National Post Cryptic Crossword Forum: Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28756
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, June 4, 2018
Setter Dada (John Halpern)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28756]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

This was a "Monday" puzzle in the UK and thus pitched at a gentler level than those appearing later in the week.

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^*)

^* num = numeration

Explanations pertaining to the wordplay (or first definition in a double definition)

(Horizontal separator)

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

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.

hide explanation

Across

1a Patron accepting worker/'s/ bribe (4-6)

Backhander^[5] or back-hander^[1] is an informal British term for a bribe ⇒ a fortune had been paid in backhanders to local officials.

6a Short extra // post (4)

9a Handle // eccentric type (5)

10a A track behind truck /in/ Irish town (9)

Tipper^[5] is one of several British names^* for what is known in North America as a dump truck^[5].

^* Other British terms for such a vehicle are dumper^[5], dumper truck^[5], tip truck^[10], tipper truck^[10], and tipper lorry^[10].

Tipperary^[5] is a county in the centre of the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Munster.

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops makes reference to the permanent way. Permanent way^[5] is a British term denoting the finished trackbed of a railway together with the track and other permanent equipment ⇒ engineers are repairing the permanent way following the derailment.

Here, There and Elsewhere
The Brits call it a railway^[5,10] and, to the Yanks, it is a railroad^[5,10] (although Oxford Dictionaries — as is it's wont — characterizes the latter term as North American). Canada's largest rail companies are the Canadian Pacific Railway^[7] (CPR) and the Canadian National Railway^[7] (CN^). Although Canada appears to have traditionally favoured the British term, the overwhelming pervasiveness of US media in Canada has led to Canadians using the terms "railway" and "railroad" virtually interchangeably. ^ today it may be known as CN, but in my younger days it was the CNR

Here, There and Elsewhere

The Brits call it a railway^[5,10] and, to the Yanks, it is a railroad^[5,10] (although Oxford Dictionaries — as is it's wont — characterizes the latter term as North American). Canada's largest rail companies are the Canadian Pacific Railway^[7] (CPR) and the Canadian National Railway^[7] (CN^*). Although Canada appears to have traditionally favoured the British term, the overwhelming pervasiveness of US media in Canada has led to Canadians using the terms "railway" and "railroad" virtually interchangeably.

^* today it may be known as CN, but in my younger days it was the CNR

12a Irish in the US, remarkably // hairy (7)

13a Common // outlaw, Mr Capone (5)

Al Capone^[5] (1899–1947), nicknamed Scarface (show more ), was an American gangster of Italian descent. He dominated organized crime in Chicago in the 1920s and was indirectly responsible for many murders, including the St Valentine’s Day Massacre.

Capone^[7] was born in Brooklyn (New York) and began his life of crime in New York City before moving to Chicago. Capone inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door at a Brooklyn night club and was slashed by her brother Frank Gallucio. The wounds led to the nickname that Capone loathed: "Scarface". Capone's boss, racketeer Frankie Yale, insisted that Capone apologize to Gallucio, and later Capone hired him as a bodyguard. When photographed, Capone hid the scarred left side of his face, saying that the injuries were war wounds. Capone was called "Snorky", a term for a sharp dresser, by his closest friends.

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15a Light // seafood in fish, starter lacking (3-4)

An arc lamp^[3,4,5,10] or arc-lamp^[1]* (also arc light^{[3,4,5,10,11]} or arc-light^[1]*) is an electric light in which a current traverses a gas between two incandescent electrodes and generates an arc that produces light.

^* It is not unusual for spelling to vary among dictionaries, but in this case The Chambers Dictionary finds itself in a minority of one.

Also on the Menu
In the UK, this clue was modified on the Telegraph Puzzles website to read: 15a Light seafood in fish, not cold (3-4) As is virtually invariably the case, the National Post has carried the version that appeared in the print edition of The Daily Telegraph.

