Please Parse

[greatnol]

Where does the "N" in wobbling come from?

[Mamyalynne]

Could we have the clue

[pixie374]

What's the clue please?

[mallyh]

whats the clue please

[Flonska]

This is I believe in today's Telegraph Cryptic?

18d Knight caught by misplaced big blow is staggering

The N is the chess term for a Knight.

[Mamyalynne]

Ta Flonska.

[pixie374]

Looks good, flonska

[Flonska]

Glad to have helped, Mamya.

[greatnol]

Many thanks it was Kt when I last played.

[Jackdaw33]

Me too. I always thought replacing Kt with N smacked of illiteracy.

[pixie374]

Probably to differentiate from King better

[fiction-factory]

Yes, whoever changed it hadn't been taught the 3Rs properly (reading, riting and rithmetic)

[Flonska]

It appears that in algebraic notation, the usual modern way of recording chess games, the letter N stands for the knight (K is reserved for the king); in descriptive chess notation, Kt is sometimes used instead, mainly in older literature. According to some bios algebraic notation, was introduced by Philipp Stamma in 1737.

[Mamyalynne]

I suspect it's purely to make it less like;y to be confused, not everyone has 20-20 vision.

//With the exception of the knight, each piece is abbreviated to the first letter of its name: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, P for pawn. Knight begins with the same letter as king, so it is abbreviated to either Kt (used in older chess literature) or N. "N" is used in this article. In 1944 Chess Review received many letters debating the change from Kt to N.//

[fiction-factory]

Yes, N was definitely used in chess books in the 1960s

[Flonska]

Thanks greatnol . . . . for the BA - much appreciated!