Thursday, December 27, 2018 — DT 28802

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28802
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, July 27, 2018
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28802]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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

Many Brits complained of not being familiar with the Guildhall statues — I had no idea what Guildhall is.

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   Large // lettuce, one received by host (6)

Cos (or cos lettuce)^[5,10] is a British^* name for a variety of lettuce with a long slender head and crisp leaves (usual US and Canadian name: romaine).

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^* Oxford Dictionaries explicitly characterizes this as a British term while Collins English Dictionary would seem to imply that to be the case. However, the word cos^[3,11] is found in both The American Heritage Dictionary and the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary — although it is clearly not the preferred term in North America.

5a   What sounds like woman's strong // colouring substance (8)

The wordplay is a homophone (what sounds like) {DI'S (woman's; Di being a diminutive for the name Diana) + TOUGH (strong)}.

Post Mortem
I made the error of trying to parse the clue as: What sounds like woman's // strong colouring substance (8) with "woman's" cluing DISTAFF. Of course, even after listening to some British speech samples, I could not but think this to be a really horrible homophone. Distaff[5] (as a modifier) means of or concerning women ⇒ marriage is still the passport to distaff power.

9a   New home in which Irish look /to have/ inherited item (8)

"look" = LO (show explanation )

Lo^[5] is an archaic exclamation used to draw attention to an interesting or amazing event ⇒ and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them.

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10a   Holy words // conveyed by woman traditionally (6)

In Hinduism, one meaning of mantra^[10] is any of those parts of the Vedic literature which consist of the metrical psalms of praise.

11a   Maid once tortured // as one deemed devil-possessed (8)

I have parsed the clue with the definition being an adjective, while Deep Threat (in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog) has chosen to view the word as a noun:

• Maid once tortured /as/ one deemed devil-possessed (8)

Demoniac^[5] means:

• (adjective) relating to or characteristic of a demon or demons ⇒ (i) a goddess with both divine and demoniac qualities; (ii) demoniac rage
• (noun) a person supposedly possessed by an evil spirit

12a   One skilled at the lathe /or/ the canvas? (6)

Were one to expand the clue to explicitly state the implied meaning, it would read "One skilled at the lathe /or/ [one skilled at] the canvas?".

J. M. W. Turner^[5] (1775–1851) was an English painter; full name Joseph Mallord William Turner. He made his name with landscapes and stormy seascapes, becoming increasingly concerned with depicting the power of light by the use of primary colours, often arranged in a swirling vortex. Notable works: Rain, Steam, Speed (1844); The Fighting Téméraire (1838) — the latter painting used by Deep Threat to illustrate his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.

13a   Cut off /from/ established site for shooting practice (8)

Contrary to what Deep Threat shows in his review, I don't believe the word "from" is part of the definition.

Estrange^[10] (usually passive; often followed by 'from') means:

• to separate and live apart from (one's spouse) ⇒ he is estranged from his wife
• to antagonize or lose the affection of (someone previously friendly); alienate

15a   You and I having quiet time // expressed sorrow (4)

"quiet" = 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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17a   Darling gets left in // shower (4)

I see the containment indicator as being "gets ... in" as in Those chocolates were delicious; I hope the shop gets more in.

19a   Black Prince of yesteryear // more intelligent (8)

Rainier III^[7] (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 1923–2005), known as Prince Rainier, ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest ruling monarchs in European history. (show more )

Though internationally known for his marriage to American actress Grace Kelly, he was also responsible for reforms to Monaco's constitution and for expanding the principality's economy beyond its traditional casino gambling base. Gambling accounts for only approximately three percent of the nation's annual revenue today; when Rainier ascended the throne in 1949, it accounted for more than 95 percent.

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20a   After setback the fellow had to keep moggy // separate (6)

Moggy is an alternative spelling of moggie^[5], an informal British term for a cat, typically one that does not have a pedigree or is otherwise unremarkable ⇒ I have three other cats (two moggies and one Bengal/Tonkinese cross).

21a   More lustrous // nobleman gets external support (8)

An earl^[5] is a British nobleman ranking above a viscount and below a marquess [in other words, the third highest of the five ranks of British nobility — duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron].

22a   Badly behaved youngster -- // Robin, that is? (6)

Robin Hood^[5] was a semi-legendary English medieval outlaw, reputed to have robbed the rich and helped the poor. Although he is generally associated with Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, it seems likely that the real Robin Hood operated in Yorkshire in the early 13th century.

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Hoodie^[10] (or hoody) is an informal [likely British] term for a young person who wears a hooded sweatshirt, regarded by some as a potential hooligan.

23a   Disorder great by port -- police may need this? (4,4)

The definition is provided by the entire clue in which the wordplay is embedded.

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Rio de Janeiro^[5] (commonly known as Rio) is a city in eastern Brazil, on the Atlantic coast. The chief port of Brazil, it was the country’s capital from 1763 until 1960, when it was replaced by Brasilia.

24a   You'd once set about embracing Guildhall figure, /making/ emotional appeal (8)

Gog and Magog^[5] are two giant statues standing in Guildhall^*, London, representing either the last two survivors of a race of giants supposed to have inhabited Britain before Roman times, or Gogmagog, chief of the giants, and Corineus, a Roman invader.

