Tuesday, June 16, 2009 (DT 25851)

This puzzle was originally published Friday, February 13, 2009 in The Daily Telegraph

Introduction

I found today's puzzle to be moderately challenging. Although I had to open the Tool Chest fairly early today, I was able to complete the puzzle. Upon completion, I was fairly certain that I had missed nuances in the wordplay on a few clues, and Libellule's review on Big Dave's site not only confirmed my suspicions, but even brought to light some additional things that I had overlooked. I wholeheartedly echo Roy A. Farrant's sentiments, in his comments posted on Big Dave's site, that her review "‘fleshed out’ one or two clues where I had the correct answer but had initially (and unfairly) thought the clue a bit weak".

Fundamentals of Cryptic Crosswords - Part V

A Footnote to Parts III and IV

Neither of the last two installments of this series elicited any comments. I suppose that could indicate one of two possibilities - agreement or disinterest. I will hope for the former.

Like a birdwatcher, I merely attempt to record what I observe. I can no more influence the structure of puzzles than the birdwatcher can affect the design of birds. So if I pontificate about puzzles that I perceive as exhibiting some sort of imperfection (as I may have done in yesterday's piece), it is like the birdwatcher expressing a preference for swallows over grackles. Despite the biases of the observer, grackles and ugly clues are both likely to continue to exist. When we flip open our morning paper for our daily fix of puzzles we may hope for swallows but must be prepared to find grackles.

The components of wordplay

In this series, I have been attempting to build a coherent vocabulary (identified by italic font) with which to describe cryptic crossword clues. As a quick review, we have established that all clues consist of an envelope and payload. The structure of the payload determines whether the clue is a regular clue or an irregular clue. A regular clue consists of a left hand element and a right hand element separated by a fulcrum, which may be either implicit or explicit. Moreover, at least one of these elements is a standard definition. If both elements are a standard definition, the clue is known as a double definition. An element may also be a wordplay element, of which there are many types. We have already encountered one of these in Part I, namely the charade element.

Before delving into the other types of wordplay elements (which I intend to do in future parts to this series), I would like to look at the generic components of an element, which include:

• Generic component 1: Words whose letters (in whole or in part) appear in the solution (with or without manipulation);
• Generic component 2: Words for which a substitution is to be made, with this substituted word (in whole or in part) appearing in the solution (with or without manipulation);
• Generic component 3: Words that indicate manipulations to be performed on words or strings of letters to obtain the solution or a part of the solution. These words are called indicators.

To clarify this, let's look at a couple of clues from today's puzzle:

13ac A silly girl, a sheep (6)

Expressed in my parsing notation, this becomes:

13ac A {silly (anagrind)} GIRL, A /\ sheep [A|RGALI*] (6)

All of the letters found in the solution to this clue appear in the clue itself. Note that this clue has an implicit fulcrum. I write the first "A" in bold font because it is used in the solution without any further manipulation. I write "GIRL A" in normal font to show that this string must be manipulated in some manner. The type of manipulation is defined by the indicator {silly} to be an anagram operation. This type of indicator may be called an anagrind (short for anagram indicator). I use italic font to distinguish indicators from other components of the clue. So the first step in the solution process is to execute the anagram operation on the string [GIRLA], thereby producing the string [RGALI]. This is then appended to the string [A] to produce the solution [ARGALI].

Now let's look at a second example:

25d Aboard boat there's hard criminal (4)

which we can parse as:

25d {Aboard ... (containment indicator)} boat [T^UG] {... there's} hard [H] /\ criminal [T(H)UG](4)

In this case, we must first perform a couple of substitutions to obtain the letters that we need for the solution. We replace "boat" with TUG and "hard" with H. The phrase "aboard ... there's" (i.e., "aboard ... there is") serves as an indicator of a containment operation. That is, it indicates that one part of the solution is acting as a container and the other part of the solution forms the contents of that container. As part of my notation, I place a circumflex symbol (^) in the container to indicate where the contents are to be inserted. In this example, we see an example of a split indicator. That is, the indicator "aboard ... there's" actually surrounds the container. Note that this clue also has an implicit fulcrum.

These two examples have demonstrated all of the generic components in the list above. I think that all wordplay elements can probably be built from these three types of generic components - although I stand ready to be corrected on that point.

Postscript to Yesterday's Installment

Regular reader's will recall that, yesterday, I had to backtrack on a statement that I had made in Saturday's blog declaring that the fulcrum of a double definition is "always" implicit. As if to further rub my nose in it, the setter of today's puzzle has also created a double definition with an explicit fulcrum:

20ac Bird's speed (4)

If this keeps up, I will be forced to further water down my revised declaration of "virtually always".

