Thursday, March 28, 2019 — DT 28867

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28867
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, October 11, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28867]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers
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

In Comment #9 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Miffypops somewhat tentatively attributes this puzzle to Shamus. However, that is merely a guess and Shamus does not confirm authorship by leaving a comment — as he often does when it is one of his puzzles.

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   Against Capone, say, law enforcement taking back all // wine (12)

"Capone, say" = AL (show explanation )

Al Capone^[5] (1899–1947), nicknamed Scarface, was an American gangster of Italian descent. He dominated organized crime in Chicago in the 1920s and was indirectly responsible for many murders, including the St Valentine’s Day Massacre^* .

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^* The St Valentine's Day Massacre^[5] was the shooting on 14th February 1929 of seven members of the rival ‘Bugsy’ Moran's gang by some of Al Capone's men disguised as policemen.

Capone^[7] was born in Brooklyn (New York) and began his life of crime in New York City before moving to Chicago. Capone inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door at a Brooklyn night club and was slashed by her brother Frank Gallucio. The wounds led to the nickname that Capone loathed: "Scarface". Capone's boss, racketeer Frankie Yale, insisted that Capone apologize to Gallucio, and later Capone hired him as a bodyguard. When photographed, Capone hid the scarred left side of his face, saying that the injuries were war wounds. Capone was called "Snorky", a term for a sharp dresser, by his closest friends.

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Valpolicella^[5] is red Italian wine made in the Val Policella district.

9a   Grass in neglected course /is/ full of holes (9)

Taking minor issue with pommers' hint, I would say that while it can mean either, in this case the rodent in question is an informer rather than a deserter.

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

• (noun) a police informer
• (verb, often grass on or grass up) to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ (i) someone had grassed on the thieves; (ii) she threatened to grass me up.

This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper being rhyming slang (show explanation ) for 'copper').

Rhyming slang^[5] is a type of slang that replaces words with rhyming words or phrases, typically with the rhyming element omitted. For example, butcher’s, short for butcher’s hook, means ‘look’ in Cockney rhyming slang.

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10a   Fish leaving current // location (5)

My first thought was that the current is leaving the fish — not the other way around. However, if one interprets "leaving" to mean abandoning rather than departing, the clue works.

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The plaice^[5] is a North Atlantic flatfish which is a commercially important food fish.

"current" = I [symbol used in physics] (show explanation )

In physics, I^[5] is a symbol used to represent electric current in mathematical formulae.

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11a   Old engineer set back advanced // capital city (6)

This clue struck close to home.

James Watt^[5] (1736–1819) was a Scottish engineer. Among his many innovations he greatly improved the efficiency of the Newcomen steam engine, which was then adopted for a variety of purposes. He also introduced the term horsepower^*.

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^* Horsepower^[5] is an imperial unit of power equal to 550 foot-pounds per second (about 750 watts).

12a   Stewpan's converted /as/ home for insects (4,4)

A stewpan^[1] or stewpot^[1] is a pan or pot used for stewing.

13a   Actor, Johnny, indeed making comeback, // wittered on (6)

Johnny Depp^[7] is an American actor, producer, and musician. (show more )

Johnny Depp has many prominent roles to his credit, perhaps most notably that of pirate Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series of films. Depp claims to have based his characterization of Jack Sparrow on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew.

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Ay (alternative spelling of aye^[5]) is an archaic^* or dialect exclamation said to express assent; in other words, yes or indeed ⇒ aye, you're right there.

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^* the term is still in common use in a couple of contexts:

• in voting to signify "I assent" ⇒ all in favour say aye
• in nautical circles, in the form aye aye, as a response accepting an order ⇒ aye aye, captain

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Witter^[5] is an informal British term meaning to speak at length about trivial matters ⇒ she'd been wittering on about Jennifer and her illness.

15a   Switch off // broadcast about Bletchley Park workplace beginning to drag (4,4)

During World War II, Bletchley Park^[7], a nineteenth-century mansion and estate near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England, was the central site of the British Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) which regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis Powers – most importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers.

The first personnel of the Government Code and Cypher School moved to Bletchley Park on 15 August 1939 occupying space in the mansion. However, the wartime needs soon required additional accommodation and a considerable number of wooden huts and brick "blocks" were added.

18a   Arboreal rodent // bit guards an hour after noon (8)

19a   Wicked people // taking king away from companions (6)

"king" = R (show explanation )

In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms^*, Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

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^* A Commonwealth realm^[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.

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21a   Flag // hung -- sail at sea (8)

23a   Cut last pieces of fig roll, one // creation of Mr Kipling (6)

Rudyard Kipling^[5] (1865–1936) was a British novelist, short-story writer, and poet. Born in India, he is known for his poems, such as ‘If’ and ‘Gunga Din’ and his children's tales, notably The Jungle Book (1894) and the Just So Stories (1902). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

Mowgli^[7] is a fictional character and the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book stories. A naked feral child from the Pench area in Seoni, India, he is the most prominent and memorable character in his collections The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895).