Scratching the Surface
Starter^[5] is another name^* for an appetizer or the first course of a meal. ^* although British dictionaries consider this term to be British^[5] (or chiefly or mainly British^[4,10,14]), this usage of the word would seem to have become well established in North America^[3,12]

17a Dog // is lean after exercising: power in it (7)

"power" = P (show explanation )

In physics, P^[10] is a symbol used to represent power [among other things] in mathematical formulae.

hide explanation

19a Bulb // will start to open before end of August (7)

What did he say?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops describes shall as the future tense of will. Grammar would seem not to be his forte. According to Oxford Dictionaries: There is considerable confusion about when to use shall and will. The traditional rule in standard British English is that shall is used with first person pronouns (I and we) to form the future tense, while will is used with second and third persons (you, he, she, it, they), e.g. I shall be late; she will not be there. To express a strong determination to do something these positions are reversed, with will being used with the first person and shall with the second and third persons, e.g. I will not tolerate this ; you shall go to school. In practice, however, shall and will are today used more or less interchangeably in statements (though not in questions). Given that the forms are frequently contracted (we'll, she'll, etc.) there is often no need to make a choice between shall and will, another factor no doubt instrumental in weakening the distinction. The interchangeable use of shall and will is now part of standard British and US English.

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops describes shall as the future tense of will.

Grammar would seem not to be his forte.

According to Oxford Dictionaries:

There is considerable confusion about when to use shall and will. The traditional rule in standard British English is that shall is used with first person pronouns (I and we) to form the future tense, while will is used with second and third persons (you, he, she, it, they), e.g. I shall be late; she will not be there. To express a strong determination to do something these positions are reversed, with will being used with the first person and shall with the second and third persons, e.g. I will not tolerate this ; you shall go to school. In practice, however, shall and will are today used more or less interchangeably in statements (though not in questions). Given that the forms are frequently contracted (we'll, she'll, etc.) there is often no need to make a choice between shall and will, another factor no doubt instrumental in weakening the distinction. The interchangeable use of shall and will is now part of standard British and US English.

21a Don't speak with tricksters -- /could be/ a put-up job? (7)

A cryptic definition of a purchase from Ikea, for example.

What is he talking about?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops describes the tricksters as some ... that may be found in books by Tolkien or Blyton. In the legendarium of English writer J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973), Elves^[7] are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion. Tolkien had been writing about Elves long before he published The Hobbit. Enid Blyton^[7] (1897–1968) was an English children's writer whose books have been among the world's best-sellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Blyton's books are still enormously popular, and have been translated into 90 languages. While she wrote on a wide range of topics, Miffypops appears to allude to her fantasy books which typically involve children being transported into a magical world in which they meet fairies, goblins, elves, pixies and other mythological creatures.

What is he talking about?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops describes the tricksters as some ... that may be found in books by Tolkien or Blyton.

In the legendarium of English writer J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973), Elves^[7] are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion. Tolkien had been writing about Elves long before he published The Hobbit.

Enid Blyton^[7] (1897–1968) was an English children's writer whose books have been among the world's best-sellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Blyton's books are still enormously popular, and have been translated into 90 languages. While she wrote on a wide range of topics, Miffypops appears to allude to her fantasy books which typically involve children being transported into a magical world in which they meet fairies, goblins, elves, pixies and other mythological creatures.

22a Relish // nothing after a blow (5)

24a Change again // in large novel (7)

27a Medic has beaten a drum on a // TV film (9)

28a Strange // dam, dry originally (5)

A weir^[5] is a low dam built across a river to raise the level of water upstream or regulate its flow^*.

^* I am more familiar with its other meaning as a trap for fish.

29a Clothes // first or second, perhaps? (4)

... or even third, fourth, or reverse.

30a Representative group // good in Europe, say? (10)

"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.

^[a] Collins English to Spanish Dictionary

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Down

1d Dollar // leap (4)

2d Happening thrice, tea // dance (3-3-3)

Cha (also chai) is an alternative spelling of char^[5], an informal British name for tea [as a drink].

The cha-cha^[5] (also cha-cha-cha) is a ballroom dance with small steps and swaying hip movements, performed to a Latin American rhythm.

