Saturday, July 14, 2018 — Say It In Verse

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is a very poetic one.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - yet to be solved

Click here for an explanation of conventions and symbols used in explaining the parsing of clues.

The purpose of this article is to explain the conventions and symbols that I use on this blog in explaining the parsing of clues.

Legend: The following symbols are used in reviews: "*" anagram "~" sounds like "<" indicates that the preceding letters are reversed "( )" encloses contained letters "_" replaces letters that have been deleted "†" indicates that the word is present in the clue

The review of a clue takes the following general structure:

#a/d   Clue containing parsing markup (num^*)

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^* num = numeration

Explanations pertaining to the wordplay (or first definition in a double definition)

(Horizontal separator)

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Explanations pertaining to the definition (or second definition in a double definition) and solution.

Explanatory Box

An explanatory box provides additional information about the clue. In most cases this information will not necessarily help in solving the clue but provides information about the clue. In the case of the weekday syndicated Daily Telegraph puzzles, such information is often intended to help the North American solver appreciate how the clue may be perceived by a British solver. These boxes may also provide information on people, places, films, television programmes, works of art and literature, etc. mentioned in the clue. Although the titles of these boxes will usually be drawn from a standard list, I do occasionally throw in a title specifically suggested by the subject at hand. The standard titles include: Scratching the Surface - an explanation of the surface reading of the clue Delving Deeper - in-depth information pertaining to a subject mentioned in an explanation Behind the Picture - for weekday puzzles, information about an illustration found on Big Dave's Crossword Blog What did he/she/they say? - for weekday puzzles, an explanation of a remark made in a review or comment on Big Dave's Crossword Blog What are they talking about? - for weekday puzzles, an explanation of a discussion on Big Dave's Crossword Blog One box that may provide information that could prove helpful in solving the clue is the following: Here and There - for weekday puzzles, discusses words whose British meaning differs from their North American meaning

Note that there are many types of cryptic crossword clue and it is not my intention to exhaustively go through all of them here. I will only deal with clue types to the extent necessary to explain the conventions and symbols used on the blog. Furthermore, be aware that, in the world of cryptic crosswords, there seems to be an exception to every rule.

With one exception that I can think of, cryptic crossword clues provide two routes to the solution. These are commonly referred to as the definition and wordplay. While these terms serve well for most clues, there are some cases where the more formal terms of primary indication and subsidiary indication may be more appropriate.

Most cryptic crossword clues consist of a definition (primary indication) and wordplay (subsidiary indication). The definition may be a "precise definition" (a definition that is either taken straight from a dictionary or at least phrased in a non-misleading fashion) or it may be a "cryptic definition" (a definition misleadingly phrased so as to misdirect the solver either with respect to the meaning of the definition as a whole or to an incorrect sense of a word used in the definition).

The only type of clue that I can think of where there are not two ways of finding the solution are those in which the entire clue is a cryptic definition.

I identify precise definitions by marking them with a solid underline in the clue and cryptic definitions by marking them with a dotted underline.

In clues in which both definition and wordplay are present, the two parts of the clue combine to provide an overall meaningful statement (the surface reading) which usually bears no relationship to the underlying cryptic reading of the clue. In some cases, an extra word or phrase will be inserted into the clue to create a meaningful link between the definition and wordplay. I define clues which contain such a link word or link phrase as having an explicit link and clues which contain no link word or link phrase as having an implicit link.

I mark the existence of an explicit link by enclosing the link word or link phrase between forward slashes (/link/) and mark the existence of an implicit link with double forward slashes (//) positioned between the definition and wordplay.

Examples

A few examples may help to illustrate these points more clearly.

The first example is a clue used by Jay in DT 28573:

• 4d   Fellow left work // a failure (4)

Here the definition is "a failure" which is marked with a solid underline to show that it is a precise definition. The wordplay parses as F (fellow; abbrev.) + L (left; abbrev.) + OP (work; abbrev. used in music) which gives us the solution F|L|OP. The double forward slashes (//) between the definition and wordplay indicate the existence of an "implicit link" between the two parts of the clue (that is, no extra words are inserted into the clue to form the link).

The second example is a clue used by Giovanni in DT 28575:

• 29a   Female going to match // travels with mother in advance (10)

Here the definition "female going to match" is cryptic (the setter is attempting to misdirect our thoughts to a sports event rather than a marriage ceremony) and thus is marked with a a dotted underline. The wordplay is {RIDES (travels) + (with) MA (mother)} contained in (in) BID (advance) giving us the solution B(RIDES|MA)ID. As in the first example, the double forward slashes indicate the presence of an implicit link.

The third example is a clue used by Rufus is DT 28583:

• 18d   Knight caught by misplaced big blow /is/ staggering (8)

Here the definition is "staggering" which is marked with a solid underline to show that it is a precise definition. The wordplay parses as N ([chess symbol for] knight) contained in (caught in) an anagram (misplaced) of BIG BLOW producing the solution WOBBLI(N)G. Finally, forward slashes mark the link word (/is/).

