Tuesday, March 12, 2019 — DT 28855

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28855
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, September 27, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28855]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Kath
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

After the gentle treatment yesterday, we get a somewhat more invigorating workout today.

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   Seat on flight for young miscreant? (7,4)

Naughty step^[5] is a British term for a step, stool, etc., on which a child may be instructed to sit in isolation when misbehaving; the use of this as a disciplinary technique intended to modify behaviour by enforcing a period of solitary reflection.

7a   Acknowledge // fraud by company (7)

8a   Prepared // pass to enter study (7)

Read^[5] is used in a British sense meaning to study (an academic subject) at a university ⇒ (i) I’m reading English at Cambridge; (ii) he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics.

10a   What might be used to enter // timber home? (3-2)

11a   Cost for one // picture to be replaced, acquiring new one (4,5)

The anagram indicator "to be replaced" directs us to reposition the letters in the anagram fodder.

In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kath seems to have included a bit too much in the definition.

12a   Take back US soldier/'s/ instruments (7)

Joe^[1,4,10] is a US^* term for a soldier.

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^* It is interesting to note that I was able to find this term in two British dictionaries but not in any American dictionaries.

14a   Some animals pong, especially // sea creatures (7)

Scratching the Surface
Pong[5] (adjective pongy[5]) is an informal British term meaning: (noun) a strong, unpleasant smell ⇒ corked wine has a powerful pong (verb) to smell strongly and unpleasantly ⇒ the place just pongs of dirty clothes

15a   Watery // area in France which is beside short river (7)

In French, que^[8] is — among other things — a relative pronoun meaning 'which'.

The River Ouse^[5] (rhymes with booze rather than mouse) is a river of northeastern England, formed at the confluence of the Ure and Swale in North Yorkshire and flowing 92 km (57 miles) south-eastwards through York to the Humber estuary. There are also several other rivers in England having the same or similar name.

• a river of southeastern England, which rises in the Weald of West Sussex and flows 48 km (30 miles) south-eastwards to the English Channel
• (also Great Ouse) a river of eastern England, which rises in Northamptonshire and flows 257 km (160 miles) eastwards then northwards through East Anglia to the Wash near King’s Lynn
• (also Little Ouse) a river of East Anglia, which forms a tributary of the Great Ouse

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18a   Land // united by saint is content for song (7)

"united" = U (show explanation )

In the names of sports clubs, U^[5] is the abbreviation for United^[5] — in Britain, a word commonly used in the names of soccer and other sports teams formed by amalgamation ⇒ Man U [Manchester United].

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20a   Moving // hen to new house, duck following (2,3,4)

"house" = HO (show explanation )

Although not found in most of the dictionaries I consulted, ho.^[10] is the abbreviation for house.

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"duck" = O (show explanation )

In cricket, a duck^[5] (short for duck's egg) is a batsman’s score of nought [zero] ⇒ he was out for a duck. This is similar to the North American expression goose egg^[5] meaning a zero score in a game.

In British puzzles, "duck" is used to indicate the letter "O" based on the resemblance of the digit "0" to this letter.

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

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

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21a   Handle // eccentric (5)

22a   Foreign gents // endorse tourism regularly (7)

Signor^[5] (alsoSignore, plural Signori) is a title or form of address used of or to an Italian-speaking man, corresponding to Mr or sir ⇒ (i) Signor Ugolotti; (ii) I am a man of honour, Signor.

23a   Half ogle at that woman's // tanned skin (7)

24a   Rows about European holiday? // They'll resolve who wins (11)

Here and There

The British use the word holiday(s) where North Americans might say vacation[5]. (read more ) Holiday[5,10] (often holidays) is a chiefly British term for a period in which a break is taken from work or studies for rest, travel, or recreation ⇒ (i) I spent my summer holidays on a farm; (ii) Fred was on holiday in Spain. According to British dictionaries, the usual US and Canadian term for such a break is vacation. However, I am accustomed to hearing the two terms used almost interchangeably in this sense — in much the same manner that I would use fall and autumn interchangeably. This may not be the case in all parts of Canada, but I grew up in the Maritimes and have lived in Eastern Ontario for most of my life, both areas where British influence is particularly strong. In Britain, the word vacation[5] has a very specific meaning, a fixed holiday period between terms in universities and law courts ⇒ the Easter vacation. In North America, such a period might be called a break[7]. hide

Down

1d   Figure // lifted on horse, old knight (7)

"knight" = N [chess notation] (show explanation )

A knight^[5] is a chess piece, typically with its top shaped like a horse’s head, that moves by jumping to the opposite corner of a rectangle two squares by three. Each player starts the game with two knights.

