Monday, August 6, 2018 — DT 28697

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.

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28697
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28697]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Mr K
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

Introduction

Most Brits found this puzzle to be very easy. However, there is enough British content in it to raise the bar a notch for solvers on this side of the Atlantic.

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

8a   Cornelius is cool changing // route that would lead to conflict (9,6)

9a   Admit /being/ depressed losing diamonds (3)

"diamonds" = D (show explanation )

Diamonds^[2] (abbreviation D^[2]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

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Own^[5] is used in a formal sense meaning to admit or acknowledge that something is the case or that one feels a certain way ⇒ (i) she owned to a feeling of profound jealousy; (ii) he was reluctant to own that he was indebted.

That's Definitely Not Cricket

Mr K illustrates his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog with a photo he has labelled "Bancroft and Smith own up to cheating". In March 24, 2018 (three days before this puzzle appeared in the UK), the men's Australian cricket team was involved in a ball-tampering scandal during and after the third Test match* against South Africa in Cape Town when Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras trying to rough up one side of the ball to make it swing in flight. Captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were found to be involved and all three received unprecedented sanctions from Cricket Australia. Although he was found not to have been involved, Australia's coach, Darren Lehmann, announced he would step down from his role following the scandal. * A Test match)[5] is an international cricket or rugby match, typically one of a series, played between teams representing two different countries.

10a   Pamper // little Mary old theologian left in church (11)

Molly^[7] (or Mollie) is both a a feminine given name and a pet-name for Mary or Margaret.

"theologian" = DD (show explanation )

Doctor of Divinity^[7] (abbreviation D.D. or DD, Divinitatis Doctor in Latin) is an advanced academic degree in divinity.

Historically, the degree of Doctor of Divinity identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects. In the United Kingdom, Doctor of Divinity has traditionally been the highest doctorate granted by universities, usually conferred upon a religious scholar of standing and distinction. In the United States, the Doctor of Divinity is usually awarded as an honorary degree.

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"church" = CE (show explanation )

The Church of England^[10] (abbreviation CE^[10]) is the reformed established state Church in England, Catholic in order and basic doctrine, with the Sovereign as its temporal head.

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11a   Greek poet // in river (5)

Homer^[5] (8th century BC) was a Greek epic poet.

12a   Comic due at show // cancelled because of rain (6-3)

The Story Behind the Picture

Mr K illustrates his review with a photo he has labelled "Glastonbury is washed-out". Glastonbury Festival[7] is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums recorded at Glastonbury have been released, and the festival receives extensive television and newspaper coverage. Glastonbury is the largest greenfield festival in the world, and is now attended by around 175,000 people, requiring extensive infrastructure in terms of security, transport, water*, and electricity supply. The majority of staff are volunteers, helping the festival to raise millions of pounds for charity organisations. * it looks like water was over-provisioned

15a   Famous singer // posed to accommodate popular artist (7)

"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. 

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Frank Sinatra^[5] (1915–1998) was an American singer and actor. His many hits include ‘Night and Day’ and ‘My Way’. He won an Oscar for his role in the film From Here to Eternity (1953).

17a   Admire // characters in wire spectacles (7)

19a   Hips and knees loose // type of coat /revealed/ (9)

For cryptic effect the setter has moved the linkword "revealed" to the end of the clue. Phrasing the clue in a normal declarative fashion:

• Hips and knees loose /revealed/ type of coat (9)

would destroy the surface reading.

The Story Behind the Picture

Mr K illustrates his review with a photo he labels "Del Boy's iconic sheepskin coat". Derek "Del Boy" Trotter[7] is the fictional lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses which originally aired from 1981 to 1991 (with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003). Encompassing everything Cockney, Del Boy is often regarded as one of the greatest comedy characters in the history of British Television, and is regarded as an iconic character in British culture. Del Boy works as a market trader*[7], running his own company, Trotters Independent Traders (T.I.T.), either from out of a suitcase or from the back of his bright yellow Reliant Regal supervan. With a never-ending supply of get-rich-quick schemes and an inner belief in his ability to sell anything to anyone, he embroils "the firm", as he calls the family business, in a variety of improbable situations. This unwavering confidence gives rise to his oft-proclaimed ambition "This time next year, we'll be millionaires!". * In this case, market trader[5] denotes a person running a stall at a market — not a trader on the stock market.

20a   Pony frisking around close to bell // tower (5)

A pylon^[5] is a tall tower-like structure used for carrying electricity cables high above the ground.

