /gives/ edict: Do good (7)

A bull^[5] is a papal edict ⇒ the Pope issued a bull of excommunication.

"good" = G (show explanation )

The abbreviation G^[a] for good comes from its use in education as a mark awarded on scholastic assignments or tests.

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^[a] Collins English to Spanish Dictionary

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At Oxford and Cambridge universities, bulldog^[5] is an informal name for an official who assists the proctors, especially in disciplinary matters.

20d   Something on the floor, security device /in/ town (7)

Matlock^[7] is the county town of Derbyshire, England.

23d   Stand-in worker joins the French // place of worship (6)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

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25d   Excellent group of caring Christians set up /in/ lots of countries (4)

"excellent" = AI (show explanation )

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] meaning first class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-class.

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The Salvation Army^[5] (also SA) is a worldwide Christian evangelical organization on quasi-military lines. Established by William Booth, it is noted for its work with the poor and for its brass bands.

26d   Tennis player of yesteryear /in/ a work of fiction (4)

She^[7], subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by English writer Henry Rider Haggard (1856–1925). (read more )

Sir Henry Rider Haggard^[5] (1856–1925) was an English novelist. Published under the name H. Rider Haggard, he is famous for adventure novels such as King Solomon’s Mines (1885) and She (1889).

She, first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887, is one of the classics of imaginative literature, and as of 1965 with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages, one of the best-selling books of all time. Extraordinarily popular upon its release, She has never been out of print.

The story is a first-person narrative that follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward Leo Vincey to a lost kingdom in the African interior. There they encounter a primitive race of natives and a mysterious white queen named Ayesha who reigns as the all-powerful "She", or "She-who-must-be-obeyed". In this work, Rider Haggard developed the conventions of the Lost World subgenre, which many later authors emulated.

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Arthur Ashe^[5] (1943–1993) was an American tennis player who won the US Open singles championship in 1968 and Wimbledon in 1975, and was the first black male player to achieve world rankings.

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