Monday, April 8, 2019 — DT 28874 (Published Saturday, April 6, 2019)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28874
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, October 19, 2018
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28874]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Deep Threat
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
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, April 6, 2019 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

One rarely completes a Giovanni puzzle without having been introduced to a new word. I won't say "learned" as a word can only be considered to have been learned if one remembers it the next time that it surfaces.

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   Mum meeting someone in Glasgow? // It's supposed to be lucky (6)

A mascot^[5] is a person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck, especially one linked to a particular organization or event ⇒ the team's dolphin mascot.

5a   'Goody' about to catch 'baddy' -- // they run at a moderate pace (8)

"goody" = ST [abbreviation for saint] (show explanation )

In Crosswordland, a "good man" or "good person" is virtually — or virtuously — always a saint. The abbreviation for Saint is St^*[5] ⇒ St George.

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^* The British do not use a period — or, as they would say, full stop — at the end of abbreviations formed from the initial and final letters of a word.

Aside from its religious sense, saint^[5] is an informal term for a very virtuous, kind, or patient person ⇒ she's a saint to go on living with that man.

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Rotter^[5] is a informal, dated, chiefly British term for a cruel, mean, or unkind person ⇒ Rosemary had decided that all men were rotters.

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A trotter^[5] is a horse bred or trained for the sport of trotting^*. However, as JBe points out in Comment #32 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, The horses in the picture [illustrating Deep Threats' hint] for 5a are pacers not trotters (show more ).

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^* Trotting is a form of harness racing^[7] in which horses move with a trotting gait rather than a pacing gait. A trotter runs more slowly than a pacer (thus they run at a a moderate pace).

Harness racing^[7] is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky.

Races can be conducted in two differing gaits – trotting and pacing. The difference is that a trotter moves its legs forward in diagonal pairs (right front and left hind, then left front and right hind striking the ground simultaneously), whereas a pacer moves its legs laterally (right front and right hind together, then left front and left hind). In continental Europe, races are conducted exclusively among trotters, whereas in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States races are also held for pacers.

Pacing races constitute 80% to 90% of the harness races conducted in North America. Pacing horses are faster and (most important to the bettor) less likely to break stride (a horse which starts to gallop must be slowed down and taken to the outside until it resumes trotting or pacing).

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9a   Tinge Monet conjured up /for/ herbaceous plant (10)

Mignonette^[5] is a herbaceous plant with spikes of small fragrant greenish flowers. There are several species, including a North African variety (Reseda odorata) which is cultivated as an ornamental and for its essential oil, and the European wild mignonette (Reseda lutea).

Scratching the Surface
Claude Monet[5] (1840–1926) was a French painter. (show more ) A founder member of the impressionists, his fascination with the play of light on objects led him to produce series of paintings of single subjects painted at different times of the day and under different weather conditions, such as the Water-lilies sequence (1899–1906; 1916 onwards). hide

10a   Japanese ingredient // is included by Maureen (4)

Mo^[7] is a common diminutive for Maureen.

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Miso^[5] is a paste made from fermented soya beans and barley or rice malt, used in Japanese cooking.

11a   Embellish // talk to be given at end of month (8)

12a   Knowing about bar's closing /and/ opening (6)

Knowing^[10] is used in the sense of wise, shrewd, or clever.

13a   Member of tribe // about to get instruction in English language (4)

ELT^[10] is the abbreviation for English Language Teaching, the teaching of English specifically to students whose native language is not English. English language teaching^[7] may refer to either:

• Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL)
• Teaching English as a second language (TESL)

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The Celts^[5] were a group of peoples inhabiting much of Europe and Asia Minor in pre-Roman times. Their culture developed in the late Bronze Age around the upper Danube, and reached its height in the La Tène culture (5th to 1st centuries BC) before being overrun by the Romans and various Germanic peoples.

15a   /What's/ having detrimental effect on // mother, getting old? (8)

Perhaps you are wondering, like Angellov at Comment #7 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, why ‘what’s’ is really needed in the clue.

For cryptic effect, the setter has chosen a clue structure that places the definition in the middle of the clue.

A "normal" clue structure might phrase the clue as:

• Mother, getting old /that's/ having detrimental effect on (8)

which — as one might expect — has a pretty meaningless surface reading.

The setter could also have simply omitted the word "what's" (which is likely what Angellov is alluding to) but I do feel that the surface reading of the clue is enhanced by its inclusion. 

18a   Pig a man's destroyed /in/ one form of religion (8)

19a   Help with // a risky venture (4)

Abet^[5] could mean either 'help' or 'help with' depending on whether the object is the person one is abetting or the crime one is abetting:

• encourage or assist ([a specified] someone) to do something wrong, in particular to commit a [unspecified] crime ⇒ he was not guilty of murder but was guilty of aiding and abetting [i.e., helping] others
• encourage or assist [an unspecified] someone to commit (a [specified] crime) ⇒ we are aiding and abetting [i.e., helping with] this illegal traffic

Both Deep Threat and I have based our markup of the clue on the latter case. Were one to opt for the former case, the word "with" would be interpreted as a link word.

21a   Major digital operator at ground level? (3,3)

23a   Worst // group for tackling tricky issue (8)

25a   Instrument // used by Charpentier (4)

Scratching the Surface
Charpentier[7] is the French word for "carpenter" and a French surname. I failed to find any well-known musician with this name who plays the instrument in question.

26a   Well planned, // albeit needing someone to promote business (7,3)

A tout^[10] is a person who solicits business in a brazen way.

27a   Places like Plymouth, Southampton, // each involved in games (8)

Plymouth^[5] is a port and naval base in Devon, south-eastern England. In 1620 it was the scene of the Pilgrim Fathers' departure to North America in the Mayflower.

