Tuesday, December 4, 2018 — DT 28785

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28785
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Saturday, July 7, 2018
Setter Unknown
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28785 – Hints] Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28785 – Review]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By Big Dave (Hints) crypticsue (Review)
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
As this was a Saturday "Prize Puzzle" in Britain, there are two entries related to it on Big Dave's Crossword Blog — the first, posted on the date of publication, contains hints for selected clues while the second is a full review issued following the entry deadline for the contest. The vast majority of reader comments will generally be found attached to the "hints" posting with a minimal number — if any — accompanying the full review.

Introduction

After struggling with this puzzle and requiring extensive electronic support to complete it, I was more than a little relieved to see that crypticsue had awarded it five stars for difficulty.

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^*)

---

^* num = numeration

Explanations pertaining to the wordplay (or first definition in a double definition)

(Horizontal separator)

---

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 programmes, 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.

hide explanation

Across

1a   Place to hang hospital garment? (8)

The entire clue is a cryptic definition which has embedded within it some rather cryptic wordplay. A precise definition would be merely "place to hang garment" or WARDROBE. Adding the word "hospital" to the clue makes the definition cryptic. The embedded wordplay gives us WARD ROBE (a cryptic description of a hospital garment).

5a   Reversible raincoats // to take to the cleaners (4)

Mac^[5] is an informal name for a mackintosh^[5], a British term for a full-length waterproof coat.

9a   Bar runner /from/ club with pain needing treatment (8)

"Bar runner" is a deceptively phrased (i.e, somewhat cryptic) description of someone who owns or manages a bar.

Publican^[5] is a British term for a person who owns or manages a pub.

The Story Behind the Picture
The bloke in the picture in Big Dave's hint is Miffypops, the regular Monday reviewer on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, who is the proprietor of The Green Man, a pub in Long Itchington, Warwickshire, England.

10a   Drive /to find/ area next to concert hall maybe (6)

11a   Very loud penetrating poet is sadly // on the wrong track ... (3-5)

"very loud" = FF (show explanation )

Fortissimo^[5] (abbreviation ff^[5]) is a direction used in music to mean either (as an adjective) very loud  or (as an adverb) very loudly.

hide explanation

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A piste^[5] is a ski run of compacted snow.

Off-piste^[5] is a skiing term denoting away from prepared ski runs ⇒ (i) off-piste slopes; (ii) heli-skiing is an expensive way of skiing off-piste. The term is used figuratively to describe a deviation from what is conventional, usual, or expected ⇒ (i) on this occasion I went off-piste and booked in at The Griffin, a place none of us had ever visited before; (ii) an off-piste show.

12a   ... hence, having no beginning or end, poem /causes/ scramble (6)

14a   Severe // forecast -- ring entrepreneurs for clothing (10)

18a   One relays creepy messages // of courses in Paris and Berlin by management (5,5)

In French, oui^[8] is an adverb meaning 'yes' — or 'of course'.

In German, ja^[8] is an adverb meaning 'yes' — or 'of course'.

---

A Ouija board^[5] (trademark in the US) is a board with letters, numbers, and other signs around its edge, to which a planchette, movable pointer, or upturned glass moves, supposedly in answer to questions from people at a seance.

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Origin: Late 19th century: of uncertain origin: possibly from French oui ‘yes’ + German ja ‘yes’.

22a   Drive // home's ending? (6)

The question mark is certainly apropos in this clue. The explanation for the wordplay did occur to me but I dismissed it as inconceivable. That turns out not to be the case. The final letter (ending) of homE is E^[5] which, in physics, is a symbol used to represent energy in mathematical formulae.

23a   Beg // surgeon for facelift, having caught cold (8)

24a   Bothered to take time for seconds, /resulting in/ round figure (6)

Shirty[5] is an informal British term for bad-tempered or annoyed ⇒ she got quite shirty.

25a   Villain receiving old-fashioned look after page/'s/ introduction (8)

"old-fashioned look" = LO (show explanation )

Lo^[5] is an archaic exclamation used to draw attention to an interesting or amazing event ⇒ and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them.

hide explanation

"page" = P (show explanation )

In textual references, the abbreviation for page is p^[5] ⇒ see p 784.

hide explanation

In her review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, I hesitate to point out that crypticsue has mis-parsed the clue. The P comes from an abbreviation for 'page' rather than from "page's introduction". The word "introduction" is the definition.

