Thursday, October 11, 2018 — DT 28747

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28747
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, May 24, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28724]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Kath
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

The consensus appears to be that this puzzle is a tad trickier than usual.

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 The Story 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   Brief // commercial poll about early signs of consumer activity (8)

Brief^[5] is an informal British term for a solicitor or barrister ⇒ it was only his brief's eloquence that had saved him from prison.

Advocate^[5] is a Scottish or South African term for a barrister.

5a   Circle that's disrupted // minister (6)

10a   Sloppy on onerous PR plan? /That could be/ it! (8,7)

11a   Losers might do this /in/ place for contemplation (7)

The Story Behind the Picture

The picture used by Kath to illustrate her review shows the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Retreat Complex in Medjugorje[7], Bosnia-Herzegovina. Since 1981, the town has become a popular site of Catholic pilgrimage due to reports of alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six local children. The retreat, construction on which began in 1999, is the work of Canadians Nancy and Patrick Latta from Vancouver.

12a   A line in shy note /for/ trusty follower (7)

"line" = L (show explanation )

In textual references, the abbreviation for line is l.^[5] ⇒ l. 648.

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"note" = TE (show more ).

In music notation, ti^[5] (also te) is the seventh note of a major scale in tonic sol-fa or the note B in the fixed-doh system.

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Origin: Mid 19th century: alteration of si, adopted to avoid having two notes (soh and si) beginning with the same letter.

A perusal of entries in American and British dictionaries produces the following observations on the spelling of this word.

The only recognized spelling in the US would seem to be ti^[3,11,12] while British dictionaries are split into two camps. On one side, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary and Collins English Dictionary give the principal spelling as te^[2,4,10] with ti^[2,4,10] being an alternative spelling. On the other side, The Chambers Dictionary and Oxford Dictionaries take the contrary position, giving the spelling as ti^[1,5] with te^[1,5] shown as an alternative spelling.

Note that the sister publications, The Chambers Dictionary and Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, are diametrically opposed on the issue and Oxford Dictionaries has done a complete about face as I have notes in my files from a previous review showing that "Oxford Dictionaries decrees that te is the British spelling with ti being the North American spelling.".

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13a   A book with view about African party /getting/ suspension (8)

The African National Congress^[5] (abbreviation ANC) is a South African political party and black nationalist organization. Having been banned by the South African government 1960–90, the ANC was victorious in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 and its leader Nelson Mandela became the country’s President.

15a   Entice interest emptying bottles (5)

18a   Material for Oxford perhaps // moved around, we hear (5)

Don't be misled by the picture used by Kath to illustrate her review. An Oxford is not a cap. The picture is intended to be an example of the material rather than the item of clothing.

An Oxford^[5] (also oxford) type of lace-up shoe with a low heel ⇒ suede Oxfords are the essential shoes for autumn.

20a   Manage // with others to wear medal (3,5)

The abbreviation et al.^[5] (from Latin et alii) denotes 'and others'^* (used especially in referring to academic books or articles that have more than one author) ⇒ the conclusions of Gardner et al.

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^* or 'with others'

Gong^[5] is an informal British term for a medal or award.

23a   Gather // a lot of tough clothing to keep warm (7)

I don't think North Americans would struggle with this clue but Kath seemed a bit mystified by it, wondering who would wear a vest to keep warm. In Britain, a vest^[5,7] (a garment that might be known in North America as a singlet) is an undergarment worn on the upper part of the body, typically having no sleeves. The garment that North Americans (as well as Australians) call a vest is known in the UK as a waistcoat. The vest on the right is certainly meant to keep one warm. 

25a   American soldier seen in country area /or/ Italian city (7)

"American soldier" = GI (show explanation )

A GI^[5] is a private soldier in the US army ⇒ she went off with a GI during the war.

Contrary to popular belief, the term apparently is not an abbreviation for general infantryman, but rather derives from the term government (or general) issue (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces).

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Perugia^[5] is a city in central Italy, the capital of Umbria. It flourished in the 15th century as a centre of the Umbrian school of painting. A papal possession from 1540, it became a part of united Italy in 1860.

26a   MP spoilt accord I formulated /for/ foreign officialdom (10,5)

27a   Doddery old German, // temporary resident (6)

28a   Titled figure in turn with early broadcast lacking a // humorous quality (8)

A lord^[10] is a male member of the nobility, especially in Britain.

Down

1d   Aim // when facing pressure and anger (6)

"pressure" = P (show explanation )

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

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2d   Free travel i.e. around Belgium? /It's/ true (9)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Belgium is B^[5].