Southampton^[5] is an industrial city and seaport on the south coast of England, in Hampshire. It lies at the end of Southampton Water, an inlet of the English Channel opposite the Isle of Wight. In 1912 it was the departure point for the British passenger liner RMS Titanic^[7] on her first and only voyage — intended destination, North America.

28a   Country // fare for major festival (6)

Here and There

Turkeys[7] are traditionally eaten as the main course of Thanksgiving dinner in the United States and Canada, and at Christmas feasts in much of the rest of the world (often as stuffed turkey). Turkey meat has been eaten by indigenous peoples from Mexico, Central America, and the southern tier of the United States since antiquity. In the 15th century, Spanish ‘‘conquistadores’’ took Aztec turkeys back to Europe. Turkey was eaten as early as the 16th century in England. While the tradition of turkey at Christmas spread throughout Britain in the 17th century, among the working classes, it became common to serve goose, which remained the predominant roast until the Victorian era. Before the 20th century, pork ribs were the most common food for the North American holidays, as hogs were usually slaughtered in November. Turkeys were once so abundant in the wild that they were eaten throughout the year, the food considered commonplace, whereas pork ribs were rarely available outside of the Thanksgiving-New Year season.

Down

2d   Lively // soldier drowning in booze (5)

"soldier" = GI (show explanation )

A GI^[5] is a private soldier in the US army ⇒ she went off with a GI during the war.

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Origin: Contrary to popular belief, the term apparently is not an abbreviation for general infantryman, but rather derives from the term government (or general) issue (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces).

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3d   Business groups /getting/ on, type retained by American agency (9)

"American agency" = CIA (show explanation )

The Central Intelligence Agency^[5] (abbreviation CIA) is a federal agency in the US responsible for coordinating government intelligence activities. Established in 1947 and originally intended to operate only overseas, it has since also operated in the US.

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4d   Islander /in/ trouble not turning up (6)

A Tongan^[5] is a native or inhabitant of Tonga^[5] (also called the Friendly Islands), a country in the South Pacific consisting of an island group south-east of Fiji;  (show more ).

The kingdom of Tonga consists of about 170 volcanic and coral islands, of which thirty-six are inhabited. Visited by the Dutch in the early 17th century, Tonga became a British protectorate in 1900 and an independent Commonwealth state in 1970. It has been a constitutional monarchy since 1875.

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5d   Scruffy kids, // a lot I smartened somehow after short time (15)

Tatterdemalion^[10] is a rately used term for person dressed in ragged clothes.

6d   On the subject of business, the writer /is/ lost for words (8)

Over^[5] is used in the sense of on the subject of ⇒ a long and heated debate over unemployment.

"the writer" = ME (show explanation )

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

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7d   Cheers when a politician enters // US city (5)

"politician" = MP (show explanation )

In Britain (as in Canada), a politician elected to the House of Commons is known as a Member of Parliament^[10] (abbreviation MP^[5]) or, informally, as a member^[5].

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Cheers^[5] is an informal British expression of gratitude or acknowledgement for something ⇒ Billy tossed him the key. ‘Cheers, pal.’.

Ta^[5] is an informal British exclamation signifying thank you ⇒‘Ta,’ said Willie gratefully.

8d   Vibrancy /of/ English boy in foreign country, blasting off loudly (9)

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

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

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14d   To kill // time, I acted strangely (9)

16d   Fighter, // happy one attending common soldiers (9)

"common 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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17d   Terrible performer? Not a // person taking charge (8)

20d   US chum needs to obtain // sum of money allocated (6)

Rather than in the sense of a close friend, chum^[5] is used as a friendly or familiar form of address between men or boys ⇒ it's your own fault, chum.

Here and There
From a British perspective, bud[5] is an informal North American form of address, usually to a boy or man, used especially when the name of the one being addressed is not known ⇒ listen, bud, I saw you there with my own eyes.

22d   Add more liquid to // pot, we deduce! (3,2)

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat  refers to this clue as a a sort of reverse clue, in that the answer could be a cryptic clue to which ‘pot’ is the answer.

In a "normal" clue, the wordplay is found in the clue and the result of executing the wordplay is found in the solution. In what Deep Threat refers to as a "reverse" clue, the solution — or part thereof — could be interpreted as wordplay that when executed produces a result that is found in the clue. Thus, in this case, the word "pot" (found in the clue) could be the result (in a down clue) of TOP UP (interpreted as reversal fodder and indicator).

Having studied math, I see this relationship as being analogous to the concept of inverse functions and thus I like to think of such clues as "inverse" clues rather than "reverse" clues. However, the latter clearly is the commonly used term. Nevertheless, do you not agree that "inverse reversal" would be a far more elegant term for this clue than "reverse reversal"?

24d   Old novelist /in/ shed in the home counties (5)

The Home Counties^[5] are the counties surrounding London in the south-east (SE) part of England, into which London has extended. They comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. (show more )

No exact definition of the term exists and the composition of the Home Counties remains a matter of debate. While Oxford Dictionaries restrictively lists them as being chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire, Wikipedia tells us that the Home Counties^[7] are generally considered to include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex (although Sussex does not border London).

Other counties more distant from London, such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Oxfordshire are also sometimes included in the list due to their close proximity to the capital and their connection to the London regional economy.

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Nevil Shute^[5] (1899–1960) was an English novelist; pseudonym of Nevil Shute Norway. After the Second World War he settled in Australia, which provides the setting for his later novels. Notable works: A Town Like Alice (1950) and On the Beach (1957).

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