Wednesday, January 2, 2019 — DT 28806

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28806
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Setter Jay (Jeremy Mutch)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28806]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By 2Kiwis
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
The National Post has skipped DT 28805 which was published in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, July 31, 2018.

Introduction

In terms of difficulty and enjoyment, today's puzzle is pretty much what one would expect from Jay who would have to be regarded as probably the the most consistent setter in the stable.

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   Company taken in by cunning university official /and/ cleric (10)

In a college or university (especially Oxford or Cambridge), a dean^[5] is a senior member of a college, with disciplinary and advisory functions.

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An archdeacon^[5] is a senior Christian cleric (in the early Church a deacon, in the modern Anglican Church a priest) to whom a bishop delegates certain responsibilities.

6a   One of the armed forces protected by American // vessels (4)

"one of the armed forces" = RN (show explanation )

The Royal Navy^[5] (abbreviation RN) is the British navy. It was the most powerful navy in the world from the 17th century until the Second World War.

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9a   Article held in trust exceptionally /for/ players out of form (7)

In Britain, a form^[5] is [or, perhaps more correctly,was] a class or year in a school, usually given a specifying number. This is similar to the North America concept of a grade although the numbering system for forms and grades are vastly different. (show more )

The term "form" seems to have become passé as Miffypops in his review of DT 28163 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog refers to "sixth-former" as "What a schoolchild would be during the year before university back in the old days. This would now be known as year 13 or 14." Furthermore, Wikipedia (see table below) characterizes the term "form" as an "alternative/old name".

A form^[7] is a class or grouping of students in a school. The term is used predominantly in the United Kingdom, although some schools, mostly private, in other countries also use the title. Pupils are usually grouped in forms according to age and will remain with the same group for a number of years, or sometimes their entire school career.

Forms are normally identified by a number such as "first form" or "sixth form". A form number may be used for two year groups and differentiated by the terms upper and lower [in general, this would seem to apply primarily for the sixth form]. Usually the sixth form is the senior form of a school [although this apparently does not hold true for New Zealand where they would appear to have a seventh form]. In England, the sixth form is usually divided into two year groups, the lower sixth and upper sixth, owing to the 3-year English college/university system. In Scotland or North America, the 6th form is usually a single year, owing to the 4-year college/university system. If there is more than one form for each year group they will normally be differentiated by letters, e.g., "upper four B", "lower two Y". Schools do not follow a consistent pattern in naming forms [in the foregoing quotation witness Miffypops' reference to "year 14",  a term which does not appear in the table below].

Wikipedia would appear to be at best ambiguous and at worst inconsistent on the relationship between the British and American systems of naming school years. The article from which the table below is excerpted shows that the British first form is equivalent to the American 6th grade. On the other hand, the article cited above states "In North America, the 1st Form (or sometimes 'Form I') is equivalent to 7th Grade." However, this latter statement may in fact be a comparison between the few North American schools to use the form system and the vast majority of North American schools that don't rather than a comparison between British and American schools.

Naming of School Years (British System vs American System)[7]
Age Range	British System		American System
	Name	Alternative/Old Name	Name
11-12	Year 7	First form	6th grade
12-13	Year 8	Second form	7th grade
13-14	Year 9	Third form	8th grade
14-15	Year 10	Fourth form	9th grade
15-16	Year 11	Fifth form	10th grade
16-17	Year 12	Lower sixth form	11th grade
17-18	Year 13	Upper sixth form	12th grade

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10a   Beginning to talk and walk like ducks? // Nonsense! (7)

12a   Earth-shattering // volte-face? (6,2,5)

In their review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the 2Kiwis call this clue a "reverse anagram". However, I would say that is a misidentification. In a normal anagram, the anagram indicator and anagram fodder are contained in the clue and the result of the anagram operation is found in or forms the solution. On the other hand, in a reverse anagram (or, as I would prefer to call it, an inverse anagram) the anagram indicator and anagram fodder are found in or form the solution with the result of the anagram operation being part of the clue.

