Tuesday, June 25, 2019 — DT 28933

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28933
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, December 28, 2018
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28933]
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 needed a smidgen of electronic help to subdue the NE quadrant today where three interlinked clues had me stymied.

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

8a	One expressing sorrow // afterwards with soldiers getting buried (8)

9a	Rushed party with madame initially // unmethodical (6)

Do^[5,12] is an informal British^[5] or chiefly British^[12] term^* for a party or other social event ⇒ the soccer club Christmas do.

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^* although Webster’s New World College Dictionary^[12] supports the contention by Oxford Dictionaries Online^[5] that this usage is British, two other US dictionaries do not characterize do^[3,11] used in this sense as a British term

10a	Enjoy // what archaeologists do (3)

11a	Princess good in Indian garment? // Take a different view (8)

Diana, Princess of Wales^[5] (1961–1997), the former wife of Prince Charles, is often referred to as Princess Di. (show more )

The daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer, she married Prince Charles in 1981; the couple were divorced in 1996. She became a popular figure through her charity work and glamorous media appearances, and her death in a car crash in Paris gave rise to intense national mourning.

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"good" = G [academic result] (show reference )

The abbreviation G^[a] for good comes from its use in education as a mark awarded on scholastic assignments or tests.

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^[a] Collins English to Spanish Dictionary

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Saree is a variant spelling of sari^[5], a garment consisting of a length of cotton or silk elaborately draped around the body, traditionally worn by women from South Asia.

12a	Chaps needing to take off // remain troubled (6)

"chaps" ⇒ 'men' (show more )

Chap^[3,4,11] is an informal British^[5] or chiefly British^[3] term for a man or boy — although a term that is certainly not uncommon in Canada. It is a shortened form of chapman^[3,4,11], an archaic term for a trader, especially an itinerant pedlar^[a,b].

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^[a] Pedlar is the modern British spelling of peddler^[14] which, in most senses, is considered by the Brits to be a US or old-fashioned British spelling. The exception is in the sense of a dealer in illegal drugs which the Brits spell as drug peddler.
^[b] The current meaning of chap^[2] dates from the 18th century. In the 16th century, chap meant 'a customer'. The dictionaries do not explain how a shortened form of 'chapman' (pedlar) came to mean 'customer'.

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What is an "ARVE Error"?

Those who visit Big Dave's Crossword Blog will see an "ARVE Error" message (show explanation ) in place of the video that Deep Threat presumably included in his review. ARVE (Advanced Responsive Video Embedder) is a plugin for the WordPress content management system — the platform on which Big Dave's Crossword Blog operates. I would guess that parameter values that were valid at the time that Deep Threat's review was written in December 2018 are no longer supported, thus causing the error message to be displayed. hide

13a	Local jerk's a daft drunk // -- will he do any job? (4-2-3-6)

Scratching the Surface
Daft[5] is an informal British term meaning silly or foolish ⇒ don't ask such daft questions.

15a	New student /and/ father somewhere in Surrey (7)

"father" = FR [priest's title] (show explanation )

Fr^[5] is the abbreviation for Father (as a courtesy title of priests) ⇒ Fr Buckley.

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Esher^[7], an outlying suburb of London, is a town in Surrey, England. Its most notable feature may be that it was once home to Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees and George Harrison of the Beatles.

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Fresher^[5] is an informal British term for freshman.

18a	Animal, // look, chewing length of cloth (7)

The ell^[5] is a former measure of length (equivalent to six hand breadths) used mainly for textiles, locally variable but typically about 45 inches in England and 37 inches in Scotland^*.

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^* Did the parsimonious Scottish textile merchants purposely hire clerks with small hands?

