Introduction
A fairly easy puzzle today; however, I missed some of the wordplay on a couple of the clues. Both of the British blog sites concluded that there is an error in one of the clues (see Commentary on Today's Puzzle below).
Fundamentals of Cryptic Crosswords - Part IV
Today is a day for revisionism. Before dealing with the matter that I alluded to at the conclusion of Saturday's installment, I will deal with an item that came to my attention over the weekend.
Revisiting Double Definitions
In Saturday's blog, you may recall that I defined a double definition to be a regular clue in which both elements are standard definitions. So far, so good. I then went on to state that the fulcrum in a double definition is always implicit. Well, the ink was scarcely dry (or the electrons had barely settled, or whatever the equivalent expression is in cyberspace), than I encountered a clue that seems to refute that latter statement. The following appeared in a syndicated The Sunday London Times cryptic crossword that was published yesterday in the Ottawa Citizen (the Citizen carries the puzzle six weeks after it appears in London):
[SLT 4327]-23ac Expert's fracture (5)
which I parse as:
[SLT 4327]-23ac Expert [CRACK] /'s\ fracture [CRACK] (5)
In this clue, I interpret the apostrophe-s to be an abbreviation for "is". Therefore, this clue would appear to indicate that, while rare, it is possible to have a double definition with an explicit fulcrum. That being the case, it seems that I will have to change my declaration of "always" to something less definitive such as "virtually always".
Revisiting the Generic Model for Regular Clues with Explicit Fulcrums
While I hope that it is not the case, I can understand if some readers feel that I am splitting hairs in the following discussion. I am trying to argue a fine point, and I do hope that I have managed to clearly articulate my thoughts.
You may recall that I suggested in Saturday's posting that the payload of regular clues with explicit fulcrums generally followed one of the following three patterns:
- Case 1: "The left hand element /is equivalent to\ the right hand element"; or
- Case 2: "The wordplay in the left hand element /results in\ the solution defined by the right hand element" (expressed in the active voice); or
- Case 3: "The solution defined by the left hand element /is the result of\ the wordplay in the right hand element" (expressed in the passive voice)
[DT 25846]-6d Lady [M|ARIA] /producing\ many [M] a song [ARIA] (5)
The logic of this clue, which is directly opposite to that of Case 2 above, is (in effect) saying:
- "The solution defined by the right hand element /results in\ the wordplay in the left hand element"
I would see a clue with wording along the lines of "Many a song produces a lady" as being perfectly acceptable from a logic perspective (although the surface reading would undoubtedly be considered less elegant, to say the least).
I even had the (somewhat facetious) idea that since you have to put together the components in the right hand element to produce the solution defined by the left hand element, you would have to take apart the solution defined by the left hand element to produce the components in the right hand element. This might lead one to wordplay such as "Smashing lady produces many a song." :-)
There is perhaps one other approach that one might take to explain this clue. One might argue that the logic flows something like "substituting MARIA for 'Lady' produces the same result as performing the wordplay in the right hand element". However, this artifice also has the effect of making it possible to turn any word expressing "result" into one that effectively expresses "equality".
This being said, if clue [DT 25846]-6d is considered to be valid, then it would seem that we need to extend our generic model to include the inverse of Cases 2 and 3 above, namely:
- Case 4: "The wordplay in the left hand element /is the result of\ the solution defined by the right hand element"; or
- Case 5: "The solution defined by the left hand element /results in\ the wordplay in the right hand element"
I would certainly be most interested to receive comments on any of the points raised in today's installment.
Tomorrow, I plan to start looking at the components that constitute a wordplay element.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
bastinado - a beating of the soles of the feet as a means of punishment
brass - (Brit. colloq.) money (noun, defn. 8)
cap - to do better than (verb defn. 4)
Today's Links
I found three questions on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle. They (together with the clues to which they relate) are:
- AnswerBank [DT 25850]-a: 16ac, 18d
- AnswerBank [DT 25850]-b: 18d
- AnswerBank [DT 25850]-c: 18d
A full review of today's puzzle, providing additional hints or explanations for all clues, is found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25850].
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
10ac Doing better, crossing line and getting applause (8)
I was not familiar with the use of "cap" to mean "to do better" and so missed this aspect of the wordplay. I had thought that the wordplay might involve "lapping" as in a row (or line) of shingles lapping the adjacent row. I must admit that I had little idea of how the "C" figured in the wordplay, other than the somewhat tenuous truism that a grade of C is better than a grade of D.
The Clue That Drove Us Mad
16ac Food with chestnuts stuffing drove us mad (4,1,7)
An attempt to solve this clue produces the following:
16ac Food [HORS D'OEUVRES] /with\ chestnuts [HORS^ES] {stuffing (containment indicator)} {DROVE US mad (anagrind) → [DOEUVR] + [S]} (4,1,7)
The problem is that there is an extraneous "S". There was a clear consensus on the British blogs that "chestnuts" should have been singular in this clue, which would resolve this problem. By the way, the reference in the clue is not to "horse chestnuts", but to "chestnut coloured horses" (a distinction that I must admit I missed). The revised clue would then read as follows:
16ac Food with chestnut stuffing drove us mad (4,1,7)
In addition to resolving the problem of the extra "S", I think it also gives the clue a better surface reading. However, the solution to the clue now becomes rather complex, in that one has to perform the wordplay operations in the proper sequence to achieve the correct solution. That is, one must first perform the containment operation and then execute the anagram operation on the result, as follows:
16ac Food [HORS D'OEUVRES] /with\ {chestnut [HOR^SE] stuffing (containment indicator) DROVE US → [HOR(DROVE US)SE]} {mad (anagrind) → [HORS DOEUVRES]} (4,1,7)
While one correspondent on AnswerBank suggested that the solution is merely an anagram of HORSE DROVE US, that simplistic perspective does not respond to the wordplay in the clue. In fact, if that were the case, there would be no need for the word "stuffing" to appear in the clue. I believe that the (rephrased) clue clearly implies that one must first "stuff" DROVE US into HORSE and then perform the anagram operation on the resulting string.
Solution to Today's Puzzle
| Legend: | "CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition |
| "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed | |
| "( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted |
Across
1ac SPACE BAR
6ac B|RAISE
9ac STRAWS - CD
10ac C(L)APPING
11ac OUT|POINT* - OUT + {IN TOP}*
12ac S_|TRAIN - [S]eeing + TRAIN
13ac S|MALL FORTUNE
16ac {HORS D'OEUVRES}* - {HOR(DROVE US)SE}* [Note: there is almost certainly an error in the clue, as published - see discussion above.]
19ac _EN|LIST - m[EN] + LIST
21ac CL(EAR)ING
23ac HACIENDA* - {CAN HIDE A}*
24ac V_I_|CARS - [V]a[I]n + CARS
25ac CYGNET~ - sounds like SIGNET
26ac PUS<|HOVER
Down
2d P|U~|TOUT - U sounds like YOU
3d C|LAMP
4d BASTINADO* - {A BAND IS TO}*
5d RECITAL - DD
6d B(R)ASS
7d ASPIR(A|T)ES_
8d SEN(T(I)EN)T - SEN^T containing (T^EN) containing (I)
13d S|US|PIC|{I|ON}<
14d _OURS|ELVES - t[OURS] + ELVES
15d BOUND|A|RY
17d {UNCLASP_}* - {[CUP FINALS] - [IF]}*
18d ENTREE
20d _TEN|ET_ - forgot[TEN ET]hical
22d RECT~|O - RECT sounds like WRECKED
Signing off for today - Falcon
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