Monday, January 7, 2019 — DT 28809 (Published Saturday, January 5, 2019)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28809
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, August 4, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28809 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28809 – 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. This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, January 5, 2019 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Well, crypticsue may have thought this worthy of a mere two stars for difficulty but I struggled to complete it — although I did manage to do so without needing to call out the electronic reinforcements from their barracks.

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

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   When my speech is written, they should mark my words (8,6)

Inverted comma^[5] is an alternative British name for a quotation mark. In a discussion in the thread arising from Comment #1 on crypticsue's review, several contributors refer to the term "inverted commas" having been supplanted by the term "quotation marks" during their lifetimes. Merusa postulates that "I think quotation marks came from America".

10a   Charlie dances about following parking /for/ reduced rate (4-5)

"following" = F [publishing] (show explanation )

In publishing, the abbreviation f.^[10] (plural ff.) is used to denote following (page).

hide explanation

"parking" = P

11a   Fine old instrument /used to make/ glass (5)

"fine" = F [pencil lead] (show explanation )

F^[5] is an abbreviation for fine, as used in describing grades of pencil lead.

---

Note: Surprisingly, Oxford Dictionaries Online characterizes this usage as British

hide explanation

12a   Labour carrying in loud // chef's essential item? (7)

"loud" = F [music notation] (show explanation )

Forte^[5] (abbreviation f^[5]) is a musical direction meaning (as an adjective) loud or (as an adverb) loudly.

hide explanation

13a   Note that one may leave quickly // after hanky-panky (4-2)

"hanky-panky" = IT (show explanation )

It^[2,5] (usually written in quotation marks, "it") is an informal term for sex appeal^* or sexual intercourse ⇒ (i) the only thing I knew nothing about was ‘it’; (ii) they were caught doing ‘it’ in the back seat of his car.

---

^* Chambers 21st Century Dictionary considers this sense to be an "old use" (Chambers' terminology for archaic, obsolete or old-fashioned). "It"^[7] (written in quotation marks) is a term that has come to mean sex appeal — although, in its earliest manifestation, it seems that the term pertained more to personality than to glamorous looks. Despite having been used as early as 1904 by Rudyard Kipling, the term was popularized  in the 1927 film It starring Clara Bow (who became known as the "It Girl").

hide explanation

15a   Boyhood's occasionally misplaced, coming from east // London area (4)

The indicator "occasionally misplaced" directs us to lose every second letter in BOYHOODS. The clue does not specify whether we are to discard the odd-numbered or even-numbered sequence of letters — that we have to determine through trial and error.

---

Soho^[7] is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable transformation. It now is predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues.

---

Origin: The name Soho^[5] dates to the mid 17th century and probably derives from the old word soho, used as a hunting cry: the area was a royal park in Tudor times.

17a   Vacant sty pens worried pet // chicken (7-3)

18a   Tense /and/ bitter after arrest (4-6)

20a   Amber nectar // insect's found by river (4)

22a   Loves wearing different red suits, plus spectacles /for/ a spell (6)

"love" = O [tennis term] (show explanation ); thus "loves" = OO

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).

hide explanation

The "different red suits" arehearts anddiamonds.

Hearts^[2] (abbreviation H^[1]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

hide explanation

Diamonds^[2] (abbreviation D^[2]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

hide explanation

"spectacles" = OO (show explanation )

This is known as a 'visual' or 'looks like' clue. The word "spectacles" clues OO because this combination of letters looks like a pair of spectacles.

hide explanation

---

Hoodoo^[5] is another name for voodoo or witchcraft.

23a   A portrait may be this // high and mighty (5-2)

The first part of the clue might or might not qualify as a matching definition based on numeration as it could give one either a phrasal verb (5,2) or an adjective (5-2) ⇒ (i) [phrasal verb] Have you stuck up the portraits yet?; (ii) [adjective] The stuck-up portraits have been checked off on the list; the rest are still in their crates.

26a   Article should be wrapped in less plastic, // in which 10 items could go (5)

The numeral "10" is a cross reference indicator to clue 10a (show more ).

To complete the clue, a solver must replace the cross reference indicator with the solution to the clue starting in the light^* identified by the cross reference indicator.

The cross reference indicator may include a directional indicator but this is customarily done only in situations where there are both Across and Down clues originating in the light that is being referenced.

---

^* light-coloured cell in the grid

hide

27a   Power lies with Europe manoeuvring around as // it's hard to see through (3-6)

Big Dave and crypticsue both parse the wordplay as "P(ower) inside an anagram (manoeuvring) of EUROPE which then goes around the AS from the clue".

Their parsing would work had the clue said "lies within". However, the clue says "lies with" which I interpret as meaning "lies beside". Thus, I would parse the clue as "P(ower) precedes an anagram (manoeuvring) of EUROPE which then goes around the AS from the clue".