Scratching the Surface
Mr Kipling is a brand of cakes, pies and baked goods marketed in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

26a   Dug up // object in auditorium (5)

27a   Restricting // liquor, ultimately managed to reverse being in debt (9)

28a   Driver's been uncertain about good // way out of Wales (6,6)

An explanation of this clue demands we first take a lesson in British geography.

The Wye^[5] is a river which rises in the mountains of western Wales and flows 208 km (132 miles) generally south-eastwards, entering the Severn estuary at Chepstow in Wales. In its lower reaches it forms part of the border between Wales and England.

The Severn^[5] is a river of southwestern Britain. Rising in central Wales, it flows north-east then south in a broad curve for some 290 km (180 miles) to its mouth on the Bristol Channel, flowing through the English counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire on its way to the sea. The estuary is spanned by the Severn Bridge, a suspension bridge north of Bristol opened in 1966, and the Prince of Wales Bridge a few miles to the south, opened in 1996.

The Severn Bridge^[7] is a suspension bridge that spans the River Severn and River Wye between Aust, South Gloucestershire in England, and Chepstow, Monmouthshire in South East Wales, via Beachley, Gloucestershire, which is a peninsula between the two rivers.

From left to right: Wye Bridge, Beachley Viaduct, Severn Bridge and Aust Viaduct

Down

1d   Reduction in degeneracy, Conservative/'s/ success (7)

"Conservative" = TORY [member of British political party] (show more )

The Conservative Party^[5] is a major right of centre British political party promoting free enterprise and private ownershipthat 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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2d   Vaulted // lodge lacking interior fitting (5)

In his review, I think pommers is making things overly complicated (as does WeekendWanda at Comment #27 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog). His explanation is to take a "word which might mean lodge, as in be located, but without its central letter" by which I presume he is inferring that we are to delete the middle letter of L(i)E. I would suggest that what is needed is merely the word "L(odg)E" itself with all its interior letters removed.

3d   With controlling position following cricket deliveries // hit for six (9)

In cricket, an over^[5] is a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

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Knock someone for six^[5] (or hit someone for six) is an informal British expression meaning to utterly surprise or overcome someone⇒ this business has knocked her for six.

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Origin: I think it would be a fairly safe guess that the expression comes from cricket where a six^[5] is a hit that reaches the boundary without first striking the ground, scoring six runs.

4d   Oddly ignored big riot, centre of Santa // Fe (4)

The symbol for the chemical element iron is Fe^[5] (from Latin ferrum).

Scratching the Surface
Santa Fe[5] is the capital of New Mexico. (show more ) Located in the north central part of the state, Santa Fe was founded as a mission by the Spanish in 1610. From 1821 until 1880, it served as the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail. Taken by US forces in 1846 during the Mexican War, it became the capital of New Mexico in 1912. hide

5d   Cover // the news travelling around area (8)

6d   Welcome /being/ ahead on racing circuit, say (3,2)

7d   Haggard // oarsman going north in vessel (8)

8d   Defeated // second-rate English/American team with a man down? (6)

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, the words "side" and "team" are synonymous and a player is said to be "in a side" or "in a team" rather than "on a team" as one would say in North America.

14d   Petty Officer, clueless, heartless /and/ pitiable (8)

A petty officer^[5,10] (abbreviation PO^[5]) is a rank of non-commissioned officer in the navy, above leading seaman or seaman and below chief petty officer and comparable in rank to a sergeant in an army or marine corps.

16d   One that's flown over the Channel (9)

Given that this is a British puzzle, "over the Channel" means on the other side of the English Channel from a British perspective.

A tricolour^[5] is a flag with three bands or blocks of different colours, especially the French national flag with equal upright bands of blue, white, and red.

17d   Popular when seen drunk, // to some extent (2,1,5)

18d   Upright // army officer regularly selected gunmen (6)

20d   Gravel // stored in smashing lean-to (7)

Shingle^[5] is a mass of small rounded pebbles, especially on a seashore ⇒ (i) a wonderful beach of fine shingle; (ii) natural features like sand dunes and shingle banks.

22d   For all to see, nude rogue /is/ improper (5)

"for all to see" = U [film rating] (show explanation )

Under the British system of film classification^[7] a U (for 'universal') rating indicates that a film is suitable "for all the family" — or, at any rate, for those members over 4 years of age.

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24d   Shame being short of time, departs // club (5)

"departs" = D (show explanation )

In travel timetables, departs is indicated by the abbreviation d^[5] ⇒ Plymouth d 0721.

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25d   Flier // written with some content you can ignore (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