Friday, February 8, 2019 — DT 28833

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28833
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, September 1, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28833 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28833 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) crypticsue (Review)
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - yet to be solved
Notes
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

I found this puzzle to be a pretty good mental workout. I didn't get much accomplished on the first read through. However, once I had established a foothold, I was able to slowly build out from it.

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   Died -- tombstone message /makes/ little splash (4)

"died" = D (show explanation )

The abbreviation for 'died' is d.^[5] (used to indicate a date of death) ⇒ Barents, Willem (d.1597).

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3a   If gin flows, night should resolve // family feud (2-8)

As an anagram indicator, resolve^[5] may be used in the the sense (said of something seen at a distance) to turn into a different form when seen more clearly ⇒ the orange light resolved itself into four roadwork lanterns.

9a   Silent star's lost ring /and/ dress (4)

Greta Garbo^[5] (1905–1990) was a Swedish-born American actress; born Greta Gustafsson. She is remembered for films such as Anna Christie (1930), Mata Hari (1931), and Anna Karenina (1935). After her retirement in 1941 she lived as a recluse.

Garbo^[7] launched her career in the silent film era. Her first talking film was Anna Christie (1930) to which MGM marketers enticed the public with the tagline "Garbo talks!"

10a   Gracious foreign word for English // instrument (3,7)

Cor^[5] is an informal British exclamation expressing surprise, excitement, admiration, or alarm ⇒ Cor! That‘s a beautiful black eye you’ve got!.

Anglais^[8] is the masculine, singular form of the French word for 'English'.

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A cor anglais^[5] (also called English horn) is an alto woodwind instrument of the oboe family, having a bulbous bell and sounding a fifth lower than the oboe.

11a   Spoilt brat // under fire? (7)

Rather than beneath, think of under^[5] in the sense of undergoing (a process) ⇒ under construction.

13a   Rodents // that might afflict a freezing school bedroom? (7)

A dormouse^[5] (plural dormice) is an agile mouse-like rodent with a hairy or bushy tail, found in Africa and Eurasia. Some kinds are noted for spending long periods in hibernation.

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Origin: of unknown origin, but associated with French dormir or Latin dormire ‘to sleep’ and mouse

14a   At sea, bosun's torch // toasted spring festival treat (3,5,3)

Scratching the Surface
A bosun[5] (also bo'sun) is a ship's officer in charge of equipment and the crew. Origin: variant spelling of boatswain

18a   Rival // prize crossword? (11)

The second part of the clue is a definition by example; i.e., the definition is an example of the solution.

The Saturday crossword in The Daily Telegraph (where this puzzle first appeared) is a "prize crossword". That is, readers may enter their completed puzzles in a draw for prizes. Traditionally, the prize was a much coveted fountain pen although I understand that other prizes (such as gift cards) may also be awarded.

21a   Scots dance around Whitehall ministry // convert (7)

Whitehall^[5] is a street in Westminster, London, in which many government offices are located. The name is commonly used as an allusive reference to the British civil service or to the British government, its offices, or its policy ⇒ critics claim that councils are being railroaded by Whitehall into approving the schemes.

In the UK, the abbreviation MOD^[2] (or MoD) stands for Ministry of Defence.

22a   Using piece of red rag, nervously put over // challenge (2,5)

In the sport of fencing, en garde^[5] is a direction to be ready to fence, taking the opening position for action.

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Origin: French en garde '(be) on guard'

23a   Former servicemen scrap with soldier // over what one should pay? (10)

"servicemen" = OR (show explanation )

In the British armed forces, the term other ranks^[5] (abbreviation OR^[5]) refers to all those who are not commissioned officers.

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"soldier" = ANT (show explanation )

A soldier^[5] is a wingless caste of ant or termite with a large specially modified head and jaws, involved chiefly in defence.

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24a   26 // traitors to the Left? (4)

The numeral "26" is a cross reference indicator to clue 26a (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.

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^* light-coloured cell in the grid

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25a   Takes flight // desk shifts, adds getting the French on board (10)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

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

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26a   Blue-eyed boy/'s/ vow to marry by fifty (4)

Blue-eyed boy^[5,10] is a derogatory, informal British^* term for a person highly regarded by a person or group and treated with special favour ⇒ the problem that managers may favour their blue-eyed boys.

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^* Usual US equivalent: fair-haired boy

Down

1d   Heightened clash /of/ brawling boxers, say (8)

If a clash at high altitude is split (3,5) the result could be a brawl between boxers ... or pit bulls.

2d   Anger, having lost time for good // soak (8)

"good" = G [academic result] (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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4d   Person in charge perhaps /is/ not a single person (2,3)

Although the solution to the first definition is actually "No. One" (more commonly written "No. 1"), it enumerates to (2,3) because punctuation is not entered in the grid.

5d   Impossible to catch // popular German car -- tooted endlessly (9)

The definition seems to me to be mildly cryptic — especially in the context established by the clue.

Audi AG^[7] is a German automobile manufacturer that is now part of the Volkswagen Group. (show more )

The company name is based on the Latin translation of the surname of the founder, August Horch. "Horch", meaning "listen" in German, becomes "audi" in Latin. The four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create Audi's predecessor company, Auto Union.

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6d   Noble // with two fouls in game's first quarter (4-7)

7d   Of a type inclined to show urgency? (6)

8d   After gossip, see that man's // tears (6)

12d   An item of clothing twice worn by bounder /for/ a spell (11)

In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, crypticsue seems to have come up one letter short in her explanation.

Her explanation should read "A BRA A BRA (an item of clothing twice) into which is inserted (worn by) CAD (bounder)".

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Bounder^[5] is a dated informal British term for a dishonourable man ⇒ he is nothing but a fortune-seeking bounder.

Cad^{[2,3,4,5,10,11,12]} is a dated informal British^* term for a man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards a woman ⇒ her adulterous cad of a husband.

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^* with the exception of Oxford Dictionaries, all the British dictionaries that I consulted characterize this term as British while none of the American dictionaries do so

15d   Pretended // to be excited with temperature dropping (9)

16d   Russian plane, given ranking, // went to land elsewhere (8)

Again the perceived cryptic nature of the definition is — in large part — due to the context established by the clue.

A MiG^[7] is a type of Russian jet fighter. The name comes from the initials of the two founders (Mikoyan and Gurevich) of the organization that designs the planes.

17d   Basic // triangle ringing the changes (8)

Scratching the Surface

In bell-ringing, ring the changes[2] means to go through all the various orders possible when ringing a peal of church bells*. * Change-ringing[2] is a British form of bell-ringing, in which a set of differently tuned bells is rung in various permutations so that no sequence is sounded more than once. The expression ring the changes[2,5] is also used figuratively to denote varying the way something is done, used, said, etc. ⇒ I mean, I love horses, and riding horses and caring for horses has been a major part of my life, but maybe it's time to ring the changes.

19d   Prepares // item that may be first on and last off? (6)

20d   Establish // this person's stance (6)

"this person's" = IM (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.

Today, the setter has made the scenario slightly more complicated by combining "this person" with the verb "to be"^* producing "this person's" (a contraction of "this person is") which must be replaced by "I'm" (a contraction of "I am").

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^* Although in the surface reading "this person's" is showing possession, in the wordplay it is interpreted as a contraction of "this person is".

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22d   One piercing bird // that used to go after Eric (5)

Erne^[5] is a literary name for the sea eagle^[5], a large Eurasian fish-eating eagle that frequents coasts and wetlands.

The British comic duo Morecambe and Wise^[7] (also known as Eric and Ernie), comprised of Eric Morecambe (1926-1984) and Ernie Wise (1925–1999), were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced".

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