Delving Deeper

Surely, six hand breadths cannot equal 45 inches (or even 37 inches). Those would be incredibly large hands. (show more ) According to Wikipedia, what came to be known as an ell may actually have derived from a "double ell" which would make the ell equal to twelve hand breadths which is far more reasonable. In fact, Oxford Dictionaries is the only source that I found which claims that the ell derives from the breadth of the human hand. Other sources attribute the measure to the length of the forearm from elbow to fingertip. According to Wikipedia, an ell[7] is a unit of measurement, originally a cubit, i.e., approximating the length of a man's arm from the elbow ("elbow" means the bend or bow of the ell or arm) to the tip of the middle finger, or about 18 inches (457 mm); in later usage, any of several longer units. In English-speaking countries, these included (until the 19th century) the Flemish ell (3⁄4 of a yard), English ell (5⁄4 yard) and French ell (6⁄4 yard), some of which are thought to derive from a "double ell". Several national forms existed, with different lengths, including the Scottish ell (≈37 inches or 94 centimetres), the Flemish ell [el] (≈27 in or 68.6 cm), the French ell [aune] (≈54 in or 137.2 cm) the Polish ell (≈31 in or 78.7 cm), the Danish ell (≈25 in or 63.5 cm), the Swedish aln (2 Swedish fot ≈59 cm) and the German ell [elle] (Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Leipzig: 57,9 cm). hide

21a	Convey obvious message /or/ depart in silence? (2,7,6)

A double definition where the latter is a literal interpretation of the idiom defined by the former.

24a	Walked endlessly /in/ plain territory (6)

A steppe^[5] (often steppes) is a large area of flat unforested grassland in south-eastern Europe or Siberia.

25a	Blessed /and/ married after salutation (8)

Hallo and hullo are variant spellings of hello^[5].

26a	Tool /with/ chrome, odd bits flaking off (3)

27a	Course /taken by/ some in parliament reelected (6)

28a	Warbled with a lurch, not finishing // drink (8)

Sangaree^[10] is a spiced drink similar to sangria^[10], a Spanish drink of red wine, sugar, spices, fruit, and soda water or lemonade, sometimes laced with rum or brandy.

Down

1d	Any number hugged by show girl /in/ seaside area (6)

"any number" = N [mathematical symbol] (show explanation )

The letter n^[10] is used (especially in mathematics) as a symbol to represent an indefinite number (of) ⇒ there are n objects in a box.

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Maria could refer to either of two "show girls":

• Maria^[7] is the leading female character in the Broadway musical (1957) and film (1961) West Side Story, the award winning adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
• Maria von Trapp^[7] is the leading female character in the Broadway musical (1959) and film (1965) The Sound of Music.

2d	Make a new assessment of // what someone says? (6)

Remark^[1] (or re-mark) means to mark again, especially in an examination.

3d	Bloomer /is/ what wise men became aware of (4,2,9)

In Christianity, the Magi^[2] (plural of magus) were the three^* wise men or astrologers from the east who brought gifts to the infant Jesus, guided by a star. Also called the Three Kings and the Three Wise Men (Matthew 2:1-12).

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^* or possibly more (show explanation )

Matthew is the only one of the four canonical gospels to mention the Magi^[7]. Matthew reports that they came "from the east" to worship the "king of the Jews". The gospel never mentions the number of Magi, but most western Christian denominations have traditionally assumed them to have been three in number, based on the statement that they brought three gifts. In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number twelve.

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The star of Bethlehem^[12] is the the bright star that appeared over Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus, guiding the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12).

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The cryptic crossword convention whereby a bloomer is a flowering plant is not entirely whimsical. By dictionary definition, a bloomer^[5] is a plant that produces flowers at a specified time ⇒ fragrant night-bloomers such as nicotiana.

The star of Bethlehem^[5] (or star-of-Bethlehem^[5]) is a plant of the lily family with star-shaped flowers which typically have green stripes on the outer surface, found in temperate regions of the Old World. There are several species, including the white-flowered Ornithogalum umbellatum and the yellow-flowered Gagea luteum.

4d	Soldier // in a mess? No (7)

An orderly^[5] is a soldier who carries out orders or performs minor tasks for an officer.

5d	During this action one may have a change of heart (5,10)

6d	Extra money // in box about to be hidden (8)

7d	Herald // rushed, went down for funnysounding Oxford don (8)

The Rev. W. A. Spooner has bequeathed to us the name for a slip of the tongue that is oft-encountered in cryptic crosswords. (show more )

William Archibald Spooner^[7] (1844–1930) was a long-serving Oxford don, notable for absent-mindedness, and supposedly liable to transpose the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, with unintentionally comic effect, as in the sentence you have hissed the mystery lectures. Such phrases became known as spoonerisms^[5], and are often used humorously. Many spoonerisms have been invented by others and falsely attributed to Spooner.