26a   Animal // pelt (4)

Pelt^[5] is an informal term meaning to run somewhere very quickly ⇒ I pelted across the road.

Hare^[5] is a British expression meaning to run with great speed ⇒ he hared off between the trees.

27a   Risky material, // 'First Love' penned by idiot (8)

"love" = O (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).

hide explanation

Down

2d   After hesitation, turned up nude, /getting/ slap in the face (6)

3d   Fruit // is planted amid downpour (6)

4d   Fine meadow or riverside, perhaps, /for/ Mole! (6,4)

Scratching the Surface
Mole[7] is one of the main characters in The Wind in the Willows[7], a children's novel by British writer Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932), first published in 1908.

6d   Binding agreement // mysterious group's used to crush worker (8)

"worker" = ANT (show explanation )

The word "worker" and the phrase "social worker" are commonly used in cryptic crossword puzzles to clue ANT or BEE.

A worker^[5] is a neuter or undeveloped female bee, wasp, ant, or other social insect, large numbers of which do the basic work of the colony.

In crossword puzzles, "worker" will most frequently be used to clue ANT and occasionally BEE but I have yet to see it used to clue WASP. Of course, "worker" is sometimes also used to clue HAND or MAN.

hide explanation

7d   Staffing // that's opposed by feminists? (8)

Split (3,5) we get what is opposed by feminists.

8d   Light meal the French originally shelled out for (8)

Presumably the French invented this dish — they certainly gave it its name.

9d   Rugby player // that's employed in theatre (4)

In rugby, a prop^[5] (also called prop forward) is a forward at either end of the front row of a scrum (show more ).

In rugby, a scrum^[5] is an ordered formation of players, used to restart play, in which the forwards of a team form up with arms interlocked and heads down, and push forward against a similar group from the opposing side. The ball is thrown into the scrum and the players try to gain possession of it by kicking it backwards towards their own side.

The front row of the scrum is comprised of three players — a hooker^[5] in the middle with a prop^[5] on either side.

hide

13d   Makes tracks in advance /of/ drunken rep's order to come round clubs (10)

"clubs" = C (show explanation )

Clubs^[2] (abbreviation C^[1]) is one of the four suits of playing-cards.

hide explanation

15d   Row // of homes? (8)

Domestic^[5] is an informal British term for a violent quarrel between family members, especially a couple ⇒ they are often called to sort out a domestic.

16d   Food supplement /put/ team on course (4,4)

"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.

hide explanation

17d   Butcher cutting son /causes/ hysterics? (8)

19d   Club's number one /in/ part of India -- tall story! (6)

Goa^[5] is a state on the west coast of India. (show more )

Formerly a Portuguese territory, it was seized by India in 1961. It formed a Union Territory with Daman and Diu until 1987, when it was made a state.

hide

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Squad numbers^[7] are used in association football [soccer] to identify and distinguish players that are on the field. Numbers were originally used to also indicate position, with starting players being assigned numbers 1–11. While no longer mandatory, numbers 1–11 are often still worn by players of the previously associated position with the number "1" typically being used by the starting goalkeeper (or goalie).

20d   Man whose limit may be one across and two down? (6)

... or one across and two up, or two across and one down, or two across and one up.

A man^[5] is a figure or token used in playing a board game. A chessman^[5] [or informally man] is a solid figure used as a chess piece ⇒ ivory chessmen stood on an inlaid board.

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.

As the across move can be either to the left or to the right, there are eight possible locations to which the knight can jump (unless restricted by the edge of the board or other chess pieces).

21d   Present // that bloke goes on about (4)

"that bloke" = HE (show explanation )

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

---

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

hide explanation

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

Monday, December 3, 2018 — DT 28784 (Published Saturday, December 1, 2018)

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 28784
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, July 6, 2018
Setter Giovanni (Don Manley)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 28784]
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
Notes
This puzzle appears on the Monday Diversions page in the Saturday, December 1, 2018 edition of the National Post.

Introduction

I found today's puzzle to be a fun exercise in the lower range of difficulty for a Giovanni creation. However, brace yourself for tomorrow.

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^*)

---

^* num = numeration

Explanations pertaining to the wordplay (or first definition in a double definition)

(Horizontal separator)

---

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 programmes, 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.

hide explanation

Across

8a   Yesteryear's vehicle // could be creaking car, yeah? (7,8)

Historically, in Britain, a hackney carriage^[2,5] (or hackney cab^[2,5]) was a horse-drawn carriage for public hire. The terms remain in use today as British names for a taxi ⇒ he was seen getting into a black hackney cab. In fact, hackney carriage^[5] is actually the official British term for a taxi.

Not Just in Britain
The police department of Boston, Massachusetts has a Hackney Carriage Unit[7], analogous to taxicab regulators in other cities, that issues Hackney Carriage medallions to taxi operators in the city.

9a   Group of stars // the French love (3)

"the French" = LE (show explanation )

In French, the masculine singular form of the definite article is le^[8].

hide explanation

"love" = O (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).

hide explanation

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In astronomy, Leo^[5] is a large constellation (the Lion), said to represent the lion slain by Hercules. It contains the bright stars Regulus and Denebola and numerous galaxies.

In astrology, Leo^[5] (also called the Lion) is the fifth sign of the zodiac, symbol ♌, having a fixed fire classification and ruled by the sun. The sun is in this sign between about July 23 and Aug 22.

10a   Quiet agent managed to phone up once // before meal (11)

"quiet" = P (show explanation )

Piano^[3,5] (abbreviation p^[5]), is a musical direction meaning either (as an adjective) soft or quiet or (as an adverb) softly or quietly.

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As with the horse drawn carriage in 8a, the use of the verb dial has outlasted that of the device from which it drew its name.

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Preprandial^[5] is:

• a humorous or formal term meaning done or taken before dinner or lunch ⇒ a preprandial glass of sherry
• a medical term denoting occurring or done before a meal

11a   6 turned up /in/ Lancashire town (5)

The numeral "6" is a cross reference indicator to clue 6d (show more ).

To complete the clue, a solver must replace the cross reference indicator with the solution to the clue starting in the light^* identified by the cross reference indicator.

The cross reference indicator may include a directional indicator but this is customarily done only in situations where there are both Across and Down clues originating in the light that is being referenced.

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^* light-coloured cell in the grid

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Bacup^[7] is a town in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundary with West Yorkshire.

12a   What about commotion with food being sent back /in/ Mac's place? (9)

15a   Proclaim // President a monster on our screens (7)

I'm not sure that E.T. (show explanation ) can truly be proclaimed "a monster on our screens". A certain President, on the other hand, ...

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[7] (often referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. He and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

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17a   Be able to look down on // public work (7)

"work" = OP (show explanation )

In music, an opus^[5] (Latin 'work', plural opuses or opera) is a separate composition or set of compositions.

The abbreviation Op.^[5] (also op.), denoting opus, is used before a number given to each work of a particular composer, usually indicating the order of publication. The plural form of Op. is Opp..

Opus^[5] can also be used in a more general sense to mean an artistic work, especially one on a large scale ⇒ he was writing an opus on Mexico.

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A fair number of comments on Big Dave's Crossword Blog concerned the definition used here.

Overtop means to exceed in height ⇒ no building is allowed to overtop the cathedral.

19a   Conversation // sure to ramble after party (9)

In Britain, disco^[5] — in addition to denoting a style of music or dancing or a club at which such music is performed — can also refer to a party at which people dance to such music.

20a   Aussie animal's taking time // to settle down (5)

Roo^[5] is an informal Australian term for a kangaroo.

21a   V-sign /shows/ support (11)

A Slip of the Fingers

V[10] is the symbol for victory. The victory-freedom sign[7] is famously associated with British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill in World War II. In a later incarnation, it became the "peace sign" of the 1960s hippy movement. However, one should be certain one knows how to properly make the sign lest they repeat the faux pas made by recently deceased US President George H. W. Bush and others (show more ). A V sign[7] made with the fingers and with the palm facing out may be a victory sign (as made famous by Sir Winston Churchill) or a peace sign (arising from the 1960s counterculture movement). However, in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, when made with the palm facing in, it means "F**k off"*. * The Brits would seem to need two fingers to get across an idea that North Americans manage to convey with a single finger. For a time in the UK, "a Harvey (Smith)" became a way of describing the insulting version of the V sign, much as "the word of Cambronne" is used in France, or "the Trudeau salute" is used to describe the one-fingered salute in Canada. This happened because, in 1971, show-jumper Harvey Smith was disqualified for making a televised V sign to the judges after winning the British Show Jumping Derby at Hickstead. (His win was reinstated two days later.) Harvey Smith pleaded that he was using a Victory sign, a defence also used by other figures in the public eye. Sometimes foreigners visiting the countries mentioned above use the "two-fingered salute" without knowing it is offensive to the natives, for example when ordering two beers in a noisy pub, or in the case of United States president George H. W. Bush, who, while touring Australia in 1992, attempted to give a "peace sign" to a group of farmers in Canberra—who were protesting about U.S. farm subsidies—and instead gave the insulting V sign. Steve McQueen in Le Mans Steve McQueen gives a British (knuckles outward) V sign in the closing scene in the 1971 motorsport movie 'Le Mans'. A still picture of the gesture was also recorded by photographer Nigel Snowdon and has become an iconic image of both McQueen and the 24 hours of Le Mans. hide explanation

24a   Period /of/ anger when king is deposed (3)

"king" = R (show explanation )

In the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms^*, Rex^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for king] denotes the reigning king, used following a name (e.g. Georgius Rex, King George — often shortened to GR) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Rex v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

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^* A Commonwealth realm^[7] is a sovereign state that is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares the same person, currently Elizabeth II, as its head of state and reigning constitutional monarch, but retains a crown legally distinct from the other realms. There are currently sixteen Commonwealth realms, the largest being Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom with the remainder being smaller Caribbean and Pacific island nations.

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25a   Scruples I deftly dealt with, // showing no consideration for another (15)

Down

1d   Nightspots' star performer /is/ a card (3,2,5)

2d   Quickly grab // biscuit, having got out of bed (4,2)

Here and There
The British use the term biscuit[3,4,11] to refer to a range of foods that include those that would be called either cookies or crackers in North America. A North American biscuit[5] is similar to what is known in Britain as a scone.

A snap^[10] is a thin crisp biscuit [cookie] ⇒ ginger snaps.

Brandy snap^[5] (mentioned by Deep Threat in his review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog) is a British term for a crisp rolled gingerbread wafer, usually filled with [whipped] cream.

Delving Deeper

Brandy snaps[7] are a popular snack or dessert food in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. They are often tubular, brittle, sweet, baked casings that are typically 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long and 2 centimetres (0.79 in) in diameter. Brandy snaps are typically served filled with whipped cream. They are cooked on a moderate heat and are baked briefly as a flat disc that is then rolled while still hot and soft. The whipped cream can be sweetened with brandy or vanilla. However, the name brandy snap has no reference to brandy, the spirit.  An early Victorian etymology attributed the name as follows: BRANDY-SNAPS, a small cake of gingerbread. Probably brand-schnap, from being burnt, not for the real or supposed presence of brandy.

3d   Class crossword compiler // who gets stuff into print? (10)

4d   Look beyond page // two (4)

"page" = P (show explanation )

In textual references, the abbreviation for page is p^[5] ⇒ see p 784.

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5d   King George meets European member of aristocracy /in/ French city (8)

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 King George was GR^[5] — from the Latin Georgius Rex.

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Grenoble^[7] is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. It was the site of the 1968 Winter Olympic Games.

6d   Duty imposed on one // vehicle (4)

7d   Soundness /of/ Tory PM holding line (6)

Sir Edward Heath^[5] (1916–2005) [commonly known as Ted Heath] was a British Conservative statesman, Prime Minister 1970-4. He negotiated Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community and faced problems caused by a marked increase in oil prices. Attempts to restrain wage rises [raises] led to widespread strikes and he lost a general election after a second national coal strike.

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"line" = L (show explanation )

In textual references, the abbreviation for line [of written matter] is l.^[5] ⇒ l. 648.

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8d   Fish /from/ Bali cooked in primitive building (7)

Scratching the Surface
Bali[5] is a mountainous island of Indonesia, to the east of Java.