In this clue, neither of those situations is present. Instead, we find an anagram indicator (shattering) and anagram fodder (EARTH) in the clue and another anagram indicator (change of) and anagram fodder (HEART) in the solution. Clearly the anagram "change of HEART" could produce the same result as the anagram "EARTH-shattering" and so the two expressions could presumably be considered to be equivalent.

14a   Doctor misses // treacle (8)

Here and There

Molasses is one of those words which have related — but distinctly different — meanings on opposite sides of the pond. The substance known to North Americans as molasses is known in the UK as treacle[7]. Treacle[3,11] is the British name for molasses and golden syrup[7] is the British name for light molasses. Molasses (in the North American sense of the word) is a byproduct of the sugar-making process. Specifically, molasses is the concentrated syrup leftover when sugar crystals are extracted, and comes in three varieties: light, dark and blackstrap. When sugar cane is being processed into sugar, the juice from crushed or pressed sugar cane is boiled to prompt the crystallization process. The liquid resulting from the first cooking of the sugar cane syrup is known in North America as light molasses (and in the UK as treacle[10] or golden syrup[7]). It has a relative high sugar content and a fairly mild flavor. The liquid resulting from the second boiling of the sugar cane juice is known in North America as dark molasses (and in the UK as black treacle[7]). It has a distinctively strong, slightly bitter flavour, and a richer colour than light molasses. Black treacle is also called molasses in the UK, although it would seem this term is used primarily when the substance is not intended for human consumption. Blackstrap molasses is the darkest, thickest and least sweet of the types of molasses and is the result of the third and final boiling of the sugar cane juice.

15a   Constant smells /from/ these inlets? (6)

In mathematics, C^[5] (or c) is a symbol used to represent either the third fixed constant to appear in an algebraic expression or a known constant.

Here and There

My first reaction was that a creek is hardly an inlet. However, I discover that the word has quite a different meaning in the UK than it does here. In Britain, a creek[5] is a narrow, sheltered waterway, especially an inlet in a shoreline or channel in a marsh ⇒ a sandy beach in a sheltered creek. In North America, New Zealand, and Australia, a creek[5] is a stream or minor tributary of a river. I find it somewhat implausible that North Americans, New Zealanders, and Australians would independently develop the same different meaning for this word. I therefore wonder if this might be yet another instance where colonials have retained the original British meaning for a word while the Brits themselves have either adopted a new meaning for the word or abandoned the word (as they have done with fall, the season of the year).

17a   Desire must come before soldiers // shine (6)

"soldiers" = RE (show explanation )

The Corps of Royal Engineers^[7], usually just called the Royal Engineers (abbreviation RE), and commonly known as the Sappers^[7], is a corps of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces.

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19a   A clan involved in plot /must be/ fair (8)

21a   His old gran? She lost // these investments (13)

24a   RADA, say, /needs/ a friend with millions (7)

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art^[7] (abbreviation RADA) is a drama school located in London, England. It is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, founded in 1904.

25a   Something that makes you cry about sanctimonious // belief (7)

Pi^[5] is an informal British short form for pious.

26a   Concludes // dispatch moving leader to the Far East (4)

27a   Racist son's cooked // breakfast in France? (10)

A croissant ^[7] is a buttery, flaky, viennoiserie pastry of Austrian origin, named for its historical crescent shape. Croissants have long been a staple of Austrian and French bakeries and pâtisseries. Croissants are a common part of a continental breakfast in France.