Today's Links

I found only one lone question on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle. It (together with the clues to which it relates) is:

AnswerBank [DT 25851]-a: 22ac, 19d

It looks like the AnswerBank crowd must be migrating to Big Dave's Telegraph Crossword Blog [DT 25851], where Libellule provides a review of today's puzzle.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

10ac A French sign in bar? Strange (9)

Overlooking the musical connection, I went straight to the tavern, where I surmised that the sign might somehow be connected with the "Natural Beer" movement. I guess my lack of culture is showing.

13ac A silly girl, a sheep (6)

Although Libellule has written a very good review (and certainly taught me a thing or two), she appears to have overlooked a key aspect of the wordplay in this clue. The solution is "A" plus an anagram of "GIRL A", not simply an anagram of "A GIRL", as she states.

3d Rodent on bark of oak, maybe, or palm (6)

The wording of the clue, as published in the National Post, is "bark of oak" rather than "back of oak", as shown in the review at Big Dave's site. As the Post seems to print the puzzle exactly as it appeared in the print edition of the Daily Telegraph (including errors), I wonder if there may be a typo on Big Dave's site. However, I do know that many of those frequenting Big Dave's site rely on the online version of the puzzle and there have been known to be discrepancies between the online and print versions.

Whatever the correct version, it does seem to me that the wordplay "bark/back of oak, maybe" is implying something that I may not be getting. As Libellule states there is a tree called the tan oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus). Oak bark is also a source of tannin and was traditionally used in the process of tanning hides (note: at this site you will have to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the text).

My thought is that "bark of oak, maybe" is merely indicating "tan" (as a colour). Despite the fact that "bark of oak" is used in the tanning process, I haven't been able to figure out how this might figure into the wordplay, so I tend to think that this line of attack is probably a "red herring" (or, perhaps, a "tan" herring). If the clue really was intended to be "back of oak, maybe" then would the wordplay be that, in the expression "tan oak", "tan" is (riding) on the "back of oak"?

7d Pursuit of Saracens leading to one country's downfall (9)

I did determine that the Saracens are a rugby club (allowing me to solve the clue), but I overlooked the fact that "pursuit" is being used in the sense of "an occupation or hobby".

9d Accepted as something worth discussing (minutes earlier?) (3,2,3,8)

I presume that the reference to "minutes earlier" relates to the standard order of business in which the "Reading and Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting" is traditionally the first item of business, and is therefore dealt with earlier than any other item "put on the agenda".

21d A cross that's primarily a lucky charm (6)

I solved this clue solely on the basis of the standard definition element ("a lucky charm"), completely missing the wordplay associated with "a cross that's primarily". I thus thought this was a pretty lame clue, until I read Libellule's review at Big Dave's site. I also note that primarily is being used (rather sneakily) to indicate the primary (i.e., first) letter of "that's" instead of in its more customary sense of "for the most part".

Solution to Today's Puzzle

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

Across

1ac {COMRADES IN ARMS}* - {COMMANDER AS SIR}* {ind.: ordering}

10ac UN|NATURAL

11ac UNION - CD

12ac O|VERA|G|E_

13ac A|RGALI* - A + {ind.: silly} {GIRL A}*

15ac TACT~ - sounds like TACKED {ind.: we hear}

17ac CLEMENTINE - CD

18ac EX|PLAIN|IN|G

20ac KNOT - DD

22ac G(ER)ARD< - {ind.: back}

23ac I(MM)ORAL - {ind.: collecting}

26ac NIGH|_T - {ind.: back of} hu[T]

27ac HEAD|LINES - CD

28ac AUTO|SUGGESTION - CD

Down

2d OUNCE - CD

3d RAT|TAN

4d DAR(JEE_)LING - DAR^LING + ([JEE]r) {truncation ind.: curtailed} {containment ind.: brought around}

5d SILO* - {ind.: contaminated with} OILS*

6d NEUTRON - CD

7d RU|I|NATION

8d SENT|I|MENTAL|IST* - ITS* {ind.: ridiculous}

9d PUT ON THE AGENDA - CD

14d E|MAN|CI(PA)TE - {containment ind.: imprisoned}

16d CO(P)Y|RIGHT - {containment ind.: about}

19d AERATES* - {SET AREA}* {ind.: with new development}

21d A|MULE|T_ - [T]hat's {ind.: primarily}

24d RING|O

25d T(H)UG - {containment ind.: aboard}

Signing off for today - Falcon