Saturday, November 3, 2018 — On and Off the Road

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, we get to take a broad selection of vehicles for a spin.

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.

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Across

1a   Sporty car // lineup including a Datsun’s debut (8)

RO(A|D)STER — ROSTER (lineup) containing (including) {A (†) + D (Datsun's debut [initial letter])}

Scratching the Surface

Datsun[7] is an automobile brand owned by Japanese automaker Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. By 1986 Nissan had phased out the Datsun name, but re-launched it in June 2013 as the brand for low-cost vehicles manufactured for emerging markets. I have some great memories of my first car which was a brand new red Datsun 1200.

5a   Imported water put in Junior/’s/ expensive car (6)

J(AGUA)R — AGUA (imported water; Spanish word for 'water') contained in (put in) JR (junior; abbrev.)

Jaguar^[7] is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer owned by the Indian company Tata Motors since 2008. The operations of Jaguar Cars were merged with those of Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover in 2013.

10a   Car // featured in marathon dance (5)

_HON|DA_ — hidden in (featured in) maratHON DAnce

Honda Motor Company, Ltd.^[7] is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, aircraft, motorcycles, and power equipment.

11a   Wandering around Seoul, I’m in // luxury car (9)

LIMOUSINE* — anagram (wandering around) of SEOUL IM IN

12a   Pen catalogue /for/ designer of locks (7)

STY|LIST — STY (pen [for pigs]) + LIST (catalogue)

These locks are found on one's head.

13a   Feels miserable at the back of company // buses (7)

CO|ACHES — ACHES (feels miserable) following (at the back of) CO (company; abbrev.)

14a   Popular feature on 1950s cars, it comes with one // Japanese make (8)

IN|FIN|IT|I — IN (popular) + FIN (feature on 1950s cars) + IT (†) + (comes with) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

Infiniti^[7] is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Nissan.

16a   Complex transaction covering // optional feature (5)

_EX|TRA_ — hidden in (covering) complEX TRAnsaction

19a   Two errors found in local official’s // off-road vehicles (5)

J(E|E)P|S — {E + E} (two errors; error being a baseball term) contained in (found in) {JP (local official; justice of the peace) + S ('s)}

Jeep^[7] is a brand of American automobiles that is a division of FCA US LLC (formerly Chrysler Group, LLC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Italian-American corporation Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Jeep has been a part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner: American Motors Corporation (AMC).

21a   Align tip wrong, /giving/ playful speech (3,5)

{PIG LATIN}* — anagram (wrong) of ALIGN TIP

24a   Frolics around 1,000 // RVs (7)

CA(M)PERS — CAPERS (frolics) containing (around) M ([Roman numeral for] 1,000)

26a   Someone ranting, stuck behind rear of decrepit // mobile home (7)

T|RAILER — RAILER (someone ranting) following (stuck behind) T (rear [final letter] of decrepiT)

27a   Friend pursuing the Italian part of a trip // in defiance of the law (9)

IL|LEG|ALLY — ALLY (friend) following (pursuing) {IL (the Italian; Italian word meaning 'the') + LEG (part of a trip)}

28a   Automaker // modified Suzuki, dropping a thousand dollars (5)

ISUZU* — anagram (modified) of (SUZU[K]I with K (a thousand dollars) removed (dropping)

Isuzu Motors Ltd.^[7], trading as Isuzu, is a Japanese commercial vehicle and diesel engine manufacturing company.

29a   Watches // Gus crossing a road (6)

GU(A|RD)S — GUS (†) containing (crossing) {A (†) + RD (road)}

30a   Stop signal keeping lines // backed up (8)

RE(VERSE)D — RED (stop signal) containing (keeping) VERSE ([poetic] lines)

Down

1d   Uninspired interpretation // has her confused (6)

REHASH* — anagram (confused) of HAS HER

2d   Anyone can put off // pest (9)

ANNOYANCE* — anagram (put off) of ANYONE CAN

3d   Greeting in southwestern boxing champ/’s/ language (7)

SW|A(HI)LI — HI (greeting) contained in (in) {SW (southwestern; abbrev.) + ALI (boxing champ; US boxer Muhammad Ali^[7])

Swahili^[5] (also called Kiswahili) is a Bantu language widely used as a lingua franca^* in East Africa and having official status in several countries. There are probably fewer than 2 million native speakers, but it is in everyday use by over 20 million.