13d   Like some swimsuits /arriving/ undamaged? (2,3,5)

A double definition in which the first is slightly cryptic with the solution being a descriptive phrase.

14d   Impose restriction on friend // in a reasonable manner (10)

16d   Pictures // for official records (8)

A profile^[10] is a side view, outline, or representation of an object, especially of a human face or head.

18d   Manufactured items // the Queen gets crazy about (7)

First her father, now Her Majesty herself.

"the Queen" = ER (show explanation )

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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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

19d   Entering sleazy bar, I had /to be/ set apart (6)

20d   Bolt/'s/ disappointing news about race's cancellation (3,3)

Scratching the Surface
Usain Bolt[5] is a  Jamaican athlete. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing he won gold medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre races, setting a new world record time for each. He defended his Olympic titles in 2012 and 2016, winning gold in the 100 metre and 200 metre races both years, and becoming the first athlete to win gold in the 100 metre and 200 metre races three times.

22d   Boy growing up beginning to enjoy // organ (4)

23d   Electrical units // installed in campsite (4)

Amp^[10] is short for ampere^[10], the basic SI [Système International (d'Unités)] unit of electric current.

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

Saturday, December 1, 2018 — Elementary, My Dear ...

Introduction

As Sherlock Holmes might have said about today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, Elementary, my dear Watson^* as the setters walk us through the Periodic Table of the Elements.

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^* This phrase^[7] is never uttered by Holmes in the sixty stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle although he often observes that his conclusions are "elementary" and occasionally calls Watson "my dear Watson". The phrase became familiar due to its use in a series of fourteen American films based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories released between 1939 and 1946 in which British actors Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Holmes and Dr. John Watson, respectively.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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 █ - yet to be solved

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 programmes, 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   Gold rush // summer, in part (6)

AU|GUST — AU ([symbol for the chemical element] gold) + GUST (rush [of air])

4a   Shining // silver rubbish (8)

AG|LITTER — AG ([symbol for the chemical element] silver) + LITTER (rubbish)

9a   Second of two bar drinks // Cher laced with arsenic (6)

CH(AS)ER — CHER (†) containing (laced with) AS ([symbol for the chemical element] arsenic)

Cher^[7] (born Cherilyn Sarkisian) is an American singer and actress known as the Goddess of Pop.

10a   Gift // of iron hoop (8)

OF|FE|RING — OF (†) + FE ([symbol for the chemical element] iron) + RING (hoop)

12a   Lacrosse team getting into dope bothered // ruler (9)

PO(TEN)T|ATE — TEN (lacrosse team; a metonym derived from the number of players on a team) contained in (getting into) POT (dope) + ATE (bothered; worried or annoyed) 

Lacrosse^[5] is a team game, originally played by North American Indians, in which the ball is thrown, carried, and caught with a long-handled stick having a curved L-shaped or triangular frame at one end with a piece of shallow netting in the angle. In men's field lacrosse^[7], there are ten players on each team (box lacrosse^[7] teams are comprised of six players, while women's field lacrosse^[7] teams have 12 players).

13a   Help // Virginia Institute with aluminum siding (5)

AVAIL — {VA (Virginia; abbrev.) + I (Institute; abbrev., e.g. MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology)} contained in (with ... siding) AL ([symbol for the chemical element] aluminum)

14a   Unpleasant // sodium dump (5)

NA|STY — NA ([symbol for the chemical element] sodium) +STY (dump)

16a   A Serb, weirdly, holding silicon // golf club (7)

{BRAS(SI)E}* — anagram (weirdly) of A SERB containing (holding) SI ([symbol for the chemical element] silicon)

In golf, brassie^[5] is an informal name for a number two wood.

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Origin: so named because the wood was originally shod with brass

A Serb^[5] is a native or inhabitant of Serbia^*, or a person of Serbian descent.

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^* Serbia^[5] is a republic in the Balkans that was once part of Yugoslavia.

