Daily Telegraph Cryptic 1806 Thursday May 4Th 2017

[SwerBan]

4d - Newspaper's sure misled about Republican (4)

H?R?

Thanks to all who can supply the answer and can also explain it.

[Flonska]

Clue 4d.

Still perplexed over the parsing for this clue, I wrote to Kcit, the Puzzle Author, that the answer HARD was in some instances arrived at upon equating it to “sure” (as in solid, certain, definite) and HAD for misled (as in been had) around R for Republican. What was not easily understood was the relationship to Newspaper’s. The expressions “Hard News” and “Hard Copy” are used in the press but it was difficult to be confident of making that link.

Kcit was kind enough to reply . . .

“When I was preparing a copy of 1806 for my records I looked at this clue and pondered it myself before coming down in favour of your interpretation (and verifying that with my clue notes). I’m fairly bad at solving my own clues after an interval so such perplexity isn’t unknown.

Getting your email has sent me back to the dictionaries and I see that all three of the majors (Chambers, Oxford, Collins) do give ‘hard’ in the sense of ‘definite, verifiable, certain’ etc. Hard facts, news, data and all that sort of thing. So I’m inclined to think that it’s one of those casual usages that we only really recollect when we come across it in a slightly out-of-context situation. As such, I reckon it’s grist to a setter’s mill, and the clue does try to point you at its regular journalistic context. Still, maybe not to be deployed too often!”

I hope that this gives some reassurance to those who were as perplexed as me in their attempt to “parse” the clue in its entirety.

[dannyk13]

Hard

[donny48]

Flonska
Thank you for taking the trouble to do that, it clarifies the setters thoughts and clears any further doubt about the clue.