Introduction
I had even more difficulty than yesterday in finding a starting point. The Tool Chest came out early and the tools got a real workout. But, in the end, I did manage to complete the puzzle successfully.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Estuary English - noun (in the UK) a type of accent containing features of both received pronunciation and London speech
gen - noun Brit. informal information
Universal (abbreviation U) - a British Board of Film Classification rating for films meaning "All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children.".
Today's Links
Libellule's review of today's puzzle may be found at Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 26090].
Some readers may be puzzled by Libellule's reference to "the England Rugby Team's new purple strip". I know it is traditional (in some quarters, at least) for rugby players to pose for a team photo wearing nothing but a sock (and not on their foot). But this is not what he is referring to. In the UK, a strip is "the identifying outfit worn by the members of a sports team while playing" or, in other words, the team uniform.
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
16a Dreamers are inclined to be trapped by thoughts (9)
Although Libellule's review seems to show the solution as:
IDEALISTS (dreamers) /are\ LIST (inclined) contained in (to be trapped by) IDEAS (thoughts)
in the subsequent discussion in the comments section of the blog, he clarifies that the solution is actually:
IDEALISTS (dreamers) /\ LIST (are inclined) contained in (to be trapped by) IDEAS (thoughts)
The rationale is that "inclined" alone would mean listed or listing (e.g., "the ships listed" means "the ships inclined" and "the ships are seen to be listing" means "the ships are seen to be inclined") whereas "are inclined" would mean list (e.g., "the ships list" means "the ships are inclined").
19a Dish from southern States - hot one (5)
As is too often the case in clues, the surface reading doesn't match well with the cryptic reading. As Libellule says, the solution "is actually a dish from Japan". Recently, in my Ottawa Citizen Cryptic Crossword Forum blog, I discussed a clue where the surface reading and the cryptic readings match well:
- 14a Nationals dressing in snow gear (10)
NORWEGIANS (nationals) /\ anagram (dressing) of IN SNOW GEAR
25a Mournful English adopted by version of Gaelic (7)
Libellule gives one interpretation of the wordplay. An alternative interpretation could be E (English) contained in (adopted by) an anagram of (version of) GAELIC.
7d Showing initiative, but regret spin in letters (12)
There was quite a bit of discussion on Big Dave's blog questioning the use of "letters" as an anagram indicator. My opinion is that one must interpret the clue as a shorthand way of expressing what could be phrased more verbosely as "The solution is a word meaning showing initiative, but one that is composed from the letters REGRET SPIN IN" with the word "but" conveying the idea of imposing a constraint.
Signing off for today - Falcon
NORWEGIANS versus SUSHI: Although it's very neat when the surface meaning and cryptic readings match well, I don't think you can expect this to happen all the time - deceptive surface meanings are usually accepted as part of the game, and if all clues were like the Norwegians one, I think the puzzles would be too easy. In particular, disguising the true definition ("dish") as "dish from southern states" seems a valid version of "I may not mean what I (appear to say)" - just as the charade, when understood, is an example of "But I must say what I mean".
ReplyDeleteI'd vote against the solver being expected to intuit extra material like "one that is composed from" as part of the real clue required to reach the answer.
Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this contribution. You make an excellent point that the lack of alignment between the surface reading and the cryptic reading is part of the deception inherent in a good cryptic clue. My intent in writing the piece was to make the point that the surface reading usually does not match the cryptic reading (with the NORWEGIAN example being a rare exception). Unfortunately, I seem to have phrased the piece in a manner that makes it look like I'm complaining that the two readings don't always align.
On your second point, after seeing a lot of comments on Big Dave's site criticizing its use as an anagram indicator, I was attempting to explain why "letters" might be considered as such. Although this attempt may be no better than the first, let me take another crack at explaining how I interpreted the clue. For the cryptic reading, one might be expected to mentally insert (i.e., understand or infer) a second appearance of the word "showing" in the clue, in which case the clue would read "Showing initiative, but (showing) REGRET SPIN IN letters" which could be interpreted to mean "the solution is a word defined as showing initiative; and not just any such word, but one made up of (showing) the letters REGRET SPIN IN.
Falcon
Hi,
ReplyDeleteDon't worry too much about the wrong impression - I've made similar slips. (And with cryptic xwd solvers you can guarantee that if your message can be read in a way you didn't intend, someone will find that way of reading it!
I'm not quite convinced that "showing the letters ...." does quite enough for the solver. It's one of those clues that many people will solve quite happily (and probably by the route you describe), but if you look back carefully, there's a little flaw.