Scratching the Surface

Cooked breakfast is another name for a full English breakfast. A full breakfast[7] is a breakfast meal that typically includes bacon, sausages, eggs and a beverage such as coffee or tea. It comes in different regional variants and is referred to by different names depending on the area. While it is colloquially known as a “fry up” in most areas of Britain and Ireland, it is usually referred to as a full English breakfast in England (often shortened to "full English"), and therefore, as a "full Irish", "full Scottish", "full Welsh", “full Cornish”, and the "Ulster fry" in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Northern Ireland, respectively. It is especially popular in Britain and Ireland to such an extent that many cafes and pubs offer the meal at any time of day as an "all-day breakfast". It is also popular in other English-speaking countries, particularly countries that were a part of the British Empire. On its origin, Country Life magazine states, "The idea of the English breakfast as a national dish goes right back to the 13th century and the country houses of the gentry. In the old Anglo-Saxon tradition of hospitality, households would provide hearty breakfasts for visiting friends, relatives and neighbours." The fried breakfast became popular in Britain and Ireland during the Victorian era. A full breakfast is often contrasted (e.g. on hotel menus) with the lighter alternative of a continental breakfast, consisting of tea or coffee, milk and fruit juices with bread, croissants, bagels, or pastries. According to the article "If you use these 27 words it proves you're definitely not posh", use of the term "full English" is an indicator of one's social class being the "non-posh" (lower class) name for what the "posh" (upper class) would call a "cooked breakfast".

Down

1d   Type of degree /offered by/ topless roles (4)

2d   Local authority // advice needing to be heard (7)

Local authority^{[2,4,5,10,14]} is a British and New Zealand term for the governing body of a county, district, etc. The equivalent US term is local government.

The council^[10] (sometimes capitalized) is a British^* term for the local governing authority of a town, county, etc.

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^* At least, the term is British in the eyes of the editors at Collins English Dictionary. Personally. I would say that the term is not at all British. Or, perhaps, we in Canada just use a British form of local government.

3d   Professional bridge-builder who might make an impression? (6,7)

Post Mortem
I fell for the misdirection hook, line and sinker. While I suspected a cryptic definition, I supposed that the solution might be some British engineer whose first name might possibly be Duncan and whose last name might be a device used to make an impression.

4d   Appointed // in the role of token journalist (8)

5d   Get the better of // some, without doubt (5)

7d   Poorly rated exercises /in/ bureaucracy (3,4)

"exercises" = PE (show explanation )

PE^[5] is an abbreviation^* for physical education.

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^* In my experience, phys ed^{[3,6,11,12,14]} is the more common shortened form in North America.

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8d   Son shed tears before a team /is/ dismissed (5,5)

"team" = SIDE (show explanation )

Side^[5] is a British term for a sports team ⇒ there was a mixture of old and young players in^* their side.

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

In North America, the term side^[3] is used in a very general fashion that can denote one of two or more opposing individuals, groups, teams, or sets of opinions. While this same general usage is also found in the UK, the term side^[5] is also used there in a much more specific sense to mean a sports team, as we can clearly see from the following usage examples ⇒ (i) Previous England rugby sides, and England teams in many other sports, would have crumbled under the weight of such errors.; (ii) They'll face better sides than this Monaco team, but you can only beat what's put in front of you.

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11d   Sarah prepared father escargots, /but/ very tough (2,4,2,5)

Da^[5] is British dialect word denoting one's father ⇒ I learned the songs from my da.

13d   Underwear with lace designed /to be/ of limited size (5-5)

Smalls^[5] is an informal British term for small items of clothing, especially underwear.

16d   Do nothing in fixing train // fare from India (8)

Tandoori^[5] is another name for tandoori food or cooking, tandoori in the latter case being an adjective meaning denoting or relating to a style of Indian cooking based on the use of a tandoor^*.

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^* A tandoor^[5] is a clay oven of a type used originally in northern India and Pakistan.

18d   Afraid to cross river // with evidence of injuries (7)

20d   Pad /and/ copper ring used in climb (7)

"copper" = CU (show explanation )

The symbol for the chemical element copper is Cu^[5] (from late Latin cuprum).

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22d   Shellfish // for me really encapsulates it! (5)

An ormer^[5] is an abalone (mollusc), especially one used as food in the Channel Islands (show more ).

The Channel Islands^[5] are a group of islands in the English Channel off the northwestern coast of France, of which the largest are Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney. Formerly part of the dukedom of Normandy, they have owed allegiance to England since the Norman Conquest in 1066, and are now classed as Crown dependencies. 

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23d   Responsibility, /but it's/ our treat (4)

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
^[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon