Friday, August 3, 2018 — DT 28695 (Bonus Puzzle No. 2)

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 28695.

Review of The Puzzle

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28695
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, March 24, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28695 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28695 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) crypticsue (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
The National Post skipped this puzzle on Friday, August 3, 2018.

Introduction

This is a puzzle where a good knowledge of things British certainly helps.

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   Constant // problem at ticket machine if one's this (10)

A ticket machine^[10] is a vending machine that issues tickets for a journey on public transport, for using a car park, etc.

6a   Work /in/ soapsuds evenly (4)

In music, an opus^[5] (Latin 'work') is a separate composition or set of compositions. Opus^[5] can also be used in a more general sense to mean an artistic work, especially one on a large scale ⇒ he was writing an opus on Mexico.

9a   Plunder drink, /being/ antisocial type (10)

"drink" = PORT (show explanation )

Port^[5] (also port wine) is a strong, sweet dark red (occasionally brown or white) fortified wine, originally from Portugal, typically drunk as a dessert wine. The name is a shortened form of Oporto, a major port from which the wine is shipped.

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10a   Air pressure /produces/ sharp breath (4)

"pressure" = P (show explanation )

In physics, p^[5] is a symbol used to represent pressure in mathematical formulae.

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12a   Bird // allowed around hotel (6)

The linnet^[5,7] (or common linnet) is a mainly brown and grey finch with a reddish breast and forehead. It derives its name from its liking for seeds of flax, from which linen is made. The common linnet breeds in Europe, western Asia and north Africa.

13a   Second one making an impression -- // this person's fast (8)

15a   Workplaces // of lots of people including top bishop (6,6)

Top^[5] is an informal British term meaning to kill ⇒ I wasn’t sorry when he topped himself.

Ice^[5] is an informal North American term meaning to kill ⇒ she was saved from being iced by the mafia.

"bishop" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for bishop that is used in recording moves in chess.

A bishop^[5] is a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a mitre, that can move any number of spaces in any direction along a diagonal on which it stands. Each player starts the game with two bishops, one moving on white squares and the other on black.

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18a   Not unusually, former prime minister detains pervert // looking for trouble (2,3,7)

Sir Edward Heath^[5] (1916–2005) [commonly known as Ted Heath] was a British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1970-4. He negotiated Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community and faced problems caused by a marked increase in oil prices. Attempts to restrain wage rises [raises] led to widespread strikes and he lost a general election after a second national coal strike.

Scratching the Surface
Heath, who never married, was dogged throughout his lifetime and beyond by allegations of being gay[7] and engaging in child sexual abuse[7]. However, multiple investigations failed to substantiate the claims. In fact, I would dare say that never have such extensive and expensive investigations been conducted with so little to show for them.

21a   What can cut off supply /of/ oxygen and copper in store (8)

The symbol for the chemical element oxygen is O^[5].

PC^[5] is a British designation for a police constable ⇒ PC Bartholomew made his report.

22a   Church official // comments about receiving kiss (6)

A sexton^[5] is a person who looks after a church and churchyard, typically acting as bell-ringer and gravedigger.

24a   Python // at rest (4)

Eric Idle^[7] is an English comedian, actor, voice actor, author, singer-songwriter, musician, writer and comedic composer. Idle is a member of the English surreal comedy group Monty Python, a member of the parody rock band The Rutles, and the author of the Broadway musical Spamalot.

25a   Potential murder weapon /providing/ clue, very hot (4,6)

The weapons used in the board game Clue^[7] (known as Cluedo in the UK) are candlestick, knife (dagger in the UK), lead pipe, revolver, rope, and wrench (spanner in the UK).

In earlier UK editions of the game, the lead pipe was called lead piping. Apparently, the early tokens were made out of actual lead and therefore pose a risk of lead poisoning.

26a   European country without any // cause of disease (4)

27a   Respect man exploding // bluff (10)

Down

1d   Man // left in class in India (6)

A caste^[5] is each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status ⇒ (i) members of the lower castes; (ii)  a man of high caste.

