Saturday, October 20, 2018 — Hair

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon proved to be a rather hairy experience. I found the difficulty level to be a cut above the normal.

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^*)

---

^* num = numeration

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

(Horizontal separator)

---

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   Hair arrangement // reworked into play (8)

PONYTAIL* — anagram (reworked) of INTO PLAY

5a   Try a football supporter/’s/ beard (6)

GO|A|TEE — GO (try; (noun) attempt ⇒ have a go.)  + A (†) +TEE (football support [used during a field goal attempt])

10a   Overheard helpful hint for an actor/’s/ braid (5)

QUEUE~ — sounds like (overheard) CUE (helpful hint for an actor)

11a   Display a severe // hairdo (9)

POMP|A|DOUR — POMP (display) + A (†) + DOUR (severe)

12a   Obvious // incident involving one skinhead, ultimately (7)

EV(I|D)ENT — EVENT (incident) containing (involving) {I ([Roman numeral for] one) + D (skinhead finally; final letter of skinheaD)}

13a   Hair // highlights trimmed at the front (7)

_TRESSES — [S]TRESSES (highlights) with the initial letter removed (trimmed at the front)

14a   Hair bleach // liquid expired around the first of October (8)

PER(O)XIDE* — anagram (liquid) of EXPIRED containing (around) O (the first [letter] of October)

16a   Saturday, undergo // hair-removal treatment (5)

S|HAVE — S (Saturday; abbrev.) + HAVE (undergo; have an operation)

19a   Add a patch of green to // auburn, about like this (5)

RE(SO)D — RED (auburn) containing (about) SO (like this; I want it done just so)

21a   Growth on the lip // has to be sore (8)

MUST|ACHE — MUST (has to) + ACHE (be sore)

Mustache is the US spelling of moustache^[5].

24a   Grown initially in beard’s place, showing // coil of hair (7)

CHI(G)N|ON —  {G (grown initially; initial letter of Grown) contained in (in) CHIN (beard's place)} + ON (showing; What's on at the theatre?)

26a   Obstruct Serb changing // hair cutters (7)

BAR|BERS* — BAR (obstruct) + anagram (changing) of SERB

27a   Passes about literature /for/ hair problem (5,4)

SP(LIT) ENDS — SPENDS (passes) containing (about) LIT (literature)

28a   Cut // very thin, to the ear (5)

SHEAR~ — sounds like (to the ear) SHEER (very thin)

29a   Petty officer concocted // hair ointment (6)

PO|MADE — PO (petty officer; abbrev.) + MADE (concocted)

Petty Distinctions

A petty officer[7] (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies. There are two petty officer ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. Petty officer, 2nd class (PO2) is equivalent to a sergeant and petty officer, 1st class (PO1) is equivalent to a warrant officer. In the Royal Navy, the rate* of petty officer comes above that of leading rating and below that of chief petty officer. It is the equivalent of sergeant in the Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force. * A rate[1] is a class or rank, especially of ships or sailors. In the US Navy, rate[12] denotes the grade of a petty officer within a rating ⇒ the sailor's rate is Quartermaster first class. The title of petty officer in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard has three separate "classes" (3rd class through 1st class) and three senior grades (chief petty officer, senior chief petty officer, master chief petty officer). Petty officer, first class is equivalent in paygrade to staff sergeant in the United States Army and Marine Corps, and technical sergeant in the United States Air Force. Petty officer, second class is equivalent in paygrade to sergeant in the United States Army and Marine Corps, and staff sergeant in the United States Air Force. Petty officer, third class is equivalent in paygrade to corporal in the United States Army and Marine Corps, and senior airman in the United States Air Force.

30a   Hairdressers // pen catalogues (8)

STY|LISTS — STY (pen [for pigs]) + LISTS (catalogues)

Down

1d   Irritated, // looked furtively for auditors (6)

PIQUED~ — sounds like (for auditors) PEEKED (looked furtively)

2d   In dens, see terrible // poverty (9)

NEEDINESS* — anagram (terrible) of IN DENS SEE

3d   Those people are overly audible, // as far as that place (7)

THERETO~ — sounds like (audible) {THEY'RE (those people are) + TOO (overly)}

4d   Putin manipulated // contributions (5)

INPUT* — anagram (manipulated) of PUTIN

6d   Riding a German’s // equines (7)

ON|A|GER|S — ON (riding) + A (†) + GER (German; abbrev.) + S ('s)

7d   Pawns // all but the first of backless chairs (5)

TOOLS — [S]TOOLS (backless chairs) with the initial letter removed (all but the first of ...)

8d   In eagerness, ushers using only the odd // exits (8)

EGRESSES — the odd letters of (in ... using only the odd) EAGERNESS USHERS

9d   Silences // single moms (8)

S|MOTHERS — S (single; abbrev., possibly from baseball or denoting marital status) + MOTHERS (moms)

15d   Approaching // tin mine, scrambled around mine’s opening (8)

I(M)MINENT* or IM(M)INENT* — anagram (scrambled) of TIN MINE containing (around) M (Mine's opening [letter])

17d   Go-getters // share vice, unfortunately (9)

ACHIEVERS* — anagram (unfortunately) of SHARE VICE

18d   Trophy, including antlers, // gets fractured (6,2)

C(RACKS) UP — CUP (trophy) containing (including) RACKS (antlers)

20d   Indicated // no time in legal document (7)

DE(NO|T)ED — {NO (†) + T (time; abbrev.)} contained in (in) DEED (legal document)

22d   Mister // Love introduced to Internet service (7)

A(EROS)OL — EROS (love) contained in (introduced to) AOL (Internet service)

How the mighty have fallen

AOL[7] (formerly known as AOL Inc., originally known as America Online, and stylized as Aol.) is a web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by Oath, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications. AOL was one of the early pioneers of the Internet in the mid-1990s, becoming the largest online service and the most recognized brand on the web in the United States. It originally provided a dial-up service to millions of Americans, as well as providing a web portal, e-mail, instant messaging and later a web browser following its purchase of Netscape. At the height of its popularity, it purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in U.S. history. AOL rapidly declined thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up and rise of broadband. AOL was eventually spun off from Time Warner in 2009, after which the company invested in media brands and advertising technologies. In 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications.

23d   Texas team // arranges a retrospective (6)

{A|STROS}< — reversal (retrospective) of {SORTS (arranges) + A (†)}

The Houston Astros^[7] are an American professional baseball team located in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after spending their first 51 seasons in the National League (NL).

25d   Religion // is flight? (5)

IS|LAM — IS (†) + LAM (flight)

26d   Defeat, absorbing Eastern // attack (5)

BES(E)T — BEST (defeat) containing (absorbing) E (Eastern; abbrev.)

Epilogue

This week — unlike last week — it is only the across clues that factor into the theme. They all bear in some way on hair (or lack thereof).

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