Wednesday, April 10, 2019 — DT 28876

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28876
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, October 22, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28876]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Miffypops
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

A nice puzzle from an unidentified setter. Miffypops guesses that it might have been set by Chris Lancaster, but I suspect that may be nothing more than a stab in the dark.

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 programs, 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   Sure // wobbly as belly out! (10)

6a   Old // man greedy, taking every other bit (4)

10a   Area of responsibility // turning the clock back? (5)

We need the type of clock commonly found at sporting events.

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Remit^[5] is a British term denoting the task or area of activity officially assigned to an individual or organization ⇒ the committee was becoming caught up in issues that did not fall within its remit.

11a   Transpose in mix-up /that could result in/ woman signing sponsorship deal (9)

12a   Always in container, English // drink (8)

13a   Dance // beat has vitality (5)

Go^[5] is used in a British sense meaning spirit, animation, or energy ⇒ there's no go in me at all these days.

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The tango^[5] is a ballroom dance originating in Buenos Aires, characterized by marked rhythms and postures and abrupt pauses.

15a   Dry // sherry initially quaffed by two rugby union teams? (7)

Do the math. Rugby union^[10] is a form of rugby football played between teams of 15 players (in contrast to rugby league^[5], which is played in teams of thirteen).

17a   Excited as leant // closer? (7)

19a   Root // cut, average previously (7)

21a   Bird /that's/ cold facing north (7)

The bittern^[5] is a large marshbird of the heron family, which is typically smaller than a heron, with brown streaked plumage. The larger kinds are noted for the deep booming call of the male in the breeding season.

22a   Foreign national // occasionally fiery on a quiz show (5)

QI^[7] (Quite Interesting) is a British comedy panel game television quiz show. (show more )

Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given. To compensate, points are awarded not only for right answers, but also for interesting ones, regardless of whether they are right or even relate to the original question. Conversely, points are deducted from a panellist who gives "answers which are not only wrong, but pathetically obvious," typically answers that are generally believed to be true but in fact are misconceptions, or for obvious joke answers. These answers are known as forfeits, usually indicated by a loud siren, flashing lights, and the incorrect answer being displayed on screen. In addition, bonus points may be awarded or deducted for various challenges or incorrect references to a certain thing or place, varying from show to show.

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24a   A tailless feline in toy // box (3,5)

A tea caddy^[5] is a small container in which tea is kept for daily use.

27a   Not clever enough to bag first in physics? // That's fine (9)

I thought that there must be something terribly clever here that was going over my head. However, after an extensive search, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that the definition merely uses fine^[5] in the sense of very thin or narrow.

28a   Kid // was vacillating, by the sound of it? (5)

Kid^[3] (also called kidskin) is soft leather made from the skin of a young goat.

Suede^[11] is kid or other leather finished with a soft, napped surface.

29a   Embraced by hero, legendary // part (4)

30a   Measuring instrument // for farm machinery (10)

Down

1d   Area // coming up in murder case (4)

2d   Smile more fake, /as/ wine waiter (9)

3d   Drink // at bedtime, perhaps? About time! (5)

4d   In play, pair reinterpreted // clip art (7)

A nice whimsical definition!

5d   Characters, // those renting rooms? (7)

A letter^[1,5] is a person who lets [offers for rent] a room or property.

7d   Inexperienced // politician (5)

The term green^[5] (usually Green) denotes a member or supporter of an environmentalist group or party ⇒ the Greens' remarkable 15 per cent vote. (show more )

A Green party^[7] is a formally organized political party based on the principles of Green politics, such as social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, and environmentalism. Green parties exist in nearly 90 countries around the world; many are members of Global Greens, an international network of Green parties and political movements that works to implement the Global Green Charter. In the UK, there are separate Green parties for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales.

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8d   Unhappiness /of/ knight in place for camp dancing? (10)

"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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9d   Page covering right // agreement (8)

14d   Relative // pace beginning to slow, tries shifting (10)

16d   Foreign article held by small // beams (8)

"foreign article" = UN, the masculine singular form of the indefinite article not only in French but also in Italian and Spanish (show more )

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

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

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

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18d   Last word on capitalism's ending in hollow // reform (9)

20d   Worker in ceramics nailing one // more up the wall? (7)

The informal expression go up the wall^[5] means to become very angry in reaction to something ⇒ this causes the dog to go up the wall and bark his head off.

Potty^[5] is an informal British term denoting:

• mad or crazy ⇒ he's driving me potty
• extremely enthusiastic about or fond of someone or something ⇒ she's potty about you

21d   Risk securing limp // cover (7)

Lank^[5] is used in the sense (with respect to hair) long, limp, and straight ⇒ the man had lank, brown, greasy hair.

23d   A price to pay /for/ coral? (5)

The question mark indicates that this is a definition by example — the solution being but one possible form in which coral might be found.

25d   Lost // on a ship (2,3)

The first definition is an idiomatic expression [which is likely to be found in the dictionary]; the second definition is a literal interpretation of the solution [and not likely to be found in the dictionary].

26d   Lower part // to bring up (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