Saturday, November 24, 2018 — Also Rans?

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is themed around tomorrow's big game in Edmonton at which the Ottawa Redblacks go up against the Calgary Stampeders in the battle for the Grey Cup — a rematch of the 2016 championship game won by Ottawa.

It seems that the Redblacks didn't make it into the puzzle — unless you count the blood at 21a and the black eye at 20d.

I was initially a bit taken aback by this oversight. Then I realized that this must be the setters' list of teams who will not hoist the Grey Cup tomorrow.

May the best team win!

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   Expression of surprise with English poet/’s/ CFL team (8)

HA|MILTON — HA (expression of surprise) + (with) MILTON (English poet; John Milton^[7])

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats^[7] are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The team was founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats. Since the 1950 merger, the team has won the Grey Cup eight times, most recently in 1999.

6a   Mountainous region // involved in security role (5)

_TY|ROL_ — hidden in (involved in) securiTY ROLe

Tyrol^[5] is an Alpine state of western Austria. The southern part was ceded to Italy after the First World War.

9a   Victory: just defeat for one // football team (8)

WIN|NIP|EG — WIN (victory) + NIP (just defeat) + EG (for one; as an example)

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers^[7] are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba competing in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Blue Bombers were founded in 1930 as the Winnipeg Football Club, which remains the organization's legal name today. Since that time, they have won the Grey Cup ten times, most recently in 1990.

Scratching the Surface
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were defeated by the Calgary Stampeders in the Western Final.

10a   Judge // confined by extraterrestrial (5)

_RATER_ — hidden in (confined by) extRATERrestrial

12a   Cats // pass and run while behind one (7)

AN|GO|R|AS — {GO (pass) + (and) R (run; abbrev. used in baseball) + AS (while)} following (behind) AN (one)

Scratching the Surface
The Hamilton Tiger Cats, having lost in the Eastern Final to the Ottawa Redblacks, will not find themselves in this position tomorrow.

13a   Playing in sleet, // able to be drawn out (7)

TENSILE* — anagram (playing) of IN SLEET

Scratching the Surface
It looks like tomorrow's weather in Edmonton will be more favourable than this forecast.

14a   King vexes // romantic poet (5)

K|EATS — K (king; abbrev. used in chess and card games) + EATS (vexes)

John Keats^[7] (1795–1821) was an English Romantic poet.

16a   Front line report about Cup’s central // place for a BC team (9)

VAN|CO(U)VER — VAN (front line) + COVER (report) containing (about) U (Cup's central;  I would say a rather cryptic way of identifying the middle letter [central] of cUp)

The setters are careful to couch the definition as the location of the team and not the name of the team.

The BC Lions^[7] are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia competing in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Lions, who played their first season in 1954, have have won the Grey Cup six times, most recently in 2011.

Scratching the Surface
My initial thought was that COVER is being clued as "report about" rather than merely "report". However, taking that approach would leave no containment indicator. After some intense contemplation, I think I can grudgingly concede that "cover" and "report" are almost synonymous in certain contexts ⇒ the TV networks will cover/report the game as well as the pre-game and post-game festivities.

18a   Country singer/’s/ changing tag: “I’m Mr. C & W” (3,6)

{TIM MCGRAW}* — anagram (changing) of {TAG IM MR C + (&) W}

Tim McGraw^[7] is an American country singer/songwriter and actor.

20a   Show indifference, /and/ stop talking with runner, perhaps (5)

SH|RUG — SH ([admonition to] stop talking) + (with) RUG (runner, perhaps; a particular type of rug)

21a   Buzz ran, // taken down a peg (7)

HUM|BLED — HUM (buzz) + BLED (ran; as dye not properly fixed)

23a   Foremost of westerners are hosting distant // conflict (7)

W|AR(FAR)E — W (foremost [initial letter] of Westerners) + ARE (†) containing (hosting) FAR (distant)

Scratching the Surface
Edmonton (foremost of Westerners?) are hosting this "conflict" between the Ottawa Redblacks (a distant team) and the Calgary Stampeders (a geographically not-so-distant team — but one far from the hearts of Edmontonians!).