3d Walker // greeting king and queen (5)

"king" = K (show explanation )

K^[5] is an abbreviation for king that is used especially in describing play in card games and recording moves in chess.

hide explanation

"queen" = ER (show explanation )

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

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4d Top call, // not bottom (2-5)

In an auction in the card game bridge, the precedence of bids^[7] is (in ascending order) clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, and no trump.

5d Quick // reporters in retirement? (7)

7d Obvious // plateau (5)

8d King possibly with a lot of money -- // a good deal? (5,5)

In the card game poker, a royal flush^[5] is a straight flush including ace, king, queen, jack, and ten all in the same suit, which is the hand of the highest possible value when wild cards are not in use.

11d Squeeze // me after rolling onto couple (7)

14d A meaty pet? (7,3)

Sausage dog^[5] is an informal British^* name for a dachshund.

^* Nevertheless, a name very familiar to me.

16d In total, // narrative complete? (3,4)

No Tale to Tell
In the expression "all told", the word "told" has nothing to do with the recounting of a story. Tell^[3,5,11] is an archaic term meaning to enumerate or count (the members of a group) ⇒ (i) the shepherd had told all his sheep; (ii) telling one's blessings; (iii) 16 windows, all told. Tell^[10] can also mean to count (votes), especially in a parliament. This is also almost certainly the sense of the word which gives rise to the term teller^[5], a person employed to deal with customers' transactions in a bank [in other words, someone who counts money].

No Tale to Tell

In the expression "all told", the word "told" has nothing to do with the recounting of a story.

Tell^[3,5,11] is an archaic term meaning to enumerate or count (the members of a group) ⇒ (i) the shepherd had told all his sheep; (ii) telling one's blessings; (iii) 16 windows, all told. Tell^[10] can also mean to count (votes), especially in a parliament.
This is also almost certainly the sense of the word which gives rise to the term teller^[5], a person employed to deal with customers' transactions in a bank [in other words, someone who counts money].

18d Original // opening I have, popular at first (9)

20d Twister // ruined a party (7)

Scratching the Surface
Twister^[7] is a party game played on a large plastic mat marked with six rows of coloured circles. Players must place their hands and feet on specific coloured circles as determined by a spinner. Twister became a success when actress Eva Gabor played it with Johnny Carson on television's The Tonight Show on May 3, 1966.^[1] However, in its success, it was also controversial. The company that produced it, Milton Bradley, was accused by its competitors of selling "sex in a box". I presume the game is known to Brits as it is available for sale on British websites.

Scratching the Surface

Twister^[7] is a party game played on a large plastic mat marked with six rows of coloured circles. Players must place their hands and feet on specific coloured circles as determined by a spinner.

Twister became a success when actress Eva Gabor played it with Johnny Carson on television's The Tonight Show on May 3, 1966.^[1] However, in its success, it was also controversial. The company that produced it, Milton Bradley, was accused by its competitors of selling "sex in a box".

I presume the game is known to Brits as it is available for sale on British websites.

21d Two animals // closer? (7)

23d Bones // buried in Pisa, cracked (5)

The sacrum^[2] (plural sacra) is a large triangular bone composed of fused vertebrae, forming the keystone of the pelvic arch in humans.

Origin: Mid 18th century: from Latin os sacrum, ‘holy bone’ or ‘sacred bone’, from its use in sacrifices (according to Chambers 21st Century Dictionary) or from the belief that the soul resides in it (according to Oxford Dictionaries Online). Perhaps these ideas are not as contradictory as they first appear; maybe it was the latter that led to the former.

25d Des Moines native /maybe/ pale, under ten? (5)

Des Moines^[5] is the state capital and largest city of Iowa.

Just as we encountered in a clue yesterday, one should view the link word ("maybe") as though it were two words ("may be").

It Still Looks Like Ten
The setter has used the word "ten" to clue the letter combination IO. Only yesterday, we saw a variant of this device in which the phrase "half of score" was used to clue this letter combination.

26d Raised current, // correct (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

National Post Cryptic Crossword Forum

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Wednesday, October 24, 2018 — DT 28756

Introduction

Notes on Today's Puzzle

Across

Down

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