Tuesday, September 17, 2019 — DT 29001

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 29001
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Monday, March 18, 2019
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 29001]
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

The puzzle is rather gentle but the Brits were preoccupied with another matter. On Big Dave's Crossword Blog, the English are crying in their beer over the outcome of the Six Nations Championship rugby union match a couple of days before between England and Scotland which ended in a 38-38 draw. As a result, Scotland (who had won in 2018) retained possession of the Calcutta Cup.

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

7a	Stuff /and/ nonsense /in/ little black book I found during storm (7)

I think this is a double definition with wordplay.

In the first definition, rubbish^[5] denotes material that is considered unimportant or valueless ⇒ she had to sift through the rubbish in every drawer.

In the second definition, rubbish^[5] is used in the sense of absurd, nonsensical, or worthless talk or ideas ⇒ (i) critics said their work was a load of rubbish; (ii) some MPs yelled ‘Rubbish!.

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Note: Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) considers the word rubbish^[5] (in all senses) to be British — despite it not being characterized as such by American dictionaries. I would think that, as a noun, the word has long ago become accepted in North America. That is not the case, however, when it is used as an adjective or verb. (show more )

In North America, the word rubbish^[3,11] is employed only as a noun whereas, in the UK, it is also used as an adjective or verb:

• Rubbish^[5] (adjective) is an informal British term denoting very bad; worthless or useless ⇒ (i) people might say I was a rubbish manager; (ii) she was rubbish at maths^*.

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  ^* In Britain, the short form for mathematics is maths^[5] ⇒ her mother was a maths teacher, rather than math^[5] as is the case in North America ⇒ she teaches math and science.

• Rubbish^[4,5] (verb) is an informal British term meaning to criticize severely and reject as worthless ⇒ he rubbished the idea of a European Community-wide carbon tax.

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9a	Bit of energy /in/ éclair: unusually, about zero! (7)

Calorie^[5] can denote either of two units of energy:

• the small calorie (abbreviation cal) is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C (now usually defined as 4.1868 joules)
• the large calorie (abbreviation Cal) is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water through 1 °C, equal to one thousand small calories and often used to measure the energy value of foods

10a	Snare // elk -- name for male (5)

In Britain, elk^[5] is another name for the moose^* (Alces alces). The animal (Cervus canadensis) known to North Americans as an elk is generally called a wapiti^[3,4,11] in the UK, although it may also be referred to as the American elk or Canadian elk.

11a	Grass, admitting swindle, comes to regret about /being/ a teller of tales (9)

Grass^[5] is an informal British term meaning:

• (noun) a police informer
• (verb, often grass on or grass up) to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ (i) someone had grassed on the thieves; (ii) she threatened to grass me up.

This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper being rhyming slang (show explanation ) for 'copper').

Rhyming slang^[5] is a type of slang that replaces words with rhyming words or phrases, typically with the rhyming element omitted. For example, butcher’s, short for butcher’s hook, means ‘look’ in Cockney rhyming slang.

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12a	To enjoy what's available, // use a certain something as best you can (4,3,4,2,2)

The second "definition" here is a literal interpretation of the expression constituting the solution.

13a	Kit Carson, say, /in/ theatre role upon retirement (7)

Rep^[5] is an informal shortened form of repertory^[5] which can denote either the performance of various plays, operas, or ballets by a company at regular short intervals, a repertory theatre or company, or repertory theatres regarded collectively.

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Christopher Houston Carson (1809–1868), better known as Kit Carson^[7], was an American frontiersman. He was a mountain man (fur trapper), wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. (show more )

Carson became a frontier legend in his own lifetime via biographies and news articles. Often exaggerated versions of his exploits were the subject of dime novels. His understated nature belied confirmed reports of his fearlessness, combat skills, tenacity, and profound effect on the westward expansion of the United States.

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16a	Figure on horseback // to move forward (5,2)

Shape up^[5] is a phrasal verb meaning to develop or progress in a particular way ⇒ (i) I wanted to see how things had been shaping up in my absence; (ii) it was shaping up to be another bleak year.

19a	Renowned painter // ordered vindaloo and rice (8,2,5)

Leonardo de Vinci^[7] (1452–1519) was an Italian painter, scientist, and engineer. (show more )

His paintings are notable for their blended colour and shading in the technique known as sfumato; they include The Virgin of the Rocks (1483–5), The Last Supper (1498), and the enigmatic Mona Lisa (1504–5). He devoted himself to a wide range of other subjects, from anatomy and biology to mechanics and hydraulics: his nineteen notebooks include studies of the human circulatory system and plans for a type of aircraft and a submarine.

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Scratching the Surface
Vindaloo[10] is a type of very hot Indian curry.