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^* Guildhall is a building in the City of London, England that has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation (show more ). It should not be confused with London's City Hall, the administrative centre for Greater London. The term "Guildhall" refers both to the whole building and to its main room, which is a medieval great hall. The building is traditionally referred to as Guildhall, never "the" Guildhall.

The City of London^[7] is a city and ceremonial county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the conurbation has since grown far beyond the City's borders. The City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. It is one of two districts of London to hold city status, the other being the adjacent City of Westminster.

It is widely referred to simply as the City (often written as just "City" and differentiated from the phrase "the city of London" by capitalising "City") and is also colloquially known as the Square Mile, as it is 1.12 sq mi (2.90 km²), in area. Both of these terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being largely based in the City. This is analogous to the use of the terms Wall Street and Bay Street to refer to the financial institutions located in New York and Toronto respectively.

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In Britain, the term corporation^[5] may refer to a group of people elected to govern a city, town, or borough ⇒ the City of London Corporation.

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Demagogy^[5] is political activity or practices that seek support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument ⇒ the party's empty populist demagogy is rapidly being exposed as worthless.

25a   Team // the French put into short race? (6)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

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Eleven^[5] is the number of players in^* a cricket^[7] side [team] or an Association football^[7] [soccer] team — and is frequently used as a metonym for such a team ⇒ at cricket I played in the first eleven.

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^* Note that in Britain a player is "in a side" or "in a team" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America.

Down

2d   Food /with which/ old character inadequately entertains yours truly (8)

3d   Monkey /has/ brief time in flowing stream (8)

"brief time" = MO (show explanation )

Mo^{[1,2,4.5,10,11,12,14]} (abbreviation for moment) is an informal British^[5,14], chiefly British^[2,4],  mainly British^[10], or not specified as British^[1,11,12] term for a short period of time ⇒ hang on a mo!.

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The marmoset^[5] is a small tropical American monkey with a silky coat and a long tail.

4d   Singer /in/ church getting nothing right, nun losing head (9)

5d   Mad Tory practice upsetting // group of US politicians? (10,5)

The Democratic Party^[5] is one of the two main US political parties (the other being the Republican Party), which follows a broadly liberal programme, tending to support social reform and minority rights.

6d   Reputation /of/ old city within country (7)

"old city" = UR (show explanation )

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC. Ur^[7] is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.

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7d   Sort out // university book collection corner (8)

"book collection" = NT (show explanation )

In Crosswordland, the term "books" — and related phrases such as "book collection" or "religious books" — are commonly used to clue either the Old Testament (OT) or the New Testament (NT). 

Today, as is often the case, the clue provides no indication whether the reference is to the former or the latter.

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8d   Sweet /and/ holy father given a monetary allowance (8)

Fr^[5] is the abbreviation for Father (as a courtesy title of priests) ⇒ Fr Buckley.

14d   Be independent /and/ surprisingly genial too (2,2,5)

15d   Court has 500 got rid of -- // something nasty in this place? (8)

Cold Comfort Farm^[7] is a comic novel by English author Stella Gibbons (1902–1989), published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as English romantic novelist Mary Webb (1881–1927).

Ada Doom^[7], a character in the novel, is a reclusive, miserly widow, owner of the farm, who constantly complains of having seen "something nasty in the woodshed" when she was a girl.

16d   Unconvincing kind -- Liberal engaged in that // political programme (8)

"Liberal" = L (show more )

The Liberal Party^[5] (abbreviation Lib.^[5] or L^[2])^* in Britain emerged in the 1860s from the old Whig Party and until the First World War was one of the two major parties in Britain. In 1988 the party regrouped with elements of the Social Democratic Party to form the Social and Liberal Democrats, now known as the Liberal Democrats.

However, a small Liberal Party still exists (founded in 1989 by members of the original Liberal Party opposed to its merger with the Social Democratic Party) although it has no representation in the UK Parliament, no Members of the European Parliament (MEP), no members of the Scottish Parliament, nor any members of the National Assembly for Wales. Today, the party holds only a handful of seats at the local government level.^[7]

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^* Although Lib.^[5] may be the more common abbreviation for the Liberal Party in Britain — likely to distinguish it from the the Labour Party^[5] (abbreviation Lab.^[5]) — Chambers 21st Century Dictionary indicates that L^[2] may also be used.

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The containment indicator is implied to be "engaged in that [which goes before]".

17d   Professional record with upper-class English /in/ introduction (8)

"upper class | of the upper classes | posh | superior | acceptable | high-class" = U (show explanation )

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners.

The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable). 

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18d   Imprisoned by doctor, beaten foes /become/ humiliated (4,4)

19d   Support // very hot -- Conservative gets in (7)

"Conservative" = C (show explanation )

The abbreviation for Conservative may be either C.^[10] or Con.^[10].

The Conservative Party^[5] is a a major British political party that emerged from the old Tory Party^* under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s. Since the Second World War, it has been in power 1951–64, 1970-74, and 1979–97. It governed in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats from 2010 until the general election of May 2015, in which it was returned with a majority.

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^* Historically, a Tory^[10] was a member of the English political party that opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession (1679–80). Tory remained the label for subsequent major conservative interests until they gave birth to the Conservative Party in the 1830s.

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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