N^[5] is the abbreviation for knight used in recording moves in chess [representing the pronunciation of kn-, since the initial letter k- represents 'king'].

As an aside, it is interesting to note that the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines: 

• K^[2] as an abbreviation used in chess for knight. 
• K^[2] is a symbol used in chess to represent a king. 
• N^[2] is a symbol used in chess to represent a knight.

The dictionary fails to specify how one differentiates an abbreviation from a symbol.

On the other hand, both The Chambers Dictionary and the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary list K or K.^[1,11] as an abbreviation for knight without specifying the specific context in which this abbreviation is used. However, the context may well be in an honours list rather than in a game of chess. In the UK, for instance, KBE^[5] stands for Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

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2d   International in a French running // club (5)

"international" = I (show explanation )

I.^[10] is the abbreviation for International.

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"a French" = UN (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article is un^[8].

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3d   Sweets // insect fed to drones (7)

Sweet^[5] is a British term for a small shaped piece of confectionery made with sugar ⇒ a bag of sweets. In North American parlance, sweets would be candy^[5] and a sweet would be a piece of candy.

4d   Told what you need to get in house /for/ dogs (7)

Yorkie^[5] is an informal name for a Yorkshire terrier.

5d   Cutlery /made from/ soapstone undergoing deterioration (9)

6d   Using force on // rebellion, ousting leader (7)

This time, I believe Kath has shortchanged the definition.

7d   They praise // able rector's broadcast (11)

9d   Sherlock's covering // case of evidence gathered by doctor, follower (11)

A deerstalker^[5] is a soft cloth cap, originally worn for hunting, with peaks in front and behind and ear flaps which can be tied together over the top.

The most famous wearer of a deerstalker is undoubtedly the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes^[7]. Although Holmes is never actually described as wearing a deerstalker by name in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, he is portrayed as wearing caps whose descriptions closely match that style of cap. It is not surprising that illustrators of the period depicted Holmes wearing a deerstalker, which then became the popular perception of him.

Scratching the Surface
John H. Watson[7], known as Dr Watson, is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Watson is Sherlock Holmes' friend, assistant and sometime flatmate, and the first person narrator of all but four of these stories.

13d   Individual in Australia reported complete // environmental concern (5,4)

Oz^[5] is an informal Australian and New Zealand term for Australia ⇒ he spent the last few years in Oz.

16d   Irritable // noble initially tried to replace king (7)

"king | Rex" = 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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17d   Lads keeping vanguard of Persian soldiers // back (7)

"soldiers" = 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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18d   Crop // Cockney's equally split with another adult (7)

A cockney^[5,10] is a native of East London [specifically that part of East London known as the East End^[5]], traditionally one born within hearing of Bow Bells (the bells of St Mary-le-Bow^[7] church).

Cockney is also the name of the dialect or accent typical of cockneys, which is characterised by dropping the aitch (H) from the beginning of words as well as the use of rhyming slang (show explanation ).

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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"adult" = A [film certificate] (show more )

The A (Adult) certificate is a former film certificate^[7] issued by the British Board of Film Classification. This certificate existed in various forms from 1912 to 1985, when it was replaced by the PG (Parental Guidance) certificate. [Despite its demise in the real world, it continues to find widespread use in Crosswordland.]

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19d   Cheer as drunk // comes to (7)

21d   Stick around river /to see/ bird (5)

The crake^[5] is a bird of the rail family with a short bill, such as the corncrake.

Delving Deeper
The corncrake[5] is a secretive Eurasian crake inhabiting coarse grasslands, with mainly brown streaked plumage and a distinctive double rasping call. Due to changes in agricultural practices it is now much rarer in the British Isles than formerly.

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