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^* A lingua franca^[5] is a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

4d   Consume about 100 litres /in/ dazzling display (5)

E{C|L}AT — EAT (consume) containing (about) {C ([Roman numeral for] 100) + L (litres; abbrev.)}

6d   Flatter // drunk at a duel (7)

ADULATE* — anagram (drunk) of AT A DUEL

7d   University rock musical brought back // David Copperfield’s Heep (5)

U|RIAH< — U (University; abbrev.) + reversal (brought back) of HAIR (rock musical)

Hair^[7] (extended title: Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical) is a 1967 rock musical ... (show more )

... with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a "Be-In" finale.

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Uriah Heep^[7] is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his novel David Copperfield.  (show more )

Heep, one of the main antagonists of the novel, is notable for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own " 'umbleness"^*. His name has become synonymous with sycophancy.

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^* The cockney^[5] dialect spoken in the East End of London is characterized by dropping the aitch (H) from the beginning of words.

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8d   Switch of a sort // that Rose adjusted (8)

RHEOSTAT* — anagram (adjusted) of THAT ROSE

9d   Confess about “the Knife” // hitting (8)

S(MACK)ING — SING (confess) containing (about) MACK (“the Knife”)

"Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" (later known as "Mack the Knife"^[7] or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife") is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. The song has become a popular standard recorded by many artists, including a US and UK number one hit for Bobby Darin in 1959.

It may have been a hit for Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra does a mean version but can anyone hold a candle to Louis Armstrong.

15d   In a mischievous way, // suggest keeping oneself quiet (8)

IMP(I|SH)LY — IMPLY (suggest) containing (keeping) {I (oneself) + SH (quiet; admonition)}

17d   Muir still scattered // wildflowers (9)

TRILLIUMS* — anagram (scattered) of MUIR STILL

Scratching the Surface

John Muir[7] (1838–1914) also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. Here are a few words of wisdom about flowers from John Muir: The radiance in some places is so great as to be fairly dazzling... every crystal, every flower a window opening into heaven, a mirror reflecting the Creator. There is that in the glance of a flower which may at times control the greatest of creation's braggart lords. Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it.

18d   Throwing out // bit of junk in genetic variable (8)

{E(J)ECTING}* — J (bit [initial letter] of Junk) contained in (in) anagram (variable) of GENETIC

20d   Rode over snow /and/ ice shelf in South Dakota (7)

S(LEDGE)D — LEDGE (ice shelf) contained in (in) SD (South Dakota; abbrev.)

22d   A bad habit, admitting a bit of raw // greed (7)

A|V(A|R)ICE — A (†) + VICE (bad habit) containing (admitting) {A (†) + R (bit [initial letter] of Raw}

23d   Where potatoes are found // mashed (6)

GROUND — double definition

25d   Operatic soprano // married on isle off the coast of Italy (5)

M|ELBA —M (married; abbrev.) preceding (on; in a down clue) ELBA (isle off the coast of Italy)

Elba^[5] is a small island off the west coast of Italy, famous as the place of Napoleon’s first exile (1814–15).

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Dame Nellie Melba^[5] (1861–1931) was an Australian operatic soprano; born Helen Porter Mitchell. Born near Melbourne, from which city she took her professional name, Melba gained worldwide fame with her coloratura singing.

26d   Herb // pronounced a prison sentence (5)

THYME~ — sounds like (pronounced) TIME (a prison sentence)

Epilogue

I trust there was a vehicle that appealed to you among the many featured in the 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