I also use distinctive underlining to mark &lit.^[7] and semi-&lit. clues. Note that the reviewers on Big Dave's Crossword Blog generally prefer to refer to these clue types by the less pretentious names of all-in-one or semi-all-in-one clues respectively.

In an &lit. clue^[7] (or all-in-one clue) the entire clue provides not only the definition (when read one way), but under a different interpretation also serves as the wordplay.

In future, I will mark such clues with a combined solid and dashed underline. Although this is a departure from past practice, it would seem to make more sense than using a dotted underline as I have in the past). Henceforth, the dotted underline will be reserved for cryptic definitions.

In a semi-&lit. clue (or semi-all-in-one clue), either:

• the entire clue acts as the definition while a portion of the clue provides the wordplay; or
• the entire clue acts as the wordplay while a portion of the clue provides the definition.

For these clues, I will mark the definition with a solid underline and the wordplay with a  dashed underline. This means that a portion of the clue may have a solid underline, a portion of the clue may have a dashed underline and a portion of the clue may have a combined solid and dashed underline.

One final clue type is what I characterize as a cryptic definition comprised of a precise definition combined with cryptic elaboration. For example, in DT 28560 (setter unknown) the following clue appears:

•  26d   Heroic exploit, whichever way you look at it (4)

As the entire clue is a cryptic definition, it is marked with a dotted underline. The 'precise definition' is "heroic exploit" and is indicated by a solid underline.

Given the numeration, the precise definition could give rise to at least two solutions, DEED or FEAT. However, the 'cryptic elaboration' ("whichever way you look at it") indicates that the solution is a palindrome thereby immediately eliminating one of the two obvious choices.

Note that the part of the clue that I have called 'cryptic elaboration' does not provide a second independent route to the solution (as the wordplay would do in most other types of clue). Rather it merely provides a piece of additional information (elaboration) related to the 'precise definition'.

Again, this approach is a departure from past practice, but like the other changes mentioned previously is intended to remove inconsistencies in the way that I have been applying parsing markup to clues. The markup rules that I have been using until now evolved bit-by-bit over a long period of time resulting in some degree of internal inconsistency.

hide explanation

Across

1a   Idyllic poem // completed and recited (8)

PAST|ORAL — PAST (completed) + ORAL (recited; adjective)

5a   Everything in rotten // poem (6)

B(ALL)AD — ALL (everything) contained in (in) BAD (rotten)

10a   Part of the Arthurian // world (5)

_E|ARTH_ — hidden in (part of) thE ARTHurian

11a   Excited about copies // of a poet’s foot (9)

AN(APES)TIC — ANTIC (excited) containing (about) APES (copies; verb)

Anapestic (US spelling) or anapaestic^[5] (British spelling) is a prosodic term denoting relating to a metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.

12a   Investment strategy // I’d brought back: writing poetry (15)

DI<|VERSIFICATION — reversal (brought back) of ID + VERSIFICATION (writing poetry)

13a   Use // “the Poet of the Yukon” (7)

SERVICE — double definition

In the first definition, service^[5] is used in the sense of the use which can be made of a machine ⇒ after many years of service, the pump had to be replaced as parts were no longer available.

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Robert W. Service^[7] (1874–1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon". He is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough (1907; also published as The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses). His vivid descriptions of the Yukon and its people made it seem that he was a veteran of the Klondike Gold Rush, instead of the late-arriving bank clerk he actually was. Although his work remains popular, Service's poems were initially received as being crudely comical works.

14a   Slow // article by Italian poet (7)

AN|DANTE — AN ([indefinite] article) + (by) DANTE (Italian poet)

Dante^[5] (1265–1321), full name Dante Alighieri, was an Italian poet. His reputation rests chiefly on The Divine Comedy (circa 1309–20), an epic poem describing his spiritual journey through Hell and Purgatory and finally to Paradise. His love for Beatrice Portinari is described in Vita nuova (circa 1290-4).

16a   Unfortunately, Eliot is // most unctuous (7)

OILIEST* —anagram (unfortunately) of ELIOT IS

Scratching the Surface
T. S. Eliot[5] (1888–1965) was an American-born British poet, critic, and playwright; full name Thomas Stearns Eliot. Associated with the rise of literary modernism, he was established as the voice of a disillusioned generation by The Waste Land (1922). Four Quartets (1943) revealed his increasing involvement with Christianity. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.

19a   Seems happy about one // poet’s devices (7)

S(I)MILES — SMILES (seems happy) containing (about) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

21a   Poet // revised “red alert” message (5,3,7)

{EDGAR LEE MASTERS}* — anagram (revised) of RED ALERT MESSAGE

Edgar Lee Masters^[6] (1869–1950) was a US writer. His verse is collected most notably in the Spoon River Anthology (1915). He also wrote biographies and novels.

