Friday, December 21, 2018 — DT 28798

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28798
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, July 23, 2018
Setter Dada (John Halpern)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28798]
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

While overall the puzzle was not too difficult, I did stumble on a bit of British slang at 15d and I had trouble parsing 4a — but from perusing the comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, I find in that respect I am in the same boat as many others. In fact, it seems that it would take a large ocean liner to carry all who found themselves at sea over the parsing of that clue.

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   Top // seat alongside head of trade (5)

4a   Total // wrong -- on the contrary! (8)

There are many attempts to explain the wordplay in this clue on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — some of which are unconvincing, some of which are poorly explained, and some of which are both. After reading and re-reading all of the attempts to explain the wordplay, I believe that jean-luc cheval at Comment #22 does the best job — and even his terse explanation is not that easy to comprehend.

If I understand his explanation correctly, he is saying that the definition is "total" with the wordplay being a charade of "wrong" and "it's opposite also". In other words, the word "on" is a charade indicator and we interpret the wordplay as OUT ([a synonym of] wrong^*) + (on) RIGHT (the contrary [of wrong]).

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^* As some on Big Dave's Crossword Blog have mentioned, out is a synonym for wrong ⇒ your calculations are out.

Admittedly, there are those who would argue that, according to convention, the construction A on B in an across clue should mean A following B rather than A preceding B (as we find in the above explanation). However, this would be far from the first time that I have seen setters flout^* this convention.

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^* A big thank you to Henry for bringing to my attention that I should not flaunt convention.

10a   Old weapon // as good in the main, imperfect originally (7)

"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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The main^[5] is an archaic or literary term for the open ocean.

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An assegai^[5] (also assagai) is a slender, iron-tipped, hardwood spear used chiefly by southern African peoples.

11a   Excellent // money (7)

Capital^[5] (adjective) is a dated, informal term denoting excellent ⇒ he's a really capital fellow.

12a   Sovereign is backing // father (4)

"sovereign" = 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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13a   Tolerate // resistance (5)

14a   Extremely // precise (4)

In the second definition, very^[2] is used as an adjective in the sense of most suitable ⇒ That's the very tool for the job..

17a   Early meeting // might go to pieces quickly (5,9)

A power breakfast^[5] is a meeting between powerful politicians, executives, etc., held early in the morning while they eat breakfast.

19a   To the best of my understanding, // it's the horizon on a clear day? (2,3,2,1,3,3)

The second part of the clue is a literal interpretation of the solution.

22a   King ending in Bangladesh, an // Asian ruler (4)

"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.

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Khan^[5] is a title given to rulers and officials in central Asia, Afghanistan, and certain other Muslim countries.

23a   Argument about river // fish (5)

The sprat^[5] is a small marine fish of the herring family, widely caught for food and fish products.

24a   Hairstyle // attributed to supermodel (4)

27a   In blessing, everything /is/ swell (7)

A boon^[5] is a thing that is helpful or beneficial ⇒ the route will be a boon to many travellers.

28a   Name ultimately I spelt wrong /in/ letter (7)

Epistle^[5] is a humorous or formal term for a letter  ⇒ activists firing off angry epistles. In the Bible, an epistle^[5] is a book of the New Testament in the form of a letter from an Apostle ⇒ St Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

29a   Shock -- // what cricketer may do? (4,4)

The second part of the clue is a not very cryptic definition of the role of a member of the fielding side in a cricket match.

In cricket, bowl^[5] means (for a bowler) to propel (the ball) with a straight arm toward the wicket defended by a batsman, typically in such a way that the ball bounces once.

In cricket, an over^[5] is 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.

30a   Part of the orchestra /in/ the money? (5)

Brass^[5] is an informal British term for money ⇒ they wanted to spend their newly acquired brass.

Down

1d   Somewhere in church, // patterns all over the place (8)

In a cross-shaped church, a transept^[5] is either of the two parts forming the arms of the cross shape, projecting at right angles from the nave.

2d   Open // champion finally embraced by team from America? (7)

In rowing, a "team from America" might be referred to as a 'US crew'.

Scratching the Surface

An open[10] is a sports competition which anyone may enter. In golf, the four major championships for men[7] are considered to be (in order of play date) the Masters Tournment, the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship. The third of these events — the only one to be played outside the US — is known around the world as the British Open but in typical British fashion is known within the UK simply as The Open.

3d   Servant /in/ part of novel? (4)

5d   Pure // tuna mixed with a condiment (14)

6d   Fascinated, // talked out loud (4)

From a British perspective, rap^[5] is an informal North American term meaning to talk or chat in an easy and familiar manner ⇒ we could be here all night rapping about spiritualism.

7d   Troughs, // say, in middle of pigsty (7)

8d   Time to join friend /for/ match (5)

9d   Whiff of Melbourne, perhaps, with English // cake (8,6)

A "whiff of Melbourne, perhaps" might be described by the Brits as 'Victoria's pong'.

Melbourne^[5] is the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, located in the south-eastern part of the country, on the Bass Strait opposite Tasmania. It became state capital in 1851 and was capital of Australia from 1901 until 1927. It is a major port and the second largest city in Australia.