25a   Stick for a magician with a // woman’s name (5)

WAND|A — WAND (stick for a magician) + (with) A (†)

The name of a woman or a fish^[7].

26a   Men do not upset // CFL team (8)

EDMONTON* — an anagram (upset) of MEN DO NOT

Scratching the Surface
... but Edmontonians are likely upset that the Eskimos are not playing tomorrow.

The Edmonton Eskimos^[7] are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta, competing in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Eskimos, founded in 1949, have won the Grey Cup fourteen times, most recently in 2015.

27a   Offensive // name on a pen (5)

N|A|STY — N (name; abbrev.) + (on) A (†) + STY (pen [to hold pigs])

Unconventional

There is a convention — that appears to be more rigorously observed in British puzzles than in American puzzles — by which "on" in an across clue indicates "following" rather than "preceding". Thus "A on B" would denote BA (rather than, as in this clue, AB). The rationale for this convention is that in order to write A on B, B must have been written first and — since we write from left to right — must therefore precede A.

Scratching the Surface
One cannot deny that there are those who find the name* of the team from the host city to be offensive[7] — a controversy akin to that concerning the name of the Washington Redskins. * "Eskimos" was originally intended as a derogatory epithet hurled at Edmontonians by Calgarians — one that Edmontonians embraced as a badge of honour.

28a   Football team // ran motel badly (8)

MONTREAL — anagram (badly) of RAN MOTEL

The Montreal Alouettes^[7] (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The various incarnations of the Alouettes have won the Grey Cup seven times, most recently in 2010.

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Origin: Alouette^[8] is the French word for 'lark'.

Down

2d   Impressing // a player along the side (5)

A|WING — A (†) + WING (player [in hockey, for instance] along the side)

3d   Disregards // troubled regions (7)

IGNORES* — anagram (troubled) of REGIONS

4d   Roast veep, sporting // masks, in a way (5,4)

{TAPES UP}* — anagram (sporting) of ROAST VEEP

... using masking tape, of course.

Scratching the Surface
Veep[14] is an informal US term for a vice-president, especially the vice-president of the United States ⇒ I want the whole National Security Council, including the President and Veep, to hear it. The surface reading conjures up an image of a roast "honouring" US Vice President Mike Pence[7] at which the attendees are wearing masks.

5d   Approaching time /for/ dark (5)

NIGH|T — NIGH (approaching) + T (time; abbrev.)

6d   Football team // running to back of hill (7)

TOR|ON|TO — {ON (running; operating or functioning) + TO (†)} following (back of) TOR (hill)

A tor^[7] is a large, free-standing rock outcrop that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest. In the South West of England, the term is commonly also used for the hills themselves – particularly the high points of Dartmoor in Devon and Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

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The Toronto Argonauts^[7] (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club, commonly referred to as the "Argos") are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The team was founded in 1873, and is the oldest existing professional sports team in North America still using its original name.The Argonauts have won the Grey Cup a record 17 times, most recently in 2017.

7d   Dog // always following Terri snarled (9)

RETRI*|EVER — EVER (always) following (†) anagram (snarled) of TERRI

8d   Regally order new // Cup donor (4,4,4)

{LORD EARL GREY}* —  anagram (new) of REGALLY ORDER

Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris hoists the Grey Cup following the

Ottawa Redblacks victory over the Calgary Stampeders In 2016

The Grey Cup^[7] is the name of both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing Canadian football. It is contested between the winners of the CFL's East and West Divisional playoffs. The trophy was commissioned in 1909 by the Earl Grey, then Canada's governor general, who originally hoped to donate it for the country's senior amateur hockey championship. After the Allan Cup was later donated for that purpose, Grey instead made his trophy available as the "Canadian Dominion Football Championship" (national championship) of Canadian football. The trophy has a silver chalice attached to a large base on which the names of all winning teams, players and executives are engraved.