Spooner held a Doctor of Divinity degree and thus was entitled to be called Dr. Spooner. Therefore, in crossword clues, you may often find him referred to as either "Rev. Spooner" or "Dr. Spooner".

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14d	Line given audibly? (3)

This is an &lit. — a clue in which the entire clue provides both the wordplay and definition.

The wordplay is sounds like (given audibly) QUEUE (line). As a definition, a CUE is a line given audibly — either by an actor (as Deep Threat describes it, "a line of dialogue in a play which prompts the entrance of an actor") or by a prompter when an actor forgets their lines.

16d	Sitting like a bird, // right over egg -- smart! (8)

"over" = O [cricket term] (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O^[5] denotes over(s), an over^[5] being a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

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17d	Captains // bring fish aboard ship (8)

A kipper^[5] is a herring or other fish that has been split open and cured by salting and drying it in the open air or in smoke.

"bring ... aboard ship" ⇒ 'insert ... in SS' (show explanation )

In Crosswordland, you will find that a ship is almost invariably a steamship, the abbreviation for which is SS^[5]. Thus phrases such as "aboard ship" or "on board ship" (or sometimes merely "aboard" or "on board") are Crosswordland code for 'contained in SS'.

Today, the phrase "bring fish aboard ship" indicates that we are to insert KIPPER (fish) in SS ([steam]ship).

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19d	Floral decoration // that is left upside down (3)

A lei^[5] is a Polynesian garland of flowers.

20d	Lady // succeeded ultimately, having superior game (7)

"superior" = U [upper class] (show explanation )

In Britain, U^[5] is used informally as an adjective (in respect to language or social behaviour) meaning characteristic of or appropriate to the upper social classes ⇒ U manners.

The term, an abbreviation of  upper class, was coined in 1954 by Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics, and popularized by its use in Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige (1956).

In Crosswordland, the letter U is frequently clued by words denoting "characteristic of the upper class" (such as posh or superior) or "appropriate to the upper class" (such as acceptable). 

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In the UK, Lsdy^[5] is a title used by peeresses, female relatives of peers, the wives and widows of knights, etc.

A peer^[5] is a member of the nobility in Britain or Ireland, comprising the ranks of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.

A peeress^[5] is:

• a woman holding the rank of a peer in her own right
• the wife or widow of a peer

A duchess^[5] is:

• a woman holding a rank equivalent to duke in her own right
• the wife or widow of a duke

22d	Small farmer /in/ the old Arab territory (6)

Ye^[5] is a pseudo-archaic term for the ⇒ Ye Olde Cock Tavern. The character "y" in this word was originally not the letter "y" in the modern English alphabet but a variant representation of the Old English and Icelandic letter thorn (þ or Þ). (show more )

The word 'ye' in this sense was originally a graphic variant of 'the' rather than an alternative spelling.

Thorn^[5] is an Old English and Icelandic runic letter, þ or Þ, representing the dental fricatives /ð/ and /θ/. It was eventually superseded by the digraph th — and thus þe (the old spelling of 'the') became the modern spelling 'the'. 

In late Middle English þ (thorn) came to be written identically with y, so that þe (the) could be written ye. This spelling (usually ye^*) was kept as a convenient abbreviation in handwriting down to the 19th century, and in printers' types during the 15th and 16th centuries. It was never pronounced as ‘yee’ in the past, but this is the pronunciation used today.

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^* I interpret the phrase "usually ye" to mean that the word was customarily not capitalized because the character "y" is not being used to represent the letter "y" in the modern English alphabet but rather as a graphic variant of thorn. Thus, in bygone days, the name of the drinking establishment above would presumably have been written ye Olde Cock Tavern (and pronounced "the old cock tavern").

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Oman^[5,7], officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country at the southeastern corner of the Arabian peninsula.

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Historically, a yeoman^[5] was a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate.

23d	Relations // terribly insecure, having abandoned biblical city (6)

"biblical city" = UR (show explanation )

Ur^[5] is an ancient Sumerian city formerly on the Euphrates, in southern Iraq. It was one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia, dating from the 4th millennium BC, and reached its zenith in the late 3rd millennium BC. Ur^[7] is considered by many to be the city of Ur Kasdim mentioned in the Book of Genesis as the birthplace of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.

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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