24a   “Green haystacks” /in/ short poems (9)

LIME|RICKS — LIME (green) + RICKS (haystacks)

25a   Get into // the gist of Auden tercet (5)

_EN|TER_ — hidden in (the gist of) AudEN TERcet

Scratching the Surface

W. H. Auden[5] (1907–1973) was a British-born poet, resident in America from 1939; full name Wystan Hugh Auden. Look, Stranger! (1936) and Spain (1937, on the Civil War) secured his position as a leading left-wing poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Anxiety (1947). Tercet[5] is a prosodic term for a set or group of three lines of verse rhyming together or connected by rhyme with an adjacent triplet.

26a   Creating measures /of/ note, work as a bard? (6)

DO|SING — DO (note) + SING (work as a bard)

To my mind, both the wordplay and the solution are more than a bit tenuous. However, I cannot see how they can be anything else.

Do^[6] (US spelling) or doh (British spelling) is a musical term that denotes (in solmization) the first and eighth note of a major scale or the note C in the fixed-do system.

While bards apparently recited poems to the accompaniment of musical instruments^*, I don't know that they actually sang. Perhaps they were an early counterpart to modern-day rappers.

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^* Historically, a bard^[11] was a person who composed and recited epic poems, often while playing the harp, lyre, or the like.

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In the solution, I can only guess that dose^[3] is being used in the sense of to give or prescribe (medicine) in specified amounts. The act of prescribing would involve the specification of the measure (or amount) of the substance to be administered.

27a   Writer of fairy tales // mistakenly ensnared (8)

ANDERSEN* — anagram (mistakenly) of ENSNARED

Hans Christian Andersen^[5] (1805–1875) was a Danish author. He is famous for his fairy tales, published from 1835, such as ‘The Snow Queen’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’, and ‘The Little Match Girl’. Although rooted in Danish folklore, the stories were also shaped by Andersen's own psychological alienation.

Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels and poems, Andersen^[7] is best remembered for his fairy tales.

Down

1d   Going through apple a day, // make a case (5)

_PLE|A|D_ — hidden in (going through) apPLE A Day

2d   Shudder about Rome’s first // priest, at times (7)

SH(R)IVER — SHIVER (shudder) containing (about) R (Rome's first [initial letter])

Shrive^[5] is an archaic term denoting (of a priest) to hear the confession of, assign penance to, and absolve ⇒ none of her chaplains knew English or French enough to shrive the king.

3d   White rose altered // in a different way (9)

OTHERWISE* — anagram (altered) of WHITE ROSE

4d   Sinful desire /for/ one variant on diamonds (7)

A|VAR|ICE — A (one) + VAR (variant; abbrev.) + ICE ([slang term for] diamonds)

6d   Sports centre // reflected an age (5)

{ARE|NA}< — reversal (reflected) of {AN (†) + ERA (age)}

7d   Valiant stranger // from a Baltic republic (7)

LATVIAN* — anagram (stranger) of VALIANT

8d   Wine holders /in/ bars catching fire (9)

DE(CAN)TERS — DETERS (bars) containing (catching) CAN (fire; dismiss from employment)

Deter^[5] is used in the sense of to prevent the occurrence of ⇒ strategists think not only about how to deter war, but about how war might occur.

9d   Damage in a // seaside attraction (6)

MAR|IN|A — MAR (damage) + IN (†) + A (†)

13d   Sled, going around rundown abode, // cleared snow (9)

S(HOVEL)LED — SLED (†) containing (going around) HOVEL (rundown abode)

15d   Stop a public display // from the Syrian capital (9)

DAM|A|SCENE — DAM (stop) + A (†) + SCENE (public display)

A Damascene^[5] is a native or inhabitant of Damascus, the capital of Syria.

17d   Vegetables/’/ sticky secretion found in sediment (7)

LE(GUM)ES — GUM (sticky secretion) contained in (found in) LEES (sediment)

18d   Lengthen certain exhibits // from that place (6)

THENCE — hidden in (exhibits) lengTHEN CErtain

19d   Dumbbells carried by // Bart or Lisa (7)

SIMPS|ON — SIMPS (dumbbells; simpletons) + ON (carried by)

The Simpsons^[7] is an American family animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of parents Homer and Marge and their children Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.

20d   Character in Hamlet // relates badly (7)

LAERTES* — anagram (badly) of RELATES

Laertes^[7] is a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. His name is taken from the father of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Laertes is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia. In the final scene, he kills Hamlet with a poisoned sword to avenge the deaths of his father and sister, for which he blamed Hamlet. While dying of the same poison, he implicates King Claudius.

22d   Second half of rare Kurosawa film // broadcast again (5)

RE|RAN — RE (second half of [RA]RE) + RAN (Kurosawa film)

Ran^[7] (Japanese for "chaos" or "turmoil") is a 1985 period tragedy film directed, edited and co-written by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. The plot of the film derives from Shakespeare's King Lear and includes segments based on legends of the daimyō [feudal lord] Mōri Motonari. The film stars Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an aging Sengoku-period warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons.

23d   Father North/’s/ warning (5)

SIRE|N — SIRE (father) + N (north)

Epilogue

To some extent, every across clue can be tied to poets or poetry.

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
^[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon