Saturday, August 11, 2018 — Fore!

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon may well prompt some of you to grab your clubs and head to the course.

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

A Note on Puzzles This Past Week

On Friday, August 3, 2018, the National Post skipped puzzles DT 28694 and DT 28695. Unfortunately, this date happened to coincide with the first day of a camping vacation in an area with very limited Internet access. In anticipation of my retreat from civilization, I had prepared a number of reviews in advance based on the long-established publication pattern^* of the National Post. As a result, my reviews appeared several days late from August 3 to August 13. I have retitled the reviews to reflect the date on which the puzzles were published by the National Post.

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^* Prior to August 3, I believe that the National Post had not skipped a puzzle since Tuesday, December 19, 2017 on which date two puzzles (DT 28529 and DT 28530) were skipped.

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 The Story 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.

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Across

1a   Bad karma surrounding a more troubled golfer (4,6)

{MARK OMEARA}* — anagram (bad) of KARMA containing (surrounding) an anagram (troubled) of {A (†) + MORE (†)}

Mark O'Meara^[7] is is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions (senior tour). He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2015.

6a   Shortened Tiger/’s/ golf club (4)

WOOD — WOOD[S] (Tiger; American golfer Tiger Woods) with the final letter deleted (shortened)

Tiger Woods^[7] is an American professional golfer who is among the most successful golfers of all time.

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In golf, a wood^[2] is a club with a head traditionally made of wood, now usually of metal, used for driving the ball long distances.

10a   Complain about end of club // glowing (7)

LAM(B)ENT — LAMENT (complain) containing (about) B (end [final letter] of cluB)

11a   Tournament spectators // all wearing grey, strangely (7)

G(ALL)ERY — ALL (†) contained in (wearing) an anagram (strangely) of GREY

12a   I contend with short // ground covers (5)

I|VIE|S — I (†) + VIE (contend) + (with) S (short; abbrev.)^*

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^* I failed to find S listed as an abbreviation for short in any of my regular stable of dictionaries.

Ivy^[5] is a climbing plant, not a ground cover!

13a   Homer tees off // group of golfers (9)

THREESOME* — anagram (off) of HOMER TEES

In golf, a threesome might simply refer to three golfers playing together (each playing his or her own ball). However, threesome^[3,4,11] can also denote a golf match in which a single player playing his (or her) own ball competes against two others playing alternate strokes on the same ball.

14a   Claim senior // hit over the long course (8)

AVER|AGED — AVER (claim) + AGED (senior)

It does not surprise me to see from the comments that some had trouble identifying the definition here. It is fairly obvious that the setters have chose to use the word "hit" to align the surface reading with the theme of the puzzle. In the definition, one could read the word "hit" as meaning achieved. So one's long term (or average) performance is what they have "hit over the long course" or "achieved over the long haul".

16a   Score well on a hole with junior // member of the clergy (6)

PAR|SON — PAR (score well on a hole) + (with) SON (junior)

In golf, par^[5] (verb) means to play (a hole) in par^* ⇒ he calmly parred the 17th.

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^* In golf, par^[5] (noun) is:

• the number of strokes a first-class player should normally require for a particular hole or course ⇒ (i) Woosnam had advanced from his overnight position of three under par; (ii) the sixteenth is a par five 
• a par score at a hole ⇒ a card that showed 16 pars, one eagle, and one birdie

19a   Disappointment // spread about hockey great (6)

S(ORR)OW — SOW (spread [seeds or dissension]) containing (about) ORR (hockey great; Bobby Orr^[7])

21a   Jerk behind heads // of the household (8)

DOMES|TIC — TIC (jerk) following (behind) DOMES (heads)

24a   Golfer/’s/ wager on skin game’s leader taking trophy, ultimately (5,4)

BET|S(Y) KIN|G — BET (wager) + (on) {SKIN (†) + G (game's leader; leader [initial letter] of Game) containing (taking) Y (trophy, ultimately; ultimate [final] letter of trophY)

Betsy King^[7] is is an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA tour from 1977 to 2005.

Perhaps they meant ...
Skin game[5] is an informal North American term for a rigged gambling game or swindle. A skins game[7] is is a type of scoring for various sports. It has its origins in golf but has been adapted for disc golf, curling and bowling. In golf, a skins event has players compete for prize money on each individual hole.

25a   Writer’s stroke // shoots the wrong way (5)

SERIF< — reversal (the wrong way) of FIRES (shoots)

26a   Author getting into action/’s/ risky area (4,3)

DEE(P EN)D — PEN (author) contained in (getting into) DEED (action)

Here and There
The use of the word "pen" to figuratively denote an author would seem to be a North American expression. In British crosswords, I have observed that PEN is often clued by the word "writer" (which can be construed in the cryptic reading as a writing implement) but never by the word "author".

27a   Animosity // harboured by Bill Williams (3,4)

_ILL WILL_ — hidden in (harboured by) BILL WILLiams

28a   Clump of grass next to a // drink (4)

SOD|A — SOD (clump of grass) + (next to) A (†)

29a   Golfer /with/ terrible lie, ten over (3,7)

{LEE TREVINO}* — anagram (terrible) of LIE TEN OVER

Lee Trevino^[7] is a retired American professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in professional golf history and the greatest Hispanic golfer of all time. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981.

Down

1d   Circling green, ponder Woosnam’s // second-chance shots (9)

MULL|I(G)AN|S — {MULL (ponder) + IAN (Woosnam; Welsh golfer) + S ('s)} containing (circling) G (green; abbreviation found on video connectors)

Ian Woosnam^[7] is a Welsh professional golfer who currently plays on the European Senior Tour and the PGA Tour Champions (senior tour). He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.

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In informal golf, mulligan^[5] is a North American term for an extra stroke allowed after a poor shot, not counted on the scorecard.

2d   In European capital, ace popular // green (7)

ROM(A|IN)E — {A (ace; playing card) + IN (popular)} contained in (in) ROME (European capital)

3d   Nothing confines // some tournaments (5)

O|PENS — O (nothing; letter that looks like a zero) + PENS (confines)

An open^[10] is a sports competition which anyone may enter. In golf, the four major championships for men^[7] are considered to be (in order of play date) the Masters Tournment, the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship. The third of these events — the only one to be played outside the US — is known around the world as the British Open but in typical British fashion is known within the UK as simply The Open.

4d   Names // settle in, playing (8)

ENTITLES* — anagram (playing) of SETTLE IN

5d   A road starting with regular // view (6)

REG|A|RD — {A (†) + RD (road; abbrev.)} preceded by (starting with) REG (regular; abbrev.)

7d   Close to straying // cats (7)

OCELOTS* — anagram (straying) of CLOSE TO

8d   Scottish writer/’s/ handout about club for sports (5)

DO(Y)LE — DOLE (handout) containing (about) Y (club for sports; YMCA/YWCA)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle^[5] (1859–1930) was a Scottish novelist and short-story writer, chiefly remembered for his creation of the private detective Sherlock Holmes. Holmes first appeared (with his friend Dr Watson, the narrator of the stories) in A Study in Scarlet (1887), and featured in more than fifty stories and in novels such as The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902).

9d   Cut off /from/ a tee, nail rough (8)

ALIENATE* — anagram (rough) of A TEE NAIL

15d   A signal of approval — okay taking new // painkillers (8)

A|NOD|Y(N)ES — A (†) + NOD (signal of approval) + YES (okay) containing (taking) N (new; abbrev.)

An anodyne^[5] is a painkilling drug or medicine.

17d   Lack of din upset // golfer (4,5)

{NICK FALDO}* — anagram (upset) of LACK OF DIN

Nick Faldo^[7] is an English professional golfer who is now mainly an on-air golf analyst.

18d   Not so big, beaten // player hitting some drums (8)

BONGOIST* — anagram (beaten) of NOT SO BIG

20d   Tire /of/ time put into study again (7)

RE(T)READ — T (time; abbrev.) contained in (put into) REREAD (study again)

22d   Call in one/’s/ final points (7)

TERM|IN|I — TERM (call) + IN (†) + I ([Roman numeral for] one)

23d   Attempt that is about right /for/ very good score on a hole (6)

BI(R)D|IE — {BID (attempt) + IE (that is; abbrev. for id est)} containing (about) R (right; abbrev.)

A birdie^[3] is one stroke under par for a hole in golf.

24d   Born mid-month, // stays (5)

B|IDES — B (born; abbrev.) + IDES (mid-month)

25d   Something soothing // left in reserve (5)

SA(L)VE — L (left; abbrev.) contained in (in) SAVE (reserve)

Epilogue

It certainly shouldn't take a golfer to get the theme of this puzzle.

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