Saturday, August 25, 2018 — Who Let the Dogs Out

Introduction

I hope today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon did not catch too many barking up the wrong tree.

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 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.

hide explanation

Across

1a   Patter about one // dog (7)

SP(AN)IEL — SPIEL (patter) containing (about) AN (one)

5a   Switch favourite // breed of dog (7)

WHIP|PET — WHIP (switch) + PET (favourite)

9a   Labrador, perhaps, // confused tree and river (9)

RETRIEVER* — anagram (confused) of {TREE + (and) RIVER}

10a   Canine // cacophony preceding game of capture (5)

DIN|GO — DIN (cacophony) preceding (†) GO (game of capture)

Go is played on a grid of black lines

(usually 19×19). Game pieces, called stones,

are played on the lines' intersections.

Go^[7] is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day. From China the game spread, first to Korea and Japan, and eventually worldwide. Despite its relatively simple rules, Go is very complex. Compared to chess, Go has both a larger board with more scope for play and longer games, and, on average, many more alternatives to consider per move. In a simple and anecdotal way of explaining the rules of Go, a teacher simply says to a student "you may place your stone (playing piece) on any point on the board, but if I surround that stone, I may remove it." The name Go is derived from the Japanese name of the  game "igo".

11a   Dog // who understands, in part (5)

_HO|UND_ — hidden in (in part) wHO UNDerstands

12a   Type of dog // you set after geese in wild (6,3)

{SEEING E}*|YE — YE (you) following (set after) anagram (wild) of GEESE IN

13a   Made obedient // companion ashamed, taking second (8)

MA(S)TE|RED — {MATE (companion) + RED (ashamed)} containing (taking) S (second; abbrev.)

15a   Important-sounding // dog star (6)

SIRIUS~ — sounds like (sounding) SERIOUS (important)

In a mental lapse, the name of this star completely eluded me. Then by some fortuitous twist of fate. I happened to think of cereus, the much-discussed cactus in Monday's puzzle.

18a   Good one who shows // well under pressure (6)

G|USHER — G (good; abbrev. used by teachers in marking scholastic work) + USHER (one who shows [people to their seats])

19a   Fluffy animal // atop great height in den (8)

L(ON|G|H)AIR — {ON (atop) + G (great; abbrev. [see note]) + H (height)} contained in (in) LAIR (den)

Note: this is far from the first time that Cox and Rathvon have used the word "great" to clue the letter "G". However, despite an extensive search of my dictionaries, I have yet to find one that supports this use.

22a   Precise quality /of/ string she untangled (9)

RIGHTNESS* — anagram (untangled) of STRING SHE

24a   Puppy // with means of assistance (5)

W|HELP — W (with; abbrev.) + HELP (means of assistance)

25a   Boxer eating last of spaghetti, bagel, /and/ garlic sauce (5)

A(I|O)LI — ALI (boxer; Muhammad Ali^[7]) containing (eating) {I (last [letter] of spaghettI + O ([letter that looks like a] bagel)}

26a   Misplaced mat in “Lad: A // Dog” (9)

DALMATIAN* — anagram (misplaced) of MAT IN LAD A

Scratching the Surface
Lad: A Dog[7] is a 1919 American novel written by Albert Payson Terhune. Composed of twelve short stories first published in magazines, the novel is based on the life of Terhune's real-life Rough Collie, Lad.

27a   Sled dog // ruined Moe’s day (7)

SAMOYED* — anagram (ruined) of MOES DAY

28a   Stops // certain believers collaring schnauzer’s head (7)

DE(S)ISTS — DEISTS (certain believers) containing (collaring) S (Schnauzer's head [initial letter])

Down

1d   Grain // organization captivated by reconstituted mush (7)

S(ORG)HUM* — ORG (organization; abbrev.) contained in (captivated by) anagram (reconstituted) of MUSH

2d   Truman included in rosters of the elite // humane society members? (9)

AL(TRU)ISTS — TRU ([diminutive of] Truman) contained in (included in) A-LISTS (rosters of the elite)

The definition here is mildly cryptic, intended to direct our thoughts to "members of a Humane Society" rather than "humane members of society". This misdirection is also certainly apropos given the theme of the puzzle.

3d   I competed // with lots of climbers (5)

I|VIED — I (†) + VIED (competed)

4d   John, yours truly, and that woman had // showered (8)

LAV|I|SHED — LAV (john; abbrev. for lavatory) + I (yours truly) + (and) SHED (that woman had; contracted as she'd)

5d   Campaign site associated with vice // governor (6)

WAR|DEN — WAR (campaign) + DEN (site associated with vice)

6d   Ten dining out, // using tabs (9)

INDENTING* — anagram (out) of TEN DINING

7d   Trump vice president/’s/ small change (5)

PENCE — double definition

Mike Pence^[7] is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 48th and current Vice President of the United States.

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In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] (plural pennies [for separate coins] or pence [for a sum of money]) is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound.

8d   Cloths for wiping outside of red // garden tools (7)

T(R)OWELS — TOWELS (cloths for wiping) containing (outside of) R (red)

14d   Cry “Feel it!” undergoing conversion // thrill (9)

ELECTRIFY* — anagram (undergoing conversion) of CRY FEEL IT

16d   Strange mirages, i.e., // mental pictures (9)

IMAGERIES* — anagram (strange) of MIRAGES IE

17d   Showed sympathy for/ Atlantic fish, eating northern flatfish (8)

CO(N|SOLE)D — COD (Atlantic fish) containing (eating) {N (northern (abbrev.) + SOLE (flatfish)}

Cod^[7] is the common name of fish of the genus Gadus. The two most common species of cod are the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), which lives in the colder waters and deeper sea regions throughout the North Atlantic, and the Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), found in both eastern and western regions of the northern Pacific.

18d   Some Europeans // answer after beginning (7)

GERM|ANS — ANS (answer; abbrev.) following (after) GERM (beginning; as in a germ of an idea)

20d   Complains // about evergreens (7)

RE|PINES — RE (about; concerning) + PINES (evergreens)

Repine^[5] is a literary term meaning to feel or express discontent; fret ⇒ you mustn't let yourself repine.

21d   Provided // food initially, quit (6)

F|ENDED —F (food initially; initial letter of Food) + ENDED (quit)

23d   Tidy up // grand space (5)

G|ROOM — G (grand; abbrev., grand being slang for $1000) + ROOM (space)

24d   Sports // merchandise audited (5)

WEARS~ — sounds like (audited) WARES (merchandise)

Epilogue

The theme of this puzzle became apparent pretty quickly.

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