19a   Sailor /and/ miner collecting argon (7)

M(AR)INER — MINER (†) containing (collecting) AR ([symbol for the chemical element] argon)

21a   Iodine swallowed by celebrity // raga player? (5)

S(I)TAR — I ([symbol for the chemical element] iodine) contained in (swallowed by) STAR (celebrity)

In Indian classical music, raga^[5] can denote either:

• each of the six basic musical modes which express different moods in certain characteristic progressions, with more emphasis placed on some notes than others
• a piece using a particular raga

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The sitar^[5] is a large, long-necked Indian lute with movable frets, played with a wire pick.

23a   Copper penny I had /for/ a boy with a bow (5)

CU|P|ID — CU ([symbol for the chemical element] copper) + P (penny) + ID (I had; contracted as I'd)

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] (plural pennies [for separate coins] or pence [for a sum of money]) is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p^[5] ⇒ In days gone by, a piece of candy might have cost 1p.^*

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^* Brits would say "sweet" rather than "piece of candy". I am also not entirely certain whether penny candy would have still been available in 1971 when Britain adopted its current decimal currency system. In the former system, a penny was equal to one 240th of a pound (and was abbreviated d, for denarius).

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In Roman mythology, Cupid^[5] is the god of love who is also known by his Latin name Amor^[7]. He is represented as a naked winged boy with a bow and arrows, with which he wounds his victims. The equivalent in Greek mythology is Eros.

24a   Head liner // to lead a grandma (3,6)

TO|P B|A|NANA — TO (†) + PB ([symbol for the chemical element] lead) + A (†) + NANA (grandma)

26a   A nickel's put in orchestra spots /for/ musicians (8)

PI(A|NI|S)TS — {A (†) + NI ([symbol for the chemical element] nickel) + S ('s)} contained in (put in) PITS (orchestra spots)

27a   Officer // reversed neon sign (6)

EN<|SIGN — reversal (reversed) of NE ([symbol for the chemical element] neon) + SIGN (†)

In the British infantry, an ensign^[10] is a colours bearer.

In the US and some other navies, an ensign^[5] is the lowest rank of commissioned officer, above chief warrant officer and below lieutenant.

Delving Deeper

Ensign[7] is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank acquired the name. This rank has generally been replaced in army ranks by second lieutenant. Ensigns were generally the lowest ranking commissioned officer, except where the rank of subaltern existed. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign derives from the command of units with an ensign, not the carrier of such a unit's ensign, and is today the equivalent of a major general. French-speaking Canadian Naval officers also use the terms of enseigne de vaisseau de deuxième classe and de première classe as the French term for acting sub-lieutenant and sub-lieutenant respectively. However, French-Canadian sub-lieutenants use the short form of enseigne instead of lieutenant. The rank "ensign" is also used to refer to second lieutenants (NATO OF-1) in household regiments of the Canadian Army.

28a   Boiling // sulphur hit Gene Wilder (8)

S|EETHING* — S ([symbol for the chemical element] sulphur) + anagram (wilder) of HIT GENE

Scratching the Surface
Gene Wilder[7] is the professional name of Jerome Silberman, an American stage and screen comic actor, director, screenwriter, author, and activist.

29a   Concluding words // are apt about helium (3,3)

T(HE) END — TEND (are apt) containing (about) HE ([symbol for the chemical element] helium)

Down

1d   Without help, nabbing top // mobster (2,6)

AL CAPONE — ALONE (without help)  containing (nabbing) CAP (top)

Al Capone^[5] (1899–1947), nicknamed  Scarface (show more ), was an American gangster of Italian descent. He dominated organized crime in Chicago in the 1920s and was indirectly responsible for many murders, including the St Valentine’s Day Massacre^* .

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^* The St Valentine's Day Massacre^[5] was the shooting on 14th February 1929 of seven members of the rival ‘Bugsy’ Moran's gang by some of Al Capone's men disguised as policemen.

Capone^[7] was born in Brooklyn (New York) and began his life of crime in New York City before moving to Chicago. Capone inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door at a Brooklyn night club and was slashed by her brother Frank Gallucio. The wounds led to the nickname that Capone loathed: "Scarface". Capone's boss, racketeer Frankie Yale, insisted that Capone apologize to Gallucio, and later Capone hired him as a bodyguard. When photographed, Capone hid the scarred left side of his face, saying that the injuries were war wounds. Capone was called "Snorky", a term for a sharp dresser, by his closest friends.

