Thursday, November 8, 2018 — DT 28767

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28767
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, June 16, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28767 — Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28767 — 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
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

I recognized reasonably early that this might be a pangram and that knowledge eventually paid off as I was on the lookout for the letters that I was still missing.

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   Level /with/ rower having limited sleep (2,1,3)

4a   Fielding side strives for this // kind of effort (3-3)

The aim of the fielding side [team] in cricket is to get the batting side all out. Note that this clue fails to be a double definition simply because the specified numeration does not match the result given by the first part of the clue (due to the difference in hyphenation).

All out^[7] denotes the situation in cricket when 10 of the 11 members of the batting team have been dismissed thus completing the innings^*. At this point, provided that the innings just completed was not the final innings of the match, the team that had been batting would now take the field.

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^* Although this is described as "all out", one member of the batting team is always "not out". This is because batsmen bat in pairs, and once 10 have been dismissed, there are no longer sufficient batsmen remaining to constitute a pair.

9a   Leave willingly (8)

I would say that the entire clue is a cryptic definition containing an embedded precise definition.

In this puzzle, we encounter several clues having this same general structure; namely, a cryptic definition consisting of a precise definition combined with what I like to think of as "cryptic elaboration" (a bit of information that may be misleading on the surface but which — when viewed from the right perspective — can be illuminating).

10a   Seen in court, a revolutionary // quality that attracts admiration (6)

"court" = CT (show explanation )

Ct^[2] is the abbreviation for Court in street addresses — and possibly in other contexts as well.

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"revolutionary" = CHE (show explanation )

Che Guevara^[7] (1928–1967) was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia within popular culture.

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11a   Hiss: // 'Turn over if snoring!' (4)

12a   Instruction to make less noise in bars (10)

Another clue structured similarly to 9a.

Here and There

A bar[7] (or measure) is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats, each of which are assigned a particular note value. The word bar is more common in British English, and the word measure is more common in American English, although musicians generally understand both usages. Originally, the word bar derives from the vertical lines drawn through the staff (or, for British musicians, stave)* to mark off metrical units. In British English, the vertical line is also known as a bar, but often the term bar-line is used in order to avoid confusion between the two meanings of bar. In American English, the word bar stands for the lines and nothing else. * In standard Western musical notation[7], the staff[7], or stave, is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch—or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments—on which a musical score is written. For British musicians, stave would seem to be the name of choice whereas in North America, staff is likely the more commonly used term.

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Diminuendo^[5] is a direction to perform a passage of music with a decrease in loudness ⇒ the diminuendo chorus before the final tumult.

13a   Obstinate // nine starting to waver (12)

16a   Premier // craftsman? (12)

Here and There
Outside Australia and Canada, the term premier[5] refers to a prime minister or other head of government. In Australia and Canada, a premier is the chief minister of a government of a state or province. Of course, a Canadian premier is just as much a "cabinetmaker" as a Canadian prime minister.

20a   Top farmers cultivated // polar ground (10)

21a   Cried // quietly with rain around (4)

"quietly" = P (show explanation )

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

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22a   Spanish cheer during little brother/'s/ dance (6)

Olé^[5] is a Spanish exclamation meaning bravo^*.

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^* Could one not equally well define bravo as an Italian exclamation meaning olé.

Here and There

In the UK, bro[5] is simply short for brother ⇒ his baby bro. In addition, Bro. is used as an abbreviation for Brother (used before a first name when referring in writing to a member of a religious order of men) ⇒ Bro. Felix. In North American usage, bro[5] denotes a male friend (often used as a form of address) ⇒ (i) they’d never choose a girl over their bros; (ii) not cool, bro. In this sense, bro is used in North America much like the word mate[5] in the UK.

The bolero^[5] is a Spanish dance in simple triple time.

23a   /For/ always, // nevertheless! (8)

I would say that the word "for" is a link word which happens to come at the beginning of the clue because the setter has employed a grammatical syntax known as "fronting"^[a] (moving part of a sentence from its normal position to the beginning of the sentence) — a syntax typically used for emphasis and dramatic effect. In cryptic crosswords, it is often employed to enhance the surface reading of the clue.

Were the setter to have used a normal declarative syntax, the clue would have read:

• Nevertheless /for/ always! (8)

which clearly fails to provide a satisfactory surface reading.^* }

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^[a] English Grammar Today (Cambridge Dictionary)

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Evermore^[5] (chiefly used for rhetorical effect or in ecclesiastical contexts) is an adverb meaning always ⇒ we pray that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.

24a   Squirrel, perhaps // not red, frisky (6)

25a   Man // that's found in New South Wales (6)

Sydney^[5] is the capital of New South Wales in southeastern Australia. (show more )

Sydney was the first British settlement in Australia and is the country’s largest city and chief port. It has a fine natural harbour, crossed by the Sydney Harbour Bridge (opened 1932), and a striking opera house (opened 1973).

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Down

1d   Order Diana to go to hospital department /to be/ disciplined (8)

"order" = OBE (show explanation )

OBE^[5] is the abbreviation for Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

The Order of the British Empire^[5] is an order of knighthood applicable to the United Kingdom and certain Commonwealth realms which was instituted in 1917 and is divided into five classes, each with military and civilian divisions. The classes are: Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), Knight or Dame Commander (KBE/DBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE). The two highest classes entail the awarding of a knighthood.

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Long time solvers will surely have noticed that not only is Diana (usually appearing in its diminutive form Di) undoubtedly the leading contender for most popular female name in Crosswordland ...

... but the ear, nose and throat (ENT^[2]) department is the most visited section, by far, in the Crosswordland Hospital.

2d   Humming /coming from/ a telephone call (5)

As the definition, humming is used as an adjective ⇒ the workshop was humming with activity.

3d   Leave // a group of players performing (7)

5d   Permit // silence to be shattered (7)

As the definition, permit must be used as a verb in order to produce the solution LICENSE. It cannot be a noun as the British spelling of the solution would then be LICENCE. In the US. both the noun and the verb are spelled license whereas, in Britain, the word is spelled license as a verb and licence as a noun..

6d   Band // or artist's carrying case (9)

"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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7d   Attempt to limit ruin // with it (6)

8d   Ringmaster? (8,5)

14d   Suggest // about 100 correct to hold Queen's award (9)

The Order of Merit^[7] (abbreviation OM^[5]) is considered to be the "Queen's award" because "admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms". (show more )

The Order of Merit is a dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by King Edward VII, admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, and is limited to 24 living recipients at one time from these countries plus a limited number of honorary members. The current membership includes one Canadian (former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien).

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15d   Padre, with joy, reformed // menace (8)

17d   Enthusiast having nothing on /is/ a fool (7)

18d   Small child with Terence has no right /to be/ unsteady (7)

19d   One cannot go straight ahead and make it (6)

21d   West Country // lady (5)

Oman^[5,7], officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country at the southeastern corner of the Arabian peninsula.

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