21a   A problem // the angler may have? (1,3,2,5)

24a   Money // fool rejected (3)

Nit^[5,10] (short for nitwit)  is an informal British term for a foolish person ⇒ you stupid nit!.

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Tin^[5] is a dated informal British term for money ⇒ Kim’s only in it for the tin.

25a   Countrywide issue, // to-do -- copy letters sent out (8,7)

Postcode^* lottery^[5] is a British expression denoting a situation in which someone's access to health services or medical treatment is determined by the area of the country in which they live.

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^* postcode^[5] is the British counterpart of the Canadian postal code or American zip code

Down

1d   Dessert /produced by/ French chef, guy with good English (10)

Raymond Blanc^[7] is a French chef and one of Britain's most respected chefs. Blanc is the owner and chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the Good Food Guide.

"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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Blancmange^[5] is a British term for a sweet opaque gelatinous dessert made with flavoured cornflour and milk ⇒ (i) a good old-fashioned blancmange; (ii) a double helping of pink blancmange.

2d   Smart /of/ one on a diet to lose pounds (6)

"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 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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Several comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog question the equivalency of the definition and solution in this clue.

Smart^[5] (verb) is used in the sense of to feel upset and annoyed ⇒ defence chiefs are still smarting from the government's cuts.

Simmer^[5] (verb) is used in the sense of to show or feel barely suppressed anger or other strong emotion ⇒ she was simmering with resentment.

3d   Intimate conversation between retired couple? (6,4)

4d   Begrudge // diplomat lacking nothing (4)

5d   Instruments used to fix Oscar/'s/ crowns (8)

A cornet^[5] is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but shorter and wider.

Oscar^[5] is a code word representing the letter O, used in radio communication.

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A coronet^[5] is a small or relatively simple crown, especially as worn by lesser royalty and peers or peeresses.

6d   Reproduced /in/ black and another colour (4)

"black" = B (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for black used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ 2B pencils.

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7d   One acting as monarch, // for example, in musical (6)

Rent^[7] is a rock musical loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Bohème. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in New York City's East Village under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

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A regent^[5] is a person appointed to administer a state because the monarch is a minor or is absent or incapacitated.

8d   Garments // husband put in closet, surprisingly (7)

13d   Season swell // deep-fried pancake (6,4)

A spring roll^[5] is a Chinese snack consisting of a pancake^* filled with vegetables and sometimes meat, rolled into a cylinder and deep-fried.

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^* A pancake^[5] as defined by Oxford Dictionaries is a thin, flat cake of batter, fried on both sides in a pan and typically rolled up with a sweet or savoury filling. This definition easily fits items like the casing of a spring roll or a Mexican tortilla but a North American pancake almost falls outside its scope. By the way, pancakes vary across the UK. English pancakes contain no leavening agent and are thin, similar to French crêpes. Scottish and Welsh pancakes contain a leavening agent and are thicker, more like North American pancakes.^[7]

14d   Exposed, landlord /in/ communication intended for publication (4,6)

A letter^[1,5] is a person who lets [offers for rent] a room or property.

16d   Tavener's first work -- score /is/ superb (3-5)

"work" = OP (show explanation )

In music, an opus^[5] (Latin 'work', plural opuses or opera) is a separate composition or set of compositions.

The abbreviation Op.^[5] (also op.), denoting opus, is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication. The plural form of Op. is Opp..

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.

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Scratching the Surface
Sir John Tavener[5] (1944–2013) was an English composer. His music is primarily religious and was influenced by his conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church.

18d   Renting /in/ extremely tolerable French city (7)

Nancy^[5] is a city in northeastern France.

19d   Seafood // affected one after start of show (6)

20d   Currency unit once used // in Guadeloupe set aside (6)

Until the introduction of the euro in 2002, the peseta^[5] was the basic monetary unit of Spain, equal to 100 centimos.

Scratching the Surface
Guadeloupe[5] is a group of islands in the Lesser Antilles, forming an overseas department of France.

22d   A leading orchestra, // as well (4)

The London Symphony Orchestra^[7] (abbreviation LSO), founded in 1904, is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras.

23d   Extra // papers that you and I must hold (4)

In cricket, an extra^[5] is a run scored other than from a hit with the bat, credited (in most cases) to the batting side rather than to a batsman. The types of extra^[7] are no ball, wide, bye, leg-bye, and penalty runs.

In cricket, a wide^[5] (also called wide ball) is a ball that is judged to be too wide of the stumps for the batsman to play, for which an extra is awarded to the batting side.

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