Monday, June 24, 2019 — DT 28932 (Published Saturday, June 22, 2019)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28932
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, December 27, 2018
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28932]
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
Notes
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, June 22, 2019 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

Like many others, I found this puzzle to be quite a challenge and needed a fair amount of electronic assistance to finish. It is a puzzle that I was originally scheduled to review for Big Dave's Crossword Blog but which Kath ended up doing as a result of a swap in assignments. It is a good thing, too, as she was able to call on friends for help. I would have been trying to solve the puzzle while most of my fellow bloggers — apart from the 2Kiwis in New Zealand and a couple of others in North America— were sleeping.

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	Deny // United tie voided by match official (6)

"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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4a	Dirty // horrid European in sack (8)

"European" = E (show explanation )

E^[1,2] is the abbreviation for European (as in E number^*).

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^* An E number^[1,4,10,14] (or E-number^[2,5]) is any of various identification codes required by EU law, consisting of the letter E (for European) followed by a number, that are used to denote food additives such as colourings and preservatives (but excluding flavourings) that have been approved by the European Union.

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9a	Subject /of/ article not quite perused (6)

10a	Old lady's scraps /for/ man's best friends? (8)

11a	Display label on a revolting // slaughterhouse (8)

Riot^[5] is used in the sense of an impressively large or varied display of something ⇒ the garden was a riot of colour.

13a	Broadcast /from/ top group (6)

"top" = AI (show explanation )

A1^[4][5] or A-one^[3] meaning first class or excellent comes from a classification for ships in The Lloyd's Register of Shipping where it means equipped to the highest standard or first-class.

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15a	Peel lacier bra off, // precious! (13)

18a	Unusual // seabird found in rural peat, flapping (13)

22a	Cold church houses habit // support (6)

24a	Routine // play with penalty taken outside (8)

26a	Spouts tripe about // eclipse (8)

27a	Little tense before Queen /gets/ severe (6)

"tense" = T [grammar term] (show explanation )

Grammatically speaking, t.^[10] is the abbreviation for tense.

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"Queen" = ER [regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth] (show more )

The regnal ciphers (monograms) of British monarchs are initials formed from the Latin version of their first name followed by either Rex or Regina (Latin for king or queen, respectively). Thus, the regnal cipher of Queen Elizabeth is ER^[5] — from the Latin Elizabetha Regina.

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28a	Quiet, more left-wing // one destroys paper (8)

29a	Short // old cock gutted in farmyard enclosure (6)

Down

1d	Cane // rotter with birch? (6)

Rattan^[5] can mean any of:

• a tropical Old World climbing palm with long, spiny, jointed stems
• the thin jointed stems of this palm, used principally to make furniture ⇒ a rattan armchair
• a length of rattan used as a walking stick

Either of the latter two meanings would satisfy the definition of "cane".

2d	Word of warning introducing African republic's // structure (9)

Fore^[5] is an exclamation called out as a warning to people in the path of a golf ball.

Mali^[5] is a landlocked country in West Africa, south of Algeria. Former name (until 1958) French Sudan. (show more )

Conquered by the French in the late 19th century, Mali became part of French West Africa. It became a partner with Senegal in the Federation of Mali in 1959 and achieved full independence a year later, on the withdrawal of Senegal.

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3d	One tries food employing ordinary // kitchen appliance (7)

"ordinary" = O [British scholastic qualification] (show more )

Historically, in the UK (with the exception of Scotland), O level^[5] (short for ordinary level^[5]) was a qualification in a specific subject formerly taken by school students aged 14-16, at a level below A (advanced) level. It was replaced in 1988 by the  GCSE^[5] (General Certificate of Secondary Education).

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5d	New drink lifts // spirit (4)

6d	English love sailor climbing // some rigging (7)

"love" = NIL [tennis term] (show explanation )

In tennis, squash, and some other sports, love^[5] is a score of zero or nil ⇒ love fifteen. The resemblance of a zero written as a numeral (0) to the letter O leads to the cryptic crossword convention of the word "love" being used to clue this letter.