Address Unknown

More than just the letters appear to be mixed up in this clue. The setters seem — perhaps understandably — not to understand the niceties pertaining to forms of address for British nobility. The donor of the cup might be known as The Earl Grey or Lord Grey but surely not Lord Earl Grey.[7] Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey[7] (1851–1917) was a British nobleman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the ninth since Canadian Confederation. Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey[7] (1764–1845), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834 and the grandfather of the 4th Earl Grey, was the Earl Grey for whom the bergamot flavoured tea is named.

11d   Bit of truth in small question hurt tired-looking // football team (12)

S|ASK|A(T)CHE|WAN — T (bit [initial letter] of Truth) contained in (in) {S (small; abbrev. found on clothing tags) + ASK (question) + ACHE (hurt) + WAN (tired-looking)}

The Saskatchewan Roughriders^[7] are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan competing in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Roughriders were founded in 1910 as the Regina Rugby Club, changing their name to the Regina Roughriders in 1924 and finally to the current moniker in 1946. The team has won the Grey Cup four times, most recently in 2013.

15d   Creative pursuits involving mother and guys/’/ weapons (9)

AR(MA|MEN)TS — ARTS (creative pursuits) containing (involving) {MA (mother) + (and) MEN (guys)}

17d   Reporter // saw me now, wandering north (9)

NEWSWOMA*|N — anagram (wandering) of SAW ME NOW + N (north; abbrev.)

19d   Football team/’s/ call about lowlife? (7)

C(ALGA)RY — CRY (call) containing (about) ALGA (low life)

Alga^[5] (plural algae) is a simple, non-flowering, and typically aquatic plant of a large group that includes the seaweeds and many single-celled forms. Algae contain chlorophyll but lack true stems, roots, leaves, and vascular tissue.

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Origin: Latin ‘seaweed’

The Calgary Stampeders^[7] are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta, competing in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Officially founded in 1945, the Stampeders have won the Grey Cup seven times, most recently in 2014.

20d   Society member/’s/ black eye conveying end of encounter (7)

SH(R)INER — SHINER (black eye) containing (conveying) R (end [final letter] of encounteR)

Shriner^[5] denotes a member of the Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, a charitable society founded in the US in 1872 ⇒ the festival parade might reel with pipe bands and Shriners.

22d   Imagine // five hundred and twenty quires (5)

D|REAM — D ([Roman numeral for] five hundred) + (and) REAM (twenty quires)

A quire^[5] is 25 (formerly 24) sheets of paper; one twentieth of a ream.

24d   One sort of tomato/’s/ essence (5)

A|ROMA — A (one) + ROMA (sort of tomato)

Roma tomato^[7] or Roma (also known as Italian tomato or Italian plum tomato) is a plum tomato popularly used both for canning and producing tomato paste because of their slender and firm nature.

Epilogue

The Ottawa Redblacks^[7] (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Starting play in 2014, the Redblacks are the third CFL team to play in the city of Ottawa. The Ottawa Rough Riders, formed in 1876, were a founding member of the CFL in 1958 and played until 1996. A new Ottawa franchise was formed as the "Renegades" in 2002 and lasted until the end of the 2005 season. The Rough Riders won the Grey Cup nine times. The Renegades failed to make the playoffs during their four years of existence. The Redblacks won the Grey Cup in 2016, which ended a 40-year Grey Cup championship drought for the City of Ottawa.

Although the Redblacks own the Rough Riders intellectual properties^[7], the team was prevented from reactivating the name "Rough Riders" because the Saskatchewan Roughriders claimed that it would infringe their trademark on the name "Roughriders".

The CFL recognizes all three Ottawa-based clubs that played in the CFL or its predecessors — the Rough Riders, the Renegades and the Redblacks — as "a single entity" dating to 1876 for record-keeping purposes, with "two intervals of non-participation (1997-2001 & 2006-2013)".

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