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2d   Big // soldier and little soldier (5)

GI|ANT — GI (soldier) + ANT (little soldier)

A GI^[5] is a private soldier in the US army ⇒ she went off with a GI during the war.

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Origin: Contrary to popular belief, the term apparently is not an abbreviation for general infantryman, but rather derives from the term government (or general) issue (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces).

A soldier^[5] is a wingless caste of ant or termite with a large specially modified head and jaws, involved chiefly in defence.

3d   Seriously // clever, catching seabird (7)

STERNLY — SLY (clever) containing (catching) TERN (seabird)

5d   Some trimming affects // slip (5)

_G|AFFE_ — hidden in (some) trimminG AFFEcts

6d   Room 101 returned // cold sheets? (3,4)

{ICE CAPS}< — reversal (returned) of SPACE (room) + CI ([Roman numeral for] 101)

7d   Sort of flu vaccine // adversary kept in shelter (9)

T(RIVAL)ENT —RIVAL (adversary) contained in (kept in) TENT (shelter)

Trivalent influenza vaccine is a synthetic vaccine consisting of three inactivated influenza viruses, two different influenza type A strains and one influenza type B strain.

Delving Deeper

Trivalent influenza vaccine is formulated annually, based on influenza strains projected to be prevalent in the upcoming flu season. This agent may be formulated for injection or intranasal administration. The quadrivalent flu vaccine is designed to protect against four different flu viruses; two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses. For years, flu vaccines were designed to protect against three different flu viruses (trivalent vaccines). Trivalent vaccines include an influenza A (H1N1) virus, an influenza A (H3N2) virus and one influenza B virus. Experts had to choose one B virus, even though there are two different lineages of B viruses that both circulate during most seasons. This meant the vaccine may not protect as well against the group of B viruses not included in the vaccine. Adding another B virus to the vaccine aims to give broader protection against circulating flu viruses.

8d   Entertain // on the subject of strong wind at sea (6)

RE|GALE — RE (on the subject of) + GALE (strong wind at sea)

11d   Coach good in Quebec // element (6)

CAR|BON — CAR ([railway] coach) + BON (good in Quebec; French word meaning 'good')

15d   Poles came loose /in/ an unspecified spot (9)

SOMEPLACE* — anagram (loose) of POLES CAME

17d   Put bar in a new alignment // quick (6)

ABRUPT* — anagram (in a new alignment) of PUT BAR

18d   Decreed // or condescended in speech (8)

OR|DAINED~ — OR (†) + DAINED {sounds like (in speech) DEIGNED (condescended)}

20d   Seafood // dish ref cooked (7)

REDFISH* — anagram (cooked) of DISH REF

A redfish^[5] is any of several species of bright red edible marine fish.

21d   Wayward Hun acts // loyal (7)

STAUNCH* — anagram (wayward) of HUN ACTS

The Huns^[5] were a warlike Asiatic nomadic people who invaded and ravaged Europe in the 4th–5th centuries. Hun is also an informal derogatory term for a German (especially during the First and Second World Wars).

22d   Society manages // ranges (6)

S|COPES — S (society; abbrev.) + COPES (manages)

24d   Giant // sun engulfs it (5)

T(IT)AN — TAN ([bask in the] sun) containing (engulfs) IT (†)

A titan^{* [5]} is a person or thing of very great strength, intellect, or importance ⇒ a titan of American industry.

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^* In Classical Greek mythology, the Titans and Titanesses^[7] were members of the second order of divine beings, descending from the primordial deities and preceding the Olympian deities. Based on Mount Othrys, the Titans most famously included the first twelve children of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Father Heaven). They were giant deities of incredible strength, who ruled during the legendary Golden Age, and also composed the first pantheon of Greek deities.

25d   A story about cold // girl who went down a hole (5)

A|LI(C)E — A (†) + LIE (story) containing (about) C (cold; abbrev.)

Alice^[7] is a fictional character and protagonist of Lewis Carroll's^* children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). A child in the mid-Victorian era, Alice unintentionally goes on an underground adventure after accidentally falling down a rabbit hole into Wonderland; in the sequel, she steps through a mirror into an alternative world.

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^* pen name of English writer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898)

Epilogue

I hope everyone enjoyed today's chemistry lesson.

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