"power" = P [physics] (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

---

Pea-souper^[5] is an informal British term for a very thick yellowish fog ⇒ he was alone in one of London's infamous pea-soupers.

28a   Wobbly bodies seen in these? (8,6)

I see this as a cryptic definition with embedded wordplay. At one level, the clue defines a revealing item of apparel in which one might see bodies — wobbly or otherwise (as suggested by the question mark). At another level, we have the embedded charade SWIMMING (wobbly) + TRUNKS (bodies).

In the wordplay, wobbly or swimming could describe how everything appears to those having had too much to drink.

Down

2d   Material /from/ US city underwritten by 50% of capital (5)

London^[5] is the capital of the United Kingdom, situated in southeastern England on the River Thames.

3d   Appoint // this person that's come up with scheme (6)

"this person" = ME (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the or this) compiler, (the or this) setter, (the or this) speaker, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or ME) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

hide explanation

4d   Smashed particle -- it /becomes/ more than double (10)

5d   Wild animal /or/ something at the water's edge, looking up (4)

6d   Motorway exit // where tractors should go? (3-4)

As the first part of the clue fails to match the numeration given, it must be considered to be wordplay rather than definition.

7d   Looks painful, having ring inserted /in/ facial feature (9)

One must treat the phrase "looks painful" as an expression of sympathy and find a corresponding phrasal expression to replace it.

8d   Weekly magazine's laid on wine /for/ Wimbledon tennis perhaps (9,5)

The Spectator^[7] is a conservative-leaning weekly British magazine, first published in 1828, owned by David and Frederick Barclay — who also own The Daily Telegraph^[7] newspaper.

"wine" = PORT (show explanation )

Port^[5] (also port wine) is a strong, sweet dark red (occasionally brown or white) fortified wine, originally from Portugal, typically drunk as a dessert wine. The name is a shortened form of Oporto, a major port from which the wine is shipped.

hide explanation

---

The Championships, Wimbledon^[5,7] (commonly known simply as Wimbledon) is an annual international tennis championship on grass for individual players and pairs, held at the headquarters of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in the London suburb of Wimbledon. Now one of the world’s major tennis championships, it has been played since 1877.

9d   Pictures, strangely shiny, set /in/ process that gives everything more life (14)

14d   Nuts attached to bonnet maybe limiting force /in/ part of engine (10)

Here and There
On both sides of the Atlantic, crank[3,4,11] can mean an eccentric or odd person, especially someone who stubbornly maintains unusual views. In North America, the term can also denote a bad-tempered person — a meaning it does not have in the UK.

"force" = F [physics] (show explanation )

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

hide explanation

---

A crankshaft^[10,12] is a a shaft having one or more cranks for transmitting motion, especially the main shaft of an internal-combustion engine to which the connecting rods (which connect the pistons to the crankshaft) are attached.

Scratching the Surface
Bonnet[5] is the British term for a hood[5], the hinged metal canopy covering the engine of a motor vehicle.

16d   Masses // hit oil pool with no time to deviate (3,6)

Hoi polloi^[5] (usually the hoi polloi) is a derogatory term for the masses or the common people ⇒ avoid mixing with the hoi polloi.

19d   British getting over defeat order // something pink and frothy? (7)

"order" = OM [Commonwealth honour] (show explanation )

The Order of Merit^[7] (abbreviation OM^[5]) 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).

hide explanation

---

I can only suppose that the definition may possibly refer to a Cherry Blossom cocktail — although I see no indication of this on Big Dave's Crossword Blog and could not find a reference to the drink in any of my dictionaries or on Wikipedia.

Cherry Blossom Recipe
1 part Cognac 1 part Cherry Brandy 4 dashes Grenadine 4 dashes Orange Curacao ⅓ part Lemon Juice To mix, fill a shaker with ice cubes; add all ingredients; shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

21d   Lots of squares taking in arrangements of basic numbers -- it's puzzling (6)

24d   In Moscow, change // on the rise awoke poker-faced guards (5)

The kopek^[5] (also spelled copeck or kopeck) is a monetary unit of Russia and some other countries of the former Soviet Union, equal to one hundredth of a rouble [ruble].

25d   Frank /in/ love with writer (4)

Here we receive only half the love that was showered on us in 22a.

Here and There

The use of the word "writer" to clue PEN would likely be slightly more cryptic to the Brits than it is to us on this side of the pond.  The setter has almost certainly used "writer" as a cryptic allusion to an implement used for writing. While North American dictionaries also define pen[3,11] as a writer or an author ⇒ a hired pen, British dictionaries do not list this meaning although they do show pen[2,4] (or the pen[5,10]) as symbolically denoting writing as an occupation.

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