Although folk etymology has connected the word with French l'oeuf 'egg', from the resemblance in shape between an egg and a zero, the term apparently comes from the phrase play for love (i.e. the love of the game, not for money).

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"sailor" = TAR (show explanation )

Tar^[5] is an informal, dated nickname for a sailor. The term came into use in the mid 17th century and is perhaps an abbreviation of tarpaulin, also used as a nickname for a sailor at that time.

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Ratlines^[5] are a series of small rope lines fastened across a sailing ship’s shrouds like the rungs of a ladder, used for climbing the rigging ⇒ I scrambled back down the ratlines.

7d	Clothing // minus uniform for travelling incognito initially (5)

Mufti^[5] denotes plain clothes worn by a person who wears a uniform for their job, such as a soldier or police officer ⇒ a High Court judge in mufti.

Identifying the Definition

You may notice that I have marked the definition somewhat differently than Kath has in her review. I have elected to mark the definition and wordplay as separate and distinct elements of the clue. In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, Kath shows the definition to comprise the initial six words of the clue. As the wordplay can be nothing other than the final six words of the clue, this results in partially overlapping definition and wordplay. Clothing minus uniform for travelling incognito initially (5) My understanding is that this situation of partially overlapping definition and wordplay is not permissible. Thus we are left with two possible approaches — either use the option I show above or consider the entire clue to be the definition in which the wordplay is embedded: Clothing minus uniform for travelling incognito initially (5)

8d	Conflict /with/ desperate sweetheart about droop (8)

"sweetheart" = E (show explanation )

A common cryptic crossword construct is to use the word "sweetheart" to clue the letter 'E', the middle letter (heart) of swEet.

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12d	This compiler's reportedly composed // approach (6)

"this compiler's" = IM (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.

Today, the setter has made the scenario slightly more complicated by combining "this compiler" with the verb "to be"^* producing "this compiler's" (a contraction of "this compiler is") which must be replaced by "I'm" (a contraction of "I am").

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^* Although in the surface reading "this compiler's" is either showing possession or is a contraction of "this compiler has", in the wordplay it is interpreted as a contraction of "this this compiler is".

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14d	One audibly snaps round end of suspender (6)

Here and There
Before tackling this clue, it is important to understand that, in Britain, suspenders[5] hold up stockings rather than trousers. The accessory that North Americans call suspenders are known in the UK as braces[5].The accessory that North Americans call garters[5] are known in the UK as suspenders. To the Brits, a garter is a band, usually of elastic, worn round the arm or leg to hold up a shirtsleeve, sock, or stocking. Suspenders may attach either to a decorative belt worn around the waist or to a garter worn around the leg (as illustrated below).
Suspender Belt	Garters and Suspenders

I believe this clue to be an &lit. — a clue in which the entire clue is both wordplay and definition. I am supported in that assessment by Rabbit Dave in Comment #4 on Big Dave's Crossword Blog.

Let's first look at the clue as wordplay. We have GATER {sounds like (audibly) GATOR (one ... snaps; short for alligator)} containing (round) R {end [final letter] of suspendeR} producing the result GA(R)TER.

As for the definition, I presume the clue alludes to the fact that a suspender may attach to the garter by means of a snap fastener which makes an audible click when engaged.

16d	Projectile // shot is short flash (9)

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.

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As the definition, projectile^[5] is used as an adjective meaning denoting or relating to a projectile ⇒ a projectile weapon.

17d	Big // top's raised covering debts (8)

19d	Moved /from/ left embracing leader of Conservatives (7)

20d	Acceptance /of/ right overwhelming upset constituent (7)

21d	It's // almost // noon, soon (6)

Despite being positioned at the beginning of the clue, the word "it's" performs a function not unlike that of a link word. We can interpret it to mean "the solution to this clue is a synonym for almost".

23d	Perfect // voice (5)

25d	Struggle to suppress black // feeling (4)

"black" = B [grade of pencil lead] (show explanation )

B^[5] is an abbreviation for black used in describing grades of pencil lead ⇒ 2B pencils.

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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