Pong^[5] is an informal British term meaning:

• (noun) a strong, unpleasant smell ⇒ corked wine has a powerful pong 
• (verb) to smell strongly and unpleasantly ⇒ the place just pongs of dirty clothes

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Victoria sponge^[5] (also called Victoria sandwich) is a British name for a cake consisting of two layers of sponge made with additional fat and filled with jam. Miffypops illustrates his review with a picture of one of these cakes.

Who is he talking about?

On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Big Dave interjects With a nod towards the fact that Lord Melbourne was a favourite of the person in the first part of the answer.. William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne[5] (1779–1848) was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). Melbourne was Prime Minister when Queen Victoria came to the throne (June 1837). Barely eighteen, she was only just breaking free from the domineering influence of her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her mother's adviser, Sir John Conroy. Over the next four years Melbourne trained her in the art of politics, and the two became friends: Victoria was quoted as saying she considered him like a father (her own had died when she was only eight months old), and Melbourne's son had died at a young age. Melbourne was given a private apartment at Windsor Castle, and unfounded rumours circulated for a time that Victoria would marry Melbourne, 40 years her senior. Tutoring Victoria was the climax of Melbourne's career: the prime minister spent four to five hours a day visiting and writing to her, and she responded with enthusiasm and grew in wisdom.

15d   Lolly, // something to eat (5)

Lolly^[5] is an informal British term for money ⇒ you’ve done brilliantly raising all that lovely lolly.

Post Mortem

I had forgotten that lolly is British slang for money (I can be sure that I have forgotten because the term is contained in my collection of terms which have appeared in previous reviews). I had in mind a different meaning for lolly[5], which to Brits can refer to either a lollipop or an ice lolly[5] (also called iced lolly), a piece of flavoured ice or ice cream on a stick*. * In North America, flavoured ice on a stick is known as a popsicle[5] and ice cream on a stick could be referred to by various brand names but generally would simply be called ice cream on a stick. Thus, I spent some time trying to justify TREAT and even considered CREAM. After concluding that neither of these was very likely, I resorted to a bit of electronic help to identify other alternatives.

16d   Waste material // rotten, bitter mostly (5)

Off^[10] (said of food or drink) means having gone bad, sour, etc ⇒ this milk is off.

Bitter^[5] is a British name for beer that is strongly flavoured with hops and has a bitter taste ⇒ (i) a pint of bitter; (ii) the company brews a range of bitters.

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Offal^[5] is the entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food.

The Story Behind the Picture
Miffypops illustrates his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog with a picture of what the butcher selling them calls lambs kidney (sic).

18d   Perfect -- // unlike a cricket ball? (8)

Cricket 225

British Standard BS 5993 specifies the construction details, dimensions, quality and performance of cricket balls[7]. A cricket ball is made with a core of cork, which is layered with tightly wound string, and covered by a leather case with a slightly raised sewn seam. In a top-quality ball suitable for the highest levels of competition, the covering is constructed of four pieces of leather shaped similar to the peel of a orange that has been quartered by slicing it through its "equator" and then halving each of the resulting hemispheres. The "equator" of the ball is stitched with string to form the ball's prominent seam, with six rows of stitches. The remaining two joins (between the leather pieces forming the upper and lower hemispheres respectively) are stitched internally forming the quarter seam. Lower-quality balls with a two-piece covering are also popular for practice and lower-level competition due to their lower cost. Cricket balls are traditionally red, and red balls are used in Test cricket and First-class cricket. The ball used in Test match cricket in England has a recommended retail price of 100 pounds sterling. In test match cricket this ball is used for a minimum of 80 overs (theoretically five hours and twenty minutes of play), after which the fielding side has the option of using a new ball. White balls were introduced when one-day matches began being played at night under floodlights, as they are more visible at night; all professional one-day matches are now played with white balls, even when they are not played at night. A problem associated with white cricket balls is that they quickly become dirty or dull in colour, which makes it more difficult for batsmen to sight the ball after 30-40 overs of use. This is managed by the use of two new white balls in each innings, with a different ball used from each bowling end. The circumference of a cricket ball used in men's competition is 224 to 229 mm (8.81 to 9 inches) — which influenced the choice of title for this article which delves into the details of cricket more deeply than one with a Cricket 101 title.

20d   Winger // down (7)

21d   Woven carpets /in/ bands of various colours (7)

22d   Bake unusual British // dish on a skewer (5)

Kebab^[5] (the British spelling of kabob) is a dish of pieces of meat, fish, or vegetables roasted or grilled on a skewer or spit.

25d   Old fogey /seen in/ two parties (4)

A dodo^[5] is an old-fashioned and ineffective person ⇒ dodos do enter the events, they just never make the finals.

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Origin: The dodo^[5] (now extinct) was a large flightless bird with a stout body, stumpy wings, a large head, and a heavy hooked bill. It was found on Mauritius until the end of the 17th century. The name comes from Portuguese doudo ‘simpleton’ (because the bird had no fear of man and was easily killed).

26d   Arm possibly // lacerated initially, one needing doctor (4)

"doctor" = MB (show explanation )

In Britain, the degree required to practice medicine is a Bachelor of Medicine^[7] (MB, from Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus), which is equivalent to a North American Doctor of Medicine (MD, from Latin Medicinae Doctor). The degree of Doctor of Medicine also exists in Britain, but it is an advanced degree pursued by those who wish to go into medical research. Physicians in Britain are still addressed as Dr. despite not having a doctoral degree. 

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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