Tuesday, April 16, 2019 — DT 28880

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28880
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, October 26, 2018
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28880]
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

Introduction

I took a wrong path today and they needed assistance from my electronic helpers to get back on the right path.


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 program, 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 directly from a dictionary or at least phrased in a non-misleading fashion similar to one that would be found in a dictionary
• 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 (for example, defining topiary as "clip art")
• a "whimsical definition": a definition "invented" by the setter often by extrapolating a non-existent meaning for a word from a similar word (for example, defining a bird as a "winger" [something possessing wings] or a river as a ''flower" [something that flows] or to extrapolate that, since disembowel means 'to remove the innards of ', that discontent must mean 'to remove the contents of')
• a "definition by example": the presence of one of these is often flagged with a question mark (for example, defining atoll as "coral?" where an atoll is but one form that coral may take).

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 other varieties of definition (such as cryptic definitions, whimsical definitions, definitions by example, etc.) 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   Get // to drop in (4,2)

4a   Schemes /to get/ US soldier, terribly sick, to collect award for fighting (8)

"US 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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In the UK and Commonwealth countries, the Military Medal^[5] (abbreviation MM) is a decoration for distinguished active service on land, instituted in 1916 (originally for enlisted soldiers).

Scratching the Surface
Irrespective of medical condition, I doubt that a US soldier would qualify for this award.

9a   Live /with/ soldiers, having joined team (6)

"soldiers" = RE [Royal Engineers] (show more )

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

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"team" = SIDE (show explanation )

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

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

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

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The word "with" is used as a link word (show more ).

As a link word, I would imagine that with^[5,10] is being used in the sense of caused by or prompted by ⇒ (i) shaking with rage; (ii) trembling with fear.

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10a   Not relaxed, // having gone through a screening process (8)

12a   Member of Royal Navy maybe /planting/ tree on isle (10)

The service tree^[5] is a Eurasian tree of the rose family^*, closely related to the rowan.

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^* In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat is a bit imprecise in his taxonomy. The service tree is in the family Rosaceae; its genus is Sorbus.

The Isle of Man^[5] is an island in the Irish Sea (show more ).

The island is a British Crown dependency having home rule, with its own legislature (the Tynwald) and judicial system. It was part of the Norse kingdom of the Hebrides in the Middle Ages, passing into Scottish hands in 1266 for a time, until the English gained control in the early 15th century. Its ancient language, Manx, is still occasionally used for ceremonial purposes.

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Scratching the Surface
The Royal Navy[5] is the British navy. It was the most powerful navy in the world from the 17th century until the Second World War.

13a   Big building, // pub with name at the back (4)

14a   Time /getting/ degree -- years! (3)

15a   Priest dancing before job -- inspired by this female? (11)

I would say that the entire clue serves as a cryptic definition as the fact that the priest's dancing is inspired by the goddess whose name is the solution to the clue provides insight into her identity. The wordplay is embedded in the definition.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Terpsichore^[5] is the Muse^* of lyric poetry and dance.

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^* In Greek and Roman mythology, the Muses^[5] are the nine goddesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who preside over the arts and sciences. (show more )

The Muses are generally listed as Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Euterpe (flute playing and lyric poetry), Terpsichore (choral dancing and song)^**, Erato (lyre playing and lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Thalia (comedy and light verse), Polyhymnia (hymns, and later mime), and Urania (astronomy).

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^* Oxford Dictionaries Online is nothing if not inconsistent in its definitions. The portfolios attributed to the goddesses under the collective entry "Muses" differs markedly from those shown in the goddesses' personal entries.

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18a   Not the first place said /to show/ unusual perception? (6,5)

Second sight^[5] is another term for clairvoyance, the supposed ability to perceive future or distant events ⇒ it was like having second sight, the sense that something terrible was going to happen.

20a   Club // attraction, one to be avoided (3)

21a   Enthusiastic supporters /or/ cooler types? (4)

22a   One grape munched by the Spanish -- // bit of fruit often discarded (6,4)

"the Spanish" = EL (show explanation )

In Spanish, the masculine singular form of the definite article is el^[8].

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24a   Prominent features around grassland /for/ South Americans (8)

What did he say?