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In chess, castle^[5] is an informal old-fashioned term for rook.

The chess purists on Big Dave's Crossword Blog are sure to jump on their high horsies on seeing this clue.

2d   Soldier collects second acceptable // sum (6)

A soldier^[5] is a wingless caste of ant or termite with a large specially modified head and jaws, involved chiefly in defence.

"second" = MO (show explanation )

Mo^[5,10] (abbreviation for moment) is an informal, British^[5] (or mainly British^[10]) term for a short period of time ⇒ hang on a mo!.

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"acceptable" = U (show explanation )

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners.

The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable). 

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3d   Ancient cheat following leader of Greek/'s/ mythical quest (6,6)

In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece^[5] is the fleece of a golden ram, guarded by an unsleeping dragon, and sought and won by Jason with the help of Medea.

4d   See exercise // take great strides (4)

"see" = LO (show explanation )

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

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"exercise" = 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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5d   Refuse to be taken in by these // papers' cash complex (10)

7d   Vincent perhaps takes part of play /in/ rehearsal (8)

Vincent Price^[7] (1911–1993) was an American actor, known for his performances in horror films.

8d   Drink with journalists // to keep out of the news? (8)

"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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11d   While two lips entwined, // its flame's shortlived (4-1-3-4)

A will-o'-the-wisp^[2] is a light sometimes seen over marshes, caused by the combustion of marsh gas.

14d   City men // move around in fine cars (10)

The City of London^[7] is a city and ceremonial county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the conurbation has since grown far beyond the City's borders. The City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. It is one of two districts of London to hold city status, the other being the adjacent City of Westminster.

It is widely referred to simply as the City (often written as just "City" and differentiated from the phrase "the city of London" by capitalising "City") and is also colloquially known as the Square Mile, as it is 1.12 sq mi (2.90 km²), in area. Both of these terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being largely based in the City. This is analogous to the use of the terms Wall Street and Bay Street to refer to the financial institutions located in New York and Toronto respectively.

16d   Speaking proudly /of/ snake bite (8)

17d   Person walking slowly along // street with posh car following (8)

Roller^[5] is an informal British name for a Rolls-Royce^[10], a make of very high-quality, luxurious, and prestigious British^* car.

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^* Although the Rolls-Royce company is no longer British-owned.

19d   Band // journey through Home Counties (6)

The Home Counties^[5] are the counties surrounding London in the south-east (SE) part of England, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. (show more )

No exact definition of the term exists and the composition of the Home Counties remains a matter of debate. While Oxford Dictionaries restrictively lists them as being chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire, Wikipedia tells us that the Home Counties^[7] are generally considered to include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex (although Sussex does not border London).

Other counties more distant from London, such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Oxfordshire are also sometimes included in the list due to their close proximity to the capital and their connection to the London regional economy.

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20d   Consider rising up to capture grand // nobleman (6)

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

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

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

G is defined in various British dictionaries as follows:

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

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Are Knights Members of the Nobility?

I was surprised to see a knight defined as a nobleman and even more surprised to discover that this raised no eyebrows among the many pedants on Big Dave's site. This, in turn, led me to question my own understanding of the subject. While, in present day Britain, knights would appear not to be nobles, that does not seem to have always been the case. The nobility in Britain[5] comprises the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron. Baronets[5] and knights[5] are commoners* rather than noblemen. * "A baronetcy[7] is not a peerage, so baronets like knights and junior members of peerage families are commoners and not peers of the realm." However, in the Middle Ages, a "knight[7] had to* be born of nobility – typically sons of knights or lords. In some cases commoners could also* be knighted as a reward for extraordinary military service." * Note that this article manages to contradict itself in the course of two sentences. Clearly, if commoners could be knighted, knights did not "have to be" born of nobility.

23d   Plan /to cut out middleman regularly (4)

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