3d   A class in creating courses? (7)

Cookery^[5] is a British term for the practice or skill of preparing and cooking food ⇒ (i) Italian regional cookery; (ii) cookery writers; (iii) a cordon bleu cookery course.

4d   Characteristic // element in extra item (5)

6d   Take care /in/ position on board (4,3)

I don't believe the clue is a double definition as the numeration does not match the later part of the clue.

7d   Skipper gracious // describing big property? (5)

Although the setter appears to harbour a belief that "skipper" is another term for a kangaroo, I can find no evidence in support of it.

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo^[7] (known popularly as Skippy) is an Australian television series telling the adventures of a young boy and his intelligent pet kangaroo, and the various visitors to the fictional Waratah National Park in Duffys Forest, near Sydney, New South Wales. The programme aired in Australia from 1968–1970 and was subsequently shown in the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands.

Roo^[5] is an informal Australian term for a kangaroo.

8d   A lot of worry with time over musical work (8)

"over" = O (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O^[5] denotes over(s), an over^[5] being 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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A concerto^[5] is a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.

9d   Father upset mother perhaps? /It's/ plain to see (8)

14d   Flier // near pitch around the centre of Dijon (8)

The nightjar^[5] is a nocturnal insectivorous bird with grey-brown camouflaged plumage, large eyes and gape, and a distinctive call. The nightjar family also includes the nighthawks, pauraques, poorwills, whippoorwills, and chuck-will’s-widow. The name apparently arises from the fact that the bird is active at night and possesses a jarring cry.

Scratching the Surface
In Britain, pitch[5] is another term for field[5] in the sense of an area of ground marked out or used for play in an outdoor team game ⇒ a football [soccer] pitch. Dijon[5] is an industrial city in east central France, the capital of Burgundy; population 155,340 (2006).

16d   Chaps get on trip taking day off /to see/ animal sanctuary? (9)

"chaps" = MEN (show explanation )

Chap^[3,4,11], an informal British^[5] or chiefly British^[3] term for a man or boy, is a shortened form of chapman^[3,4,11], an archaic term for a trader, especially an itinerant pedlar^[a,b].

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^[a] Pedlar is the modern British spelling of peddler^[14] which, in most senses, is a US or old-fashioned British spelling. The exception is in the sense of a dealer in illegal drugs which the Brits spell as drug peddler.
^[b] The current meaning of chap^[2] dates from the 18th century. In the 16th century, chap meant 'a customer'. The dictionaries do not explain how a shortened form of 'chapman' (pedlar) came to mean 'customer'.

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17d   Lad hopes to move // plant (8)

The asphodel^[5] is a Eurasian plant of the lily family, typically having long slender leaves and flowers borne on a spike.

19d   Detective in audience witnessed // ugly sight (7)

Eye^[10] is an informal term for private eye^[10], which in its own right is an informal term for a private detective.

The word "sore" , when pronounced in a non-rhotic (show explanation ) accent typical of dialects found in many parts of Britain (especially southeastern England), sounds like "saw" .

Non-rhotic accents omit the sound < r > in certain situations, while rhotic accents generally pronounce < r > in all contexts. Among the several dozen British English accents which exist, many are non-rhotic while American English (US and Canadian) is mainly rhotic. This is, however, a generalisation, as there are areas of Britain that are rhotic, and areas of America that are non-rhotic. For more information, see this guide to pronouncing < r > in British English.

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21d   Imaginative // famous songwriter almost restricted by unreliable ally (7)

Sir Tim Rice^[5] is an English lyricist and entertainer. Together with Andrew Lloyd Webber he co-wrote a number of hit musicals, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968), Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), and Evita (1978). He has won three Oscars for best original film song (1992, 1994, and 1996).

22d   Ignore // a ship in lead over year (4,2)

"ship" = SS (show explanation )

In Crosswordland, a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[5] ⇒ the SS Canberra.

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"lead" = PB (show explanation )

The symbol for the chemical element lead is Pb^[5] (from Latin plumbum).

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24d   Quick // criticism shown by papers? (5)

25d   Principal in order, //  one interfering it's said (5)

A prior^[5] is the male head of a house or group of houses of certain religious orders, in particular:

• the man next in rank below an abbot
• the head of a house of friars

What did she say?
In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kath refers to "one interfering as a nosey parker. Nosy parker* [5] is an informal British term for an overly inquisitive person. * The expression comes from an early 20th century postcard caption ‘The Adventures of Nosey Parker’, referring to a peeping Tom in London's Hyde Park.

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