In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat suggests that the "prominent features" in question may be associated with Bruce Forsyth or Jimmy Hill. Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (1928–2017), popularly known as Bruce Forsyth[7], was a British presenter [radio or television host], actor, comedian, singer, dancer, and screenwriter whose career spanned more than 70 years. In 2012, Guinness World Records recognised Forsyth as having the longest television career for a male entertainer. He was noted for his "distinctively pointy" chin that he emphasised in poses such as the "human question mark", with chin over raised knee. Jimmy Hill[7] (1928–2015) was an English football [soccer] professional and personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including player, trade union leader, coach, manager, director, chairman, television executive, presenter [radio or television host], analyst and assistant referee. Following his playing career, he became a television icon, instantly recognisable and often caricatured for his long chin and distinctive beard. Hill meets Forsyth

25a   Pet // left half abandoned after short while (6)

Tick^[5] is an informal British term for a moment ⇒ (i) I shan’t be a tick; (ii) I’ll be with you in a tick.

Post Mortem
From the wordplay, I initially constructed the erroneous solution WINKLE supposing the definition might be some obscure Briticism I had yet to encounter. When a search of my dictionaries failed to support this approach, I had to seek another option.

26a   Lively // holiday complex exists -- keep quiet about it! (8)

What is he talking about?
In his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Deep Threat hints that the "holiday complex" in question could be Butlin’s, perhaps. Butlins[7] (also Butlin's) is a chain of large holiday camps* in the United Kingdom. * Holiday camp[5] is a British term for a site for holidaymakers [vacationers] with accommodation, entertainment, and leisure facilities.

27a   Finds out // little initially, then gets paid (6)

Down

1d   Present time /in which/ misc. trash gets distributed! (9)

2d   Left in distress, // giving little away (7)

3d   Inferior pottery /in/ Glos. estate (9)

Minton^[5] is a trademark for pottery made at Stoke-on-Trent, England by Thomas Minton (1766–1836) or his factory. Minton's company popularized the willow pattern.

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Glos.^[5] is the abbreviation for Gloucestershire^[5], a county of southwestern England.

Badminton House, the seat of the Duke of Beaufort in South Gloucestershire, England is the site of the Badminton Horse Trials^[7], a 5 day event which takes place in April or May each year. The competition is one of only six annual Concours Complet International (CCI) Four Star **** events as classified by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI).

5d   Iran isn't getting new arrangement with bloke /being/ bloody-minded (12)

"bloke" = GENT (show explanation )

Bloke^[5] is an informal British^* term for a man ⇒ he’s a nice bloke.

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^* Very British, but certainly also very familiar to anyone on this side of the pond who has ever watched a British film or television programme

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Bloody-minded is an informal British expression denoting deliberately uncooperative ⇒ (i) a bloody-minded landlord; (ii) his father had been so bloody-minded.

6d   Food // to satisfy, from what we hear (4)

7d   Money // wasted at once, very little saved (7)

"very little" ⇒ "abbreviation for very" = V (show explanation )

The abbreviation v (or v.)^[1,2,5,10] stands for very. Although this definition is found in most of my British dictionaries, it does not appear in any of my American dictionaries. Unfortunately no explanation is given as to the specific context in which one might encounter this usage. The only possibility that I can imagine is when combined with G as a grade of VG (very good) on school tests or assignments.

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The centavo^[10] is a monetary unit^* (or former monetary unit^**) of various countries equal to one hundredth of their respective standard units (or former standard units).

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^* Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and the Philippines
^** Ecuador, El Salvador, and Portugal

8d   Old-fashioned means of transport for one upwardly mobile (5)

Historically, a sedan^[5] (also sedan chair) was an enclosed chair for conveying one person, carried between horizontal poles by two porters.

There is a double meaning involved in the use of the phrase "upwardly mobile" as the device only became mobile once lifted off the ground.

11d   The star grins, disguising // deepest feelings (5-7)

16d   Jazz fan, the chap going round Ireland /to see/ girl (9)

Cat^[5] is an informal North American term (especially among jazz enthusiasts) for a man ⇒ (i) this West Coast cat had managed him since the early 80s; (ii) the cat went crazy on the horn.

Erin^[5] is an archaic or literary name for Ireland.

17d   They praise // those no longer in the belfry team? (9)

19d   Language of particular group in a // Spanish bar (7)

A cantina^[5], especially in a Spanish-speaking country or the south-western US, is a bar.

20d   Wave /from/ demolition worker (7)

Here and There
Breaker[5,10] is the British name for a wrecker, a person or firm that breaks up old cars, disused machinery, etc. ⇒ those steam engines were now gone to the breaker's yard.

21d   Female stars /making/ appearances (5)

23d   You and I will get record /and/ express emotion (4)

... by expressing drops of water from the eyes.

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"record" = EP (show explanation )

EP^[10] (abbreviation for extended-play) is one of the formats in which music is sold, usually comprising four or five tracks.

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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