Saturday, June 13, 2009 - Lexiphanic Puzzle

Introduction

Today's puzzle is a rather challenging creation by Cox and Rathvon. Once, when I used words half this size, my brother asked if I had eaten a dictionary for breakfast.

Before getting down to the solution to today's puzzle, I continue with Part III of a series outlining my ideas on cryptic crosswords.

Fundamentals of Cryptic Crosswords - Part III

Yesterday, I described my concept of the clue being comprised of an envelope and a payload (an idea suggested by my many years of work with telecommunications protocols). The structure of the envelope is common to all clues but that of the payload will differ - and, in fact, it is the structure of the payload that will determine whether we classify a clue as regular or irregular. Just as an envelope (including the information on it) is vital to the successful delivery of a letter through the mail (or the post), the information contained in the envelope of the clue is essential to its solution. As proof, one only has to observe the howl that goes up when authors on AnswerBank neglect to include this information in their posts (as evidenced by this recent rather extreme example).

Nevertheless, unless the topic under discussion dictates that I make a clear distinction between the envelope and payload, rather than constantly having to refer to the "payload of the clue", I will often simply use the term "clue". I think it should be clear from the context whether I am speaking about the entire clue or merely the payload, and - for many purposes - the distinction is immaterial. However, despite our focus on the payload, it should always be kept in mind that a clue consists of both an envelope and a payload.

Today, I will focus on regular clues. We have already seen that the payload of regular clues consists of two elements, at least one of which is a standard definition. By standard definition, I mean a definition found in a standard dictionary. With one exception, the other element is some sort of wordplay (of which there are many types). The exception is a double definition, where both elements are standard definitions.

An example of a double definition from yesterday's Daily Telegraph puzzle is:

[DT 25849]-14ac Convey meaning (6) [IMPORT]

The two elements of this clue are "convey" and "meaning", each of which is a standard definition of IMPORT (see the Glossary in yesterday's post).

In my view of cryptic crosswords, regular clues have an additional important component, called the fulcrum (or pivot). In my notation for parsing clues, I identify the fulcrum by inserting the fulcrum symbol "/\" into the parsed clue. This is intended to visually suggest the fulcrum of a lever or the pivot point of a balance scale (or teeter totter). The fulcrum separates the two elements of the regular clue. As a visual representation, think of the two elements of the clue sitting on the two pans of a balance scale in perfect equilibrium (i.e., the two elements are equivalent as they each produce the same solution).

The fulcrum may be explicit or implicit. An explicit fulcrum consists of word(s) appearing in the clue which convey an expression of equivalency (such as "is") or result (such as "makes", "produces", "gets", etc.). On the other hand, there are no words in the clue to represent an implicit fulcrum, it is merely understood.

The fulcrum of a double definition is always implicit, and an implicit fulcrum may also occur in regular clues involving various forms of wordplay. Applying this concept to our earlier example of a double definition, by inserting the fulcrum symbol, we have:

[DT 25849]-14ac Convey /\ meaning (6) [IMPORT]

In my notation for parsing clues, for the case of an explicit fulcrum, the words forming the fulcrum are written within the fulcrum symbol, as illustrated by the examples below.

I believe that the generic format of regular clues with an explicit fulcrum should usually be along one of the following lines:

• "The left hand element /is equivalent to\ the right hand element"; or
• "The wordplay in the left hand element /results in\ the solution defined by the right hand element"; or
• "The solution defined by the left hand element /is the result of\ the wordplay in the right hand element"

Some examples from past Daily Telegraph puzzles:

[DT 25848]-9ac Large [L] Italian [IT] male [HE] /is\ supple [L|IT|HE] (5)

In this clue the right hand element is a standard definition (supple → LITHE) and the left hand element is a charade clue (a type of wordplay) that also produces the same solution. This clue has an explicit fulcrum expressing equivalency (namely, the word "is") which I show written within the fulcrum symbol "/is\".

[DT 25844]-12ac Beat music regularly [_E_T_U_I_] /provides\ such a case [E|T|U|I] (4)

In this clue, the left hand element contains wordplay indicating that the solution is composed of the even-numbered letters ("regularly") of the phrase "beat music" which makes the solution ETUI. The right hand element is a standard definition "such a case" (or, in other words, "a type of case") which can be an ETUI. The fulcrum is formed by the word "provides" which expresses the idea of result.

The careful reader may have noted that I equivocated somewhat in my statement above concerning the "generic format of regular clues". I did this because, in my search for examples to illustrate this topic, I found a clue that seems to call into question my understanding on this point. And that will be the subject of Part IV on Monday.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

There are some very big words in today's puzzle - more than I can recall having previously seen in any single puzzle. Actually, long words are sometimes easier to solve than short words, as knowing three or four letters is often enough to uniquely identify a word (or narrow the choice to two or three candidates). On the other hand, performing a search on a pattern like "?A?E?" results in a list of nearly 500 possibilities.

22ac Assist in study for department head (4)

For our British cricket and rugby fans, a hockey reference today. Assists are an important measure of performance in North American sports such as (ice) hockey and basketball. In hockey, assists are awarded to the last two members of the offensive team to handle the puck, prior to the goal scorer, during the interval of time during which the offensive team had control of the puck immediately prior to the goal being scored. Although separate tallies are kept for goals and assists, assists rank equally in importance to goals in the "point" (scoring) standings (trophies are awarded to the player scoring the most goals as well as to the player scoring the most points - i.e., combined goals and assists). From what I could determine through some rather limited sleuthing, it would appear that the tracking of assists may be a relatively new development in British sports and they perhaps do not carry the same significance as they do in North American sports.

7d Philosopher's game with internal layer: signifier before substance (15)

One of the more complex clues today, it parses as:

7d Philosopher [P(HEN|OMEN)OLO|GIST] /'s\ game [P^OLO] {with internal (containership indicator)} layer [HEN]: signifier [OMEN] {before (positional indicator)} substance [GIST] (15)

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition
	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

1ac {RAT|-A-TAT}<

5ac A|PROP|OS

9ac DEMONS|TRATIVELY* - DEMONS + {REALITY TV}*

10ac APE|N|NINE

11ac IN (TOW)N

13ac NEARSIGHTEDNESS* - {IN THE DENSE GRASS}*

15ac I|DE(NT)IFICATIONS

19ac AN|TRIM

20ac P(A|RAM)OUR

23ac HELIOCENTRICITY* - {TIN ICICLE THEORY}*

24ac ELYS|IAN

25ac RIGHTER~ - sounds like ("on tape") WRITER

Down

1d RED|RAW|N

2d TEMPERA|MEN|TALLY

3d TE(NA)NTS

4d TI|TAN

5d A|JAR

6d REIGNED~ - sounds like ("for an auditor") RAINED

7d P(HEN|OMEN)OLO|GIST - see detailed parsing above

8d S(A|Y)INGS

12d O|TIC

14d GI|FT

15d I|VAN|HOE

16d TRIPOLI~ - sounds like ("announced") TRIPLE-E (EEE)

17d T|EASING

18d S|PRAYER

21d ASTER* - STARE*

22d DE(A)N

Signing off for today - Falcon