23a	What a soldier may be seen wearing /in/ much admired film (9)

A greatcoat^[10] is a heavy overcoat, now worn especially by men in the armed forces.

24a	Fellow associated with northern // group of witches (5)

Cove^[5] is a dated informal British term for a man ⇒ he is a perfectly amiable cove.

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Origin: Mid 16th century: perhaps from Romany kova ‘thing or person’.

25a	Finally consuming last of cheese, // if nothing else (2,5)

26a	Long-serving // animal expert near ground (7)

As an anagram indicator, ground is used as the past tense or past participle of the verb grind^[5]. An anagram indicator is typically a word that denotes movement or transformation. Grind denotes transformation, for example, in the sense of grain being ground into flour.

Down

1d	Broadcast /shows/ monarch's head in carriage (8)

2d	Avoid // team on stage (8)

"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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3d	Demand // protection (6)

Charge^[5] (verb) means to demand (an amount) as a price for a service rendered or goods supplied ⇒ wedding planners may charge an hourly fee of up to £150.

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Charge^[5] (noun) is used in the sense of responsibility for the care or control of someone or something ⇒ the people in her charge are pupils and not experimental subjects.

4d	Earth perhaps // flat? Thinking, originally (6)

5d	The cost of a round? (5,3)

This is the cost to play the first eighteen holes — not the round at the nineteenth hole^[5].

Green fee^[5] is the British name for what we know in North America as greens fee, a charge for playing one round or session on a golf course.

6d	Feel sorry // about Garbo, briefly (6)

Greta Garbo^[5] (1905–1990) was a Swedish-born American actress; born Greta Gustafsson. She is remembered for films such as Anna Christie (1930), Mata Hari (1931), and Anna Karenina (1935). After her retirement in 1941 she lived as a recluse.

8d	Bear, // Rupert, initially appearing in annual? (5)

An annual^[5] is a book or magazine that is published once a year under the same title but with different contents.

Scratching the Surface

Rupert Bear[7] is a character in a children's comic strip that has been published daily since 1920 in Britain's Daily Express newspaper. Many of these stories were later printed in books, and every year since 1936 a Rupert annual has also been released. Rupert Bear has become a well-known character in children's culture in the United Kingdom, and the success of the Rupert stories has led to the creation of several television series based on the character.

9d	Monster // ride, mostly round perimeter of parks (7)

In Greek mythology, a Cyclops^[5] is a member of a race of savage one-eyed giants. In the Odyssey, Odysseus escaped death by blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus.

14d	British love meat, visiting Alabama, // more than anything else (5,3)

"love" = O [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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15d	Old soldier, // or cadet in need of training (7)

Redcoat^[12] is a historical term for a British soldier in a uniform with a red coat, as during the American Revolution.

17d	Recommend // Edinburgh lawyer? (8)

Advocate^[5] is a Scottish or South African term for a barrister.

18d	Nag, pinto, prepared /for/ moving (8)

19d	Record crowd /causing/ standstill (3,3)

20d	To that extent, carrier /is/ off course (6)

As^[5] is an adverb used in comparisons to refer to the extent or degree of something ⇒ it tasted like grape juice but not as sweet.

Should you be questioning whether it really is synonymous with the phrase in the clue, you need to take into consideration that the adverb 'as' is used prepositvely (preceding the word it modifies) while the adverbial phrase 'to that extent' would be used postpositively (following the word it modifies). Thus making the substitution, the example sentence above would become ⇒ it tasted like grape juice but not sweet to that extent.

21d	District Attorney: I vet awkward // case (6)

In the US, a district attorney^[5] (abbreviation DA) is a public official who acts as prosecutor for the state in a particular district.

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 In the grammar of Latin, Greek, German, and some other languages, the dative^[5] is a case of nouns and pronouns, and words in grammatical agreement with them, indicating an indirect object or recipient.

22d	New First Lady? Republican? Surely not! (5)

"First Lady" = EVE (show explanation )

In the Bible, Eve^[5,10] is the first woman, mother of the human race, fashioned by God from the rib of Adam, companion of Adam and mother of Cain and Abel^* [Gen 2:18-25].

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^* not to mention Seth and her other sons and daughters [Gen 5:4]

Disobeying God, Eve^[7] succumbs to the serpent's temptation to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and shares the fruit with Adam. As a result, the first humans are expelled from the Garden of Eden.

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"Republican" = {R | REP} (show explanation )

A Republican^[5] (abbreviation R^[5] or Rep.^[5])  is a member or supporter of the Republican Party^[5], one of the two main US political parties^*, favouring a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy. It was formed in 1854 in support of the anti-slavery movement preceding the Civil War.

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^* the other being the Democratic Party

In the UK, republican^[5] can refer to an advocate of a united Ireland but the abbreviation does not seem to apply to that usage.

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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 Advanced 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